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A straight walled case, be it pistol or rifle, will eventually split at the mouth, from the repeated crimping/firing stress put on the brass. You can prolong the life of the brass, both straight and bottlenecked, if you anneal the first 1/2 inch or less. This softens the brass, which has been work hardened from so many firing/reloading cycles.
Bottlenecked brass generally does not last as long because of two things. One is that it usually operates at far higher pressure than straight walled cases (not including belted magnums), and the brass usually has it's shoulder set back by incorrect die adjustment, which is the same as firing the brass in an overlength chamber. This overworks the brass, which splits at the mouth, shoulder, or at the web junction.
As far as people who reload pistol brass until you cannot read the headstamp, and then some, well, there is just no accounting for damn fools. Think about it, would you want a brass case to fail, when you are holding it in your hand, less than 2 feet from your face??
flutedchamber
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