Shrinkmd
Member
Anyone have any suggestions for berdan primed brass (8mm, 7.62x54r, or the swiss gp11) Can it be reloaded, or do people just sell it for scrap (and how does one go about doing so?)
Thanks
Thanks
What to do with berdan brass?
- Thread starter Shrinkmd
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SoCalShooter
Member
You can collect it and recycle it but honestly it would take a large amount of it to really get any money back from it.
sumpnz
Member
It can be reloaded, but not easily. From what I've heard people who do reload it fill the case with water and us a piston to force the spent primer out with the water pressure, then they resize but with the decapping pin removed. Then, if you can find new Berdan primers you reload like normal. But, from I understand it's nigh on impossible to find Berdan primers, and they certainly will run you a lot more than $1.50-2.00 per hundred that the Boxer type usually runs.
DMK
Member
It actually can be reloaded. Albeit with a lot of work. I've seen some really determined crufflers come up with a jig that uses water to hydraulically press the old primer out. Of course you then need new berdan primers.
Well, sumpnz beat me to my thought with much more detail.
Well, sumpnz beat me to my thought with much more detail.
ATAShooter
Member
+ 1 pitch it Not worth the effort to reload.
EricTheBarbarian
Member
scrap brass goes for about $1.20 a pound here
longrifleman
Member
I'm set up to reload Berdan. I use a RCBS decapper, but the primers are tough to find. I think I got the last case in the US before the last lull in imports. I haven't heard of anyone starting to import more, but I haven't been looking.
I would be interested in buying any you have, especially the GP-11 and the 7.62R. PM me if you are interested.
I would be interested in buying any you have, especially the GP-11 and the 7.62R. PM me if you are interested.
Pat McCoy
Member
Donate it to your local junior shooting club, for them to recycle.
Buys us a couple cases of .22 ammo a year.
Buys us a couple cases of .22 ammo a year.
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Take an art class at a junior college. Make yourself a bronze cuirass (breastplate), helmet and greaves (shin guards) and then a shield (about 1 meter in diameter). You'll be the first hoplite in centuries.
More seriously, give it to a black powder rifle builder who casts his own buttplates, trigger guards or sideplates.
More seriously, give it to a black powder rifle builder who casts his own buttplates, trigger guards or sideplates.
The Lone Haranguer
Member
You can sell the brass for scrap if you've accumulated enough of it to make it worthwhile.
Geronimo45
Member
Give it back to Berdan.
Hold on a minute. It may not be as hard to reload as you think.
And I really, really wish I had saved the URL for this...
Working with Berdan is really a problem with decapping, right? I saw a site where a guy had fashioned a hook, shaped not much different than a small crochet hook, with a sharp point. He'd give the point a rap into the primer and then pry the primer out. Simple and fast.
All other aspects of reloading are essentially the same, right? Except you have to find and buy Berdan primers. I've never done it, but I hear they're available, and not much more than boxer primers.
That said, I don't know of any calibers where no boxer is available, so it may be a moot point.
And I really, really wish I had saved the URL for this...
Working with Berdan is really a problem with decapping, right? I saw a site where a guy had fashioned a hook, shaped not much different than a small crochet hook, with a sharp point. He'd give the point a rap into the primer and then pry the primer out. Simple and fast.
All other aspects of reloading are essentially the same, right? Except you have to find and buy Berdan primers. I've never done it, but I hear they're available, and not much more than boxer primers.
That said, I don't know of any calibers where no boxer is available, so it may be a moot point.
Not a recommendation, but...
RCBS makes a decapper that yanks the old primer out.
The olden days solution was to drill out the primer pocket to take a 209 shotshell primer. You also need to drill a centerline flash hole. This limits your working pressure quite a bit, but for very mild loads with cast lead bullets the method will get you down the road.
Also shooting a lead ball with just the force of the primer for rat, squirrels, cats and the like. I forget what size buck shot is about right for a .311 bore like in a mosin-nagant rifle. Be careful that you actually get the ball all the way out of the bore before continuing with the fun.
RCBS makes a decapper that yanks the old primer out.
The olden days solution was to drill out the primer pocket to take a 209 shotshell primer. You also need to drill a centerline flash hole. This limits your working pressure quite a bit, but for very mild loads with cast lead bullets the method will get you down the road.
Also shooting a lead ball with just the force of the primer for rat, squirrels, cats and the like. I forget what size buck shot is about right for a .311 bore like in a mosin-nagant rifle. Be careful that you actually get the ball all the way out of the bore before continuing with the fun.
dmftoy1
Member
I took a couple of SA .308 out to the shop to play with 2 weeks ago and it looks to me like you could easily reload this stuff if you had the primer's and the RCBS depriming tool. I was able to easily deprime a bunch by drilling a hole just through the surface of the primer and slipping a surgical hemostat into the hole and prying it out just like the RCBS tool does . . .was much easier than I would've thought. It wouldn't be as fast as boxer primed but I could easily see it worth doing for something you shoot 100-200 rounds per year.
I haven't checked but I "heard" that graf's has new primers. I'm gonna keep all my SA as I shoot it and next winter when the in-laws are visiting it might give me a good excuse to spend some time at the loading bench.
I haven't checked but I "heard" that graf's has new primers. I'm gonna keep all my SA as I shoot it and next winter when the in-laws are visiting it might give me a good excuse to spend some time at the loading bench.
longrifleman
Member
http://www.magtechammunition.com/sitepages/pid103.php?productId=549<emplate=details&templateId=14&pageId=103&search=details
This is the only source for Berdan primers I've found currently available. The price is 40% higher than their large rifle boxer. Still cheap compared to buying brass. The RCBS decapping tool works decent. I've tried the hydraulic methods and if that was the only way to remove the primers I wouldn't mess with it either. If you decap more that three cases you can skip your shower that night. Trust me.
This is the only source for Berdan primers I've found currently available. The price is 40% higher than their large rifle boxer. Still cheap compared to buying brass. The RCBS decapping tool works decent. I've tried the hydraulic methods and if that was the only way to remove the primers I wouldn't mess with it either. If you decap more that three cases you can skip your shower that night. Trust me.
Janos Dracwlya
Member
I don't reload, but I collect all the brass I shoot (Berdan primed and otherwise) and sell it to a local recycler.
You should have seen the looks I got last summer when I took 60 pounds of it in. A supervisor weighed the stuff and was getting me a receipt to take to the office and his two Latino assistants were squatting by the Tupperware totes I used and staring wide-eyed at the assortment of different calibers represented, picking pieces up and looking at them and talking to each other rapidly in Spanish.
You should have seen the looks I got last summer when I took 60 pounds of it in. A supervisor weighed the stuff and was getting me a receipt to take to the office and his two Latino assistants were squatting by the Tupperware totes I used and staring wide-eyed at the assortment of different calibers represented, picking pieces up and looking at them and talking to each other rapidly in Spanish.
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