De-priming 7.62x51 NATO

[SawmillJack]

I need some help or advice. I just started back into reloading a couple years ago after a long time being away from it. I never did reload for rifle, all this time I've been strictly a handgun guy. Hanging around you guys though has now got me loading cast bullets for .303 and 7.62 NATO. I'm also preparing to try 7.5 Swiss 6.5 Carcanno and 7.62x54R and 7.35 Carcanno. So if I solve this problem I'll be right back.
I have a couple hundred 7.62x51 casings I have saved some of them 15 or 20 years. I can't get the old primers out in my Lee turret press. I have read it is a problem and I have read people say they have ran thousands with no problems. I have tried two different die sets with the same results. Is there something
that I don't know about the process? Should I just give up and buy commercial brass? Will I have better luck with a single stage press? Anybody got any suggestions?

[454PB]

I use a Lee depriming punch from my original Lee Loader, purchased over 40 years ago. It includes a base piece with a hole in it to allow the primer to drop out......kind of crude, but very effective, and you only have to do it once.

You could even make something similar by drilling a hole in a piece of metal stock for a base, then grind down a nail set or punch enough to pass through the case neck and hammer the spent primers out. I used to use a chamfering tool to cut the primer crimp out, but now use an RCBS primer pocket swage.

[Eddie2002]

Shine a flashlight down into the casings and check that they aren't berdan primed. You are looking for one flash hole in the center for boxer brass or two for berdan brass. Are you breaking the decapping pins or just not getting the primers out?

[Norbrat]

Is the brass Boxer (single flash hole) or Berdan (twin flashhole) primed?

You sure can't de-prime Berdan primed cases with standard sizing dies.

If they are Boxer primed and the crimp is making it impossible, try this tool from Lee http://leeprecision.com/decapper-base-30-caliber.html

Let's you belt them out with a hammer! :-)

Then you gotta remove the crimp in the primer pocket. There are various ways to do this; I use the Lee de-burring tool in a drill press and hold the case to it for a few seconds. Works just fine. You can do the same with a small countersink bit.

[Love Life]

Is it RA brass? That stuff is VERY hard to deprime.

[country gent]

Sizing and depriming adds extra effort to the depriming. On 7.62 that was fired in belt feed firearms It takes alot of force. Use a good case lube such as lee imperial sizing die wax on the cases. Possibly but or borrow a depriming die. No sizing is done just the primer removed. As mentioned before check to insure its boxer primed and not berdan. Alot of berdan primed has came in as surpluss the last 20 years or so. Pourtugese ball comes to mind first up. Look inside the case with a good light and see which it is boxer is one hole around .060 in the center. Berdan is 2 holes roughly .030 180 degrees apart and about .090 wide.

[MUSTANG]

Once you get the primers out, you will need to swage the primer pockets to remove the circular or stab primer crimps. I used an RCBS primer pocket swager for years like this.

http://www.midwayusa.com/product/235832/rcbs-primer-pocket-swager-combo-2

About 10 years ago I invested in a Dillon Primer Pocket Swager, If you do a lot of military brass they become worth the extra cost and more bench space required.

http://www.dillonprecision.com/content/p/9/pid/25263/catid/8/Super_Swage_600



Mustang:

[SawmillJack]

Well now I really do feel stupid. I know about Berdan but I just assumed that all NATO ammo would be boxer primed. It sure as heck is Berdan. All that worry about nothing. I don't know where it comes from but it is Berdan. The casing head is stamped 308W at top at bottom 82 and on each side O . Can't believe I saved it twenty years for this. I appreciate everyone that answered. Is there a written list somewhere with all the various head stamping codes? LoveLife what is RA brass?

[MUSTANG]

SawmillJack:

Do not throw that Berdan primed 7.62 x 51 brass out! Go see Larry Gibsons Thread on converting Berdan to Boxer. It has become quite long, but lots of good data/comments/lessons learned in the thread.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?143958-Converting-Berdan-primer-pockets-to-Boxer

P.S. If you convert your berdan to boxer , you are still going to need a Primer Pocket Swager.


Mustang

[MUSTANG]

Well now I really do feel stupid. I know about Berdan but I just assumed that all NATO ammo would be boxer primed. It sure as heck is Berdan. All that worry about nothing. I don't know where it comes from but it is Berdan. The casing head is stamped 308W at top at bottom 82 and on each side O . Can't believe I saved it twenty years for this. I appreciate everyone that answered. Is there a written list somewhere with all the various head stamping codes? LoveLife what is RA brass?


For an extensive listing of Brass Head Stamp Codes, go to:

http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=headstampcodes

You will see there that RA can be either:



RA
A/S Raufoss Ammunisjonsfabrikker, Raufoss, Norway



RA
Remington Arms Co., Bridgeport, CT




Mustang

[groovy mike]

You don't have to convert the Berdan brass to Boxer, you can just reload it with Berdan primers too. Although you will need a Berdan brass depriming tool.

[BruceB]

A few years ago my wimminfolk gave me a 400-round box of Radway Green (British) 7.62 NATO ammo.

Attempting to deprime this stuff with my RCBS Berdan decapper, I broke the point off the chisel-pointed "bit" that penetrates the primer and levers it out of the pocket. At that point, I quit. The only reason I tried this was that I had .217" Berdan primers on hand to fit the cases.

Those primers were really and truly IN THERE!

[SawmillJack]

You don't have to convert the Berdan brass to Boxer, you can just reload it with Berdan primers too. Although you will need a Berdan brass depriming tool.

I never considered that. I have never seen Berdan primers for sale around here. Where can you get them?

[oneokie]

Powder Valley Inc. did have the berdan primers in stock.

After that many years, you may want to put a few drops of a thin oil in the cases and let them soak for a few days to lube the primers for easier removal.

As to the RCBS Berdan Decapping tool, I broke 11 of the pins decapping 1700 pieces of brass. RCBS was excellent about furnishing replacement pins for free.

[Mk VII]

That RG stuff can be very hard to decap.
I used to select lots that were relatively easy, and sentence the others for scrap (I did it hydraulically).
Berdan primers can be had (RWS still sell them) but typically they will cost much more, which kinda negates the reason for reloading them in the first place. The RCBS tool isn't really designed to do military ones with the crimp (that's why it breaks)

[376Steyr]

I deprime military brass on my press as a separate operation with a Lee Decapping die. The Lee has a collet arrangement to let the decapping pin release if it hits a Berdan primer, rock, etc.

[dragon813gt]

Lee has a collet arrangement to let the decapping pin release if it hits a Berdan primer, rock, etc.

Assuming that it's not tightened down to much and you know how it should feel when decapping. Ask me how I know on both accounts ;)

I still have cases of DAG ammo. The brass gets recycled because I have enough LC brass to last a long time.

[rupe01]

Yep, Powder Valley still has them in stock i think. I got 5,000 a couple of months back