I annealed all my .25-21 and .25-25 Bertram brass as far down towards the heads as I dared, so have not gotten the immediate percentage of splits you have.  Learned my lesson from my first box of Bertram .43 Spanish, where 8 of the 20 body-split on the first firing.

But the body splits on the long .25s do show up, one by one, as the cases continue to be fired.  The .25-25's always split well down into the body, so I can't trim them to .25-21.  You may have noticed that the rims go all the way from undersized to oversized, with many of them being elliptical or egg-shaped so they only go into the shell holder one way, or not, or slip out of it.  The .25-25 shell lengths especially would delight a Diversity Facilitator, with none of them, IME, being the standard length, but all of them being different lengths short of that.  The .25-21s at least don't seem to have this fault.

I heard that some problems occur when extreme deep draws are made on small diameter shells or tubes, which is why Bertram never tried to make .22-15-60 Stevens CF shells.  On the other hand, the US ammunition companies could make the shells over a century ago, so the excuse hardly washes.

Bertram's stuff is very weird; maybe the QC department is on a part-time or "temp" basis.  I have 20 Bertram .405 cases that I reformed to .35 Winchester.  I got them cheap, since they had a hideous scaling pattern on the outside of the shells, looking like the brass was peeling away in a hundred places.  At the price, I figured one shot each would still put me ahead.  Those cases have outlasted a box of Bell basic cases, full length sizing both after every firing.  A bunch of Bertram .40-90 SS cases, annealed and jealously watched after each firing, have held up well, although the lengths do vary.  But buying Bertram's product is throwing darts at a board, for sure.

Rocky Mtn. Cartridge's stuff has the virtue of being the right dimensions, but being lathe-turned, it does not handle resizing very well.

Wow! Sagas can be so fun! Can't wait for this one to unfurl.   

    Joe. 

Quote:

Hmmm, looks simple.  Wish I had a new case ...
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Anyother Bertram brass will be tested!

I built the wife a 28-30 stevens several years ago, the only brass available at that time was Bertram, other than its odd & varying rim size it has held up well. I annealed it about half way down. The rifle is shot schuetzen style with a single case, so no resizing. Not working the brass is probably why it has held up so well. I have emailed Rocky Mountain Cartridge, but they have not made a run of 28-30 for awhile. Hopefully they will soon.
Mike

That's a shame.  I had some .45-110 Bertram brass that split like that.  That was the last Bertram brass I'll ever buy.   

Can you get RMC to make you a set of cases?

Chris.

"4.28 a case for junk" . Jeez Johnboy. RMC brass has to be cheaper than that.   

The saga thickens. 

    Joe.

I am really surprised that you managed to load this brass without the cases splitting when neck expanded. All Bertram brass should be annealed before using. I have been using Bertram in .300 Sherwood---another long thin case---- for about 5 years and have not lost a case yet after what must be 20+ re-loads. I annealed them first. The only thing wrong with bBertram brass is that they sell it before they have quite finished making it!
Fred