bowtruck

I bought some military surplus ammo. when i bought it it said nonreloadable why is that looks the same as reloadable brass
thanks

cjohnson3006

As long as its a brass case and not steel, it should be reloadable.You will need to get a Berdan primer remover if they are Berdanprimers.

bowtruck

they do have a berdan primer and looks like brass thanks cj

eldeguello

There are two possible answers. One is it may have Berdan primers. Such cases can be reloaded, but the case cannot be decapped with a pin, the primer must be popped out using hydraulic pressure (water), or dug out with a tool like RCBS makes for this purpose. Another possibility is the cartridges may have mercuric primers, the residue from which makes the cases too weak for reuse.

halcon

Berdan primers are a different size than boxer which can also be a problem if my memory serves me correctly .

Pete D.

Exactly. Finding appropriate Berdan primers is not easy. Huntington's in CA used to carry them.
Pete

eldeguello

I believe Berdans are .254" vs .210" for LR. The primers used in British express calibers were even larger than .254".

driftrider

Handloading berdan primed brass is a waste of time, unless there is simply no boxer primed brass available and you can't form the cartridge easily from another boxer primed cartridge. Otherwise, you're in for a major pain in the rear with berdan primers.

Mike

falcon

Bingo!!!!

About every 3 years i load up abunch of Berdan primed ammo in several calibers. Boxer primed brassis either not available or is too expensive for my taste. There are several sizes of Berdan primers currently available.There are a couple ofsizes that are no longer made.

http://www.dave-cushman.net/shot/berdan_supplies_dimensions.html