What do you guys do with your steel cased berden primed shells?

[Animal]

I've kept every one that I can find. I know some people like to reload them, but it looks like too much of PITA to do for the cost of new. Should I just throw them in my bucket of wheel weight clips and carry it to the scrap metal guys? or is there another option? I need to do something with them because they are slowly starting to take over my house. :-(

[slide]

I pitch them in the scrap bucket.

[ShooterAZ]

Scrap bucket. I'm not gonna put any steel cases in any of my dies.

[freebullet]

If they aren't rusted it would be nice of you to post them free for shipping cost in swappin n sellin section. I reload non-rusted Berdan steel for 7.62x39 because I pick them up free. Don't make sense to throw away usable goods even if they are low value. I save brass for calibers I don't own and either donate or trade it. They aren't garbage to some folks. I reload boxer primed steel for low power 223 also. Makes for ultra cheap plinking ammo.

[rmatchell]

the tula 9mm and 45acp steel case load just fine. I have not tried loading the 7.62x39 steel cases yet but did order a set of Lee RGB dies just for that purpose. Just waiting for it to warm up long enough to get out again.

[EDG]

I have loaded steel cases and did not care for it.
I buy no ammo with steel cases. Many people leave steel cases at the range but I do not pick them up.
I do pick up berdan brass cases though.

[NavyVet1959]

I've reloaded .223 with steel cases and Boxer primers. Just did it to see if it could be done in a pinch.

Here's a video of someone converting Berdan cases to Boxer cases. He's using brass, but it should work with steel also.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=AkKJfvMyuDg

[Eddie2002]

Been reloading brass berdan primed 30-06 casings for a few years now. I've picked up and kept a lot of steel cases but nothing in 30-06 yet. Most of the steel cases at the range are in .223 caliber. I would give it a try if some 30-06 came my way just to see how it would work. Don't think I would fool around with steel hand gun ammo, regular brass is too easy to come by.

[Safeshot]

Loading steel and aluminum cased .45 auto, .38 Special, .380 auto, and 9mm boxer primed cases are good for "one time reloading". It is especially good to fire this ammo "in the woods", over water, at a range where they do not let you "pick up your fired cartridge cases", or anywhere that you cannot pick up the fired cartridge cases.

[upnorthwis]

I'm the volunteer in charge of cleaning our club rifle range. I sweep the steel ones off the slab where they rust and disappear in short order. But I'm the guy that will be dumpster diving for brass cases.

[gandog56]

Yep. I toss them. Just too hard to decap Berdan Primers. And for too long you couldn't even get Berdan primers hardly. Every once in a while I would see some for outrageous prices on Gunbroker. Now that Tulammo sells them here maybe give the idea a rethink for brass cases. But I had a problem getting good neck tension on some Boxer steel cases once. After sizing I think the steel was kind of springing back a bit.

[WILCO]

I buy no ammo with steel cases. Many people leave steel cases at the range but I do not pick them up.
I do pick up berdan brass cases though.

Ditto for me.

[fatboy]

I have loaded a bunch and shot em up where I wasn't going to pick up brass. I did it just to figure out the process if I need it. but I have talked to people who have had them separate and one fella ended up in the hospital when the bolt from his .223 rifle caught him in the head on the way past. but I believe he was loading them multiple times. my final analysis is it is ok one time and leave em lay if you cant find brass .223. the 45s I have had no problems with multiple loadings but straight wall probably has something to do with that. but I still stick to the one time only rule now, due to the work hardening of the steel and I kinda like the idea of not adding extra pain to my day.

[Donor8x56r]

I used few buckets of those instead of gravel under my patio stones-work just fine.

[TheGrimReaper]

I pitch them in the scrap bucket.

Yep! Same here.

[brstevns]

I load them 308 and 7.62x54r. If you don't want them send them to me.

[gutpile]

same here 308 and 7.62x54R i would take them trade perhaps

[Alan in Vermont]

I see thousands (literally) of steel, berdan primed, 7.62x39 empties go across our range. One arms distributor uses our place for testing compatibility of guns/mags, it is common for them to blow through one or more 1500 rd tests every week. If anybody wants those steel cases I'd be happy to box and ship them to you for the cost of packaging and shipping.

[koehn,jim]

Scrap bucket.

[goofyoldfart]

Alan in Vermont : I don't know if my pm to you was received or not. If not, let me know and I will resend. 7.62 x39 and 9mm both would be fine. God Bless to you and yours.

Goofy aka Godfrey

[Bullshop Junior]

I don't even bother picking them up. Nor aluminum.

[skeet1]

I leave them lay and let nature take care of them.

Ken

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Our rifle & pistol club has about 1,700 members. The steel cases were actually starting to mound up in front of the firing points, so on one work day the volunteers were issued those very strong magnets that are used to retrieve items accidentally dropped overboard from boats. They really did a good job of picking up the cases and several 55 gal. drums of the stuff was sold for scrap. Early on in my reloading adventures I had several boxes of WW II steel cased .45 ACP, and wondered if it couldn't be reloaded. I was cautioned by the more knowledgeable that resizing them would ruin my dies, but when I got to comparing the cost of a set of dies to the cost of a few loaded boxes of ammo I figured that I'd come out ahead even if the dies were ruined. I carefully cleaned the empties and successfully reloaded them, and subsequently loaded them 5-6 times before some of them cracked. The WW II stuff was corrosively primed and had some sort of zinc based wash coating on the exterior, and I eventually noticed that although the exteriors still looked pretty good the inside of the cases were rusty. That caused me to trash most of the remaining cases, although I do still have a few head stamped RA 43 and 43. Internal rusting may not be a problem with the more modern stuff, although much of the Eastern Bloc ammo was corrosively primed and it's only in the last few years that they've been persuaded to go non-corrosive for the American market. Something to think about. I really enjoyed the primer pocket conversion video. Thanks for posting it.

[Lee]

Scrap bucket.