Have Berdan Primers done it to me again?

I like to shoot, and whatevers cheaper, is the way I go. I do reload, and do so mostly because I can shoot more for the same money (I really dont save anything), but I do load for a couple of guns for the precision benefits. These days, it mostly reloads. If I buy factory, its by the case. I rarely buy by the box.

Back there for awhile in the 80's and 90's, it was cheaper to buy the surplus, than it was to just buy the components (bullets, powder, and primers) to reload them. I didnt mind that in the least, and Id welcome it back. Not holding my breath there though.

Im not that hard up that Im trying to reload Berdan cases using the wrong stuff, although its a good thing to know in a pinch, especially if its all you got to get you something better. When you see "Eli" go walking by, we might be there. :)
 
Looks like you are ok, James, but check the rifle (and maybe run a patch or two through it in a couple of days, to be sure.

When it comes to milsurp ammo, ALWAYS assume its corrosive primed, unless you know for certain its not, clean appropriately, and all will be well.

If you want a way to check if its corrosive, take a round, pull the bullet, dump the powder and fire the primer so the muzzle blast hits a piece of plain steel (like a putty knife blade -they're cheap).

Clean the rifle barrel, and watch the putty knife (or whatever you use). In a standard humid environment (not a super dry desert) you will be able to see rust form on the putty knife in (usually) 24-48hrs, maybe even less if you are someplace the air is wet.

If this happens, the primer was definitely corrosive.

Hope this helps.
 
Primers don't have to be Berdans to be corrosive. U.S. .30 M2 was corrosively primed.
The water doesn't have to be boiling hot. Hot tap water will do. you'll only have an issue if the rifle is taken in from the cold and there's condensation. The salts do not automatically cause rust. Rust needs moisture to start. And don't forget to flush the gas system if there is one.
 
I strongly suggest that drilling a Berdan primer anvil out of the case in order to create a center hole for a Boxer primer punch must be undertaken with great caution.

The reason is that you end up with three flash holes or even one overlarge hole, letting more of the primer flash into the case than would normally be the situation. That can ignite the powder in an unpredictable manner and cause high pressures, or have the primer itself destroyed and high pressure gas let loose in the bolt or receiver.

In the U.S., the easiest and safest way to deal with Berdan primed fired cases is simply to discard them, both because of the difficulty of reloading them and because they often have odd-size Berdan primers that are not available even from sources that have standard sizes.

FWIW, I totally agree that the physical primer type (Boxer or Berdan) is a totally different issue from the priming composition (corrosive/non-corrosive, mercuric/non-mercuric). Also the outside condition of the case has nothing to do with the primer composition. Some sellers of ammunition, for example, have advertised some kinds as being "non-corroded" (which was true) but which the customer could easily understand as "non-corrosive" (which it was not, it rusted bores all over).

Jim
 
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I've always been of the opinion that converting Berdan primed cases so they take Boxer primers should only be done if there are no Boxer primed cases available, or convertible to the caliber you are reloading.

Reloading Berdan primed cases is certainly possible (Assuming you can get the correct Berdan primers), and once you have decaped the fired case, they reload about the same as Boxer primed cases.

There are three ways I know of to decap Berdan cases. First is to use some kind of tool to "dig out" the fired primer. There are (or were) tools made just for this.

Another way is to fill the fired case with water, a tight fitting punch as a hydraulic ram, and let water pressure drive the fired primer out. This works, but is a bit messy. It is, however cheap.

The third way I heard of us expensive, but easier in terms of labor. I forget who made it, but I have seen a device you put the fired case in, and then a Boxer primer, which was fired to drive the Berdan primer out of the fired case.

Boxer/Berdan has nothing to do with corrosive/non-corrosive. The only real link is that today, finding boxer primed corrosive ammo is rare, and finding corrosive Berdan primed ammo is common.
 
The only time I ever tried this conversion I used a rod and a backing stud to pound the integral anvil flat, which largely closed the Berdan flash holes.

I then used a drill to drill out a properly sized central flash hole, and reamed the primer pocket to take a large rifle primer (the existing Berdan primer pocket was slightly larger than a small rifle primer).

It worked, but I kept loads rather sedate.
 
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