Is it Possible?...

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Amanda

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Is it possible to reload the steel berdan primed 7.62x39 cases? Obviously the crimp would have to be removed, but hypothetically speaking is there anything stopping you from lubing these up and running them through a full length sizing die?
 
Interesting video. Guy keeps saying "Box primers", it's frustrating, but still interesting... I've always heard steel is too rigid, not as "springy" and readily resized as brass, so not reloadable. This guy seems to do it so I guess it is possible.

The main problem is that steel-case surplus 7.62x39 is Berdan primed and can't be reloaded with standard North American reloading equipment. But again, this guy just punches a third hole in Berdan cases with his decapping die so I guess it's possible...

Personally, I wouldn't bother.
 
A buddy of mine has a Berdan primer remover. He grabbed a few steel cases that were laying around the range and tried it. It worked, but there are 2 things to consider. First, he said they are a pain in the rump roast to get out even with this tool he has. The second thing is that Berdan style primers aren't the easiest things to find. I drilled out a few Berdan primed 303 British cases (brass) a few years go and put Boxer primers in them just to say I did it. Yea, it worked, but it just isn't worth the effort. I'd buy empty brass even a the prices they charge today before I'd do it on a large scale. Maybe if I bought that lathe I've had my eye on. I'm pretty sure it would be a little harder sneaking that past the Mrs than it would be a new gun :rolleyes:
 
I have reloaded a lot of Berdan. A PITA, is putting it mildly.

I have also resized steel cases. A bigger PITA. (I was sizing new cases. Fired cases would have sheallac issues.)

And deburing the mouth of a steel case screws up the tool.

I did it for a caliber only available in berdan and for 308 target rifle experiments. Berdan is a better primer.
 
I have reloaded boxer-primed, steel .45ACP cases. I only had a small supply of those but my gracious, could you ever stuff a monster load into them!
And I have seen boxer-primer, steel .223 cases, which seemed reloadable.

I have also experimented with loading berdan primed 6.5x55 cases. It was a PITA, like Ganderite said.
How big a PITA? Let me put it this way.... I found it less of a pain to take .270 cases, pass them through the 6.5 size die, trim them to length, ream the neck and anneal the new cases to get reloadable 6.5 Swede cases.
 
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