Can I Reload Federal Hi-Power?

[George P]

And yet, my experience is the opposite; I have been reloading the same 38 brass - both brass and nickel-plated for 3 decades or more. Once in a great while, one will finally split, but then again I never load hot loads.

 

[Palladan44]

Load it. I probably have a bunch of those still in the cycle. The nickel is beginning to wear off mostly due to tumbling over and over, but theyre good to go

 

[Blue68f100]

And yet, my experience is the opposite; I have been reloading the same 38 brass - both brass and nickel-plated for 3 decades or more. Once in a great while, one will finally split, but then again I never load hot loads.

I have some 357 Mag brass from the late 70's early 80's that I have wore the nickle plating off. Still going strong. I think they made them better back then. Not cutting corners like they do now

 

[Thomasss]

To me the darn things never wear out. Problems to watch out for are: They should always be cleaned before loading. They pick up grit easier that brass. They are harder to re-size than brass; and the case mouth doesn't flair as easy for bullet seating. They are great for .38 Special, but are a pain for 9mm. Mine are all nickel, so don't bother grinding off any allege coating, rather run them next to a magnet. There are similar stainless steel cases that ought not be reloaded.

 

[noylj]

And yet, my experience is the opposite; I have been reloading the same 38 brass - both brass and nickel-plated for 3 decades or more. Once in a great while, one will finally split, but then again I never load hot loads.

And neither do I. All are light target 148gn L-HBWCs. This is why the best we can do is report our experience. I use a Lee fcd for sizing, as the less sizing the more accurate the ammo in my .38 Specials (no sizing at all works great in my S&W M52s, but revolvers have much tighter chambers).
Over the last 30+ years of shooting .38 spl (I shot 9mm Luger, .38 super, .45 Auto, and .44 Mag only for my first decade or so of shooting), I can’t remember not having 1-2 cases crack at the mouth or along the case. Glad your experience is better, but I have noticed that from a very small stock of .38 cases, the nickel ones disappear quite quickly. About 10 years ago, I gave away all my nickel cases and haven’t missed them.