Reloading Berdan Primed Cases

[Griff]

Ok, I give up. Is there ANY manufacturer that makes a decapper for Berdan primed cases? Specifically, 12 ga. brass Remington DU hulls. I've ruined a few too many hulls trying to just drill a new flash hole, then poke 'em out... Need another technique or proper tool.

[mikld]

http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/rcbsbe ... tions.html I've seen this type of tool but don't know of a vendor right now...

[Chuck 100 yd]

Griff, Find or make a short piece of doweling that just slips into the empty case and an O-ring that is the same size.
Put a half inch or so of water into the case.Next goes the o-ring and dowel. Set the case over a block of wood with a small hole for the primer to enter. Smack the end of the dowel with a small hammer. Wear glasses/ goggles!

[Griff]

I've seen two different RCBS tools. The one Dave Cushman gives instructions for:

... and something just called a RCBS Decapping Pin:


I'm thinking the second one is just the pry part. Not sure either would work with 12ga shotshells. Although I guess a wood dowel as an adapter might do the trick. I plan on removing the anvil from the case and then using Boxer primers... I ain't got one to work yet... don't wanna spend a lot until that part's doable.

[shooter]

http://www.ammosmith.com/general-reload ... g-tool.php

I like this ammosmith site. They have a lot of useful info. The above is a video of them using the RCBS tool for depriming berdan cases. It looks like a lot of work, but is doable.

[perry owens]

What I do with berdan primed Magtech brass shotshells is drill them out from the inside with a 15/64 drill, taking out the anvil and spent primer in one shot. You might need to rebate the primer pocket a little with a larger drill to allow the 207 primer rim to seat all the way. Easier to do if you have a small lathe to centre the case.
Perry Owens

[Griff]

What I do with berdan primed Magtech brass shotshells is drill them out from the inside with a 15/64 drill, taking out the anvil and spent primer in one shot. You might need to rebate the primer pocket a little with a larger drill to allow the 207 primer rim to seat all the way. Easier to do if you have a small lathe to centre the case.
Perry Owens

So there is enough metal there to hold a shotgun primer? Will 209s work as well?

[perry owens]

What I do with berdan primed Magtech brass shotshells is drill them out from the inside with a 15/64 drill, taking out the anvil and spent primer in one shot. You might need to rebate the primer pocket a little with a larger drill to allow the 207 primer rim to seat all the way. Easier to do if you have a small lathe to centre the case.
Perry Owens

So there is enough metal there to hold a shotgun primer? Will 209s work as well?

There is on Magtechs but I have not tried Remington hulls. Sorry for the typo - I meant to say 209s not 207s. I did find that different makes of primer have slightly different diameters. For CCI 209s I had to use a 6.1mm drill.I am not sure how many reloads these converted shells will take as Magtech quickly changed to boxer primed hulls and I only keep the berdan types as emergency backups.

I only load black powder but I did convert a number of these for a guy who loads smokeless and uses them on clays.
Perry Owens

[Machado]

I had thousands of Berdan-primed shells. This is what I did:
Removed decapping pin and rod from RCBS sizer die;
Machinist made new decapping rod with hardened steel 2 mm x 8 mm tip;
Resized shell normally in RCBS Rock Chucker press. This will punch out Berdan anvil and primer
I thought I was stressing the press a little too much, so I had an extension machined to fit my Corbin press to accept a shell holder. The Corbin has more leverage than the Rock Chucker.
After punching out the Berdan anvil, I flattened the puckered flash holes using a 4 mm steel punch.
Reamed primer pocket hole with 4 mm brad-point bit with a 2 mm tip for a perfect case.
It is a laborious process, but done only once. Since I had thousands of spent Berdan shells, it was worthwhile.
Luck.
Antonio

[Little Doc]

howdy griff,
this was posted on another site or maybe this one. i can't remember or i would refer you to it. quite interesting. i will describe it as i remember.
drill the indent in the primer with the proper size drill for a flash hole. (drill all the way thru to make a center flash hole) then drill the base of the primer off with the proper size drill (sorry i do not rmember the sizes) this leaves the sides of the original primer in the case. now use a primer pocket swadge as you would with military crimped primers. use the one for small primers. now prime with small rifle primers.
the man who posted this said he had reloaded the cases several times using the normal sizing and depriming operation. sorry ican't give more accurate details. will not be hard to figger out. thinking back i believe this is posted on castbooletsgunloads.com . approiate heading will lead you to it.
hope this helps.
Little Doc

[markinalpine]

Here's a sticky from the CastBoolits Forum: http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=143958
Converting Berdan primer pockets to Boxer
Good luck,
Mark