Converting berdan primer to boxer in the 223 rem brass anyone?

[brstevns]

Has anyone tried converting the 223rem berdan primed brass to boxer primers? If so what size drill bits did you use etc. ?

[DukeInFlorida]

waste of time, in my humble opinion.
Not worth having a single issue, for the sake of screwing around with that stuff.

[I'll Make Mine]

Has anyone tried converting the 223rem berdan primed brass to boxer primers? If so what size drill bits did you use etc. ?

Since the primers you'll be using are the same (small rifle) as in the sticky, the drill bits should be the same as well.

[brstevns]

Since the primers you'll be using are the same (small rifle) as in the sticky, the drill bits should be the same as well.

Thanks for the reply. I was thinking that they should be the same size.

[RU shooter]

What flavor of 223 brass has berdan primers? Only stuff I've seen is the Russian steel cased stuff

[Dschuttig]

Who has small rifle berdan primers?

[tomme boy]

South African was berdan.

[MtGun44]

You can make a chisel into a screwdriver and make a chisel from a file, but why would
you?

PITA at minimum and lots and lots of cheap .223/5.56 brass with boxer pockets out
there. Assuming the same diam is a pretty wild assumption. Understand that the
berdan folks and the boxer folks have nothing in common, no cross specifications or
intent to be compatible in any way. If they fit it is blind luck. I think there are at least
30-40 different berdan sizes, probably way more. No real standards, unlike boxer.

Bill

[izzyjoe]

waste of time, in my humble opinion.
Not worth having a single issue, for the sake of screwing around with that stuff.

there's to much cheap or free brass around.

[longbow]

Got curious so did a search and according to this:

http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/ber...imensions.html
http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/boxerprimers.html

The Berdan is larger diameter than small rifle. Same holds true for larger Berdan/large rifle so the primer pocket has to be lined or swaged.

If you are bent on doing conversion you might try this technique:

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearm...l#.UGKRZGLM5js

I tried the hydraulic depriming method with no success no matter what I did. It seems to work for some but I certainly didn't get any primers out of brass with it. The hook/pry method shown in the above link works well though. I have used it for .303 Berdan primed brass just to try it.

Since the hook/pry depriming is so easy I thought I might try just flattening the anvil or machining it off and use the Boxer primers without altering flash hole. It is more work to alter the flash hole but afterwards less work to size and deprime.

There is so much 5.56 Nato/.223 around though I have to wonder why you would convert.

I only considered it for .303 because it is not so common and I picked up a whack of Berdan primed brass.

Longbow

[brstevns]

Very simple. To see if I can do it and how it works out. The fact I am on a fixed income and cannot afford even the cheap brass is also a factor.

[longbow]

If you have time but not money then your plan is a sound one. It may be some work to convert brass but once done it should give you pretty good life.

I forgot to mention that I took a real simple approach and for .303 again, I used a piece of 5/16" round bar in a vice to hold the brass while I deprimed it with the hook & pry method ~ it goes pretty quick. With .223 brass you would need smaller round bar or drill a hole in some scrap wood to drop the brass in but so it is snug around the head. That should give enough support. Either way should work fine depending on what you have to work with.

I made a simple tool to machine off the anvil or you can simply use a punch and hammer to flatten it which will also plug the Berdan holes as material is displaced. For that you need a steel rod inside the cartridge to support it while you hammer/punch.

If memory serves, that is the method explained in the link I attached. There were a two or three similar methods but at least one of the links is dead. You might do a search on the internet to check out other possible techniques too. It never hurts to look at other people's ideas.

Oh, another thought if you haven't seen the thread:

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=143958

Larry Gibson wrote up a method as well. It is for large rifle primer but there may be good info that will help you out. It is a somewhat different approach to the same end as the link I attached above.

Good luck and happy shooting! You will probably get much satisfaction from shooting brass you salvaged and put a little work into. Something else you did yourself.

Longbow

[Oreo]

I'm gonna have to suggest that this makes no sense even if you have lots of time and no money. There's plenty of FREE 5.56 brass out there. I say your time would be be better spent searching gun forums for non-reloading folks willing to send you their 1x fired cases. When I started reloading I quickly accumulated a few thousand cases this way without even trying. Not to mention the steady supply I see on the ground at the local range. I've never spent a penny on 5.56 brass.

[brstevns]

I wish to thank a couple of very special people , that through the kindness of their hearts have sent to me some very nice 223 boxer primed brass. I cannot thank these two gentlemen enough. God Bless you both, you know who you are.