Thread: Anybody here successfully priming BERDAN for 303 British and / or 7.62 ?

Yup, I know plenty on Youtube on de-priming. That's not the problem.

Even some on converting Brass Berdan cases to Brass Boxer.......That's not the problem either as I don't want to go there.


I have a Berdan supplier, dies and press but the problem is getting the replacement Berdan primer in, because as neither of my 303 or 7.62 y cases Berdan primer pockets match the measurements any of the 4 primers conventionally used, the dies etc don't help with "priming".

As I have a sh** load of 303 British and 7.62 Berdan primed brass and consider one bang then throw away a waste, I seek a solution for this final problem ( I hope) of reloading Berdan.



Any assistance would be appreciated.

Berdan primers come in lots of different diamensions, that’s been my prob. Thought about drill them out for a shotgun primer.
I made a hydraulicing machine but split to many cases, you need an old breech to stop this happening, 577/450 breeches r a bit hard to come by.
Glue them in with nail polish, but you can get some blow by, black powder doesn’t affect the bolt face but smokeless might.
I have some primers here.

Originally Posted by Maca49

Berdan primers come in lots of different diamensions, that’s been my prob. Thought about drill them out for a shotgun primer.
I made a hydraulicing machine but split to many cases, you need an old breech to stop this happening, 577/450 breeches r a bit hard to come by.
Glue them in with nail polish, but you can get some blow by, black powder doesn’t affect the bolt face but smokeless might.
I have some primers here.

Do you need a source of new 577/450 Brass?I get mine from a fella in the states,very good to deal with.It is reformed 24 gauge shotgun brass.

Originally Posted by norsk

Do you need a source of new 577/450 Brass?I get mine from a fella in the states,very good to deal with.It is reformed 24 gauge shotgun brass.

I think that I am using the same brass, "25 Special cases. Magtech reformed 24 Gauge." I reform and trim them for Snider and Martini Henry(wish the MH was as simple as the Snider) The last batch of 50 cases cost me NZ$170 delivered.

I might be interested in your contact's "Delivered" price? if you would be so kind

I bought 24g direct from the states for my snider, since sold the gun. Was a cheap as chips? Being shotgun they could send it, Buffalo Guns
While where on “ old” things. Anyone got some No 2 Musket Brass?

Originally Posted by Maca49

Berdan primers come in lots of different diamensions, that’s been my prob....................

Thanks for your response.
I am reloading Snider and Martini Henry BUT as I have a box of "three set dies" for each, plus Magtech 24 Gauge brass which I have reformed,Large Pistol primers and have just this week started working on the bees wax, wads and packing issues, they hopefully will not be the problemare not the problem.

My problem is with reloads of my 303 British and Australian Military 7.62 Berdan primed brass. Thanks for the mention of primers but I have a source, Gunworks, with the only "fly in the ointment" being they will not deliver....(The latest Courier problem)

So I may just have to sit this one out to see if anything changes.

Originally Posted by Kiwi Sapper

Thanks for your response.
I am reloading Snider and Martini Henry BUT as I have a box of "three set dies" for each, plus Magtech 24 Gauge brass which I have reformed,Large Pistol primers and have just this week started working on the bees wax, wads and packing issues, they hopefully will not be the problemare not the problem.

My problem is with reloads of my 303 British and Australian Military 7.62 Berdan primed brass. Thanks for the mention of primers but I have a source, Gunworks, with the only "fly in the ointment" being they will not deliver....(The latest Courier problem)

So I may just have to sit this one out to see if anything changes.

@Kiwi Sapper
how many berdan primers do you need. I could send you a few hundred in the short term if you need some?
Im in the Hutt so I could get some to you.

