Advanced Plating Technologies has launched Ducta-bright 7a Nickel, a nickel plating of shell casings within the ammunition and defense industries offering a proprietary ductile nickel system.
APT says nickel plating of shell casings with Ducta-bright 7a provides several key benefits including improved feeding in all actions of firearms, enhanced corrosion resistance over traditional brass and improved cosmetics and ease of cleanup during reloading. TThey say nickel plated casings will not tarnish like brass during storage or when in contact with materials such as leather holsters or belt pouches.
Until the development of the Ducta-bright 7a process, APT says nickel plating of shell casings often limited the number of reloads as compared to raw brass.
"It was claimed that nickel plating of brass shell casings 'embrittled' the brass thereby making it less preferable for reloaders despite the ease of cleanup that nickel plating affords," APT says. "In addition, ammunition engineers raised concern of using nickel plating in very hot +P or magnum loads – especially in deep-drawn casings – where it was thought that nickel plating of such loads could result in once-fired casing cracking or failures."
Such preexisting industry concerns conflict with the metallurgy involved in nickel plating of brass casings, APT says. Classic C260 cartridge brass (70% copper, 30% zinc) is not susceptible to hydrogen embrittlement nor is there any chemistry employed in traditional nickel plating processes that is known to embrittle brass such as ammonia.
Due to repeated inquiries regarding these design concerns by engineers within the ammunition industry, APT set forth to investigate nickel plating of brass casings further. The aim was to try and determine if these deleterious effects actually occurred and if they did, establish root cause and develop a system that would mitigate these deposit flaws.
