Decapping military 308 brass (Berden Primed)

maxdogk911

maxdogk911

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I know a lot of people have come across this in the past and I am sure there is a lot of know how out there in NES land. So I have this question for you, what is the easiest way to decap (Beredn Primed) mil 762X51 brass. I have seen the decapping tool that you hook onto the rim and then press the nipple into the primer, but is there an easier way that someone has found. I only ask, because I have a ton of old mil. brass and a bunch more loaded mil. ammo and I don't want to just dump it. Is there an easier way ??????? [angry]
 
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[strike]My Dillon650 decaps it in the usual manner.
I imagine any modern press is similar.[/strike]
Nevermind, Berdan primed brass.
 
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Do you mean Berdan-primed brass?

If it's Boxer-primed brass with crimped primers, just decap it by the normal means, then remove the crimp (there are a bunch of ways to remove the crimp and several threads on the topic)
 
Fill the case with water,insert tight fitting punch,hit with hammer and hydraulic pressure should pop out the primer. Problem now is where do you get berdan primers and which size. In all honesty it's not worth the trouble,sell the brass as scrap use money to buy boxer primed brass.
 
maxdogk911 said:
Eddie
I quess I should have posted that in the initial thread. Yes its Berdan primed.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't waste any time on it until/unless you can get your hands on some Berdan primers. They're very hard to get. If you find some, please PM me with the source.

To answer your question, there is another way to decap Berdan brass, but it's slow:
  1. Get a bucket, a 1/4" by 3" bolt, a 9/16" nut driver (with a hollow shaft), and a hammer.
  2. Fill a bucket with water.
  3. Drop a case in the bucket headstamp down (so it fills with water)
  4. Start about 1/2" of the bolt into the case
  5. Turn the case/bolt so that the bolt head is on the bottom of the bucket and the case head is pointing up
  6. Put the nut driver over the case head and tap the handle with the hammer. Hydraulic pressure will pop out the primer.
I needed to do a lot of them, so I made up a rig out of a scrap piece of Corian (you could use plywood but it floats so you'd have to weight it) with the bolt screwed through the bottom, which I sit in the bottom of the bucket with the bolt pointing up like a mandrel. I just dump all of the cases in the bucket, pick them up one-at-a-time, put them on the mandrel, and pop out the primer. I keep the water level in the bucket so that the top of the nut driver handle is about 2" above the surface of the water.

ETA: Highlander beat me to it.
 
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Years ago some made a decapper for berdan primers that used the explosive force of a boxer primer to blow out the spent primer. the tool wasn't all that costly but you used up a lot of primers in the process.
 
As addressed above, the hydraulic method gets most berdan primers out. I use the lowly Lee 30 cal decapping set, once I have a punch with a broken pin. Fill cases with water and set in the base and give the punch a solid blow. If you have a loose fit, just place a plastic bread wrapper (Saran Wrap) over the case mouth or neck size the cases, if you really want to bother with the extra step.
There will be headstamps (South African, for one...) that resist hydraulic decapping and will balloon long b4 the primer budges. These can either be scrapped or saved until you acquire mechanical means (RCBS Berdan Decap Tool) to do the job. Even the RCBS tool isn't 100%, but it gets most of them done. High price and mal-adjusted cutter depth may make this tool a bit frustrating. Damage to the case anvil will convert the brass to scrap, too.
Assuming you can even procure berdan primers (large rifle for most 7.62 NATO are .217" diameter vs. .210" for boxer LR) the brass will be perfect for shoots where you know you won't be able to retrieve your spent brass...well, maybe not... after you've put all that effort into it!
 
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Yeh I just hate to get rid of it, being 308 is not cheap to find and I have about 900 more rounds in ammo cans waiting to be shot. I thought I would be set for 308 brass for a while, but I quess not. I have about 300 already tumbled and cleaned. I'm not giving up just yet.
 
Believe me there is no easy way to deprime Berdan primed cases. Many yaers ago I had a custom Mauser built in 8x68S (ca 300 Win Mag). At that time the only ammo was pre WWII with Berdan primers. I purchased a supply of primers and camn testify it was not very easy to deprime the brass. Twenty yuears later Boxer primer RWS brass became available and I rid myself of the problem. My advice would be to scrap the berdan brass and get the$1.25/lb they are currently paying.
 
Take Bob_J's advice on scrapping brass................

Swap the brass for wheel weights (rather than for cash). He reports that he gets ten pounds of wheel weights for every pound of brass.

Melt em down and make bullets from the wheel weights......

Then you'll be less unhappy about having to scrap that brass.

maxdogk911 said:
OK I get it. Off to the scrap yard, I think. Thanks all.
Click to expand...
 

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