Ice to deprime Berdan cases

[wbaad]

Hi all,
I left my brass bucket outside during the thaw with some 7.5 Swiss brass, and noticed the primers on a majority of the cases had popped out and were in the bucket. Cases are fine. Anybody use the power of expanding frozen water to deprime their berdan cases for any large volume?

Reminded me of using water and a bolt to remove ski-doo clutches when I didn’t have a puller, or they were stuck on real bad. Just remove clutch bolt, tip machine on its side, pour water in to overflow, and install bolt or suitable plug, then leave outside in freezing temps.

 

[bertn]

Cool idea, worth doing a freezer experiment!
Now where do I get berdan primers these days...

 

[mbogo3]

Canada Ammo had them.To decap GP11 brass simply place shellholder on a towel on concrete floor fill case with water and briskly tap a socket extension that fits n the case neck with a hammer.Out pops the primer/H2O on the towel.

 

[VinnyQC]

Canada Ammo had them.To decap GP11 brass simply place shellholder on a towel on concrete floor fill case with water and briskly tap a socket extension that fits n the case neck with a hammer.Out pops the primer/H2O on the towel.

But it's a one-by-one method. It's fine to deprime 10 or so cases, but for a large volume it'll take a lifetime. OP's idea is pretty smart and worth exploring imho.

I can imagine some kind of rack (similar to the franklin arsenal racks that hold 50 rounds during reloading) being used to hold brass filled with water and let them outside a cold winter night. Use the freezer during summer. One could get a few hundred pieces deprimed every night without any effort.

Heck, I might try it with boxer primers next winter.

 

[Blackjack21]

Very interesting idea- I'm going to try that tonight. Thanks OP

 

[billbmcleod]

Canada Ammo had them.To decap GP11 brass simply place shellholder on a towel on concrete floor fill case with water and briskly tap a socket extension that fits n the case neck with a hammer.Out pops the primer/H2O on the towel.

I tried this with some 6.5x55 brass that I had pulled the bullets on. I had soaked the brass under water for a few days after giving them a good shot of WD40 just to make sure nothing would go bang. I used a nylon plug that I machined to just fit in the case neck and after quite a few tries I gave up and just threw them in the scrap brass can. Maybe they were crimped well or sealed but I had no luck.

 

[howard2]

Interesting idea. Unfortunately berdan primers are again hard to find. With the situation in Russian and Ukraine going on supply doesn't make it here these days. Might still be stock in a few places. As far as GP11 brass , I have had the most success with the RCBS berdan decapper, which uses a pry to remove the berdan primer. Once one gets the hang of it, I can remove a lot per minute. I did buy a hydraulic method kit using water that works ok but its messy IMO.

 

[wbaad]

I’m not sure how much water it takes. May only need enough to fill the primer cavity since the flash holes will likely seal up when the water freezes, but more likely won’t hurt.

 

[wbaad]

Got a loading tray outside waiting to freeze. Will see tomorrow.

 

[kg]

Does it work for neck expansion too? Someone was trying to make 358 from 308.

 

[sidester]

Hello guys, does it work?

 

[salon_1928]

Literally grabbing GP11 brass right now. +2C outside so I guess it’s going to be my freezer...

 

[wbaad]

i tried them full of water in a loading tray in my freezer with no luck. maybe needs to freeze quicker?

 

[hatman1793]

What about drilling out the primer hole to accept standard boxer primers?

 

[VinnyQC]

i tried them full of water in a loading tray in my freezer with no luck. maybe needs to freeze quicker?

Water expands more when it freezes slowly, so it shouldn't work better if it freezes quicker. Did the ice come out of the case mouth?

 

[Surplus1]

It might work better with some freezing and thawing. It probably wont push it out with one freezing.

 

[B]

I had a bucket of brass I picked up in the backyard. It froze a time or two while sitting on the deck. One had popped the primer out of about 500 pcs. How reliable is this method..?

 

[Therion]

Wouldn't you need a 'closed' system? Otherwise as the ice forms, it likely just presses out the open end of the case.
The best way to plug the open end would be a bullet, but it would be a lot of work to resize without depriming, add water, seat a bullet and then remove the bullet once the primer is out...……..
Possible, yes...…..be OK if you had lots of time on our hands......

 

[VinnyQC]

Wouldn't you need a 'closed' system? Otherwise as the ice forms, it likely just presses out the open end of the case.
The best way to plug the open end would be a bullet, but it would be a lot of work to resize without depriming, add water, seat a bullet and then remove the bullet once the primer is out...……..
Possible, yes...…..be OK if you had lots of time on our hands......

By definition, depriming berdan is a "lots of time on our hands" kind of activity. Wouldn't have to be a bullet, it could be a small piece of clothing that you can just pull out after a freeze/thaw cycle.

If one could plug all the brass at once it might be faster. Maybe a loading tray upside down held by rubberbands?

 

[guy329]

Interesting idea. Unfortunately berdan primers are again hard to find. With the situation in Russian and Ukraine going on supply doesn't make it here these days. Might still be stock in a few places. As far as GP11 brass , I have had the most success with the RCBS berdan decapper, which uses a pry to remove the berdan primer. Once one gets the hang of it, I can remove a lot per minute. I did buy a hydraulic method kit using water that works ok but its messy IMO.

I also use the RCBS Berdan decapper. Works like a charm, once you get used to it. I use it on GP11. Just have to be a little careful not to damage the anvil, but it is fast and reliable.