Converting berdan to boxer

A

antiqueguy

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So needless to say I got bored here and started converting 7.62x54r steel cases to standard large rifle primers.

To start I used a 5/64 bit to drill through the berdan primer and slightly into the anvil then I pried out the spent primer and switched to a 15/64 bit to flatten out the anvil(center marked by the 5/64). after this was done I drilled through the center of what was the anvil with the 5/64 again.

Once all the drilling was done I used some copper tubing that was .247od with a decently thick wall(this was salvaged out of an window air conditioner) and my RCBS primer pocket swager was used to seat the copper tubing and swage it out to except large rifle primers.

So in the end I basically got free cases out of the deal.

This gives us an option for not just 7.62x54r but even the lowly .303 berdan brass uses the large berdan(.250) as well as kynoch .577-450 and some of the bigger sporting rounds made by kynoch.
 
antiqueguy said:
So needless to say I got bored here and started converting 7.62x54r steel cases to standard large rifle primers.

To start I used a 5/64 bit to drill through the berdan primer and slightly into the anvil then I pried out the spent primer and switched to a 15/64 bit to flatten out the anvil(center marked by the 5/64). after this was done I drilled through the center of what was the anvil with the 5/64 again.

Once all the drilling was done I used some copper tubing that was .247od with a decently thick wall(this was salvaged out of an window air conditioner) and my RCBS primer pocket swager was used to seat the copper tubing and swage it out to except large rifle primers.

So in the end I basically got free cases out of the deal.

This gives us an option for not just 7.62x54r but even the lowly .303 berdan brass uses the large berdan(.250) as well as kynoch .577-450 and some of the bigger sporting rounds made by kynoch.
Click to expand...

Sounds cool to do - likely something that I would try for some odd-ball cases - did you do anything about the Berdan flash holes?
 
Potashminer said:
Sounds cool to do - likely something that I would try for some odd-ball cases - did you do anything about the Berdan flash holes?
Click to expand...

The tubing when swaged in covered the berdan flash holes but even if it doesn’t it’s not a big deal. I just cut the tubing into little bushings slightly longer then the primer pocket and swaged it in then filed off the extra.
 
I Dont Care About You said:
Berdan primers can be purchased as well as the equipment to load them.
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Only ones I have ever seen are(good luck finding any right now) .217 not the .254 that is used in the 7.62x54r. Nor are they the .250 used in the .303 .577-450 .577 snider many of the black powder/nitro express cases. This converts these otherwise non reloadable cases into something reloadable. I see lots of 7.62x54r berdan brass as well as 7.62x51 and others that would normally just be tossed some of this brass is pretty good quality.
 
Looks like it would work just fine. I followed another fellow CGNr's method and drilled a small hole in the spent primer, picked it out with a deck screw, then drilled the brass through with a "C" letter bit and used a shotgun primer. My setup isn't exactly ideal and it is tricky to get the hole centered. I need to refine the whole operation of drilling the "C" hole. They do go boom.
 
Saw video of another option. It would depend on the diameter of the Berdan primer and that of the Boxer being substituted. Instead of decapping the Berdan, a primer pocket uniforming tool is used to cut out the Berdan cap and the case anvil. The remaining sidewalls of the Berdan primer serve the same purpose as the little bits of tubing the OP inserted. The primer pocket crimp stays intact. The pocket cut by the uniforming tool is exactly the right size for the new Boxer primer. A new flash hole is drilled.
 
tiriaq said:
Saw video of another option. It would depend on the diameter of the Berdan primer and that of the Boxer being substituted. Instead of decapping the Berdan, a primer pocket uniforming tool is used to cut out the Berdan cap and the case anvil. The remaining sidewalls of the Berdan primer serve the same purpose as the little bits of tubing the OP inserted. The primer pocket crimp stays intact. The pocket cut by the uniforming tool is exactly the right size for the new Boxer primer. A new flash hole is drilled.
Click to expand...

I was going to give that a try but with the steel cases I do not know if I could have pushed the anvil in.
 
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