Some of the guest comments after the you tube vid say: why waste your time with the abundance of cheap ammo. Now we are seeing that dry up for a time. Eventually the US and Pooty-poop will kiss an make up.
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Converting berdan cases to use boxer primers
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Berdan to boxer converion of steel or brass 7.62x54r and similar cases for reloading. Reloading steel and brass military surplus cases with lead cast bullets is a cheap way to stretch your shooting dollar. The prices and availability of ammo and reloading components is rising, it is time to start exploring other avenues such as reloading steel and berdan cases.
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Some guest comments:
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Does the hand-made primer sleeve get pushed out with the de-primer when you go to reload the casings a second time? Does this trick need to be done for each reloading, or does the sleeve stay in the cases after the primer is punch out each time?
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The sleeve's seemed to stay put just fine. I had not considered it before but I suppose something like loctite
might be used to ensure retention.
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NEVER use a grinder for non ferris metal. The metal loads up on the wheel and can cause the wheel to explode.
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Website: http://www.mainejunker.com
Once I got the bugs worked out, the removal of the primers is quick and easy. The pix shows the parts used with some comments. The punch kit from Harbor Freight shows all the long punches, but I only used one punch for the insertion into the shell for hydraulic action.
Just buy the correct brass. It is readily available. Send the Berdan stuff to the metal scrap yard and collect a reward. Anyway that is my opinion and yours may vary.
If Berdan Primed, steel cases, was all I could get my hands on then I would figure out a way to use them. I'm having a problem with powder, but not with brass!
The local Cabelas was doing great on "some" powders but they are back to dry again for almost two weeks now. There's a new store coming in down south somewhere that has them worrying about competition.
This is more of an experiment that seems interesting to me. I made another update for the hydraulic press. Stuck the nut into a short wall socket. The case rim fits in nicely for quick alignment and the nut is tall enough I can do several cases before having to move the nut to get all the spent primers out of the way.
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Today I look for some copper tubing for insertion and drill. If that goes well, might actually get a primer inserted.
I have a friend here that is an ammo manufacturer. He uses AA powders in his ammo. He is telling me that he can't get powder, and that when he contacted AA about the shortage they told him that they couldn't get the materials they needed to make the powders. Think about that! This goes a lot deeper than hoarders, gougers, or demand for a product! This is being stopped at a much higher level!
Here is the final product. It was fun and could see how continued effort could result in more jig modifications and a better end product. As is, it will work and the sleeve is in solid. I imagine after firing, that sleeve will be solid with the temperature changes. I used a wood block with a hole that was sized for an already fired shell. Stuck a 40 cal slug in the wood hole pointy side up to provide a solid neck contact for the shell so when the drill press pushed on the shell, it didn't press into the wood block.
I saw a you tube video where the guy took a RCBS die and shortened the decapping pin for strength and drove it through from the inside removing the berdan anvil and thus creating a flash hole. No drilling needed.
I am wanting to do this with my saved Swiss GP11 brass - such pretty high quality brass, it's a shame to toss it. I've found three different methods to convert Berdan to Boxer, just need to "get 'er done!"
One method is to drill out the base of the brass shell and insert a shortened .22Hornet case head to hold the primer. It is listed as being good for 'cat sneeze' pistol-powder cast bullet loads only. Can't take full pressure. Be good for training and practice.
There's no reason that you can't do it to your Swiss brass. There are ways of roing it without altering the existing primer pocket. Use hydraulics to remove the berdan primer. Dry and FL size brass minus decapping pin. Remove the anvil from boxer primer and insert in primer pocket seal and secure the primer with super glue, let dry. Load as normal.
Thanks for that sight, that led to some better ideas.
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Checked out that web site. That is interesting. I don't know until I try it out, but it does the job. I came across another guy who does it differently. His vid as more drama and something gets saved somewhere or a cure for wolf cancer is discovered, I don't know.
