Nickel plated bullets?

[Riflehunter1776]

If that article can be compared to the bullets in question, it would scare me!! 6,000 rounds vs 10,000 is pretty significant. That would mean a 2000 round rifle would last 1200. Just sayin'
We don't know if those bullets we're comparable at all but I think it bears questioning.

again, different testing parameters, but they were adamant about the effect of the harder jacket:
"At the end of the test, the chrome lining of the Wolf and Brown Bear barrels was almost gone from the throat forward, and the barrels had effectively become smoothbores, with the rifling near the muzzles acting only as a mild suggestion on the projectiles. A throat erosion gauge could be dropped into the bore from the muzzle end with absolutely no resistance.......The difference lies with the projectile – the soft copper jacket of the Federal ammunition simply doesn't cause the same amount of wear as the bimetal (copper and steel) jacket of the Russian ammunition."

 

[Riflehunter1776]

It is true and has been proven by several folks that bi-metal bullets do in-fact degrade your rifling and barrel much faster than cup & core lead/copper bullets. So I trust the results proving those other test to be correct.

On a side-note... I know this test wasn't done by them, but they say that it was based on a test by Lucky Gunner Ammo. I don't trust much that Lucky Gunner has to say, since they proclaimed the .357 Sig to be useless... They're 9mm supporters, so of course they'd say that. Truth is in the numbers, and the .357 Sig destroys the 9x19 in every single way, except for the cost and variety of factory ammo. Reloading for .357 Sig, brass will still cost more, but you can use any 9mm bullet you want in those reloads. Also, it's not the best business model for an ammunition manufacturer/seller to make a youtube video talking crap about a particular cartridge that they sell ammo for in their store! That's like punching yourself in the nuts just for the hell of it...

I think the whole 9mm argument is that the lower recoil impulse allows more rounds to be rapidly dumped on target without the excessive recoil effects exhibited by the 45acp (or 40/357 sig). In other words, if people are arguing over the merits of slow aimed fire with a smaller-capacity, heavy hitting 45 vs spraying with a 9mm, then the 40/357 is less of a compromise that "does both well" and more of a liability that does neither well. But hey.....To each their own.

 

[rjnied]

So several companies make nickel plated bullets like federal Trophy bonded, how hard and or different is nickel to remove from a barrel compared to copper and will normal solvent clean it out of bore well?

I have a plating background. Stripping nickel is done every day with chemicals, but those chemicals are different and much more aggressive than the chemicals used to strip copper from our rifle barrels. I would not use those chemicals on a chrome-moly barrel because the residue would promote rusting of the bore. I would not use them on a 416SS barrel because the chemicals could leach some of the Ni out of the stainless steel. Removal of nickel by physical means with brushes and patches is really the only safe bet.

 

[coop2564]

I have a plating background. Stripping nickel is done every day with chemicals, but those chemicals are different and much more aggressive than the chemicals used to strip copper from our rifle barrels. I would not use those chemicals on a chrome-moly barrel because the residue would promote rusting of the bore. I would not use them on a 416SS barrel because the chemicals could leach some of the Ni out of the stainless steel. Removal of nickel by physical means with brushes and patches is really the only safe bet.

Are you saying normal gun barrel solvent will not work a chemical especially made to remove nickel should be used or if you have stainless barrel just repeating brush and patch with no solvent or standard ok?

 

[Ronald W Schaefer]

I've shot a bunch of these in several rifles, can't tell anything from looking with eyeballs. FTB have proven very accurate, seem to clean up just like every other bullet/load. Of course, I've only shot hundreds of rounds through these rifles, not thousands...these bullets are nickel plated, not nickel jacketed...I think that may be a player in friction issues (less) and residue (maybe more).

 

[John Klingenberg]

In the old days they used cupronickel in bullets for the military but went to copper because it wore the barrels faster in testing. I wouldn't shoot nickel much if I had a choice. Nickel is added to all kinds of alloys as a hardener and corrosion resistor. Corrosion resistant equals solvent resistant to me. Seems there are plenty of choices that will do the job without a nickel bullet.

 

[wyo13]

Looking at the images of pulled Edge TLR bullets it looks more like an aesthetic application. Most of the coating was missing that had come in contact with the case neck.

 

[coop2564]

I reached out to Federal and they responded quickly! Said there test showed no more or less barrel wear using this bullets plating vs copper, but the nickel did not foul the barrel as quickly as copper! Said for cleaning they recommend Hoppes#9 but any metal fouling cleaner should be fine.

Basically they said shoot and clean just like any bullet!

 

[Ernie Scar]

Hahaha, the guys cashing your checks for their bullets said their bullets showed no more or less barrel wear than standard copper jacketed bullets. Imagine that! They may be right, they may be wrong but I like their bullets and I'll shoot em and clean the barrel the same as I always have. I feel a barrel is a consumable item a lot like the breaks on your vehicle, when one barrel wears out replace it with another. Most people are very unlikely to ever have to replace a barrel in their lifetime.

 

[coop2564]

You are right Im 56 and have never shot one rifle enough to have to replace the barrel. My main concern was cleaning the nickel out of barrel. But Federal says fouls less cleans the same. Im going to try some 180's in my 300wsm and see how they do.

 

[langss]

Not that I know anything about metals, but a few years ago I bought some 9mm that was on sale and I was short on money. The bullets had a chrome like jacket. I thought that pretty odd, so I touched them with a Magnet. It stuck. Fast forward to today. I come across this discussion and here's what I found......Nickel is one of four elements (the others are iron, cobalt, and gadolinium) that are ferromagnetic at approximately room temperature. Alnico permanent magnets based partly on nickel are of intermediate strength between iron-based permanent magnets and rare-earth magnets. So if it attracts a Magnet....where I live you cannot shoot it. I bought some 45 auto that had a metal jacket....range would not allow me to shoot it. Just throwing this out there.

 

[jbo829]

I have shot a lot of the federals in my 280 rem and I clean it with hopes #9 brush it and then run patches until they come out clean the nickel plated bullets to me are just like cleaning it when you run copper bullets

 

[ajkellerusmc]

I'm pretty sure the dumbest bullet guy at Sierra or Federal is still smarter than anyone here...they wouldn't produce something that would hurt your barrel.

Not unless they have become Friends with Pelosi!

 

[elkaholic]

I'm curious to know if anyone has noticed any green/blue color that is associated with copper being removed after shooting these bullets? It could be that no copper is displaced because of the nickel, the nickel compound doesn't turn that color, or nothing is being removed/dissolved.
Hoppes has never been known to remove copper very well anyway.
Thoughts?