Reloading steel cased ammo

[dennishoddy]

Powder valley has berdan primers? Yes, they are removed hydraulically.
Some with a lathe and a lot of time on their hands will rebuild the cases to standard primer design.

 

[Landser]

I reload steel case no problem make a board with a hole all the way through it the size of the primer then make hole half way down the size of the case head. fill case with water or oil and smack a dowel down the neck. make sure you pick up steel case at the range as soon as it drops on the ground and keep it dry so it doesn't rust. and load away

 

[archer]

RCBS still manufactures the berdan decapping tool. But even that isnt perfect. The problem with it is that you usually end up damaging the anvil ( for the guys who are unfamiliar with berdan primed cases, the anvil is intregal to the case). With the lack of standardization of berdan primers, if you have cases of the same caliber but from different countries, the depths of the pocket vary along with pocket diameter, so you will wind up trashing a lot of the cases before you figure out how to set the tool for each batch of cases. Another problem is: even if you find the berdan primers, chances of finding the right one for your cases are slim (and none).
Bottom line: with all of the difficulty in reloading berdan, let alone steel berdan cases, why bother if its a caliber for which good boxer primed brass is available?

 

[Blitzfike]

I am actually planning on getting the lee carbide dies and would cast my own bullets as well.

Do you have burdan primers? If so how did you remove them?

Removing berdan primers is not difficult, but is messy with my method. I have a Lee sizing die with the decapping pin ground off. I size the case, then remove it and fill it with water. I then re-insert it into the sizing die, the expander portion of the old decapping stem fits tightly into the sized neck and with just a small effort, the primer pops out. I use an old RCBS Jr. press for this and have to remove the water and re lube the press after every session. I also do this at an outdoor bench so I don't have to worry about water getting on my other equipment. I keep this die set dedicated for the berdan stuff. Just be sure to flush the die well with a water displacing oil after each session.

added note. After exposing cases to water, I dunk them in a metal prep solution like used in the auto body industry. It puts an oxide coating on the steel similar to what it originally had and resists rust.

 

[DasSieben]

I appreciate all the good info on here! My biggest concern at this point would be what "archer" mentioned about hard to find correct berdan primers...anyone else had that much trouble?

As to why would I be interested 1. I'm a tinker...I like to try out new things just for the fun of it. 2. I already have a lot of surplus steel 7.62x39. So why not? At least to have the ability to and know just in case. Primarily my desire to get into reloading is for my 7mm Mag and 9mm. The steel case Avenue is just a bonus/intriguing so I'll have to try it!