WildRose
Well-Known Member
Anything as hot as the STW is going to be hard on even the best brass.
It's just one of those prices we have to pay for this kind of level of performance.
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Any Experience w/ Bertram Brass 7mm STW
- Thread starter jnwise
- Start date
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It's just one of those prices we have to pay for this kind of level of performance.
ms delta
Member
ms delta
Member
I've loaded some of the bertram brass several times without any issues. I backed the 160 GK down a bit to fit in with the velocity 1000 Night Force, 72 grains of H 4831. The brass is holding up good, accuracy is not bad either.
Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
Well, I loaded my 82/ rl25 and 140 ab load in the Bertram brass... rather high pressures in my bbl. too... I'll back down a couple of grains and pull a mulligan... I was torn on backing down or letting it fly... the accuracy went, so down the charge goes...
WildRose
Well-Known Member
Great to hear. We really need another reliable source of brass.
As a rule I hope to get fiver or more loadings per case minimum and I've found by backing down a bit from pushing for warp nine some will last as much as twice that with care.
One thing I've learned over the years is that not tumbling them excessively is essential to long life as each time you tumble, particularly with dry aggressive media you are thinning the case.
Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
Well, interesting day with my 7stw and Bertram brass... I finally found a sub moa load to run a heavier bullet with using 50bmg and the 173 eld-x... With a bit of tuning it should turn in 1/2 moa or better..
On a bad note though, I had three fail to fire with Bertram brass; two of which refused to fire on a second try. I tore the ammo down this evening and the primers hadn't gone off; turns out Bertram has shallow belts and you will likely have to headspace off the shoulder... in my case that also means I will need to treat the brass as though I'll be fire-forming; ie. secondary shoulder or jammed bullet... After forming a false neck on the brass I was able to fire both primers...
On a bad note though, I had three fail to fire with Bertram brass; two of which refused to fire on a second try. I tore the ammo down this evening and the primers hadn't gone off; turns out Bertram has shallow belts and you will likely have to headspace off the shoulder... in my case that also means I will need to treat the brass as though I'll be fire-forming; ie. secondary shoulder or jammed bullet... After forming a false neck on the brass I was able to fire both primers...
Alaska2006
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the follow up Lefty. I've not experienced any misfires yet. The Bertram is now on its 6th reload and has been trimmed at reload #4. primer pockets still seem okay...... not great. I'm guessing after firing these loads several pieces will not make the cut for a 7th round of reloading. The brass seems tough as nails and hard, they really scream when running them through the old Franklin brass pre stages. Noticeable difference in force needed during full length sizing as well compared to Nosler brass. I do not have a good system for annealing, think if I did some of the hardness issues I'm seeing would go away.
Bghunter338
Well-Known Member
Hey guys, found this old thread on the Bertram brass. With not much available out there right now I bought a 100 to try. I hope it's still decent brass to work with.
Lefty7mmstw
Well-Known Member
The Bertram 7stw I have is still sitting around... I fired a few more and had partial case separations on some, and I only have 80'ish of the original 100 left... They've been sitting for a few years now... I'll use ww or rp... If I run those dead I have some hdy and nosler...
IndianaMatt
Well-Known Member
So how was your experience with it?
