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    Berdan to Boxer

    Is it possible to convert Berdan primed brass to Boxer primed?
    I have about 50 old Berdan primed 303 cases in brass( don't know where they came from).
    Wouldn't it be possible to drill a single small hole between the two in a Berdan primed case then fit a large rifle primer?
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    It's not worth doing for .303 brass since there is LOTS of reloadable boxer .303 available.

    Converting brass is really only worthwhile for cases that are otherwise unobtainable such as:

    8mm Lebel
    7.5 Swissicon
    8x74R
    14.5x114

    etc.
    Союз нерушимый республик свободных Сплотила навеки Великая Русь. Да здравствует созданный волей народов Единый, могучий Советский Союз!

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    Tor

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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    I know it doesn't make economic sense, but nevertherless if someone knows how to do it properly I'd like to hear about it.

    I have a Carcano and a couple of dozen original cases. All primers were dud. I extracted the primer and tried drilling a hole in the middle. Trouble is, a hole of the same size as the typical Boxer ignition hole breaks through into the two small Berdan holes. So I ended up with an oddly shaped long hole looking a bit like a figure 8 with an extra loop. The whole thing now looks a bit flaky, and I am not sure if the performance with a normal primer is going to be satisfactory. Has anyone done this with success?

    Patrick

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    I have converted over 3,000 rounds of surplus Berdan primed 8x50Rmm "Lebel" to Boxer primed succesfully and these cartridges have lasted me a long, long time. Every onece in awhile I lose a cartridge case as the primer pocket gets to big anymore to seat a primer tightly but that is part of the game converting the brass.
    Patrick

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    Advisory Panel Patrick Chadwick's Avatar
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    Thanks for the encouragement!

    Patrick

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    The primer hole is usually different sized as well, but it can be done.

    Eli

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    While it can be done, it's not worth the effort when unprimed boxer brass is everywhere. I would pick remington over winchester.

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    Check out this web site if your interested in converting berdan to boxer. It works, I've done it. http://parallaxscurioandrelicfirearm...on-Method.html

    Skeet1

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    Skeet1,
    I could not get the site to convert Berdan to Boxer, is there another site I could try?
    Howard

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    Converting Berdan to Boxer Primers

    http://users.ameritech.net/mchandler/primer.html

    Aloha, Mark

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