Reloading steel case??

The common logic is no, they can't. Leaving aside the differences between the metals, most steel cases are berdan primed which is harder to work with.

It is done, but the effort and risk usually limit it to very hard to find brass, like the 14.5 mm etc.
 
unless it's an extremely rare or oddball case, forget about it. For something like the 8x57, don't bother. Brass is abundant and relatively inexpensive, and it's just not worth the hassle to futz with berdan cases
 
I have never tried and won't.Steel does not behave as brass.At least,you will stick a steel case in your steel die.At worst,you will build ammo that looks right but acts wrong.

Throw it in the bin.
 
A buddy of mine has some steel 45 brass, from what I understand it's from WW2 during athe brass shortage, and it can be reloaded with standard primers. I've read in the LEE handloading book it can be reloaded. Please correct me if I'm wrong here
 
Reloading Steel Case ammo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Mbf4C-8ViM



This guy's method involves punches out the anvil of the berdan case with the resizing/decapping die to create a third hole. He uses locktite to keep the boxer primers in the larger primer berdan hole. This guy reloads 7.62x39 (large primer pocket), but says it's too difficult on 5.56x45 (small primer pocket).

I am not sure how the primer pocket would respond on the 8x57, probably more like the 7.62x39 than the 5.56x45, so you probably could (according to this youtube video).
 
well i just found at my local range about 70 emptys, all steel wolf brand casings and they are boxer primed...

i was thinking of reloading them, but i do not want to ruin my dies.

would lotsa lube be enough to not wreck the dies...

every bullet counts.

cheers.
 
Pitch 'em or make drawer pulls out of 'em. Even though the steel is mild, it's not elastic like brass is.
Converting berdan to boxer priming doesn't work. Drilling out the primer hole causes all kinds of crazy pressure and other issues. In any case, berdan primers usually are not anywhere near the same diameter as a boxer primer.
 
Ok, so the general consensus is that you shouldn't bother reloading steel cases. Has anyone ever looked at recycling them as scrap metal? I don't suppose a recycler would pay for them...would they? I am thinking even if somebody was willing to pay for them they would probably want such huge quantities to make it worth their while it likely wouldn't work out for the average shooter. Any thoughts?
 
They have to be hard on dies. Scratching a definite possibility.
If they were mine, I'd probably try just one, just to see how it turned out, using an old die set.
Polish the crap out of them, and be sure they are smooth.
Use lots of case lube, inside, and out, and be prepared for a stuck case.
The case capacity is bound to be different, so load data should be reduced to start, maybe a full ten percent.
I would not consider using them as regular cases for reloading, just as an experiment.
 
AB.boy said:
Has anyone ever looked at recycling them as scrap metal? I don't suppose a recycler would pay for them...would they?
Click to expand...

Steel is bought and sold by the pound.
New steel is about 60 or 70 cents per pound, and scrap is only about 2 or 3 cents per pound.
You would be better off collecting pop bottles.
 
Reloading steel cases is like drying out used toilet paper and putting it back on the roll. Not worth the time and effort, along with being messy.....
 
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