Any Experience w/ Bertram Brass 7mm STW

[eshorebwhntr]

I'm pretty sure you cannot heat and quench brass like carbon steel. Heating brass will soften it but the only way to harden it is to work harden it.

 

[WildRose]

I'm pretty sure you cannot heat and quench brass like carbon steel. Heating brass will soften it but the only way to harden it is to work harden it.

No it works with brass too which is why you don't want to quench them after annealing the necks.

 

[jnwise]

Everything is at 2.835 in. The Bertram Brass sure didn't seem soft on the trimmer that's for sure. Hopefully do some loading tomorrow. I've got a newly acquired LH Remington 40-x ( I'm right handed but left eyed - its a curse!) that I'm trying to work out the scope bases. Turns out that even though it's chambered for a 7 mm STW it's got short action holes drilled on the receiver. So had to return the Long Action 20 MOA base for a short action base. Then the screws sent by Badger were 6-48 while the holes are 8-40 (1/4 in shaft length), so now the right screws are on order and awaiting that!

 

[jnwise]

Finished full length sizing 20 rounds of the Bertram and 20 Rounds of Nosler, Both at a COL of 2.835 in. Both were smooth as butter in the RCBS dies I have. Will load with powder next week.

 

[WildRose]

I think you have us all on the edge of our seats waiting to see how this works out. Glad you're making progress.gun)

 

[Alaska2006]

just picked up 140 pieces of Bertram STW brass from Graf & sons good looking brass.
I'll start the prep work tomorrow.
so maybe add some info to this thread.

 

[WildRose]

just picked up 140 pieces of Bertram STW brass from Graf & sons good looking brass.
I'll start the prep work tomorrow.
so maybe add some info to this thread.

I'm looking at it pretty hard right now myself. Some of my brass now has five loadings on it and so I'm about to start retiring a lot of it soon.

With 3 STW's to feed I can go through it pretty quick once I start shooting them again.

 

[Alaska2006]

Finally got motivated enough to do some brass pre.
got my STW Bertram and did a comparison against the Nosler brass. these are averages between Bertram and Nosler over 20 each casings.

New brass length
Bertram avg. 2.813 Nosler avg. 2.788 Spec 2.850

Primed weight
Bertram avg. 266.2 gr. Nosler avg. 261.4
(I trimmed the Bertram to match Nolser even tho both are shorter the spec.) needed accurate weight to length and powder volume.

H2o volume in gr.
Bertram avg. 94.6 gr. Nosler 97.7 gr 3.1 gr advantage to Nosler
(Must consider I trimmed .025 off the Bertram length to match avg. Nosler length)

Flash hole in the Bertram brass avg. .009 larger than Nosler flash hole measured by wire gauge.

Bertram primer pocket avg. .0003 smaller than Nosler

Just running the brass through the Franklin brass prep I would make the assumption Nosler is softer than Bertram at least at the neck/mouth. The Franklin chewed through the Nosler like butter where Bertram seemed a bit harder both trimming to length and beveling neck.

My 2 cents on Bertram brass; it will work just fine. We shall see how it holds up over time.

Happy New year folks gun) gun)

 

[Alaska2006]

Went to the range and ran the Bertram Brass through the 7 STW.

Think I need to back the load down a bit. Flat and I mean flat primers.
running 80.0 gr Reloader 25 Nosler AB 140 gr and pushing these across the lab radar at 3,318 - 3,331. I Have ran Nosler brass with the same 80.0 gr and didn't notice the flat primers but these were not breaking about 3,300 MV either.
These loads today are likely the best ES (13) & SD (4.2) out of 6 rounds I've ever seen out of this rifle.
ran another 10 rounds through it and got an ES 47 SD 15.7 same load but barrel was a bit warmer.

This load was the std. tack drive for this rifle; 10 rounds is 1 ragged hole <.7 with 2 out layers maybe 1/4" left of the ragged hole.

I'll de-prime, measure and size these and come back with some more info.

This far I like the Bertram brass.

Happy New Year gun) gun)

 

[eshorebwhntr]

Any update on how you're making out with the brass?

Seems like from your testing that standard loads need to be backed down a few grains when using Nosler, and then maybe even more for the Bertram.

If you settled in on a good load have you had the chance to shoot it multiple times to see how well the primer pockets hold up?

Hope you're still liking it.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Alaska2006]

I pulled 20 new Bertram cases and are on the 3 reload with
zero primer pocket issues. They seem to be holding up well
Also not much brass flow, I've had to trim any thus far.

 

[Popapi]

I pulled 20 new Bertram cases and are on the 3 reload with
zero primer pocket issues. They seem to be holding up well
Also not much brass flow, I've had to trim any thus far.

WHOA, this is great news!

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I pulled 20 new Bertram cases and are on the 3 reload with
zero primer pocket issues. They seem to be holding up well
Also not much brass flow, I've had to trim any thus far.

good to hear... I've got 100 Bertram 7mmstw coming in to work with... tired of wiping out remmy brass in 5 firings or less in my rifle...

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

Went to the range and ran the Bertram Brass through the 7 STW.

Think I need to back the load down a bit. Flat and I mean flat primers.
running 80.0 gr Reloader 25 Nosler AB 140 gr and pushing these across the lab radar at 3,318 - 3,331. I Have ran Nosler brass with the same 80.0 gr and didn't notice the flat primers but these were not breaking about 3,300 MV either.
These loads today are likely the best ES (13) & SD (4.2) out of 6 rounds I've ever seen out of this rifle.
ran another 10 rounds through it and got an ES 47 SD 15.7 same load but barrel was a bit warmer.

This load was the std. tack drive for this rifle; 10 rounds is 1 ragged hole <.7 with 2 out layers maybe 1/4" left of the ragged hole.

I'll de-prime, measure and size these and come back with some more info.

This far I like the Bertram brass.

Happy New Year gun) gun)

Thanks for the heads up on pressure production... I already load to 82 rl25 in my 7stw with 140 ab in remmy brass (215 primer) and produce 3340 fps in my 27' Shilen... I'll back off a grain or two and work back into the load...