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I’ve got a lot of spent Berdan primed .303 brass.  Saving it for a day that I found a way to easily convert to Berdan primers or an easy way to decap to seat a new Berdan primer. 

, a rifle but no loaded ammo 

 I tried the following. With a 1/8th drill I drilled the anvil out and was surprised to find that the entire primer came out with the drill, I thought it couldn't be that couldn't  but it was it was and a standard primer fitted perfectly.

 I used that combination for some years until UK laws stopped us from using Semi Auto full bore rifles.

Try it. What have you got to loose.? Try it on a low load first to be sure,

Once I get some cases done, I’ll post an update. 

Look forward to the information.

Sweet.

Maybe there is a use for all that "non reloadable brass Ive been keeping for things like action proving dummies & master cases!

 Excited to see how this works.  I have lots of Berdan primed empty cases, I’m going start with 50 cases of 1951 Mk 7 Dominion match grade brass as a test. It’s the most consistent brass in terms of weight and dimensions I’ve come across.  

It work is a bit tedious, but once I set up a production run, it will go faster. 

I had no trouble drilling the hole thru the center of the Berdan anvil. The frustrating part was getting the depth set right so as to drill thru the anvil, but not the spent primer. These primers are crimped in place, and many times, the recapping pin punches a hole thru the spent primer. 

Once hole is drilled and primer is removed remaining steps are:

Clean the remainder of the anvil off with a pocket depth uniformer

Chamfer the enlarged pocket opening with a case mouth chamfer tool

Press the bushing in using arbor press

Trim the bushing flush (if necessary) with the case head with L E Wilson case trimmer 

Ream/chamfer the bushing with a LR primer pocket chamfer tool held in the LE Wilson trimmer

I think it will be, for these reasons:

1) these are unquestionably match grade cases. Produced by Dominion Arsenal for the 1952 DCRA annual prize meeting (matches) and of known exceptional quality.  They are the most consistent .303 cases I’ve weighted and measured. Rims are very consistent, all measured 0.062 thick. 

2) good .303 case are hard to come by.

3) I shoot a lot, and need to restock my usable cases. I expect to get 40 reloads from these. 

4) as my Dad would say, waste not, want not.

LE Wilson .303 Case gage, supports the case at the shoulder. Note that the case head sits above the gage as these are partial length sized cases to fit the chamber, not full length sized. 

K&M Arbor Press pushes the bushing into the primer pocket. The bushing protrudes by a few thousands of an inch (case on the right), this gets trimmed off square to the case body with a LE Wilson case trimmer, with the head against the cutter. 

The DAC 1951 Mk 7 cases have a Berdan primer pocket ID of 0.243 inches. The bushing OD is 0.256, far too large. It took about 100 lbs force to press them into the case head. That reduced the bushing ID to 0.201 for a primer that measures .210.

Reamed the bushings with a LR pocket reamer, which gave me a final pocket diameter of 0.208. 

Once the brass is tumbled, I’ll seat the primers and load them up.

These are packaged in the original cardboard 48 round carton, hence the two loose rounds…

I will contact the seller of these and see what he thinks. 

The bolt head was destroyed by the hot gasses.  A very disappointing result.  

Wow that is disappointing.

If nothing else, you did those of us a service who might of been thinking of doing this.

My hats off to you sir.

 I think the Canadian .303 Mk 7 case Berdan primer pocket diameter must be smaller than the European Large Berdan pockets, the bushings were just too large. If you look back on my earlier posts, it took over 100 lbs to press them into the case, then I had to ream them to accept the LR Boxer primer. 

Fortunately, I have several spare #1 bolt heads the same length as this one. 

Back to the range on Friday to do the ladder test with the T at 600 yds and shoot some more test groups with the rebarreled Mk 1/3. 

On the tenth shot, I could see a flash of flame coming from the back of the breech, that must have been the worst of the three primer pocket bushing failures.  I had looked at the case head after the first shot, and it looked OK, so went ahead and shot the remaining nine. 

The flash was very noticeable, must have been like a blow torch. 

Personally I don't think the an insert between the case and the new primer is a good idea. You have two circumferences to seal. A bit like fitting two headgaskets!

 With the amount of pressure and heat, an insert would need to be threaded into the case to be reliable; but probably not enough material for that method.

Perhaps the aluminum was work hardened too much because of the large interference, 0.013 interference on 0.243 diameter Berdan pocket.  I don’t think these bushings are the correct size for these primer pockets. 

I would also assume that with the large hole you drill centre and the 2 other berden  holes, one would think your creating a path of lesser resistance. Basic physics.

Not a great idea really. Gas will push back for that split second it takes to over come pushing the bullet out of the case.

And in your experiment that`s exactly whats happening.

Plus as Zed said having 2 circular sealing surfaces further exasperates the chance of failure.

According to him, he hasn't had one blow out, "YET."

This happens in all center fire cartridge cases. The gas pushes on the primer, and it expands radially to form a seal and is prevented from blowing out the back of the case via the bolt. 

This is a commercial kit that I bought, and has successfully been used. But for some reason, the aluminum bushings are not sealing against the case head primer pocket. My thoughts are because they have been overly strained to get them to fit into the primer pocket (they are too large in diameter for these cases). Once squeezed down past the yield point, they must be springing back just enough to no longer seal, or just on the edge of sealing. 

Wish the guy who makes these would call me back, he may be able to get a different size of bushing.

This is why savvy reloaders use some form of "heat shield" when annealing the shoulder & neck. It keeps the direct heating focused towards these areas while protecting the rear half.

Midway has just started selling one, but I have no experience with it.

Many, like myself, cobble something together from things we have lying about. Like deep well sockets of the appropriate size!

You're aware you cant "quench" brass yes?

Not picking, I drop mine into a SS bowl of it after heating. I do it as I tend to anneal in big batches & dont want to create a heat soak pit by dropping a couple of hundred hot cases in higgldy-piggldy at a rate of one every 7 seconds.