reloading berdan primed, am I nuts ?

[donttellthewife]

I am looking to load plinking ammo on the cheap ( running a 1919a4 beltfed ) I can get all the berdan primed cases I want for free so that saves some cash, 5000 pmc berdan primers 90.00 tad high, 147gr militray pulled bullets 1000 at 44.00 ( pats reloading ) 4895 powder about 15.00 pound. Loading on a dillon 650, these are all 308 rounds ( if this works I'll do 7.5x55 and some others ). OK, so far the rcbs berdan deprimer works great leaves the primer pocket in fine shape including the anvil and I can watch the history channel while I am doing it. My big problem will be swaging the primer pockets they are crimped. Looks like I'll have to have something custom made, .217 dia swagging rod with a hollow to clear the anvil to fit either to the rcbs system or the dillon. The next problem is large primer tubes are to small for these berdan primers, not to mention the the dillon 650 priming disc. It looks like I could over come all these problems but someone must have done this before and could save me some time reinventing the wheel. I do have all the machine tools to alter what needs to be done. The reason for all this is I've been watching all the surplus ammo in 308 dry up and at 400 rpm I have to do something.

Sure, I am nuts but what the heck its's only time and money.
Thanks in advance for any advice, Ron

 

[only1asterisk]

What you propose is possible, but maybe not as economical as just buying demil surplus brass. As you noted, berdan primers cost more. You will have to deprime case one at a time in a seperate operation. They also come in lots of sizes (some surplus are nonstandard) and are fequently hard to get. I don't know how many firings brass will take in your 1914, but the anvils in the berdan cases can be peened down after a couple of firings, making ignition unreliable.

All in all, unless you don't have a choice, berdan primers are best avoided.

David

 

[griz]

Can you prime them individually with a hand priming tool? Seems easier than modifing the press.

 

[zoom6zoom]

I'd say get the berdan brass for free - then sell it as scrap and buy what you need.

 

[enfield]

Yes, you're nuts.

 

[perpster]

They don't call it a burden for nothing!

 

[armedandsafe]

I reload berdan shotgun shells, but not on a progressive. I would think the idea of turning in the berdan brass for scrap and buying fresh boxer brass would be best.

If you are taking the crimp out of only a few cases, a little screwdriver scraped around the edge of the pockiet works well.

Pops

 

[donttellthewife]

Ok ok, it looks like altering the press is the wrong way to go but Ilike the idea of just hand priming them. I just got back from up near Mt hood were I fired off about 500 rounds and I can't find it in me to scrap the brass. The 1919a4 sure was a show stopper for the othe shooters although I had to explain that it's just a semi auto not a class lll weapon. I'll pick up a rcbs hand primer and report back how that goes. Thanks for the responces
Ron the nut