The 303 primer was the no 41 and is .251 in diameter and contained mercury and chlorate to the end. The chlorates ok but the mercury does bugger the brass it does something to the grain structure that makes it brittle in such a way annealing cant fix. You might get a few reloads if you are lucky though. The 308 military has a .217 diameter non corrosive non mercuric one hope this helps. I have about100-150 303 primers that would be somewhere between my age and maca 49s age old if you are game. They still go bang, grandson used a few on the railway line.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The 303 primer was the no 41 and is .251 in diameter and contained mercury and chlorate to the end. The chlorates ok but the mercury does bugger the brass it does something to the grain structure that makes it brittle in such a way annealing cant fix..................

Thanks for your response and the offer of primer availability.

I haven't de-primed the 7.62 so your 2.17 measurement will save me some work. As i mentioned to Maca below, as Gunworks have stopped delivering primers, I may just have to sit this one out to see if anything changes....Which still ain't going to solve my problem of how to get them in...

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

The 303 primer was the no 41 and is .251 in diameter and contained mercury and chlorate to the end. The chlorates ok but the mercury does bugger the brass it does something to the grain structure that makes it brittle in such a way annealing cant fix. You might get a few reloads if you are lucky though. The 308 military has a .217 diameter non corrosive non mercuric one hope this helps. I have about100-150 303 primers that would be somewhere between my age and maca 49s age old if you are game. They still go bang, grandson used a few on the railway line.

2 years? Yr older than me?

I have the 303 berdan primers, and a mate reloads berdan primers into 303 British cases.
I would do them myself but I don't have any cases to load, so I have 1000 odd primers and no cases to load.

He does the berdan primers on the 308 MEN cases as well.

Not sure what gear he uses, but would imagine he would prime them for a fee. Flick me a PM and we can go from there if that interests you.

Originally Posted by jim160

...................Not sure what gear he uses, but would imagine he would prime them for a fee. Flick me a PM and we can go from there if that interests you.

Thanks for the response and your comment re your mate. I would be very interested in knowing "How he re-primes", so I will sort myself out and then PM you.
Thanks again

@Kiwi Sapper love the Wanganui without an H
When we drove south we got to Bulls and Dad started raving about some barstool and his H I’m like what the is the old falla on about Because he now starts laughing as we are about to turn left with the over head sign to Wanganui above us (pointing right) they missed that one
Good luck with ya primers sounds easier than trying to take the H out

I've been loading 1970's Hirtenberger 7.62 NATO berdan primed brass for a few years now here and there. Also in the middle of getting going with 7.5 Swiss GP 11 early 1980's brass(brass is primed ready to load).

My interest in this came down to not wanting that beautiful brass to go to waste. I had heard a lot of negative comments on forums about Berdan brass but in the end I found it was not that big a deal. A lot of the success with it comes down to the right tools and berdan primers.

For resizing, no big deal, remove your decapping pin and resize as normal.

For depriming I saw people doing the whole hydraulic thing splashing water everywhere. Instead I bought the RCBS berdan decapping tool. These are not widely available but they are out there. Once you get it dialed in for that particular cartridge and a feel for the flick of the wrist you use to pop out the primer, it's an easy day. You might ruin a few anvils and the associated brass case getting it dialed in. Sometimes with the primer sealant you might find a primer being troublesome with a little extra effort required.

For removing the military primer crimp, the best solution I found was the Rock Solid Industries berdan military crimp cutter.

For priming, well one you need the right primer for the job which might take some research. There are two different kinds of 7.62 primers, one for 7.62x39, the other for 7.62 NATO and similar brass. To prime I use an older Lee primer hand tool. I had heard of people hacking these tools to add in a stop to prime to a certain depth, but what I found is a there is a lot of variation in anvils(especially as they get shot and reloaded several times) and brass, so I prime by feel. And that is the tricky part as you are seating a primer against an anvil. You can't just slam them in there like with a boxer primer.

Once you have them primed then it's the same as always.

I did back to back testing of the 7.62 brass boxer versus berdan. Same powder loads and as I recall there was a slight difference in velocity in favor of the boxer.

Lastly something to remember is berdan brass usually is not going to last as long as boxer brass due to the anvil getting hammered by the firing pin. But I figure if I get 4 or 5 loadings out of the brass then it did it's purpose and then someday end up at the metal recyclers.