Reloading Steel cases

Most steel cased ammo is military surplus and is berdan primed. Berdan primed cases have 2 flash holes in the base and the anvil is part of the case. This makes it difficult to remove the spent primer.

Boxer primed ammo has the anvil built into the primer and the case only has 1 centered flash hole. The flash hole is where the decapping pin passes through the case to push the used primer out.

Not all steel cased ammo is Berdan primed though. Take a flashlight and look down the neck of a spent steel cased round. If you see two flash holes in the bottom toss it, 1 hole in the middle and you "can" reload it.

Steel cased ammo is reloadable, but a workout to do sometimes. Make sure the cases are clean, properly lubed and your FL die is clean.
 
What cartridge?

If the cases are x39 or x54R, it would be kind of pointless, as live milsurp can be bought for less cost than you could reload for.
 
Fire and forget

Steel cases for rifles and pistols are of the "fire and forget" kind. You can re-cycle them in your blue bin if you are courageous enough!
Steel cases are not as malleable as brass for a reason. Brass can be worked, re-worked, annealed, etc. Steel is much less forgiving.
Should you try to reload them, they can become stuck in your sizer even with good lube. Plus steel cases are harder on your dies. Aluminum pistol cases are in the same boat.
Stick to brass; you can easily reload brass cases many times that amortize the cost of the brass down...
 
They can be reloaded but the calibres they usually come in aren't worth the trouble. Decapping and findin new Berdan primers is more of a hassle and the steal may or may not size properly. If 7.62x39 or 7.62x54r you may want to find a box or two of PRVI or S+B ammo and use the brass from it to load after shooting. I did this for x54r and don't bother to load any x39 even though I have dies etc.
 
I reload Berdan ammo in a caliber for which boxer primed brass is unavailable. With the right tools it is doable, but slower. OK for small quantities, like my 8x60R

For high volume decapping Berdan I have a hydraulic tool that pops them out of 308 cases, but I do not need to reload Berdan 308. I have lots of factory fresh Berdan primed cases in 308.

But, when it comes to steel cases, that is a bridge too far. Steel is more springy, so does not size well and when one of those gets stuck you are in a world of hurt.

I think the answer to your question is "yes, it can be done, but there is no reason to do it and a lot of reasons why you should not try."
 
Another way is pulling apart loaded steel cases such as 7.62x39 and reseating a soft point bullet of the same weight and shape over the factory primer and powder charge... Not exactly "reloading" more like modifying.
 
Ganderite said:
I reload Berdan ammo in a caliber for which boxer primed brass is unavailable. With the right tools it is doable, but slower. OK for small quantities, like my 8x60R

For high volume decapping Berdan I have a hydraulic tool that pops them out of 308 cases, but I do not need to reload Berdan 308. I have lots of factory fresh Berdan primed cases in 308.

But, when it comes to steel cases, that is a bridge too far. Steel is more springy, so does not size well and when one of those gets stuck you are in a world of hurt.

I think the answer to your question is "yes, it can be done, but there is no reason to do it and a lot of reasons why you should not try."
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Couldn't agree more with your post,especially the last part.I did some experimenting back when I was just getting into reloading ages ago.I bought myself an RCBS Berdan decapping tool to tackle a bunch of 8X56R cases that I had on hand and I got fairly good at decapping them without damaging the anvil but I ruined a lot of cases getting good with the tool.I also tried the hydraulic route but it was not really my cup of tea because I always seemed to end up getting water all over the place.It was all for nothing anyway because I couldn't source the proper primers at a half-ways decent price.At around the same time the light bulb came on and I realised I could fire-form Norma 7.62X54R Boxer primed rounds and I never looked back.
As for the steel cases,borderline disaster.I messed around with some 7.62X51 Nato rounds from Bulgaria that damn near ruined my dies on me.Not a pleasant experience and that finished me with the Berdan primer thing.
 
Thank you for all of the responses...I will be sticking with Brass...Reason I asked was because I have a lot of .223 milsurp and wondered if it could be worked...But I don't want to chance ruining my dies or press.
 
conmaesta said:
Thank you for all of the responses...I will be sticking with Brass...Reason I asked was because I have a lot of .223 milsurp and wondered if it could be worked...But I don't want to chance ruining my dies or press.
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And most importantly,you won't be ruining your mental health either!!
 
trust me, you are better off picking up range brass then trying to reload steel...

take it in for scrap if anything
 
Ganderite said:
I was thinking about this after I made the original response. The best analogy I can think of is cutting your own hair.

Yes, you can do it, but it is not recommended.
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I'm almost bald so I trim my own hair in just a few seconds. I don't need to look fancy at my age. Better then some dumb woman cutting it and me wasting a half hour of my life and $40 on her that I could instead use for fishing and shooting stuff.
 
conmaesta said:
Brand new to reloading so don't jump on me please...Can steel cases be reloaded using standard reloading equipment...I've heard yes and no...Anybody??
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Depends what your re-loading and how much time you have vice how much money you have,,

Let’s assume we’re talking 7.62 x 39

Since your new to re-loading, do you have a press and dies?,, once again I’ll assume you do or will shortly.

Next get some brass, yes brass, and le-load them. This will get you firmuluar with cleaning, sizing, priming, powder charges, and the different bullets you can use and fire.

Once your satisfied with your work on the re-loading of brass cases then you can decide if you want to spend the time and effort to load steel cases.

You will only get 4 to 5 reloads out of a steel case before it splits, but it can be done cheaply if you add the making of the bullet to your hobby. I can get about 40 155gr bullets out of a pound of lead, and do a steel case reload for about 8 cents a round (materiel cost only).

As for damage to the dies from steel, lots of case lube no problems yet and I’ve re-loaded hundreds/thousands of steel cases using the same dies.
 
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