How do I know which cases are berdon primed?

[Hogxtz]

I recently got lucky after a carbine class and was allowed to take home all the 223 cases from the range. Approximatley 5000 223 cases. I sorted out the steel cases and threw them out. Now, how do I identify which, if any, are berdon primed?

[huckberry668]

looked down the case, it's a Berdan primed case if you see 2 small holes instead 1 big one in the center. I'm not sure I've seen 1 Berdan primed 223Rem brass case... after about 30,000 rounds of 223/5.56 cases reloaded.

[Pryde]

The only brass cased .223 ammo that I have ever seen to be berdan primed was South African PMP. Any US, Korean or European .223 will be all boxer primed.

[damndave]

You will know when your decapper pin snaps j/k

like huckberry and pryde have said, every single brass cass 223 I have seen has been boxer primed. easy enough to look down there and see if it has 1 oe 2 holes.

[sequoia_nomad]

I have found some brass plated steel .223s that are Berdan primed. Look just like brass, only extra shiny, but they sounded a little funny so I put a magnet to them and they were steel.

[GSwain]

get something like a Lee decapping die, and decap them all. If it is berdan primed, itll just make a loud clunk and stop moving, or slide the decapping pin up the collet. I find a .45ACP berdan primed every so often that way.

[bumpo628]

Wow, 5000 cases! That's quite a score.

[paul0660]

And just so you know, it is pronounced burDAN.

Nice score.

[joelogic]

When I first started picking up range brass 3 years ago there were many more Berdan primed cases, maybe 1:50. IMHO, most of the surplus .223 is gone because I just processed 5000 pieces of .223 and there was only one piece of Berdan.

The crimp that is 3 radial dashes is usually Berdan.

As a note it seems every other piece of .308 is Berdan.

[SixPointEight]

You will know when your decapper pin snaps j/k

like huckberry and pryde have said, every single brass cass 223 I have seen has been boxer primed. easy enough to look down there and see if it has 1 oe 2 holes.

When it comes to 5000 cases, the best way to do it is to have 5 decapping pins around, and just decap them all, if a pin breaks, replace it, and remove all cases with a matching headstamp

[1911su16b870]

You will know when your decapper pin snaps j/k

like huckberry and pryde have said, every single brass cass 223 I have seen has been boxer primed. easy enough to look down there and see if it has 1 oe 2 holes.

lol very true!

[Hogxtz]

Thank you all for the great information. It will be very helpfull. Incase anybody was wondering, I have always just purchased LC brass for reloading. That is why I had no idea about Berdan primers. Thanks