Silvertips and nickel plated brass

[Bullseye]

I recently had troubles seating silvertips in nickel brass for my 338wm. The brass was sized and chamfered. The problem is when I seated the bullets there seemed to be too much friction between the bullet and the inside of the neck and it squashed (technical term?) the neck of the case. Any ideas? Is it the outside texture of the silvertip? I loaded ballistic tips in the nickel brass fine and I loaded silvertips in regular brass as well. I miked the nickel brass and it did not seem out of ordinary either.

I probably wont be buying nickel brass anymore anyway but they sure look pretty with those black pills! (like it matters)

Bullseye

 

[kraky2]

Been there and done that!! Nickel can be a real pain to work with. Some expander balls in dies leave a fairly tight tolerance. AND there is something about nickel brass in that it seems to spring back to a tighter neck diameter after the ball passes through. Here are a couple things that will help.....
1. get a different chamferer--try one of the low angle ones
Lyman makes a cheap one that works good.
2. Get a lyman M die. It's a mandral with a slight step
that slightley bells the case mouth. They are pretty cheap---about $10-12 and are kind of designed for loading cast bullets but work very good for a deal like this and are really excellent for straightening out new brass.
3. You might want to cycle the case mouth over the sizing ball 2-3 three times giving a slight change in the case position every time. In other words--draw the case mouth over the ball--turn the shell about 1/4 turn and push it back into the die--pull it over the ball again--doing this 3 times or so seems to keep that case mouth a little wider and sometimes actually improves runnout.
4. if you have a die with an expander ball that leaves the case mouth opened up a little more try that die. In other words if my 30-06 die was leaving tight case mouths but I had a 300 wby die that seems to leave them more open I could size with the 30-06 and then put in the 300 wby die and plunge the case mouth only over the ball of the wby die.

These are tricks I've learned over the years with some tight fitting bullets--quite possibly the best 2 ideas are the low angle chamferer and the m-die. GOOD LUCK--stop shaving!!!!

 

[skip AI]

Yeah had a mate with a .243 who had problems like that, when he seated the projectiles the case would peel the jacket off!
easily fixed..............he chucked it out /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[bailey1474]

I've been reloading the nickel brass for my .243 for years. I've still got my originals I started with about 8 years ago. They are going on their 7th fire and I haven't had a lick of trouble out of them. Sometimes I think they are just different so any trouble people have with them they attribute it to the nickel plating. Perhaps not, maybe I have just been lucky.

 

[Bullseye]

Thanks for your help guys. This site is one of the best sources of information around!

Bullseye

 

[skip AI]

Hey,
I was just wondering if there is any problems with fire-forming Nickel plated brass?

TIA

 

[auton]

I often use the 338 Win Nosler Silvertip 200 grain in Federal Nickle brass, yes it can be tight, a little dry lube inside the neck can make things go better, also the Lyman M die is good die to have...also.