Self Deleted
Self Deleted
The ring crimps are very hard to decap . The India and Pac made 303 is nearly impossible to water decap. You really have to hit with a solid blow and big hammer.Even then it may not work. Some 303 cases are easy though. SA. & FN cases use .217 primers and not much for a crimp. The 7.5 Swiss cases decap easy and if you have berdan primers you are good. Top of the heap for case quality too.
n.h.schmidt
I just went through this with 80 or so WWII vintage 8x56r cases, as well as a couple 7.5x55 that I had lying around.
Some notes:
1) Hydraulic decapping did not work on these for me. Once I cut the primers out with a flat-faced drill, the pockets were still completely filled with priming compound; perhaps if I had let them soak overnight, this method would have worked better.
2) I cut the primers out with a 7/32" drill ground to cut flat, with a relief for the Berdan anvil. I was able to pry the remaining ring of the old primers out with a small screwdriver.
3) Flattened the anvils with an RCBS primer pocket swager in an RC press. RCBS tools are not designed for this; I had previously bent a rod (replaced with long grade 8 1/4"-28 bolt turned to .30) and there was enough variation in the case head thickness that I deformed the spuds for the swager as well. Not a huge issue for me; I will request replacements from RCBS and make up a couple from hardened 4140 when I have the correct dimensions. RCBS seems to make these from a case-hardened mild steel which is not up to this task.
4) Drilled the primer pockets to .221 (#2 drill), glued in a .22 case with green Loctite. Drilled the primer hole .078 (#47 drill). Drilled a start for the primer pocket reamer with a #4 drill (.209). Cleaned up flash hole with flash hole deburrer and primer pocket with LR primer pocket uniformed.
5) 1/2" collet chuck makes batch processing brass for this fairly straightforward, particularly with rimmed cases. Given the amount of effort, I would not consider doing this for brass that is readily available.
It remains to be seen whether this all was worth the effort but it was a decent way to spend a couple days on the weekend.
Anything is worth it if it is enjoyable. (and Legal)
To be honest, I have not read every post, yes I'm lazy, sometimes anyway.
The company that sells the reloading stuff for .22LR is now selling stuff to convert Berdan to Boxer.
I ordered a set, among most of every thing else they sell but have not received anything from them yet.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |