this is a little something i did just recently for a "what if" and "why the hell not" reasons. it is also nice to know that i can if i had to reload the steel berdan primed cases. this was done for some berdan brass cased .308 that i had laying around but figured id test it out on some steel cased 7.62x39mm.
the first thing to be done is to remove the old primer cup..
the easiest way i know of to remove a berdan primer cup is by filling the case with water and using a rod that will just slip in and whacking the rod with a hammer. this pops the primer cup right out of the case with little to no effort and you can reuse the primer cups for a later project.
the second thing to do is to remove the dimple.
you may or may not need to do this depending on if you just want to remove the anvil from a fresh primer and use the dimple instead.. i removed the dimple in my cases as it makes it easier to just use a standard decapper tool and also i would have to modify the pocket swage tool i made to clear the dimple. this might be a waste of time in reality as you can usually only get about 2 or 3 reloads out of the steel cases to begin with. probably would just be easier to just add in a small clearance hole in the swage tool to clear the dimple and then just remove the anvil out of the fresh primer and use the berdan anvil/dimple.
the 3rd thing if you removed the dimple is to drill the center flash hole in the primer pocket.
the best way i have found to get the correct size of the hole is to find a boxer case and find a bit that will just fit the center hole in the boxer case. it may also be a good idea to made a drill guide to keep the bit centered in the primer pocket. the way i did it was to drill from the inside of the case as the dimple can aid in keeping the bit centered also.
the fourth thing that needs to be done b4 you can go any further is to make the pocket swaging tool itself..
i made mine out of an old grade-8 bolt and heat treated it. the swage tool slides into the primer pocket and a small ring will press metal around the swage tool till it measures .210 and this will allow use of standard primers..
the fifth thing to do is to swage to primer pocket smaller..
measurement of pocket b4 swaging..
and measurement of pocket after swaging.
if all went well then you can now just seat a regular primer in the case.
and then you can put in the powder and the bullet and you then have a finished round that can send lead down range.
and that is pretty much all there is to reloading the steel case or other berdan 7.62x39mm.
do keep in mind that some cases will have a lot larger primer pockets. this method works ok for the .215 primer pockets but will not work for the very large pockets..