Berdan primers vs boxer: Good or bad?

Alright, this is a question regarding wear and tear on firing pins.

I understand that the boxer primer is basically the standard for most domestically produced ammo because it offers advantages for hand-loaders in that it is easy to remove & replace in spent cases.

I wanted to know if there is any real difference between the hardness factor of these primers; is one more destructive to firing pins to the other and why?

I am asking this because I experienced a broken firing pin while shooting some Russian berdan primed .223 ammo. I have shot maybe 2k of this stuff in the past with no issues, I have also shot alot of standard brass ammo too. I want to know if my broken pin was directly related to the ammo I was shooting or if this was just a fluke.

Let me know what you all think... I still have a case of the russian ammo I dont know what to do with; and I am not sure if I want to risk breaking my pin again if it could have been the reason it broke in the first place.

Probably just a fluke. Military primers are generally somewhat harder than commercial primers, but not enough harder to break a firing pin.

For many years, the aluminum cased ammo was berdan primed and it didn't cause firing pins to break.
More than likely the pin was faulty in some way.
Maybe it was stuck and sticking out some, from the bolt.
That can break pins.

Russian primers are usually harder than domestic manufacture, but the primary result of this, if any, is light strikes with bubba'd triggers. If your firing pin breaks because of cup hardness you needed a new one anyway.

Boxer: uses a single large, centered flash hole in the case. This means a decapping pin can knock out the primer regardless of how the case is oriented rotationally.

Berdan: Uses two smaller, off center holes, which makes depriming with a pin from the inside, especially in any kind of automated fashion on popular reloading presses, virtually impossible.

So really, Boxer vs. Berdan is a difference in the case rather than the primer itself. I think some foriegn berdan ammo comes with primers that are sized differently than popular sizes on NATO type ammo that is used by US reloaders, "berdan" does not describe this difference, but rather the difference in the flash hole arrangement.

You broke the firing pin in a what???

You broke the firing pin in a what???

581 series Mini-14.

Completely stock, with no bubba'd triggers.

I can't believe the type of priming is going to make a difference in your firing pin longevity. :scrutiny: Berdan priming does have the primer anvil built into the case, which is steel, but the firing pin would have to pierce and go through the primer to strike it. If the firing pin is piercing the primers, you have bigger problems.

581 series Mini-14.

Completely stock, with no

The Mini-30s are notorious for that. Possibly the 14s as well, since they're almost identical. Last I heard you can NOT buy a FP from Ruger and the ones available aftermarket are sub par. Gotta send the whole rifle to Ruger if you want a genuine Ruger FP. :eek:

Ruger warns against using milspec x39. Don't really know about .223.

Loads of info on teh intrawebz. Google is your friend.

EDIT: BTW, lots of Berdan primed ammo is corrosive.

EDIT: BTW, lots of Berdan primed ammo is corrosive.

And lots of it isn't. Lot's of Boxer primed ammo is corrosive as well. (At least the older stuff.) While the primer is the corrosive part, you can't use type to tell the difference.

As far as shooting goes, some of the best ammo I've run through my Garand was Danish, Berdan primed, non-corrosive.

What! You mean the Danish .30/06 military stuff?
Terrible, terrible stuff!
Send whatever you have to me and i will get rid of it for you.
I'm down to three cases!:)
http://www.fototime.com/5AC101DEE181AC6/standard.jpg

That's the stuff. I still have the case and it's full of ammo. Sadly, none of it is AMA.