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Easy, simple and clean BERDAN Depriming
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This beats having to do the messy water thing. I can use my drill press and the nut in the short socket that holds the brass steady from my earlier venture. I just have to find something I can use to spike the primer thru the brass. That looks like another trip to Home Depot. I got rid of my grinders awhile back, could of used it to grind down a tip from one of my new center punches. Wonder how a file will work on Harbor Freight Chinese steel will work??!!??
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Still need an easier way to hold the boxer primer. The copper tubing works, but is labor intensive. I was thinking if I could rub a piece of steel inside the copper tubing then use a regular tube cutter...that would be slick....hmmmm
That guy in that last video needs to patten that thing. That looked easier than doing it on a press. It looked like he could've gone faster if he had some type of bushing to help center up the case mouth. Something drilled and tapped to screw onto that depriming stem that was turned to an outside diameter of .310.
What makes the last vid so much easier is he is using brass and the press guy is using steel. I couldn't get the steel to pop. The drill press is easy enough, just takes longer. But if I get brass berdan cases, I'll go the pop out like this last guy on the press.
All of these conversions I've read about/seen are dealing with 7.62 x 54 stuff. Is there any reason this same basic technique can't be applied to 7.62 x 51 Berdan primed NATO brass?
I have a SL of this stuff and really hate to just pitch it or sell it off for scrap. I still have tons of the ammo left so in no big hurry. I'm retired so have all sorts of free time. Just thought it might be an interesting project to try.
It helps to have a drill press. I used a 4X4 block of wood with a hole drilled for the case and a 40 cal slug at the bottom to keep the height of the case the same so I could use the drill press stop and not have to guess. The only problem is if the cases aren't the same length. Trimming steel would be something to think about unless you had a lathe, then it would be easy. Otherwise you have to watch close and check to make sure you don't go to far thru. I would drill very close but not quite all the way thru then lightly hit it with a center punch and it seemed to pop open the hole for the boxer to use. Like being on a crevasse and you fall thru with light pressure.
Inertia hammer style bullet pullers are not good with high primer per different manuals and their reasoning makes sense. I'll not test out their statements as it would seem a little bit like daffy duck hitting the top of the military ship ammo and if it didn't go off, he would write the word dud on it.
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At any rate, the bullets seems to stick in the steel neck and not come out so easy. The other thing is avoiding hard smacks, to build up with several lighter smacks is safer per the manuals.
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While a pair of vice grips at the top of the press works great and control of the grip prevents damaging the bullet to the eye as the shell holder is lowered on a onsy-twosy, I really can't tell if I mess with the actual shape. I bought a Hornady puller and the 30 call insert for it for my Mosin rounds. Rather than shoot all the test builds if the first couple rounds are out of state, I can save the components of the others in that same load and a puller is less hassle. It also prevents the worry of the high primer that may just be on the grey area and unnecessary risk. It's hard to tell since the copper tubing pocket insert isn't a calibrated height.
I was given a baggy of 20 loaded 308 that had high primers for free.. I took each one down, dumped the unknown powder and remade the ammo after seating the primers
has anyone had a primer go off pulling them?
i pull berdan down all the time from cheap bulk milsurp to get the projectiles. i know an ammo seller that buys a bunch of steel cased milsurp by the case.. every now and then he will give me a bag full of loose steel cased ammo that has rust or corrosion.. I pull em all down for projectiles.
I have only had a couple high primers and removed them with an inertia hammer. Then I read in Speer #14, p69, in a list of "never do's" about under certain conditions, the primer cup can suddenly shift to the bottom of the primer pocket and ignite the cartridge. Then I recalled seeing it somewhere before but it faded into the sea of new reloading data. That is another plug for re-reading the manuals. At any rate, I try to stick to the manuals as best I can since I don't have the history of experience to stray. Unfortunate, the bullet pullers won't work on small pistol stuff as there isn't enough bullet to grab onto. I haven't had that happen to a pistol round yet so have some ideas on how to do that if need be.
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