Berdan brass......I fricken hate 'em

[DougCarden]

I am one 5 gallon bucket down on two full of .223 brass that I am processing. I must say that I really would like to meet the cheap ass $#&*^&$#* that bought and shot 100rds of BERDAN primed .223 with this batch (found 57 pieces so far....) Everything else is Lake City, Fed with a little PMC and WIN thrown in, great stuff.

I am gonna have to call Sinclair tomorrow and order some more decapping pins.....

I am now sorting through the other bucket, half done......No BERDANS so far.....ARGH.....

I am done for the day and enjoying a Beverage right now , but I am telling you, take the time to sort the brass and look for the Berdans....it will save you time/money/equipment in the long run!

DougC

[Modoc]

Doug,

I feel your pain!

I keep finding them in the 5 gal. of 38 spl that I bought for CAS loads this is even more fun when running a Dillon, it has a tendancy to break the rythm and also can lead to a heavy charge. Good thing we are running a light load.

The only thing comperable is the 38 spl cases that take a LARGE pistol primer

[calishootr]

Berdan primed brass has given me carpal tunnel because what i now do, is what i call the 'reloader twist' ofthe wrist to look att he headstamp of EVERY piece of brass BEFORE it goes into the machine.....

[magicald_223]

I'm with you on the carpal tunnel...now I go through all my brass by dumping them out on my bench and pick through them before I start...still f-ing annoying!

[Graham Smith]

Not to be ignorant, but how can you spot Berdan primed brass by looking at the headstamp?

[redmanfixit]

This may not be helpful, but I have heard of a "gizzie" that is pretty much a carbide heavy duty decapping/sizing die that will punch through the bottom of the case and make a Berdan case into a Boxer case. I'm still looking as I haven't seen one but when I do I'll buy it and post on Enos any details! Having busted many a decapping pin in my life, it occurred to me that this might be a possible solution!

[L-10_shooter]

I always sort my brass when I get home from the range. Berdains go in the scrap bucket. Have not had one go through the press yet.....

[DougBarnes101]

Doug,

I feel your pain!

I keep finding them in the 5 gal. of 38 spl that I bought for CAS loads this is even more fun when running a Dillon, it has a tendancy to break the rythm and also can lead to a heavy charge. Good thing we are running a light load.

The only thing comperable is the 38 spl cases that take a LARGE pistol primer

Or being on the other end of the spectrum 45 ACP that take small pistol primers. I sort all my brass by headstamp now since I have to sort them to get out this NT crap :angry2:

[calishootr]

Graham, you 'spot' the berdan primed brass by 'learning the headstamps(least for me) anything on the head stamp that would lead me to beleive its from another country, trash it, learned a hard lesson w/ some greek 308??? and for me atleast A-merc goes too(narrow flash holes) so i just turn em over in my hand before they go in the machine, anything debateable gets set aside to be looked at later or trashed

[ben b.]

Or being on the other end of the spectrum 45 ACP that take small pistol primers. I sort all my brass by headstamp now since I have to sort them to get out this NT crap :angry2:

I'm in this boat right now. Freaking Win NT .45 cases, one of these happy bastards shows up about every 100 loads or so. I need to have Jan sort my cases for me first.... Edited January 6, 2010 by ben b.