17 February 2015, 00:08
subsailor74Reloading Nitro Express Cases with Berdan Primers - worth the effort?
I have a fair amount of original Kynoch brass in .475 No. 2 Jeffery NE that was loaded with Berdan primers. I know it is theoretically possible to reload these cases, but I am wondering if it is worth the effort. Has anyone out there faced this question before? If so, please share what you know and what you have experienced.
17 February 2015, 01:51
dpcdBack in the dark ages I used to load Berdan cases when we couldn't get any Boxer brass; like in 7.62x39 for Nam bring back SKSs, and for the NE cases. Nowadays, no reason to do it unless you can't get Boxer brass. As you know, some old brass is brittle too, from the mercuric primers. It is not that hard to do but is still a pain compared to Boxer.
17 February 2015, 11:06
eagle27I reload Berdan primed Kynoch brass for my 404. Definitely should anneal the cases first as much of this old brass will split the necks if they haven't already on the first firing.
I made up a decapper using a spare decapping stem from a 222Rem FL sizing die and turned down one end of a piece of tough spring steel pin to fit one of the twin flash holes in the case. The other end of the pin neatly fitted into the decapper stem collet. It doesn't take long to remove the spent Berdan primers.
As a matter of interest my reloads using the Berdan primed Kynoch cases are a little more accurate than boxer primed cases.
17 February 2015, 23:39
butchloci used to do it years ago when you couldn't get boxer primed. i usually just drove a scratch awl into the primer and popped it out. wouldn't want to do it on a grand scale, but for the couple dozen rounds i used a year it worked just fine
18 February 2015, 16:34
jeffeossoif you can get the primers, then its not hard to reload -- RCBS makes the tool
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfGTvWNI43s18 February 2015, 20:39
pagosawingnutI looked on Captech Internationals site for Jamison brand brass and they don't list it. I do think I have a single case from a batch they sent me. I'll see if I can find it.