I was wondering if anybody has sucessfully reloaded what I think is Albanian surplus ammo. I've been saving my empties for a while now and wonder if I am wasting my time. The gunshop here say's he can get virgin brass for $2.00 a piece. The brass is in good shape but it's berdan primed, but I wonder if I can use boxer primers with a little modification to the brass. I would value any advice there is. I just don't want to throw away brass that might still be good for a reload. Thanks
Reloading 7.62x54r milsurp brass
- Thread starter Blakem91
- Start date
I've got brass cased Bulgarian, but it's berdan primed
Reloadable, but not worth the effort to me. If I were you, I'd toss it, maybe sell it as scrap if you have a wack of it. Then buy yourself some factory fresh stuff. It's out there. Or, you can buy some fresh hunting ammo, and re-use the brass. Most of the new manufacture civilian stuff is boxer primed, and thus easily reloaded. Good luck!
Reloadable, but not worth the effort to me. If I were you, I'd toss it, maybe sell it as scrap if you have a wack of it. Then buy yourself some factory fresh stuff. It's out there. Or, you can buy some fresh hunting ammo, and re-use the brass. Most of the new manufacture civilian stuff is boxer primed, and thus easily reloaded. Good luck!
You should repost this in the reloading forum for the long answer.
The short answer is no, its not easily reloadable.
You would need to find the correct size berdan primers, not an easy task in Canada. Then you would need to get a berdan depriming tool, I think RCBS makes one.
Lot of time and effort.
Craig
The short answer is no, its not easily reloadable.
You would need to find the correct size berdan primers, not an easy task in Canada. Then you would need to get a berdan depriming tool, I think RCBS makes one.
Lot of time and effort.
Craig
Thanks guys, I think I might as well just get some fresh new brass and toss the old stuff. Any Idea where I could get brass for less than $2 bucks a pop??
The good thing about the new brass is I could get a few reloads out of the same brass..........I hope. I wish they had commercial 54r ammo here in PEI, I think I have the last 50 rds of surplus here and only 1 gun shop here and he couldn't find any. I've only shot 100 rds though my M91/30 since I got it in Nov and it's driving me crazy!!
The good thing about the new brass is I could get a few reloads out of the same brass..........I hope. I wish they had commercial 54r ammo here in PEI, I think I have the last 50 rds of surplus here and only 1 gun shop here and he couldn't find any. I've only shot 100 rds though my M91/30 since I got it in Nov and it's driving me crazy!!
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
and here is the problem that everyone is having, finding reloadable brass.
check out the threads in the reloading and ammo forums.
There is just no brass to be had at reasonable prices. $2ea
yes you should be able to get +10 reloads out of brass but thats a bit much. IF you find boxes of Privi Partizan (NNY head stamp) buy it, good brass made in Yugoslavia boxer primed and very reloadable. I wish I had some
"...can use boxer primers with a little modification..." No. Drilling out the primer hole to prime with boxer primers doesn't work. Does for making drawer pulls though.
7.62 x 54 brass shouldn't cost you anywhere near $2 each. That's piracy. Epp's, in Orillia, Ontario, is listing loaded factory hunting ammo. Igman, I suspect. It's boxer primed. Mind you, the shipping will kill you. No idea who carries it in PEI though.
The other hunting ammo makers are Norma, Privi Partizan, Sellier and Bellot and Winchester(they may have dropped it though). If your local gun shop's distributor has it, he can order it for you. Buy in bulk and expect to pay up front.
7.62 x 54 brass shouldn't cost you anywhere near $2 each. That's piracy. Epp's, in Orillia, Ontario, is listing loaded factory hunting ammo. Igman, I suspect. It's boxer primed. Mind you, the shipping will kill you. No idea who carries it in PEI though.
The other hunting ammo makers are Norma, Privi Partizan, Sellier and Bellot and Winchester(they may have dropped it though). If your local gun shop's distributor has it, he can order it for you. Buy in bulk and expect to pay up front.
