[Dr.Rob]

Just curious in this 'brass and copper are hard to come by" age is anyone recycling their non-reloadable brass?

Just wondering since I have a bunch of that 50's Yugo MFG 8mm ammo.

[loadedround]

Please be a little more explicit. Do you mean recylce to use or recycle for scrap metal? :confused:

[bobotech]

Lately I have converted some 7.5x55 swiss ammo that is berdan primed to boxer. Works very well because the Swiss ammo is made up of very high quality brass. Some of the cheaper military brass won't take the conversion nearly as well.

[Dr.Rob]

I've never looked into reloading the stuff... is it possible?

I was talking recycle for scrap rather than just throw it away.

[bobotech]

I would not bother with reloading for common calibers that are in berdan unless its hard to get brass. For example, I would not bother with converting 7.62x39 or 308 to boxer primed.

But with 7.5x55 swiss which is a rather uncommon cartridge, I don't mind doing it.

Also I would not convert if I had thousands of pieces of brass. I would only convert it if I was shooting out of a bolt action rifle or something where I'm not going to be spraying the target with dozens and dozens of rounds.

[ar10]

All my "crap brass" goes to the scrap yard. Another thing they take are you knocked out primers, brass sink fittings, copper tubing, even your beat up old car. :D

[moosehunt]

The scrap yards around these parts won't take ammo brass anymore. Say it's a liability deal. I've got 2 5 gal buckets. Waiting to find someplace that will take it. I've heard they will over in SLC, but that's 6 hours away. I pass through there every month or so, but I'm always in a hurry to get to a job, plus I'm horrified about getting off the Interstate--may never find my way out! Cities do that to me!

[Randy1911]

At the range where I shoot, you can find a lot of Bereden primed brass laying around. Especially 7.62x39. It all goes to the scrap yard.

[evan price]

I'm getting $1 a pound at the smelter for all the brass I can bring in. Since it was over $2 a pound last year this is a pay cut, so I currently have many full buckets of brass sitting- probably around 300 pounds or so- waiting for the price to go back up. All the Berdan stuff goes in there except .308 & 7.5 Swiss, which I save for somebody. There's loads of 8mm and 7.62x39 Berdan brass in those buckets. Lots of 30-06 and .223 and 9mm Luger Berdan stuff. Too bad nobody has Berdan primers.

If somebody wanted to pay me the same as the smelter ($1/lb) plus shipping I would dig it out and ship it.

[moosehunt]

One can purchase Berdan primers, but the hassle is depriming the cases--and the Berdan primers are quite expensive. I'm curious about how the 6.5x55 cases work--one could drill a flash hole in the center, but Berdan primers are not the same diameter as our standard primers. Or are you using Berdan primers????

Spay & neuter your kids!

[bobotech]

Look up Parashooter's posts via google to see how he uses a ball bearing and the RCBS swaging tool to swage the berdan pocket tighter and then uses the swaging tool to smooth out the pocket.]

Works great.1

[moosehunt]

That makes sense. I suppose that the MSP Primer Pocket swage would also work, probably even better. Hadn't thought of that approach. Do you drill a new (third) flash hole?

[bobotech]

Yes I do. I had my machine shop buddy make me a jig that worked great except that the holes were too big. He made the hole for a #36 or 38 drill bit (can't remember which) and its just too big. Also he made the jig a tad too small so there is play when you insert the jig into the formed primer pocket hole.

Works great but I'm not happy with the jig at this time. He is going to make me a new jig out of some harder steel friday with a smaller flash hole guide and a tighter fit into the primer pocket. That should work perfect for what I am using it for. He thought that having some play in the jig would be a positive thing but in reality, having zero play is going to be much better.

[fatelk]

I've done this too, just out of curiousity, and only with the Swiss brass. It works great! I tried it on a few other types just to see if it would work, and had mixed results (mostly not so good).

I had a bunch of Tiawanese 30-06 brass, the kind with the oversized boxer primers, and it worked great with those.

[bobotech]

I suppose that the MSP Primer Pocket swage would also work, probably even better.

I'm not sure exactly how the MSP primer pocket swage works but from what I can tell, it uses the same basic principal as using a ball bearing on a shell holder and the RCBS primer pocket swage.

The RCBS primer pocket tool is mainly used to just swage out military crimps however its perfect for doing the berdan conversions. You first use a ball bearing or possibly either the MSP tool or the Hart Case Saver tool to close the primer pocket somewhat so that the boxer primers will fit. Then you the RCBS swaging tool to flatten the berdan anvil and it will properly size the primer pocket.

Once all that is done, you can then drill your holes.

[moosehunt]

The MSP (actually the same thing as the Hart--I think there has been some ownership negotiations) indeed basically does the same as a ball bearing, but controlled regarding centering and attained diameter, hence the RCBS swage die step would be unnecessary (also the RCBS swage die, if you didn't already have it).

Incidently, I find the MSP (Hart) tool to be well worth its cost! Works very well regarding what it is supposed to do. It is not really for salvaging brass that one shot at too high a preasure, but if you are dealing with a wildcat in which brass costs $1+ each--plus 12 steps to form--and the only source is SOFT Bell brass that expands at low preasures, then it pays for itself real quickly!

[bobotech]

Well the RCBS swaging step is still needed for the process I used. It is what I use to flatten the berdan anvil.