marios5469

This may have been addressed in previous posts but I wanted to see if anyone knows of any sources of berdan rifle primers here in the US. I have .303 berdan primed cases as well as 7.62x54 cases that I would like to reload. Yes I know, it is tougher, and most will say it makes no sense, but given the price of ammo, given the fact thst my tax dollars are bailing out idiots that pissed their money away, given the fact that the economy is in the tank, and things are not looking good for the long term, frankly, its time to get cheap, despite the added work.

If anyone knows of any sources, or perhaps of a way to deal with the manufacturers directly to do a bulk buy, I would love to hear about it.

Jack Stanley

Perhaps the "Old Western Scrounger" may be able to help . The last I saw his list he had some very odd stuff there .

Jack

marios5469

I've tried them. No luck

DaninDayton

Marios,
I've found this like helpful.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/berdan ... sions.html


DaninDayton
ilurkalot

marios5469

Thanks Dan...I actually checked into that site before also. None of the dealers noted have them. I've checked everyone.

Steven Hobbs

I didn't think there was a difference, I thought the only difference was the holes in the bottom of the case.

You might look into some euro manufacturers.

marios5469

Checked all the big names...no one is bringing thm into the US anymore. No answers as to why either.

Jack Stanley

If they aren't bringing them in and no one will import them for you , it may be time to sell the berdan brass for scrap and lay in a supply of cases you can get primers for .

If you really wanted to use berdan primers you may have to look on the different sale boards on the net and see if any turn up . Privi makes both .303 and 7.62x54R with boxer brass . It's more costly than it was four years ago but what isn't ?

Jack

RevJoel

I know it sounds silly, but you can try reloading the primers themselves. There are several YouTube videos on reloading primers. What you got to lose!

marios5469

As time consumming as depriming the berdan, I don't think I want to add in the additional time of reloading primers themselves. Thanks for the info though.

Steve M1911A1

Charlie Petty may want to correct me on this, but I believe that, as violent explosives go, cartridge-priming mixture is just about the most violent, most unstable, most dangerous-to-handle stuff there is, short of fuming nitroglycerin.
Why would anyone even consider doing such a job at home?
What have you got to lose? Well, how 'bout your home? Or your fingers? Or your eyesight?

bearcat6

Steve I think you are right, I believe most primers have fulminate of mercury in them, that is a very unstable explosive. All the things I have read about reusing primers, including thr GI technical manual on improvised explosives shows how to reload them with match heads from wooden matches. This is also tricky, I recall a kid I grew up with becoming an amputee by trying to make a firecracker by stuffing matchheads into an empty CO2 cartridge.

TommyGunn

Fulminate of mercury is a very unstable material that was used in percussion caps in the 19th century, and in primers up until modern primer compounds were developed, IIRC about in the 1920s or so. The mercury compound was also very bad for promoting rust & pitting barrels. It is no longer used in modern ammunition -- in fact, as a black powder shooter, I'm rather darned sure it isn't even used in percussion caps today.
I won't speculate about how unstable modern priming compounds are except I believe they're a lot better than what used to be.
I recall reading how the Winchester Corporation used to mix up fulminate of mercury primer. They had a room where people stirred it until it dried, and as it dried it became explosive. There were several incidents where it did go off and either killed or severely wounded employess, and Winchester installed a wall in their mixing room with a series of mirrors and slots, so the men could use long poles through the slots to mix the compound while watching what they were doing via the mirrors. The stuff still blew up on occasion but atleast the wall deflected most of the blast and saved a lot of men horrible injuries or death.

Steve M1911A1

I know that fulminate of mercury is no longer used as priming. However, a priming mixture has to be easily set off, and it must easily produce a very hot, very fast burn-front, very quickly. So, no matter what is currently used (lead styphnate?), it is bound to be extremely dangerous to handle in any reasonable quantity.

TommyGunn

Ho ho! I would NEVER sugggest any priming compound is something one should play with!!!! Uh uh -- no way!