I seem to remeber hearing the Yugo stuff, while boxer primed, has a smaller touch hole which requires enlarging to prevent bending the primer popper pin...thing on your dies
true?
false?
I thought this was a flower arranging forum?
true?
false?
I thought this was a flower arranging forum?
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Funny that the restof the world adopted an American priming system and we adopted the British Boxer system.
North Sylva in TO is the distributor for RWS Berdan primers. They may have the correct size.
Before Boxer 6.5x55 ammunition became available, I reloaded a lot of Berdan cases. Depriming is slower, but it really is no big deal.
Before using a RCBS tool, I would grab the case in a hole in a split block of hardwood in a vise, tap in a sharp spike at an angle, and lever out the cap. Some folks successfully use the hydraulic method. Had to modify a primer seating tool, the Berdan caps I was using were slightly larger in diameter than similar Boxers.
Before Boxer 6.5x55 ammunition became available, I reloaded a lot of Berdan cases. Depriming is slower, but it really is no big deal.
Before using a RCBS tool, I would grab the case in a hole in a split block of hardwood in a vise, tap in a sharp spike at an angle, and lever out the cap. Some folks successfully use the hydraulic method. Had to modify a primer seating tool, the Berdan caps I was using were slightly larger in diameter than similar Boxers.
Some folks here on Van island have broken their primer popper pins on that brass, so yes the flash holes are waaay to small.
I have some Igman brass in 7.62x54R and it is the same issue.
I switched over to using Sellier & Bellot...nice brass for reloading.
Last edited:
Apparently, these guys ship to Canada...
http: //www. grafs. com/
They have all kinds of milsurp brass including 7.62x54R.
I boughgt 500 rounds of the Igman stuff when it was around. that is my stash.
A wise man once said "Bruce when you see milsurp ammo for sale at a good price, buy all you can, it would be around forever"
Yes, that was Andy...
http: //www. grafs. com/
They have all kinds of milsurp brass including 7.62x54R.
I boughgt 500 rounds of the Igman stuff when it was around. that is my stash.
A wise man once said "Bruce when you see milsurp ammo for sale at a good price, buy all you can, it would be around forever"
Yes, that was Andy...
Wow I didn't think I would get such a big response! thanks to everyone who responded........I know I should have posted this in Reloading section but I got the answers I need here. I did alot of searches and found this stuff......http://www.hirschprecision.com/brass.htm I wonder if the 7.62x53r brass is the same??? anyone use it?? The good thing is it's in NS so not too far away and 76 cents a piece but I gotta add shipping but is still better than $2 bucks!!
Blake
Blake
The brass with the small diameter flash holes was not Yugoslavian, it was Igman brand (made in Bosnia and Herzegovina). The 6.5x55 Igman also suffered this problem.
Yugo brass (marked in Cyrillic lettering - looks like "NNY") is quite good, I've loaded some of mine more the twenty times. Lots of this was sold here as "Privi Partisan". I wish I had bought more when it was around, and cheap.
The Igman brass I have is so-so quality. The primer flash holes are undersized (yes, I broke a decapping pin) and are also off center as well. I ended up de-capping mine with a hammer and a punch, then drilled the flash holes to the standard size. Although the Igman brass I have is not great it's still better than the S&B that suffers neck splits on the first firing, and the primer pockets are too shallow for standard primers. The so called "winchester" brass in this caliber is made by Sellier & Bellot so I wouldn't hold much hope for it being any better.
Lucky you. The S&B 7.62x54R I have was crap. Necks split on the first or second firing and the primer pockets were too shallow - had to deepen them with a primer pocket uniforming tool. Needless to say I've not gone out of my way to get more. To be fair perhaps I just had a bad batch. That's the problem with poor quality control - let a bad batch of a product out and people remember it for a long time.
I have loaded a bit of 9mm S&B brass and it was as good as any. Have also fired a fair number of their shotgun shells over the last 20 years and they were decent too. I've not seen any of their products for a few years so I'm guessing there is no importer at this time?
