7.62x54r

[legend]

HI,i have a mosin and a huge batch of the steel/copper washed berdan primed emptys,i was going to see if i could pop out primers with water,drill out new primer hole,and load with boxer primers.....

i think the berdan primer is larger than the boxer...so...what have you used or what should i try?/

thanks for any help

[warf73]

HI,i have a mosin and a huge batch of the steel/copper washed berdan primed emptys,i was going to see if i could pop out primers with water,hydrolic pressure shoulds pop them primers right out, sounds time comsuming but do able dillion makes a primer swaging tool for berdan primers drill out new primer hole,and load with boxer primers.....

i think the berdan primer is larger than the boxer no they are same size ...so...what have you used or what should i try?/

thanks for any help

Maybe that will help?

[elk hunter]

Legend,

Yes it can be done but is it worth doing? There is a long thread on this very subject somewhere on the forum, I just don't remember the exact spot.

I've converted some Berdan cases to Boxer by chucking the case in the lathe and used a small center drill to pierce the primer cup and then pry the cup out, next I use a 1/4" end mill to remove the Berdan anvil, next the small center drill is used to make a new center flash hole, to finish the job I turn down a common Boxer case head/primer pocket to .255 just a little longer than the old Bredan primer pocket depth and part it off and then press it in to the Berdan primer pocket and face it off flush with the end of the case and chamfer the new primer pocket. If I were to do this again I'd look for some brass tubing the right size rather than turning down a Boxer case for it's primer pocket. If this sounds like a lot of work it is, but sometimes it's worth it for a scarce case.

[mike in co]

dillion makes a primer swaging tool for berdan primers drill out new primer hole,and load with boxer primers.....
Maybe that will help?

dillon maks swaging tool FOR BOXER PRIMERS......( TO REWORKED CRIMPED PRIMER POCKETS....not to rework a berdan to a boxer).

[lunicy]

I have drilled out (on a lathe) the copper washed cases and installed shotgun primers. Obviously reload low pressure lead loads. I have done it, but I am a tinkerer. It's not really worth it, but it is possible.

[Avery Arms]

Sounds like a massive waste of time to me, just load them up and fire then put them in the garbage. Even after all that work you still have a crappy half century old steel case that will probably crack on the 1st or 2nd firing.

Get some PRVI and shoot it up and bingo you have boxer primed brass cases.


PP

[Ricochet]

Yeah, and I'd just load up those primed cases, shoot 'em, rinse out my barrel as with corrosive milsurp ammo, and do whatever you do with fired Berdan corrosive primed steel cases.

[legend]

thanks to all of you,it sounds like it would be a huge pain to do.and i believe i will just scrap the idea,and look around for boxer cases.

this was not the first bad idea i have come up with.

thanks to all.

[jhrosier]

.....this was not the first bad idea i have come up with.....

If you can't come up with two or three wacky ideas a week, you are just not trying hard enough.:kidding:

Jack

[Harry O]

Quite a few years ago, I did decap some Berdan primed cases. I could not get boxer primed cases at the time at any cost.

You will have to machine a metal rod exactly the same size as the inside of the neck. Close won't work. I did mine before sizing, but it could be done after sizing as long as the rod was machined for the after dimension.

The process was messy. When you hit it, it will either decap the primer and squirt water out the bottom, OR, it will not seal enough and spray water out the top (when that happens, the primer either won't decap or will partially decap).

I got some Berdan primers for reloading. They were fairly expensive (4 or 5 times more than Boxer primers from memory). Also from memory, Boxer primers were too small to be used in the existing hole (not to mention the nubbin in the Berdan case that takes the place of an anvil).

A lot of work for little reward.

[docone31]

http://users.ameritech.net/mchandler/primer.html

[Three44s]

The author of the above link is using brass cases but the subject cases here are steel?

Thought I should note this for Legend.

I bought a bunch of Privi brass for my Mosins this spring and have not been sorry.

Three 44s

[legend]

thanks again to all for the info/advise.

i do have a bunch of brass cases also.

thanks for the link,that might be just the ticket;(lots of time , no money)

[warf73]

dillon maks swaging tool FOR BOXER PRIMERS......( TO REWORKED CRIMPED PRIMER POCKETS....not to rework a berdan to a boxer).

Yes very true I did miss read that. Disreguard my post I'm on wrong primer typers sorry about that.

[Casting Timmy]

Once I did see a youtube.com video showing some guy reloading berdan primered steel case ammo for his ak47. When the die punched out the primer it was also punching a hole for hte boxer primer. So all of his rounds had 3 holes in them! It was also something else to see steel cases going into that resizing die.

I definitely wouldn't think about trying it, but it was something I saw once.

[JIMinPHX]

I tried that with some brass Berdan cases. Some things that I tried worked. Others didn't. You can see my results here -
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=50789