Berdan primed cases, removing the primer crimp?

The generaly consensus is if it isn't boxer primer you're simply wasting your time.

I agree.

You could get a second job flipping burgers at McDonald's and use the money to buy new factory ammo and be money & time ahead reloading Berdan primed cases.

The only logical good reason to load Berdan is if you can't get cases for boxer primers anywhere else.

rc

I have seen folks remove Berdan primers hydraulically. Fill the case with water and with a punch that just fits in the case mouth, pound the punch down. The water punches out the primer.

Kind of messy.

I agree with others, not worth the effort unless there is no other source of cases.

zeke said:

Appreciate the opinions, but with the price of new brass approaching 400/1000, will still explore options.

Click to expand...

Then use good once fired brass. $150/1000 at Powder Valley for unprocessed and $178/1000 at TJ Convera for processed and I'm sure you can find it cheaper still if you look around.

This is my hobby and I make a little bit more than a burger flipper or most other non-academical individuals.

I reload some 9x19 Berdan primed brass for the fun of it. To remove the primer crimp, I have used a simple RCBS swager.

I have to admit that when I am through the supply of RWS Berdan primers, I will stay with Boxer primed brass.

I always add another zero to the 400/1000 brass count ... if i use them in a bolt action

Nick93 said:

I always add another zero to the 400/1000 brass count ... if i use them in a bolt action

Click to expand...

$4000/1000?!? Lapua is only $65/100 and even Nosler is less than $1 per case at $82/100.

LOL! $400/10000... it means that you have loaded 10 times 40 cents = 4 cent each shot thats why i dont boder buying once fired brass IMO the only once fired that is good to get its the one that you get for free picking up at the range ... other than that if i buy brass it need to be better than the cases that i can get buy factory ammo ...

Lapua and Nosler in rifle and Starline in handgun hope this helps !

Some enterprising individuals have converted berdan to boxer. Here's one:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=621471

Mike

Sorry, but berdan primed brass goes in the brass recycle bin.
I then sell that to the metal recycler & use the $$ to by boxer primers.

Zeke
I know some military ammo is asphalt sealed around the bullet as well as the primer. Sacrafice a piece that would not deprime and see if this is the problem I may be way off base just a thought. If they are sealed try a little bit of heat. Not enough to anneal the case but enough to soften the asphalt sealer. Say 150 or 175 degrees might loosen them up a bit.
LUCK
Troy

Having fooled with a lot of Berdan primed cases this fall (that link above is to a thread I posted about converting berdan to boxer...)

I'd not worry about the crimp too much. I primed and reloaded about 100 berdan 8MM Mauser cases this evening. Many had crimped in primers originally. Other than removing the spent primer I did nothing else to the primer pockets on these cases. 98 of the new primers seated without issues. An acceptable trade off of time vs losing a couple of primers.

The few cases I came across that would not for love or money release the primers were indeed glued in with some sticky crap.

I made a tool to remove the primers out of a 6" long section of stainless steel car radio antenna. Grind a sharp tip on one end, drive into the primer, lever the old primer out. Easy.

Anyone out there actually reloading berdan cases, specifically 308 ?

Click to expand...

Yes.

First post here. Certainly not my first post anywhere though.

I reload Berdan .308 quite a bit. Looks like your thread, Zeke, may not have a lot of folks that are interested in it. I LIKE to sit in the hovel and do little time consuming things that go with reloading. I will throw a few things at you as food for thought. Feel free to email or pm me.

Most DAG headstamped brass (not all) will help you learn new cuss words. I save mine for hard times.

R1M1 is the easiest, closely followed by FNM and MEN.

MEN is soft. Upon first FL sizing it will likely be so long it will not fit between the end of the leade of the chamber and the bolt face. Trimming is needed of course.

I cut the crimp out with a box knife. I have learned a skill in this little operation and as practiced as I am, I can cut about four to six a minute. Have not cut myself yet. Have done about 500 so far.

Not all Berdan pockets are of equal diameter. Some are so small they cannot be re-used (with the supply of PMC primers I have anyway) short of chucking them up and cutting them (lathe). Most of them are ready made to accept the primers I have. Probably work with the TULA offerings. Some are too tight and need swaged even after cutting the crimp. I copied the large primer RCBS primer pocket swage punch on my lathe. Of course, I adjusted dimension a little as Berdan primers are a couple three thousandths (nominally) larger than boxers. I cut a hole in the center of the punch of course to clear the Berdan anvil. I made it from a piece of 1" 4140 drop I had laying around. I intended to harden and temper it, but never got around to it. I have used it to process the 200 - 300 cases that have needed it and it's original hardness hath sufficed.

I clear the flash holes with a torch tip cleaner, by the way.

I trim them with a Lee trim rig. I took a .308 pilot and cut the flash hole pin completely off. I chuck the shellholder in my battery drill and using practiced dead reckoning, cut them easily to within .005" of "spec". Whose "spec" ? MY damn "spec", thank you very much. lolol. I use a Lee factory crimp die after seating bullets. A word on this:

Lee claims that you do not have to worry about case length when using their factory crimp die. One word- "BOLLOX". You DO. Just not as precisely as with a roll crimp. Hence, my "VFR" trim method works fine.

I have a lot of 50 pieces of Berdan brass I am working with for the fun of seeing which headstamp lasts longer. There is R1M1, FNM, MEN, DAG, O-O, RG and maybe another one or two. This lot of fifty has now been fired a total of four times. My recipe is a 147 FMJ over 42 grs of IMR 4895. Nobody has failed yet, even though my FNFALs are hell on brass.

Thanks to so many people considering Berdan brass as no good, I will have brass to use for longer than I shall live. For free. I have likely more Berdan primers than I will ever use, but that remains to be seen.

Life is fun. Funner for some than others.

Pontotoc.