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Hope I'm in the proper section. Simple question, I'd like to know where I can buy few of these European goodies.

Wanting to reload a few AK rounds (both brass and steel) 7.62x39. Any help would be great.

Thanks a ton
 
You are so right Vinnie, lots of extra work. But like a Lemming to the sea, I've got to try it!

I've done a ton of reloading so I've got the tools, just no primers. Fort Smith seems to be out of the 762 primers.

Thanks guys
 
You are so right Vinnie, lots of extra work. But like a Lemming to the sea, I've got to try it!

I've done a ton of reloading so I've got the tools, just no primers. Fort Smith seems to be out of the 762 primers.

Thanks guys

How are you de-priming the existing used crimped beriden primers?

I get accepting a challenge just to do it, but is'nt the 7.62x39 round the lowest cost rifle round over .22 available on the market?

Again I get it just to prove ya can. Maybe take the time to convert the cases to boxer prime, this way its also easier to punch them again.
 
Our Rifle Club in high school way back in about 1966 tried to handload berdan primed brass. 30.06. Finding the exact metric berdan primers was difficult. Popping out the berdan primers was a pain in the posterior. Slow. Messy. Finally had to use a hydraulic press with water and the plunger.

But ... we did do it and the handloads shot alright. Springfield 1903A1. Long ago, far away.
 
Why don't you just buy some 7.62x39 Boxer Primed brass?

BUT ! If you insist on trying it, (like I did once), deprime them by filling them full of
water and driving a .30 cal wooden dowel into them...

More trouble than trying to reload .22 rimfire. Face bigsmyl.gif
 

This is the "hobby" part of the deal. Not done for efficiency. There are methods you can use that aren't quite as arduous as those shown in the link. What is shown here pertains to typical European Berdan cases which have a primer pocket just a taste larger in diameter than a Boxer large rifle primer. You don't need to chuck the case in a lathe. There is a tool available with a guide and a long drill bit, you drill out a new primer hole. Then with the case placed on a length of steel rod you can flatten out the original Berdan anvil. Actually, quite a bit of it goes away when you drill out the new hole. Any remaining can be flattened out with a punch. Then do the step with the ball bearing. It's actually not all that difficult. When you drill the new primer flash hole, you stop short of drilling the original Berdan primer. That gets poked out when you resize the case as you would with a Boxer primer. You will get a feel for stopping short of having the drill go on through the primer.

It's mainly putter around work for me. I do this with Austrian 8x56R and Swiss 7.5x55 cases.

The Russian and Chinese Berdan cases have larger pockets. For these, you can buy aluminum sleeves to take up the extra space. After you drill a new flash hole.

There are actually quite a few different sizes and depths of Berdan primers. Hopefully, you would concentrate on just one or two certain cartridges.

In my own efforts, I don't find it too much work for exotic or hard to get cartridges but I don't want to spend any time doing it for common ones.
 
The same company that puts out the "how to reload .22 rimfires" kit is now putting out a "berdan to boxer" conversion kit. It has a drill that fits a die and you drill out the old berdan primer post in the berdan case from the inside, knock out the old primer, ream the primer pocket and put in a stainless steel "ring" to convert it to boxer (small rifle) size. The same thing (more or less) was sold 50 or so years (OK, 40 or 50), with stainless rings you put in the primer pocket. It looks interesting and I might try it. Of course if you do this, you will need to buy a life time supply of primer pocket converters too.

The .22 reloading/repriming kit is a sick joke. Yes, it will allow you to reload your spent .22s, but there is about a 25%-50% fail to fire rate (about like some bulk ammo I could name, but then the silly people would get mad at me), accuracy, to hit a 2'x2' piece of paper, is about 6" from muzzle, and the aluminum mould/case crimper wears out in no time and is barely machined, so the bullets look pretty sad and crimping the bullet is done by guess and golly as there are stops for how far to put the case in the nut cracker "crimp" hole. After a few cases are "crimped" the aluminum "crimpers" wear quickly so you never get the same amount of crimp. Needless to say, velocity varies shot to shot and you need a range rod to knock stuck bullets, especially for rifles.
 
You guys have no sense of adventure! Do you think a buffalo hunter in the 1860's worried about reloading the easy way?

OK, so I de-cap 762 brass and steel cartridges (AK ammo) by filling with water and driving a Craftsman 1/4 " socket extension hard until the sucking primer pops out. Usually one wack does the job. That's as far as I've gotten and I've about 5,000 cases ready for the next step. Steel seems easier to de-cap than brass.
 
The .22 reloading/repriming kit is a sick joke. Yes, it will allow you to reload your spent .22s, but there is about a 25%-50% fail to fire rate (about like some bulk ammo I could name, but then the silly people would get mad at me), accuracy, to hit a 2'x2' piece of paper, is about 6" from muzzle, and the aluminum mould/case crimper wears out in no time and is barely machined, so the bullets look pretty sad and crimping the bullet is done by guess and golly as there are stops for how far to put the case in the nut cracker "crimp" hole. After a few cases are "crimped" the aluminum "crimpers" wear quickly so you never get the same amount of crimp. Needless to say, velocity varies shot to shot and you need a range rod to knock stuck bullets, especially for rifles.

Dang boy! That sounds like fun. Serve me up some O' that!....:confused:
 
For the American reloader in America......IMHO, finding a source of new berdan primers is almost like finding "unobtanium".

But then, even if I had a source?

Nope. Not for me. Especially, since there is an easier, cheaper and more available alternative. Experimentation, in this case? Is that like : Picking the possibly infected, tweeking druggie, fat and/or ugly hooker just to try?

My notes on the berdan. And, I don't know if the links still work or not.

Try finding Berdan Primers at the store or on the internet.......but, for those that want to try it........

www.dave-cushman.net/shot/berdan_supplies_dimensions.html

Note: the various sizes of the Berdan Primers.

De-Capping Berdan Primered Brass

www.surplusrifle.com/shooting2005/berdanreloading/index.asp

Then, find the Berdan primer seating tools? Humm.....I wonder IF......

Or.......Converting Berdan to Boxer Primers


De-Capping Berdan Primer Brass


Finding Berdan Primers


BERDAN Murom Brand


Aloha, Mark


PS......Ok, OK, ok......only one link still works. So.....look up the subject(s) on YouTube. You'll be surprised.
 
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I've done it all from time to time over the years: Berdan primers, converting primer pockets, reloading aluminum and steel cases.

I did it because it was interesting to me, and fun to tinker with. It all could be made to work to some degree or another, with enough tinkering and ingenuity.

I'm over it now. It's a hassle, and good Boxer brass is plentiful and easy to load. Rimfire especially is an exercise in frustration. I can't imagine why anyone would bother reloading rimfire, unless they just really enjoy the process. I've heard people say how they got a reloading kit for .22lr, so they'll never be without when the "SHTF". That's all well and good if that's what you want to do, but for myself I'd rather spend that money on a very large quantity of .22lr ammo. I'd have much better ammo, and save a few decades of reloading time.
 
Hope I'm in the proper section. Simple question, I'd like to know where I can buy few of these European goodies.

Wanting to reload a few AK rounds (both brass and steel) 7.62x39. Any help would be great.

Thanks a ton
I say kudos to @fstdraw for increasing his knowledge hands on and the fun way.
Some folk just don't understand the satisfaction that comes hands on. I'm likely to find plenty of things that do not pencil out financially in each critics lives. It would be very difficult to financially justify most hand made things with todays labor rates and material cost so what is the point in admonishing folks for their hobby. I hand loaded thousands of rounds in multiple calipers for thirty years using lee hand loader kits before I finally bought a single stage press and dies for it. I took my share of ribbing for it but they never seemed to understand it wasn't about the money. And I usually shot more than them too. Winter time on a farm leaves lots of extra time available. TV wasn't an option for me but was for my wife so I'd sit with her late at night, sometimes conversing, sometimes saying nothing while she watches the stupid thing and I hand load or work leather when the barn or shop was too cold to be productive there. Sitting still just doesn't work for some. Besides, @fstdraw will be learning things most will just read about from folk who just read about it but he will know the truth of it all and what actually can and cannot be done..
You just can't get that from a book or a blog.
 
5000 brass cases seems like it would be a good start to cash in and start loading boxer primed brass.
A man who is even considering doing that project has a lot of other projects he could be doing I'm sure. Ooops, I must be talking about myself...
 
The Wolf ammunition outfit used to import Berdan primers. I spoke with them about 2-3 months ago and was told they would be importing another batch late this year.
 
For these, you can buy aluminum sleeves to take up the extra space. After you drill a new flash hole.

Quoting myself. DON'T DO THIS. I've tried it. Followed directions, fired three shots and the third one blew out a spot in the metal adapter/spacer ring.

I originally said "aluminum" ring because that's what they looked and felt like to me. Someone else subsequently said, "stainless steel" and they may well could be. Difficult to tell on something so small and therefore inherently light.

It thought I'd experiment with some .308 Win. Russian cases I found. Not that I was short on .308 brass Boxer primed cases. Just to do it. The instructions only say to place the metal spacer ring in the primer hole, then seat a regular LR Boxer primer. My load was minimum charge. The burning powder went through the metal sleeve ring and hot plasma gas escaped against the bolt face. It ruined an expensive M14 bolt. Maybe if you soldered the ring in place, it would prevent the first little stinkling of leakage that may have developed into a cascading event. I don't know. But I'm all done with the adapter/spacer rings.

Burned away some surface areas and a couple of deep, fine burns depth unknown. Ruined extractor and ejector also.
f9Mg1Kw.jpg

Piece on right with failed primer.
iLQRKTp.jpg

These conversion rings came from the company that also sells stuff for reloading your own .22 LR.
 
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Actually the Loc-Tite glues were designed to glue primers in the case when the primer pocket got loose (this was before some one came to their senses and changed it to gluing screws in place). They advertized in Handloader magazine back in the 1960s and then someone did a test for the magazine and reported it worked just fine and accuracy was on par in his target rifle with both loose Loc-Tited primers and good brass. I've done some things that I don't now, but I never Loc-Tited primers in place to keep them from falling out like he did. I might Loc-Tite the primer adapters in to see what happens if I was to try them though.
 

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