Question re brass; 9mm's retarded sibling?

[allen-1]

I tumbled some brass I picked up at the range. Some was mine, some was other people's. It all appeared to be 9mm as I handled it through the various stages, (picking it up, tossing it into tumbler, shaking out the media, tossing into casefeeder).

I pay what I think is reasonable attention to the brass, watching for splits, case deformations, and rocks wedged into the cases.

This caught me off guard. On the down stroke of my press, it's a 650 so it's moving the shell plate up, there was unexpected resistance to pushing out the fired primer.

So I stopped. I took the case out and looked at it. I don't know what it is. Which is the point of this post (yeah, finally, right?).

It's the size of a 9mm, or awfully close. The headstamp has either a "50" or a "30", a "9", a star and a triangle on it. The reason that the primer wouldn't punch out is that instead of having a single flash hole in the center, it has two flash holes.

Any ideas what this is?

And yes, I'm adding another step to my routine - check the inside of the brass to see how may flash holes...

Thanks.

 

[jek]

Sounds like brass for berdan primers.

 

[headednorth]

Berdan, prob European I would think.

 

[allen-1]

Sounds like brass for berdan primers.

Yep, that's exactly what I'm looking at.

Now I'll go google Berdan primers.

Thank you very much.

 

[whatluck]

looks like s&b 9mm to me

 

[milktree]

Yep, that's exactly what I'm looking at.

Now I'll go google Berdan primers.

Thank you very much.

I'm actually kinda shocked you didn't already know about Berdan primers!

I saw the post and thought, "9x18? 9x17? 9x21? some other weirdo not-quite-9x19? Surely it's not just Berdan primers, he must know about those!"

 

[one-eyed Jack]

Stock up on pins and inspect every case before you put them in the press. Jack.

 

[NavelOfficer]

Surprisingly, many don't know about the various primer types until they snap their decap pin.
Hiram Berdan is American, but foreigners seem to adopt his primer style. Likewise, American ammo manufacturers have tended towards the English (Col. Edward Boxer) style. Go figure.
I've found one, two and three flash holes on berdan primed cases. Various diameters are available, too. The following may be helpful:
Primers for cartridges of service, sportive & hunting arms | АО Муромский приборостроительный завод
If you want to bother, many berdan-primed cases are reloadable, but good luck finding berdan primers anymore. Personally, I've only found KV-7,62N and KV-24N primers in the USA (years ago).

 

[42!]

Berdan pimed 9x18 makarov

 

[allen-1]

Stock up on pins and inspect every case before you put them in the press. Jack.

I've got about 10 spare pins, (from a dozen), and I do inspect the cases - now I've got one more thing to inspect them for. I learned something today.

 

[NavelOfficer]

Be watchful for different primer sizes among calibers, too.
.45 ACP has both large and small pistol primers. Don't mistake a .45 GAP (shorter case and SP primer) for a .45 ACP either.
Older Remington 7.62x39mm uses (used to anyways) a small rifle primer; about everyone else uses a large rifle primer.
There are doubtless other variations on this theme...

Back to berdan primers, don't mistake the dimple from anvil forming as a boxer-primed flash hole. You'll still snap / bend your decap pin, if you process it unaware. Not all berdan cases have a noticeable dimple, but some do.

If you aren't familiar with the head stamp, look inside the case with a good light to verify what type of primer you have. Also, what the head stamp says may not be what the case is, as many reloaders will reform one caliber into another, but that's another topic entirely.

 

[45collector]

It pays to inspect each case before it gets to your press as others have stated.
It’s only been 3 years since I started reloading but I think I’ve got a pretty good system down. A few weeks ago though, I was cranking out 9x19 on the SDB and a .380 got by my radar. I didn’t even notice until I seated the bullet!
I have a small collection of f*ck-ups I keep on the shelf as a reminder to pay full attention to what I’m doing while making ammo.