Change the primer to cure Corrosive Ammo

jeanlikethis

jeanlikethis

Regular
Rating - 100%
40   0   1
Location
Ontario
Feels like the corrosion factor comes from primer the ammo uses.

I planned to change the primer of my 762x54R surplus, and install a SP bullet to make it a non-corrosive hunting round. I found some large rifle Berdan primers, but the only pain would be removing the old live corrosive primer safely, might need to use hydraulic way.

Any one did this before? I mean replacing the primer....
 
I gotta ask. Why are you going to the trouble? If for the fun of it and part of the hobby, I get it. But why not buy commercial hunting ammo? It seems you are going a very long way round to get a simple result. Steel cased ammo isn't suited for reloading anyway.
 
Personal hobby.. mainly, want to do something to keep hands and the press busy... I saw someone use steel case to reload and it is bearable. May cause more wear and tear to the dies as the steel cases are hard beneath the copper wash.
 
Aye, if you are going to hunt, you're not going to be dumping 880 round crates into the bush every season lol
That's the whole point of cheap surlus ammo in the first place, you can shoot A LOT for not that much money!
It can surely be done, but bear in mind almost all surplus commie ammo is berdan primed (the primer "anvil" is formed right into the case) and not easy at all to reload.
That equals a lot of pain and trouble for not a lot of payoff in my opinion IF it can even be done.

Buy two boxes of 7.62x54R Commercial SP ammo to last you 3 years of hunting and then spend the rest on another crate of 880 rounds for long storage Sir.
 
I would be tempted to pull the bullet and reload the powder and bullet in a new boxer primed case, if you must shoot non-corrosive primers.
 
I would just buy commercial SP ammo if you really want non-corrosive. At the most, I would pull the FMJ bullet and substitute an SP of the same weight and deal with the residue from corrosive primers through proper cleaning procedures.
 
jeanlikethis said:
Actually I have a plan of making all my GP11 Berdan brass to work with the boxer primer. Investigating the reliable routine and put into practices.
Click to expand...

I did that to a bunch of GP11 several years ago. It was time consuming but it worked. Biggest issue for me was once fired the rings I swage into the primer pockets were coming out and I have to re swage a new ring into every second one.

After that I just bought new ppu brass and threw the converted cases into the scrap pile.
 
Tinman204 said:
I did that to a bunch of GP11 several years ago. It was time consuming but it worked. Biggest issue for me was once fired the rings I swage into the primer pockets were coming out and I have to re swage a new ring into every second one.

After that I just bought new ppu brass and threw the converted cases into the scrap pile.
Click to expand...

One more option is that you could reload with the Berdan primer.
 
tjhaile said:
I would just buy commercial SP ammo if you really want non-corrosive. At the most, I would pull the FMJ bullet and substitute an SP of the same weight and deal with the residue from corrosive primers through proper cleaning procedures.
Click to expand...

My concern was cleaning the rifle in wild is not that practical. Can't afford cleaning the bore every time fired. I may just think too much at all.
 
If I was going to hunt with a 7.62x54R bolt action rifle, i would just pull the FMJ bullet and seat a soft point of similar weight.

The primer would leave salt, but in a bolt rifle it is so easy to use a patch with a special salt dissolving solvent (water) and then clean as usual with solvent and oil.

Scrubbing the barrel of a bolt rifle with some water is a no brainer. Soldiers did it for many years. The barrel has to be cleaned after shooting any way, so dipping a patch in water is not difficult.
 
I'm all for fun expiriments. If your doing it for fun have at'er.
If your going for inexpensive now, I'd get the mfs soft point.

I need to find the time to do these things
 
May be you are right. Save the trouble to replacing the primers and just keep a patch and a bottle of water with you in jungle. One more reason I would like disassemble a original 762x54R is to re-scale the powder. This may help to bring more accuracy in hunting.

I am a little bit regret purchasing many surp ammo of 7.62x39. I was planning to shot the sks but it turned out cleaning a semi is 10 times more work than a bolt.
 
I do it with the brass cases that are often found. I made up a single pin punch out of a cheap brass punch from Princess Auto. I drilled an off center hole in the end and inserted a piece of drill stem that will fit into the flash holes. The pin shouldn't protrude any more than necessary say around 8mm at most. I have found a lot of the powder in those cases to be very compacted to one side. When I install the cartridge into the kinetic puller and hammer the bullet loose it usually loosens up the powder enough to pour easily. I have never had an issue with consistency by recycling the powder in those cases.

The hydraulic method is messy so I needed to do something different. The single pin is easier to align than two pins which I had to learn the hard way. Some of that Soviet era brass is really nice stuff. If it hasn't been fired with mercuric oxide primers it will last a long time in the same rifle when neck resized only. I only go through this process with BRASS cases. The steel/copper washed/lacquered cases are a pain in the butt and IMHO not worth the effort although they can be reloaded several times as well. Whatever the steel is that is used in their production it is very malleable.

With the availability of good Boxer brass I haven't bothered for a long time. The only Mosin I reload for is a Westinghouse that is Finn marked. It has a .3095 bore and even though it is worn it shoots better than I can hold with handloads it likes. I won't say the same for milsurp ammo other than one batch of Chinese stuff I came across in Alberta.
 
Great info bearhunter!
I thought there is no brass Berdan case except Swiss, educated.

I feel guilty throwing away the cases, especially the GP11, feel so good and high quality. Worth finding a way to reuse them.

I saw one guy just drills a big center hole in the primer chamber to allow the boxer to be used, right in middle if the two Berdan flash holes. I believe he also needs to deepen the chamber a little bit.

I prefer more to reload using Berdan primer as it posts less modification to the brass itself. If there is a efficient way of deprimering, would be best.


I watched a video in youtube show a SKS left 2 months after shooting some corr-ammo. The situatuon was not that bad. But how you get may also depend on the weather and if there is much rain around. Won't risk it myself though.
 
Silly ass question, but way back when Christ was a L/Cpl I heard that certain of the "old timers" would just drill out the old, fired military .303 cases and just plug in...yes... a shotgun primer.

Now being a very sensible lad, and enjoying the gifts of perfect eyesight and all my fingers... I never tried it.

But this thread reminded me of this old nugget... and was wondering if anyone else had ever heard of this "solution" for Berdan primers?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom