Prwillard2
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Oct 1, 2017
- Messages
- 135
**Disclaimer** I am not an expert reloader by any means. Take this data for what it's worth. Just trying to give an objective review on this product. I bought this brass with my own money. **Disclaimer**
So, got 200 cases of 28 Nosler by Bertram Brass delivered today. I ordered when their website went live on Friday 1 June, and the package was delivered to my address in SoCal today, Monday 4 June. So kudos to them for fast shipping. Package shipped from Cours de Alene, Idaho. Received a notice in my email saying my package had shipped, however was not given a tracking number, despite it being sent USPS priority, which comes with free tracking.
Brass came in bags of 100 rounds, similar in size to bulk packaged brass from winchester, etc. See attached picture. The brass however, did not come with any sort of lot number. This would probably help in the future. I also would much rather have had the brass come in pre-packaged boxes like Alpha Munitions for a nominal fee. Pricing on 100 cases was $235 plus shipping.
First thing I did was inspect the brass. Because it was bulk packaged, multiple cases had dented mouths, etc. I always full length size new brass, so it shouldn't cause any issues. I did notice however, that it doesn't appear the brass has been annealed. I'll probably anneal the brass before I begin to FL size. Primer pockets and flash holes look good, no major issues. I did not spend the time to measure the depth of the primer pockets.
I sort my brass primarily by weight, so that will be the biggest portion of my review. I initially was going to break the groupings down by 0.2 increments, but ended up going increments of 0.3 to 0.4 to save some space on my bench. I weighed all of these cases on my RCBS chargemaster scale after zeroing, by placing them directly on the scale, without the powder cup.
Lightest casing: 259.7gr (only 1)
Heaviest casing: 265.9gr (only 1)
I'll give the weight range, and then the number of cases that fell into that range, all weights are in grains.
259.7-259.9: 3
260.1-260.2: 6
260.5-260.8: 12
260.9-261.0: 5
261.1-261.3: 19
261.4-261.6: 11
261.7-261.9: 9
262.0-262.2: 15
262.3-262.4: 12
262.5-262.8: 23
262.9-263.2: 23
263.3-263.5: 14
263.6-263.7: 6
263.8-263.9: 10
264.0-264.3: 10
264.4-264.8: 15
264.9-265.3: 5
265.4-265.9: 2
Overall, slightly disappointed with the variation and spread of the weight. For this price, I would have expected slightly more consistency. I did find a solid group of cases in the 262.0 - 263.5 range. Should be close enough for what is going to be a hunting gun.
Perhaps once I turn the necks, etc the weight will be more consistent. For reference, the 50 virgin Nosler brass I have ranged from 279.4 to 282.8 grains, with the vast majority (I didn't write all them down) weighing between 280.5 and 282.0 grains.
Because I was running short on time, I didn't length check every piece of brass. I did however, make sure to check each of the "outliers" (259.7-259.9 & 265.4-265.9) and the length was relatively consistent between them, ranging from 2.579 to 2.584. The majority of the ~20 so pieces i checked fell in the 2.579 to 2.584 range. Shortest case I checked was 2.577. Longest case at 2.887. Overall, pretty consistent, but Nosler lists standard brass length as 2.590 FWIW.
I haven't loaded any of these cases yet, and have not done any testing with how long the primer pockets will last running hot 28 Nosler loads. Given the reputation Bertram has, I'd expect them to last 5+ firings.
Overall, I'd give them 3.5 out of 5 stars. To me, there was too much weight dispersion (more than 6 grains) between cases, along with the brass not being annealed from the factory. Add in case mouth dings, etc from the packaging, and this brass will require quite a bit of prep, probably more than factory Nosler brass itself, despite it running $2.35 a case.
Please let me know what else you'd like me to do regarding more testing on these cases, as this is my first major review, and I'm just hoping to help out some fellow reloaders. With the scarcity of 28 Nosler brass right now, I think brass is a good buy, but I'll probably end up sticking with Nosler brass in the long run, given that my 28 is a hunting gun.
