Berdan primed brass

[LostintheOzone]

I just started loading for my M1 carbine and broke a de-capping pin on a berdan primer. This is my first experience with berdan cases. I'm thinking that this brass is garbage and I need to toss all of it. Boxer primers won't fit in these cases will they?

30 carbine range brass is a challenge.

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[Engineer1911]

Look at the inside of a case in bright light, if you see TWO small flash holes throw the brass into the recycle bin or add to your brass case collection.

It is possible to reload Berdan primed brass although the effort is similar to wisdom tooth extraction. You also need Berdan primers. This whole Berdan reloading concept is similar to "Understanding Women" as previously discussed in another thread.

 

[zeke]

Best advise maybe try and buy some Win 30 carbine brass next time it becomes available. A lot of strange old military/furrin 30 carbine brass out there.

 

[David Sinko]

Berdan primers are slightly wider than the equivalent Boxer primer. Berdan primers do not contain an anvil; the anvil is integral with the case. They generally can not be interchanged, though it is possible to drill out the anvil of the Berdan case and super glue the smaller Boxer primer in place. This will work in an emergency.

I reload Berdan primed steel 7.62x39 cases with Berdan primers for field use simply because I don't want to lose my precious Boxer primed brass. The above comparison to extracting wisdom teeth is probably accurate. However, .30 Carbine brass is thick and somewhat straight walled so popping out the Berdan primers with water and a rod should be less of an ordeal, if you want to go that route.

Dave Sinko

 

[SMSgt]

Berdan primers are an American idea; Boxer primers are European. Go figure.

 

[bobf]

I know most here are familiar with these cases but if anyone hasn't seen one here is the difference.

 

[Mcwsky09]

Are you sure you broke your decapping die? The dies I have use a collet such that an obstruction or some other issue will pop the pin out and it can be resinstalled using wrenches to disassemble and reassemble the die.

There are a number of videos on depriming berdan cases and even converting the to boxer primers but all of these are time intensive and messy so you'd have to weigh the pros and cons. For me the berdan primed surplus 7.62x54R is cheap enough to begin with that reloading is not a consideration, especially since it tends to be steel cases anyway.
I have bought some brass boxer primed 7.62x54R but it is about 4 times the price of the surplus berdan stuff so will be saving that brass until I have enough to make reloading worthwhile.

 

[rwsmith]

Somehow one of those....

Somehow one of those got mixed in with my 30-06 brass. I was getting very frustrated trying to get it decapped until I FINALLY figured out what the problem was and my decapping pin was toast.

 

[LostintheOzone]

Are you sure you broke your decapping die? The dies I have use a collet such that an obstruction or some other issue will pop the pin out and it can be resinstalled using wrenches to disassemble and reassemble the die.

There are a number of videos on depriming berdan cases and even converting the to boxer primers but all of these are time intensive and messy so you'd have to weigh the pros and cons. For me the berdan primed surplus 7.62x54R is cheap enough to begin with that reloading is not a consideration, especially since it tends to be steel cases anyway.
I have bought some brass boxer primed 7.62x54R but it is about 4 times the price of the surplus berdan stuff so will be saving that brass until I have enough to make reloading worthwhile.

Yes, it's broken for sure. I now know not to tighten the collet too tight because it won't relieve itself if too much pressure is put on it. Lee sent me a new pin FOC. I think I picked a winner with 30 Carbine. It's not a pistol round and it's not a rifle round. Makes me kind of wonder what those guys at Winchester were smoking when they designed it.

 

[tlay]

I get military brass all the time. I have got in the habit of checking all of it. Especially 308 which is 7.62x51. I have found berdan primers in 308, 9mm, 223, and 45acp.

 

[mikld]

All ya gotta do is inspect the brass before you start reloading it. As mentioned, 2 flash holes for Berdan and one for Boxer. If you can't see inside (some bottle necked cases are difficult to look into) check the headstamp and if you're not familiar with it, just set the case aside for when you have more information...

 

[NotObvious]

Its not impossible to convert Berdan to Boxer, but, its not a simple thing.

The last time I saw some guys do this, they had a custom pilot made and and what looked like a wood spade bit but just big enough for hogging out a 3/32 flash hole.

They then had to "seal" the primers in place with some loctite. Alot of work, but, for crazy hard to reload calibers, its what ya gotta do to feed the beast.

I stocked up the last time Grafs had a sale. A bit of buyers remorse cause its a pain to decap Berdan (use the water hydraulic method) but works.