converting Berdan to Boxer primer

[762cavalier]

Hey guys after seeing the thread about reloading steel case and hearing those that saved their berdan primed brass hoping to reload it I present a couple of pages I found on the subject. the first link works really well and I ;have used it on GP-11 brass for the swiss rifle. If anybody has info to add maybe we can pool resources.

http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearmsforums.yuku.com/topic/25275/t/Berdan-to-Boxer-Conversion-Method.html

http://www.geocities.com/d_henry1@sbcglobal.net/berdan-boxer.html

Hope someone finds this info useful

[dustoff31]

There is also a series of "how to" articles regarding this on surplusrifle.com. I've got some 8x56R brass that I want to try this on when I get around to it. And you know how that goes.

[Leon75x55]

I've been saving all of my gp-11 brass with hoping that one day i will get around to converting it to regular Boxer primer. Do you know if the primer will have to be bigger or can we still use the large primer like on regular large rifle brass?

[USN CHIEF]

Anyone in San Diego that has done this before? Or has the tools to do it? I have a bunch of .308 brass that is Berdan primed and would love to see it done in person before I attempt to do it by myself.

[762cavalier]

I've been saving all of my gp-11 brass with hoping that one day i will get around to converting it to regular Boxer primer. Do you know if the primer will have to be bigger or can we still use the large primer like on regular large rifle brass?

In the first link the guy is using the ball bearing in the press to swage down the outer diameter of the pocket. It only swages the upper part of the pocket but it is enough to hold a regular LRP in it.

[Leon75x55]

Cool, I just printed out the entire article plus his link. I figure if I destroy the berdan brass while trying to figure out how to adapt it, no big deal. But at least if I succeed it will be usable brass.

[lbdrummer3]

I was considering doing this with 8mm Mauser. The problem I've found is finding spear point bullets to reload the cases with. I can find plenty of round nose but one of my firearms requires spear point to feed properly so the quest continues.

[gunboat]

That is a good article and possibly worth doing --But only if regular boxer cases are not available --Or you just like the work -- One point not mentioned in the article is that there are at least 4-5 different sizes of Berdan primers - that procedure will not work on all - 6.5/7.35 carcano uses a smaller diameter berdan that can be readily modified to boxer -- Many 303 british use an odd diameter and shallow depth primer not easily converted -- The use of 209 shotshell primers to modify berdan cases is sometime a solution -- my ha-penny

[motorhead]

wtf, if you fail you can always recycle the brass.

[Requiem]

I have neither the equipment nor skill to do this even if I'd like to. I've been saving up my Berdan primed .308 brass in the hopes I'd be able to reuse it but I won't be able to it looks like. I live in the bay area; if someone wants to buy about 550 pieces (a little more, I forget the exact number) of once fired .308 berdan primed brass so you can do this since I can't. Contact me. Thanks

[gunboat]

Requiem - they might prove useful if berdan primers become available again -- but even with berdan primers they are a bit of bother --

[5hundo]

Requiem - they might prove useful if berdan primers become available again -- but even with berdan primers they are a bit of bother --

I've got a bunch of berdan primed brass too...

Are berdan primers available anywhere?

[gunboat]

As I understand, they are no longer being imported at this time -- A friend had about 50k of them, but when he passed away they got sold -- so some dealer has about 50k of them anyway -- Some larger cases such as 11mm mauser are a bit easier to convert as they can be modified to accept 209 shotshell primers - I think some 303Br cases use a larger berdan that can be converted to accept 209 shotshell primers as well --

[5hundo]

As I understand, they are no longer being imported at this time -- A friend had about 50k of them, but when he passed away they got sold -- so some dealer has about 50k of them anyway -- Some larger cases such as 11mm mauser are a bit easier to convert as they can be modified to accept 209 shotshell primers - I think some 303Br cases use a larger berdan that can be converted to accept 209 shotshell primers as well --

Most of my stuff is .308, though...

I'm pretty sure I'd have to modify the primer pockets if I were going to convert them to boxer...

[Fjold]

Since 308 Boxer primed brass is readily available it doesn't seem worth the hassle to convert 308 Berdan brass to that.