Pardon my ignorance but:
Why do armies around the world use Berdan primers, and the rest of us use Boxer primers?

Commercial ammunition in the USA (for us civilians ) has always been made with Boxer primers because of the large amount of reloaders.
In Europe, the trend has recently been to shift to Boxer primers and away from Berdan, mainly because of reloaders IMHO. The military could care less about handloaders, and the go for the
most easily manufactured case, which is the Berdan (integral anvil) Hope this answers your question

reloader-1

If you REALLY want to know, I recommend doing some Civil War-era research on Colonel Edward Mounier Boxer, a British officer, and Colonel Hiram Berdan, an American officer. In short, we (Americans) ended up using "their" primer, and they (Europeans) ended up using "ours." It's a neat bit of history.

Happy reading.

Russ

[ 01-17-2003, 07:11: Message edited by: Russell E. Taylor ]

No No No!
I put the question wrong.
Why does the military use berdan primed brass when all civilian brass is boxer primed.
There must be a perfectly good rason for this?

Dane,
Any ammo, both civilian and military, made in this country have the boxer primers. The German army started with Berdan primers when they first started using metallic cartidges. At that time, as Germany went, so went Europe. I understand they started switching to the boxer primers when the NATO European members want part of the contracts to supply ammo. This is according one of the gun magazines sometime back.

I think it has something to do with the civilian use of military cartridges in certain countries.

In South Africa all military ammo (as far as I know) is manufactured by PMP (part of Denel). PMP also manufactures ammo for the local civilian market. Although the same brass cases are used, the headstamps differ and civilian ammo has boxer primers and the military ammo has berdan primers.

In theory, it would therefore not be that easy for me to commit a crime and leave cartridge cases on the scene implicating the South African Government.

In practice it works a bit different as a substantial amount of government weapons and ammo is stolen every year. But that is a different topic.....

Johan

FNM produces in Boxer and in Berdan, other companies will go the two lanes, civilian and military.
This has something to with a more consistent and relyable ignition of the two-flashhole Berdan, I think. Maybe the ignition system (primer) is cheaper (no extra anvil) as well.

The world's largest assortment of Berdan primers is produced by the Russian "Murom Apparatus Producing Plant"; non-corrosive, heavy-metal-free, thermo-stable (-50�C to +80�C). Whatever you want. Every size you want (from 4,50 to 6,47 mm). They are very interested in export sales.

I wonder why Americans just won't take notice of this fact.

Sigh
Carcano

carcano91:

Perhaps it's because we use Boxer type cases....

carcano91:

Does MAPP have a website? Do you know how they could be contacted?

Federal State Unitary Enterprise
Murom Apparatus Producing Plant
P/o 17 Murom, Vladimir Region
RUS-602267 Russia

Tel. 09234 6-17-07 and 6-08-10
Fax 09234 6-02-52 and 6-08-85

Email: root@pribor.mourom.elcom.ru

But I would rather fax on business stationery than email...

Regards, C.

Thanks Carcano91!

carcano91:

What method/equipment are you using to deprime your Berdan brass?

There is a German-made copy of a Swedish depriming tool, mounted on a wooden board. Uses an excentric depriming rod, and works well with non-crimped primers. Strong military primer crimps bend and break the rod tips (which for god reason come in a plastic bag of 5 or 10 ).

I have also tried the RCBS "Lachmiller" decapping tool and hate it. Bad design, stupid ergonomics and shabby quality.

Regards,
Carcano