Removing bedan primers

I have a bunch of 8mm Lebel ammo on strippers. Hotchkiss machine gun,
I remover the heads and powder(square silver flakes).
I went through 48 of them.
Tried to fire off the primers, and not one fired. (Good thing I didn't for the machine gun to go with the ammo)
Good hard hits. Big dent.
I tried the hydraulic method and they didn't come out. Strong crimp.
I have the RCBS berdan primer remover, but kind of wondering if I should try it.
I hoping the primers are dead, but don't want one to go off while I'm depriming.
I want to see if I can reuse the shells for Cast boolets. Like to see if I can modify to boxer prime.

Why? Buy new brass from Starline.

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Originally Posted by bangerjim

Why? Buy new brass from Starline.

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Because they don't make 8mm Lebel.

do a searce here big writeup on converting to boxer primers

Graf and Son has Privi 8MM Label brass in stock for $37.00 for 50. https://www.grafs.com/retail/catalog...ategoryId/792?

and it's pretty good brass too.
the lebel bullets are worth having since they ain't 323.

I have seen punches made with 2 small pins on location ( usually drill blanks or shanks from drill bits) this punch with a cup can be used to push the primers out. You have to manual alighn and insert the punch so the pins enter the holes though. But to do this you need to get the primer out of 1 case first to get dimensions. This punch can be made in a drill press once you have the case. a slip fit rod slightly snug in the neck. Clamped square up. slide case on and with the appropriate size drill drill thru the first flash hole and a second drill shank in the hole thru the lash hole to maintain alighnment. Drill second hole and remove rod. polish the rod to a sliding fit and the pins down a little for clearance. then lock tite in place and let cure.

How common are Berdan primers these days and I believe there are a couple of different sizes for large rifle. You'd best look into the PPU brass and save yourself a migraine

I have the Brass from Graf. Good brass.
I have so many of these, and it looks like good solid brass. Plus they were free.
I didn't count, but I think it's around 50 strippers. I think is was 49 rounds each.
Hate to waste them.
I also have a bunch of K31 Swiss bedan brass.
I'm going to put on safety glasses, a face shield, ear plugs, welding gloves, and wrap a towel around the shell, and see what happens.
If i can do a few,I can see what is needed to convert to boxer.
I did see the posting on converting them.
There is also some information on the web I found.
Even keeping the powder. I'm sure I can work up some loads to use it.

It should be safer to remove them then boxer primers because the anvil is integral to the case. I've removed live boxer primers w/ no issue. But they weren't crimped in.

There was a fellow on another forum a couple of years ago that made a video about removing them with water. He would fill the cases about 2/3 full and run them into an M die in his reloading press. No problem at all, they'd pop right out. Only draw back that I could see was that after his de-priming session everything around was wet including his press, bench top, etc. He had a bucket under the press to catch much of what went onto the floor. Look around and you might find the video -- he was hailed as a genius at the time.

Years ago I bought one of the Lachmiller RCBS tools and tried to de-prime military Berdan primed brass. I destroyed a lot of brass and never got it to work with the crimped stuff. Apparently they work fine for European sporting cartridges that aren't crimped. Another option, very time consuming and labor intensive, is to drill out the centers of just the primer cup and then collapse the walls inward, remove the rest of the cup, and then ream out the crimp.

I'll add my voice to the chorus advising that it really isn't worth your time and that newly made Boxer primed brass is a better way to go. You could finance the purchase by selling the old military stuff to collectors.

Having converted many Lebel with shotgun primers for cast laods I welcomed Privi and use them now. But if you insist squirt wd 40 into each case and set up for 1 week then the primers will be dead. But the crimped in primers will still be a tough go to get out. I simply clamp the cases in a collet and then bore them out with a reamer that cuts the hole for the 209 primer. A second reamer makes the cut for the rim of the primer. There modified cases will hold fine up to 10 grains of Unique or 12 of Red Dot but I never use them for full loads.

I also have gobs of Berdan primed brass and have spent lots of time and energy trying to efficiently remove the primers.
No real success to report. I did get a few out, but nothing like a way to accomplish it. The crimped primers (most of what I have) were a total bust, and only twelve noncrimped were extracted without damage to the case or tool. The successes were done similar to KCSOs method.
Like you I enjoy a challenge and hate to waste perfectly good brass, but the bucket of Berdan brass is still growing.

I use the RCBS berdan primer tool to remove the berdan primers in 7.5x55 swiss and 7.62x54
and never had a primer go off. The 8mm Lebel and the Italian military brass have crimped
in primers that take a lot of effort to remove, but it can be done. You have to adjust the punch
on the tool so it just punches the edge of the primer, if you punch the primer in the firing pin
detent you risk chewing up the anvil in the center of the case. I use two of the RCBS tools and
have them adjusted for the cases I load for. Once adjusted it decaps a case almost as fast as a
press.
webfoot

Cheap easy way.

https://youtu.be/oWagF9-pyb0

I did not read all, but Berdan primers are very hard to find these days states side. When found they are VERY pricy, like outer space price; $2-5 each. Buy new brass. I took out a bunch of those primers years ago, hydraulic worked on some. RCBS tool worked on some, other I cut out in a lathe. good luck