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picked up a couple hundred rounds last weekend of brass cased 7.62x39, pulled a projectile last night and yup, berdan primed. once I removed the spent primer can I drill a flash hole? Trying to find a way to make them easier to reload later
sorry, I posted in the wrong section, just getting the feel of the forum
The Berdan primed is larger dia .
I made a tool , a 5/16" rod end drilled for a 1/16" drill with a set screw to lock the bit in , and drilled about .1 deep dead center . The neck acted as a centering guide . I then decapped and sized as normal . I peened the primer pocket with a flat punch inside and a round ball bearing , actually a 4 oz ball peen hammer , in a vise . Then used my large primer swage tool to get the correct ID .
Qualifiers .
I was only shooting loads up to about 35kpsi . The rounds are setting loaded in their 5th cycle .
This is not the right best way to do things . Yes it can be done . Yes in my case it does seem to have been reasonably safe with reduced pressure loads . No I wouldn't do this with anything I intended to shoot full tilt max loads in because the primer pocket is in fact compromised by having 3 flash holes and having been peened and swaged it may have as little as half of the normal radius grip length on the primer cup and could leak or fail all together . In my cases they have held but I have enough proper boxer primed and factory ammo as to not "need" that brass so it sits for a rainy day or a shoot and toss trip .