Reloading Yugo Berdan 7.62x39-labor of love

[4306]

Thought i would share my set up to reload yugo berdan brass: Shellholder held in bench vise, towel used to catch primer and water, Craftsman 1/4" drive nutdriver used as punch to hydraulically drive out primer from water filled case. [ the first depriming of once fired brass is a b***h, as the sealant used is very good at holding the primer in place-subsequent efforts to deprime become much easier.] Seating the berdan primers on my Redding press is done one at a time with the press priming arm. Note the 1x1 piece of wood C clamped to the bench to create a positive stop for the press arm to set a repeatable seating depth for the primers. Definitely a labor of love of reloading as imported steel 7.62x39 can be purchased at a cost that makes this effort quite silly.

[RayinNH]

Sorta like my efforts reloading berdan primed .308's. Time spent in the reloading room is happy time. Let's face it, TV is a wasteland so you might just as well be reloading/casting in between the necessary chores.

[leadman]

I place the upside down case on a dowel in the vise then use a tiny drill and make a hole on the edge of the cup just in from the side to not damage the anvil. Then an awl with a sharpened point in the hole and lever the cup out. Takes as long to write as to do.

[mdi]

Thanks for your post, I might try that sometime.
Good thing you added "labor of love", or you would have been told how much time you're wasting, and throwing a lot of money away! :mrgreen: Personally I have never "wasted time" doing anything related to reloading, even depriming Berdan primed cases. It's my hobby; no deadlines, no quotas, just fun...

[pakmc]

I do berdan primers kinda like leadman , but I make a little cold chisel out of a lineup punch that is just the size of the inside of the primer, I put the case over a upside down Lee depriming tool that in a .45 LC resizing die. sometimes I drill the primer just a little with a small bit or not, then I drive the chisel into the primer at about a 60 degree angle. I takes a little getting use to. but when I'm on a roll, I can decap 5 cases a minute. it doesn't matter what the cases are, I've decapped 8x56R, 7.62x54R, 7.62x39(but why???) 6.5x55, 7.5x55, 8mm mauser. and yes, I'm down to my last 6,000 berdan primers or so. An acquaintance use to send me 6.5x55 berdan brass and I'd reload it for my Ljungman. My eyes went bad so i sold the gun. after cataract surgy I can now see but the gun is gone and I've got about 400 rounds of 6.5x55 ammo sitting on my workbench.

[DrCaveman]

Maybe a stupid question: can you re-prime these with boxer primers?

I love my brass yugo 7.62x39 surplus ammo... And when i bought it, i figured "hey, brass cases are reloadable" until i realized the diffculties of berdan primer removal. You have lowered the difficulty of step one, but what about replacing berdan primers with boxer, of which i have a stout supply

[4306]

I have tried to pry the primers from the Yugo brass but found it to be almost impossible because of the copious amount of red-orange primer sealant used. Even with the hydraulic method, sometimes the primer will not budge and the case will "blow out" and greatly expand the shoulder/neck of the brass.

[n.h.schmidt]

I use water to decap too. That first time is made much easier if you use your primer seater to push the spent berdan primer cup up into the case first. It will only go a little way but that brakes the seal. Better yet if you can push the primer cup up crooked. Then they come easy.
n.h.schmidt

[Desertbuck]

Maybe a stupid question: can you re-prime these with boxer primers?

I love my brass yugo 7.62x39 surplus ammo... And when i bought it, i figured "hey, brass cases are reloadable" until i realized the diffculties of berdan primer removal. You have lowered the difficulty of step one, but what about replacing berdan primers with boxer, of which i have a stout supply

Boxer primers are too small to fit in Berdan primer pockets. So you are going to have to convert the cases in order to use them in a reliable manner.
I myself have just reused the Berdan primer cups by knocking them out hydraulically. I give them a quick annealing with a propane torch, using a small punch I knock the primer indentation back out. Then I repack them with homemade priming compound.

Or you can go the ultra simple route. Order the Berdan primers for around $30 a thousand, plus a hazard and handling fee of course. So order 5000 call it good.

[michiganmike]

I once owned an AK semi-auto. I shot only Tula and other steel cased ammo in it. The ejection was so violent that it put large dents in the body of the case. That would be a major impediment to reloading for that rifle at least. I never tried. I hope this is not common and that you do not encounter the problem.

[4306]

I put door edge guard sold by auto parts stores onto the rear curved edge of the ak top cover at the ejection port opening when shooting reloads to minimize the ding. The piece can be heated with a heat gun and squeezed with your fingers to form it to the cover. Silicone applied to the piece helps hold it in place-but make and bring extras. The 7.92x39 round of ammunition leads a short violent life in an ak!!

[Twmaster]

I tip my hat in salute to all of you who enjoy the process of reloading the oddities and difficult cases 'just because you can'.

I too reload berdan cases and have about 1000 primers left. I always hated it when you'd make a post like this and somebody jumps in with comments like "oh what a waste of time" or "cheaper to just go buy...".

Me, I say more power to ya man!! It's the tinkerers and experimenters having all the fun. I love reloading ammo. To me it's therapy away from my work and the giant time sink of the Internet.

So, Keep Calm. Load On! :D

[RayinNH]

Maybe a stupid question: can you re-prime these with boxer primers?

I love my brass yugo 7.62x39 surplus ammo... And when i bought it, i figured "hey, brass cases are reloadable" until i realized the diffculties of berdan primer removal. You have lowered the difficulty of step one, but what about replacing berdan primers with boxer, of which i have a stout supply

Larry Gibson did a write up about this matter. It's quite good. http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?143855-Converting-Berdan-primer-pockets-to-Boxer

[NuJudge]

I had no problem getting Yugo primers out with the RCBS tool. I bought several lots of the stuff, so maybe i was just lucky.

[dryflash3]

I also use the RCBS decapper, it works well if adjusted correctly.

I use a modified, with a stop, RCBS bench primer to prime.

Without a stop, you can seat primers too deep.

Steel cases can also be reloaded with standard lube and dies.