What to do with Berdan primed 8x57 surplus brass?

mmattockx

mmattockx

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
100   0   0
Location
Done with sheeple
As the title says. I've been enjoying my Yugo M-48 with surplus ammo, but that results in a pile of brass that is useless to me. What do people do with it? Recycle at a scrap dealer for the brass? Chuck it in the garbage? Something else?


Mark
 
Your title says "primed brass". Do you mean duds, or are you pulling the bullets and using them and the powder in Boxer primed brass? I have done that with some ratty 8x57 ammo that duds were all too common. I kept all the primed brass separate from the "scrap" brass.
 
I suspect he means fired cases/primers with Berdan primer pockets.

Berdan primers are still available and I've reloaded hundreds of those Yugo and other cases. It's a pain in the butt, compared to Boxer primers, but the case quality is very good and they last over several reloads without much other prep than removing the primers.

Once you get set up for it, things go pretty smooth and fast, just another step included in the process.

You have to remember to remove the decapping pin from the expander ball stem of course, when sizing the cases.

If you're not into it, send it to the scrap dealer, there really isn't much demand for those cases anywhere else.
 
I had a bunch of 8x62 berdan primed brass left over after I salvaged the bullets and powder
I gave them to a buddy who is a scrap dealer I don’t know what he ended up doing to them
Could have prob sold them as someone with the right decapper could have salvaged the primers from the cases and reused them or just reloaded the 8x62 brass
 
I've used 3 methods with berdan primers.
1 hydraulic them out, fill with water and then used a punch and hammer. Primer removed. Insert new berdan primer after drying case

2 flash hole evening drill bit, this gets a central flash hole and rid of the anvil primer pocket gets sleeved with a piece off 22LR case to hold LRP.

3 Use a milling bit cant recall correct size ATM and mill the primer out removing the anvil Drill central flash hole 22 Lr case etc.

I only experimented with berdan as a deep end of "is this possible ?"
 
I have a LOT of Berdan LR primers for sale that would work perfectly well in these cases. RCBS has a Berdan primer remover. My buddy simply used a pointed awl or punch, pounded it into the spent primer at an angle and then simply pried it out (he had a way to hold the case vertically with easy access to the case head. He said that once he had done a few, it was quick and easy....
 
To each their own, but 8mm Mauser isn't really rare brass, so I would personally scrap it. For me it isn't worth the hassle of reloading berdan primed brass for a readily available calibre
 
Therion said:
I have a LOT of Berdan LR primers for sale that would work perfectly well in these cases. RCBS has a Berdan primer remover. My buddy simply used a pointed awl or punch, pounded it into the spent primer at an angle and then simply pried it out (he had a way to hold the case vertically with easy access to the case head. He said that once he had done a few, it was quick and easy....
Click to expand...
I do not think there are "Large rifle" size Berdan primers - a quick Google search just showed 4 diameters that were used in various brass and the depth and thickness of the "cup" might vary from rifle to shotgun, even though the diameter might be the same.

I have a number of Berdan primed mil-surp 8x57 (Portugeuse origin, I think) - they have so far "fired" fine, but I have no intention to reload them - except as mentioned above to see if I can figure out a way to get that done with conventional primers. It was too easy to buy Boxer primer ready brass head stamped PPU. I think most of the North American stuff labelled 8 mm Mauser is also Boxer primed - so they ought to be easier and straight forward to re-load with the gear that is here. I see for some time periods, some .303 British was made with Berdan Primers of their particular size - but all the 303 British ammo and cases here are Boxer style primers.
 
Last edited:
I have a supply on Dominion LR Berdan primers which I have for cases I can’t find boxer primed brass for. 8x57 I have a few hundred boxer brass so not going to use my berdans. Common caliber berdan brass gets thrown into the scrap bucket. If I didn’t have boxer primed brass I’d use them. I have used berdan in 8x56R and 7.7x55 before I found boxer primed brass. It’s all about available brass supply. I keep the berdan primers because I never know what oddball I’ll bring home.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom