Berdan to Boxer Conversions

[giggitygiggity]

I am interested in converting Berdan primed cases to boxer. I have watched several YouTube videos on the topic. Have any THR members performed a conversion? How did you go about it?

On a related note, does anyone know if there are any U.S. retailers that sell Berdan primers? I only saw some Berdan primers pop up a few years ago on Powder Valley's websites, but haven't seen any since.

Thanks.

 

[Jesse Heywood]

I contacted Powder Valley about a year ago, asking if they planned to import Berdan primers again. Their response was no. They were the last importer.

 

[kcofohio]

I am interested in converting Berdan primed cases to boxer. I have watched several YouTube videos on the topic. Have any THR members performed a conversion? How did you go about it?

On a related note, does anyone know if there are any U.S. retailers that sell Berdan primers? I only saw some Berdan primers pop up a few years ago on Powder Valley's websites, but haven't seen any since.

Thanks.

Yes, I have converted about 50 or 100. Can't remember the total off hand. But I have access to a lathe and arbor press. It is tedious work and has a learning curve of how much of the anvil to cut out, which ball size to press with, and resizing of pocket.

The cases were NNY, now PPU, '79. Good quality brass. Hate to throw it out.

I was able to score a brick of Berdan from Powder Valley just before the import ban of Russian stuff.

Either way, Berdan, or converting, is a pain. Thankfully I only do it with the 8mm Mauser. But every hobby has its' pain.

Edit: I reread your post. You asked how it went.

After scrapping out a few cases, not too shabby.

You have to leave just enough of the anvil to fill the bottom of the primer pocket. I believe, but not totally sure, that I used a 7/16" ball to press the primer pocket opening. Too big and you will have too large a chamfer . Too small and the pocket will open more. Resizing pocket take a considerable amount of pressure. I made a fixture to ensure I didn't deepen the pocket too much. Just right of the above and you shouldn't see the berdan flash holes. Did I mention about tedious?

I have fired all of the cases at least once, and some twice. No failures of any sort.

 

[kcofohio]

Here is a picture of one of them.

 

[ants]

I did it when I had to, during the worst of the supply market, right after Obama's first election to Pres.
It was a huge pain, and I'll never do it again.
[Both were a huge pain, converting Berdan brass and Obama's presidency.]
[And I never want to do either one again.]

I used a punch to flatten the 'anvil' inside the pocket.
Then a drill in a drill press to make a center flash hole.
I made a simple wooden jig to hold each case so my flash hole would be centered.
So each case had 3 holes: My center hole and the two Berdan holes on each side.

I used a numbered drill bit to widen the pocket until a primer pocket swager could swage it out to size.
But the pockets stayed too tight, due to the tendency of brass to spring back.
So I had to use a reamer to ream the mouth of each pocket to get the boxer primer started.

It worked but what a pain, and it took several hours to make a handful of cases.

 

[Stationary Smell]

I have converted some 7.62x54r cases and I thought it went pretty well. I drilled out the center anvil through the primer (to create the new flash hole) then drilled out the Berdan primer, swaged the primer pocket, and primed. They all fired fine. Some of the primers spun out when I tried to drill the second hole (the one the size of a large rifle primer) so I found a piece of copper tubing that was just larger than the pocket that the Berman primer sat in, cut a real short piece, and pressed it in with my primer pocket swager. There was excess that stuck out so I just ran a file across it until it was flush with the rest of the case head.

 

[Sunray]

Converting Berdan primed cases to boxer doesn't work. Berdan and Boxer primers are not the same diameters. AND if you drill out the flash hole it'll very likely be too big.
TulAmmo USA says they have 'em, but none of their retailers seem to have any.
In any case, fiddling with Berdan primers even if you could find 'em is not worth the time and effort. The RBS Berdan decapping tool runs $65 at Midway. There are very few if any cases that cannot be found with boxer primers.

 

[Englishmn]

I have done the same. I drill out the anvil and swage a piece of copper tubing in works great for light loads. I have done some heavy loads, and it starts flowing the copper out.
When primer pocket gets loose just pick it out and put a new one in. I would recommend only using light loads. Seven is my record for reloads before a case failure.
I even did a steel case just to see if it would work, only reloaded it one time It didn't fail but I felt that was a good place to stop.

 

[FROGO207]

I got several K of those Berdan primers from PV and they worked for some 7.62X39 and others for 7.62X54 in SOME brands of brass casings. Apparently there are several almost identical sizes of Berdan primers and all the casings in a caliber are not standard like in the USA. I used them up on ammo for lost brass matches. It is not generally worth fooling with the berdan brass and converting it IMHO. If you work a decent job, the time you spend working instead of messing with the brass will more than pay for purchasing good quality Boxer brass. Then you can reload it at full pressure many times safely. We could ask the government that the import ban be lifted or the suppliers if there might be another source that would import Berdan primers again. If enough people show enough interest who knows.

 

[Hillbillyz]

I tried converting cases, I have no lathe, and I'm not a machinist. Started with 10 cases, had 2 that finally got "converted." Not again.

 

[Ireload2]

The US rep for Tulammo is only about 20 minutes from where I live. I emailed the guy and he said that the factory prices for the Berdan primers are really high now so they will not import any more.

 

[ewlyon]

I have not tried it but I probably will some day for 7.62x54r and 7.5 swiss. There is a company that makes a set of tools to make the conversion easier. Basically clean the pocket, swage the old primer into the sides of the primer pocket so that it is the right size for a boxer primer, and drill the flash hole.
http://www.russianreloads.com/