I was on the range a couple day ago, shooting my LMT 308:D with German surplus DAG ammo and some fellow was eagerly scooping the brass out of the trash can. I told him it was Berdan primed and without a moments hesitation he told me he converts it to Boxer. I asked how. He told me he has a two prong punch to knock out the primer and then drills the flash hole. I’m skeptical. Opinions?
I’m skeptical to but who knows? If it is true it seems like an awful lot of work to go through, I’d rather spend a little extra and just get the correct brass to begin with.
I’ve heard of it being done, but again, it is only advisable for folks who have far more time available than money.
I’m from south america, where brass and components are expensive and sometimes hard to get, and believe me I’ve seen plenty of these “conversions”… they are the work of the devil :nono:
The diameter of the boxer primer is smaller than the berdan ones (and berdan sizes vary a lot), so it does not fit well and the primer pocket has to be swaged someway to avoid gas leakage.
The head of the case is weakened, having a large hole plus two smaller ones attached to it, ideal locations to develop cracks. Some people beat the primer pocket with a tool to swage close the original holes… great idea to beat this vital part of the case :rolleyes:
What you can do if you have the patience and equipment to extract the spent berdan primers without damage to the case is reload them with berdan primers, that’s perfectly OK.
I kind of thought it was BS. I have heard of it being done where Boxer primed brass was not available but something as common as 7.62??? I think he might not have wanted to admit he spent 5 minutes digging through a filthy garbage can for nothing.
The head of the case is weakened, having a large hole plus two smaller ones attached to it, ideal locations to develop cracks.
I didn’t think about the two little holes being stress risers but I am sure that they are.
I agree with your post…Start off with the correct brass first–what was the original point of Berdan priming with TWO holes versus one??:rolleyes:
For those who care or are curious like I was… here is at least one set of instructions (easily) found on the Internet that illustrates “how” it can be done… Don’t know for sure… and not really interested in risking… I mean trying…
might be viable for schmidt-rubin enthusiasts…
^This!^ I’ve been reloading for 34 years & it’s not worth the time, in my opinion.
More reliable ignition…That’s what I was told…
You can buy reloadable 7.5 swiss brass… The K-31 is a different animal compared to most bolt action rifles…But, they shoot!
True. Norma and PRVI both provide brass and loaded ammo for the 7.5 Swiss. Thanks to the internet brass can be found for pretty much any caliber out there. If you shoot wierd things invest in George Nontes Cartridge Conversions or John Donnelly’s Handloader’s Manual of Cartridge Conversions. These are great publications and they can save you a lot of hassel trying to save berdan primed brass. I used to reload Berdan primed brass when you could find Berdan primers. Now I save it and recycle it for the scrap metal value.