Happy shooting,
Paul
So, got 200 cases of 28 Nosler by Bertram Brass delivered today. I ordered when their website went live on Friday 1 June, and the package was delivered to my address in SoCal today, Monday 4 June. So kudos to them for fast shipping. Package shipped from Cours de Alene, Idaho. Received a notice in my email saying my package had shipped, however was not given a tracking number, despite it being sent USPS priority, which comes with free tracking.
Brass came in bags of 100 rounds, similar in size to bulk packaged brass from winchester, etc. See attached picture. The brass however, did not come with any sort of lot number. This would probably help in the future. I also would much rather have had the brass come in pre-packaged boxes like Alpha Munitions for a nominal fee. Pricing on 100 cases was $235 plus shipping.
First thing I did was inspect the brass. Because it was bulk packaged, multiple cases had dented mouths, etc. I always full length size new brass, so it shouldn't cause any issues. I did notice however, that it doesn't appear the brass has been annealed. I'll probably anneal the brass before I begin to FL size. Primer pockets and flash holes look good, no major issues. I did not spend the time to measure the depth of the primer pockets.
I sort my brass primarily by weight, so that will be the biggest portion of my review. I initially was going to break the groupings down by 0.2 increments, but ended up going increments of 0.3 to 0.4 to save some space on my bench. I weighed all of these cases on my RCBS chargemaster scale after zeroing, by placing them directly on the scale, without the powder cup.
Lightest casing: 259.7gr (only 1)
Heaviest casing: 265.9gr (only 1)
I'll give the weight range, and then the number of cases that fell into that range, all weights are in grains.
259.7-259.9: 3
260.1-260.2: 6
260.5-260.8: 12
260.9-261.0: 5
261.1-261.3: 19
261.4-261.6: 11
261.7-261.9: 9
262.0-262.2: 15
262.3-262.4: 12
262.5-262.8: 23
262.9-263.2: 23
263.3-263.5: 14
263.6-263.7: 6
263.8-263.9: 10
264.0-264.3: 10
264.4-264.8: 15
264.9-265.3: 5
265.4-265.9: 2
Overall, slightly disappointed with the variation and spread of the weight. For this price, I would have expected slightly more consistency. I did find a solid group of cases in the 262.0 - 263.5 range. Should be close enough for what is going to be a hunting gun.
Perhaps once I turn the necks, etc the weight will be more consistent. For reference, the 50 virgin Nosler brass I have ranged from 279.4 to 282.8 grains, with the vast majority (I didn't write all them down) weighing between 280.5 and 282.0 grains.
Because I was running short on time, I didn't length check every piece of brass. I did however, make sure to check each of the "outliers" (259.7-259.9 & 265.4-265.9) and the length was relatively consistent between them, ranging from 2.579 to 2.584. The majority of the ~20 so pieces i checked fell in the 2.579 to 2.584 range. Shortest case I checked was 2.577. Longest case at 2.887. Overall, pretty consistent, but Nosler lists standard brass length as 2.590 FWIW.
I haven't loaded any of these cases yet, and have not done any testing with how long the primer pockets will last running hot 28 Nosler loads. Given the reputation Bertram has, I'd expect them to last 5+ firings.
Overall, I'd give them 3.5 out of 5 stars. To me, there was too much weight dispersion (more than 6 grains) between cases, along with the brass not being annealed from the factory. Add in case mouth dings, etc from the packaging, and this brass will require quite a bit of prep, probably more than factory Nosler brass itself, despite it running $2.35 a case.
Please let me know what else you'd like me to do regarding more testing on these cases, as this is my first major review, and I'm just hoping to help out some fellow reloaders. With the scarcity of 28 Nosler brass right now, I think brass is a good buy, but I'll probably end up sticking with Nosler brass in the long run, given that my 28 is a hunting gun.
Happy shooting,
Paul