Berdan primed cases remedy

[Viperplt]

I was reading an article in a new reloading magazine and I ran across an article on converting berdan primed cases to boxer primed. I have a bunch of 8×56R wartime cases that are berdan primed. I pulled the bullets and ran them into my 8X50R die to resize them and can use them once with the berdan primer. The last paragraph of the article states "The MSRP for the Sharp Shooter conversion kit is $39.95; 100 sleeves cost $14.95. Visit 22lrreloader.com for more information." I went on the site and you have to click on the Berdan Reloader tab to see the kit.

 

[Twicepop]

You stated these are wartime cases, I presume WWII is that correct? If they're that old, they're most likely corrosive at their best and maybe mercuric as well depending on country of origin and age . If mercuric, shooting them will ruin the brass for any further usage, as well as put minute amounts of mercury through the bore of your rifle. I read an article a long time back (40 +years) dealing with this subject. It was for a foreign made rifle that it was impossible to get boxer primed brass for at the time. They used a Lachmiller hook tool to get the corrosive Berdan primers out, used a internal mandrel to support the case web and a punch to flatten the primer anvil on the case. The primer pocket was trued, a flash hole drilled and the sleeve/bushing was pressed in the the primer pocket to get the proper diameter. Then it was primed, charged and the bullets pressed in so the gun could be fired. A helluva lot of work, but back then that was their only option to get the gun to fire without the corrosive components originally loaded into the ammo.

 

[Dusty Stevens]

Id say a rifle you can only get ww2 vintage berdan brass for should just be displayed in a shadowbox

 

[joshb]

Id say a rifle you can only get ww2 vintage berdan brass for should just be displayed in a shadowbox

Well ur no fun!

 

[pirate ammo]

Id say a rifle you can only get ww2 vintage berdan brass for should just be displayed in a shadowbox

PPU makes it, I got two boxes of PPU 8X56R packed in Hornady boxes, figure that one out, bought that way.

 

[D-4297]

That's easy Pirate . Hornady made ammo for that caliber back when , as they made ammo for the 7.62 x 54r , Mosin-Nagant . Initially ; they had Berdan primers , for what-ever reason , and at some point , switched over to Boxer primers . Hornady quit making the M-N not to long ago , to my knowledge , but there is still some floating around , with a steel case . The Hornady M-N was considered to be of "Match Grade" , and pricy for the period .

 

[pirate ammo]

That's easy Pirate . Hornady made ammo for that caliber back when , as they made ammo for the 7.62 x 54r , Mosin-Nagant . Initially ; they had Berdan primers , for what-ever reason , and at some point , switched over to Boxer primers . Hornady quit making the M-N not to long ago , to my knowledge , but there is still some floating around , with a steel case . The Hornady M-N was considered to be of "Match Grade" , and pricy for the period .

I had a case of the Hornady 7.62X54,steel cases for sure,the 8X56 is PPU marked brass, guessing Hornady got it from them.

 

[Viperplt]

I have a STEYR M.95 straight pull rifle that I have had for a couple of years. I picked up a couple of clips of 8X56R rounds and discovered it was in the original chambering of 8X50R as I read in a couple of forums that the 8X56R would not chamber in a 8X50R rifle being a greater diameter bullet .330 versus .323. As 8X56R rounds are still available but not 8X50R I went on a hunt for reloading dies. I found some on ebay recently and ended up paying close to what I bought the rifle for but I was ready to reload for it. You can form cases from the 7.62X54R and I have 20 formed cases that I reload for it. I first sized some of the 1938 nazi marked 8X56R cases and shot them with a light load and immediately cleaned the rifle afterwards as the primers of that era are corrosive but it would have been shot with that era ammo before. My only reason to post this was there is now a viable option to convert berdan primed cases to boxer for a lot of old rifles.