Depriming Berdan primed 7.62 x 39 - what to use?

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gacajun

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I've been getting together some brass to load and shoot in my Mini30 and have ran across a good number of Berdan primed brass...mixed headstamps. I have broken 2 decapping pins in my Lee universal decapping die. I bought that die special to work on this brass...Lee website says decapping pins were unbreakable. To be sure I bought 2 extra pins just in case. So now I have this new die and only 1 decapping pin and I'm not going to try it anymore to deprime the Berdan primed brass.

What is the best thing to use to deprime the Berdan primed brass?

I bought a RCBS II swaging die kit to swage the brass once I get it deprimed but I ain't making too much progress getting the depriming part done.
 
I have seen this explained here but I can't remember the specifics. If you use search function you should find it. I do know that dies DO NOT work.
 
Wait, are you trying to deprime berdan primers with a boxer decapper ?

That'll never work.

Do you have berdan primers to prime them with ??
 
I do not have Berdan primers and don't want to buy any. I want to Boxer prime my ammo. I've never ran across any special Berdan decapping die...just wonder what people are using.
 
I don't do it very often but I have deprimed berdan primed brass/steel just to see how it could be done. Basically the easiest method I've found is using hydraulic pressure. It requires a rod that is a tight fit in the mouth of the case. Fill the case with water and position the primer over a hole in a board (so it can pop out). Put the rod in the mouth and hit it. It is slow and messy, but it works. I've never used it on 7.62x39, but I've done it on 7.62x54R and 8mm Mauser.

Another method is to carefully drill the primer and insert something in the hole to pop it out. But in this case, you need to make sure you don't drill too deep and drill through the anvil. I've done this when converting to boxer primers.

In my opinion, it is really not worth the hassle, when there is boxer primed brass available. I just did both the depriming and converting for kicks.
 
What gojuice101 suggested. You can't use a normal decapping and sizer die to remove a berdan primer. There's no flash hole in the center and the pin is hitting solid brass and breaking because of it. Hydraulic pressure is the best and it is messy.

Don't bother depriming the cases unless you can get berdan primers.
 
Once deprimed as Steve's links describe then you still need Berdan primers.

You can't deprime Berdan primers with regular Boxer-style dies.

And Boxer primers are different than Berdan. They work differently.

You CAN'T use Boxer primers to prime Berdan cases.

Google is your friend.
 
Assuming you are in the USA, which is impossible to tell because you didn't fill in the 'Location' in your user profile.

Don't waste your time and Boxer primer reloading die de-capping pins even trying.

Berdan primed cases have no central flash hole like Boxer primed cases.

So, you can't deprime them with a conventional reloading die.

Look down inside one with a light and you will see there is no centrally located flash hole for the de-priming pin to go threw to knock out the primer.

And besides that?
American Boxer primers won't fit Berdan cases.
And you can't hardly ever buy Berdan primers the right size that fit them in the USA anyway.

Throw then in the trash!

And see this:
http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/berdan_supplies_dimensions.html

Then throw them in the trash and start saving Boxer primed cases next time.

Rc
 
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I haven't done this but I know someone that followed a Youtube video. He de-capped the berdan primed cases, drilled out the center, pushed in a piece of copper and swagged it to fit small rifle boxer primers. This was for 8mm ammo. Seems like a lot of work to me.
 
Much as I'd like to agree with the sentiments expressed above (note what I'm looking for in my sig line), I cannot in good conscience do so.

Just remove the decapping pin from the expander ball, put a little Saran Wrap in the expander ball (to create a watertight seal), fill your cases with water and go to town!

Just take your press lever down until you feel the expander make contact with the case mouth and give the lever a sharp rap with your hand. The primers usually come out pretty easily. To avoid making a mess I put a bucket under the press and tie a small cloth "bandage" around the die to cover up the bleed hole.

I've never found a single Berdan primed 7.62x39 case, brass or steel, that didn't use a .217" primer. These primers have been continuously available from Powder Valley at $23 to $25/1000 for the past 3 or 4 years, even during the worst of the "panic". Just go to Powder Valley>Primers>Tula to see (sorry, but the site won't allow me to post a direct link to the page).

My old Lee AutoPrime works fine with Berdan primers. The only modification I made was an adjustable depth stop.

Or you can just save up the brass Berdan cases and shoot me a PM when you've got a few hundred.
Boxer .223's ARE a lot less trouble to load. :D

PS: The Danish 30-06 brass in the attached pics was all deprimed just as described above. Sorry, but I've done so many 7.62x39's that I don't consider them noteworthy enough to photograph...
 

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I gots a boat load of boxer primed 7.62x39 about 500 I'm willing to part with. ( if the trade is right)
I have done what your doing before just to see if I could, I can, it sux!! and the ammo is not very good.
Primer pockets are to big anvil needs to be removed flash hole gets to big and the water what a mess.
I ended up making a deprimer kinda like an old church key can opener.
Best of luck
 
Berdan primed will be impossible to deprime with your die. Berdan primed is possible to deprime, but you are looking at a good minute per case to deprime. then you will have to buy speciality primers that you will likely NOT find locally. which means a $30 hazmat fee+ shipping. Then you may also find they are actually brass plated steel cases which may not last long. zombie apocalypse? sure, go ahead and try to work with the berdan primed.

I myself find no real reason to reload for popular rifle cartridges like 223 and 762 where you can buy a box of steel case for cheaper than you can reload. reloading rifle is a pretty big pain in the butt if you shoot volume without the latest and greatest gadgets on your dillon 1050.

my suggestion if you really want to reload for your 762- buy some PPU boxer primed ammo for $12 a box, shoot it and reload it. with normal boxer primers... easy as pie compared to loading berdan yet still a major pain in the arse IMO compared to loading up 45acp or 38spl!
 
Thanks for all of the comments and suggestions. I think I'm going to get rid of this brass and get some with Boxer primer pockets.
 
I have accidentally decapped berdan primed .308 with my standard Lee sizing die. I probably just got lucky it didn't break my pin (should have pushed the whole expander upwards), but instead punched a nicely centered hole through the primer pocket.

Find a primer to go back in there is a different story, however. I did see someone super glue primers in there, but I'm not that adventurous.
 
In the old days I called the Western Scrounger to explain a plan I had for cases that required Berdan primers. Straight away he suggested saving money and time, he said Berdan primers were expansive and then he explained the problem with removing them. I used water, I did not think it a problem I did think it was messy. Back then it was a matter of dressing for a rainy day.

Berdan primers back then cost more than the bullet. I still have ammo cans of unfired 8mm cases with Berdan primers, it was cheaper to form cases from 30/06 to 8mm57, 7mm57, and 7.65mm53.

F. Guffey
 
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