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We're reading conflicting arguments about the merits of reloading Berdan primed brass, oomans. One of the cartridges we'd like to consider reloading eventually is the Swiss 7.5x55 GP11. We have amassed a fair amount of brass for this now, but it is Berdan primed. Most people say it's a pain to reload, others say not so. What's the collective wisdom of the denizens of these fora?

It is easy enough to load however you need to source the correctly sized primers as Berdan LR varies somewhat from Boxer LR. I remove Berdan primers hydraulically using water and a simple piston and hammer process. If you try it, do it outside on a summers day as you will eventually get wet...

ovenpaa wrote:It is easy enough to load however you need to source the correctly sized primers as Berdan LR varies somewhat from Boxer LR. I remove Berdan primers hydraulically using water and a simple piston and hammer process. If you try it, do it outside on a summers day as you will eventually get wet...

Getting the primers out is easy if you use a Wamadet decapper but it does spread the water around.
Radway Green No. 81 or RWS 5,5mm primers work fine in GP 11. Tula also produce the primers but I've only seen them in the USA.
Don't forget to remove the crimp from the primer pocket.
Wear safety glass and ear plugs when seating the new primer as an occasional bang may be expected as the primer seating may suffer from stick/slip!

Life's just too short badger - It's an interesting experiment and yes, it can be done. Primers can also be reloaded with red matches, rimfire cases can be reloaded, and in a survival situation, it might be a handy to know these tricks.

If it was a really unusual rifle/calibre, say a pin fire, then any amount of faffing about might be justified to keep it shooting but I really couldn't be bothered with Berdan primers unless there was no other way.

I see Henry Krank does the 7.5x55 cases boxer primed for £43 x100.

1066 wrote:I see Henry Krank does the 7.5x55 cases boxer primed for £43 x100.

buy the ppu shoot them reload them simples

Convert them. Not too difficult with a bit of practice. I've not tried Swiss, but have done many 7.62x54r.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthr ... s-to-Boxer

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