Berdan primed M1 30 Cal. Carbine brass ?

[swampersand]

After a bad afternoon of decapping a bunch of mixed carbine brass I realized that a number cases were Berdan primed and therefore taxing my Lee Universal Decapper. I had no idea that carbine brass was ever manufactured with Berdan primers.

As I recall, the headstamp indicated that Lake City was the source and that makes it even more curious. Does anyone have more info on this apparent anomaly?

Thanks

 

[Cyrano]

I had some of it a long time ago, and broke a decapping pin on it. The story I got, not verified, is that it is some sort of 'sanitized' ammo, and that the headstamp LC stands for 'Lower China'. I think it's corrosive, too. If anyone has any hard information, I'd sure like to hear it.

 

[jag312]

I have seen that cartridge. It is made in China. I have no idea why they used a Lake City headstamp.

 

[625smith]

Yes. Your brass probably is marked LC 52. The Chinese copied captured ammo right down to the markings. I found some at the range last year there was something that looked strange with the primer sealer so I looked in the case and found it was berdan primed. LC stands for Lake City Arsenal.

 

[swampersand]

Mystery Solved

Thank you all, very much. 625Smith is correct, it is stamped LC 52. Clever these Chinese. I will keep the bag of mutilated cases and figure that as a rarity they will sometime command a ridiculous price. Might as well, I seem to keep everything else and have two garages and a basement to attest to that!!!

I will say that the Lee Universal certainly earned it's keep. The cartridge case was extruded through the new flash hole I made with the decapper pin!

 

[shaggist]

If you want to decap them without endangering your decapping pin, try filling them halfway with water, and punching out the primer with a wooden dowel fitted to the case and a small hammer. Homemade hydraulic decapper. Cheap too.

 

[NKJ nut]

Yes. Your brass probably is marked LC 52. The Chinese copied captured ammo right down to the markings. ...

That is the story I heard too. I had some of this ammo several years ago and it shot fine. FWIW I wouldn't bother with trying to reload it, I am not sure it even takes a berdan primer size that is available. There are many sizes and only a few are available. It would be a bust to go to all of that work decapping brass that you couldn't find primers for.

 

[deanodog]

I bought a full case of this ammo once. It shot ok but I sold the remainder of the case telling the buyer that it was berdan primed and probably corrosive. O k if you clean your gun properly.

 

[D Brown]

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but I did a Forum Search before posting to see if this subject had ever come up.

Last week I loaded a batch of 30 Carbine brass, some of which I had picked up on shooting ranges going back 20 years or more.

I was surprised to encounter Berdan Primed cases in the batch I was loading. Fortunately for me, I was using a Lee Carbide Sizing Die, so the only damage done was displacement of the de-capping pin requiring it to be repositioned in the collet.

Also fortunate for me; there were only six of these cases among the 200 plus batch I was reloading, and as mentioned in the above posts, they are all stamped LC 52.

Y'all be careful out there.

 

[DWalt]

There are various stories about the Chinese "LC 52" .30 Carbine ammo you can find on the internet. I found a batch of fired LC 52 cases at a range once, and they all had Berdan primers. For some unknown reason, they also had expanded bases, they looked somewhat like belted bases. I could never understand how that could have happened. I believe those primers were corrosive. Corrosive primers were also used in French-made (the French Foreign Legion used lots of WWII U. S. Carbines after the war) and Dominican Republic-made .30 Carbine ammunition. Shooting corrosive-primed ammunition is most definitely to be avoided, as it can cause corrosion inside the Carbine's gas tappet chamber, and there is no easy way to clean it.

 

[LostintheOzone]

I've seen the LC 52. Broke a pin on it too. In time people will find all of it and we won't have to deal with anymore.