When were berdans ended?

[RJW NZ]

Is there a year date or period when corrosive primers stopped being used in military ammo?
Enfield Accurizing finish line is at hand,
thanx Rog

Information

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[jmoore]

Berdan and corrosive primed ammo are both still being made. (They are different things, but are often found together.) Berdan primered ammo is probably a wee bit cheaper to produce, esp. if there's existing equipment.
Corrosive primed ammo has a longer shelf life, which may be important if the buyer anticipates warehousing for 30 years or more. Plus, it's probably cheaper and easier to make.

[RJW NZ]

Hmm, I didn't know that at all...
how about so far as enfield milsurp 303 goes? Didn't the ammo we tend to get stop being corrosive in the 1950's? Anything more accurate than that?

[mike1967]

Hmm, I didn't know that at all...
how about so far as enfield milsurp 303 goes? Didn't the ammo we tend to get stop being corrosive in the 1950's? Anything more accurate than that?

You will probably find the Indians made it well into the 90s, or possibly still making it. Whilst not 303 i do have a packet 1994 dated 380Mk II Berdan primed made at Kirkee arsenal.Off the top of my head the latest dated example Berdan primed 303 i have is 1971.
Cheers Michael

[Mk VII]

According to a person I used to know who had a position in ammunition inspection, 1961 was when RG made the change (7.62 RG having always been non-corrosive, of course) to Eleyprime.

[Bruce_in_Oz]

To the best of my knowledge, all current military issue Russian and Chinese small arms ammo is loaded with corrosive primers. Plants set up by these two in other countries are probably the same.

It is the Chlorate salts that make the compound corrosive, not the initiator.

The classic >303 copper primer was both mercuric and corrosive. Generally you can spot mercuric primers by the fact that they use copper cups. Mercury attacks brass by bonding with the zinc; not something you want in a primer cup.

Mercuric fulminate was used in Brit. / Commonwealth service because when they got started, that was all there was. They continued to use it because it works across a wide variety of temperatures. Ditto the chlorate component.

The Germans were, I recall, the first to get serious about alternate compositions. Lead Azide was their answer to the issue of the toxicity and availability problem with Mercury. In the US, sporting ammo was loaded with lead based compounds long before the military adopted it en masse. A similar story surrounds the "corrosive" part of the matter. The adoption of the M-1 Carbine with its "sealed" gas system made a supply of non-corrosive primers essential and the ammo for that handy little weapon was the first general issue non-corrosive military ammo around.

When Australia went to 7.62 NATO, the propellant changed from Cordite sticks to granular AR2201 and the primer became a "standard" sized cup with a Lead / non chlorate brew. They just couldn't bring themselved to go the whole hog and use a Boxer primer. The primer was unplated and was the equivalent (or maybe actually was) the RWS 5608 with its heavy cup. Interestingly, about a dozen or more years ago, 5608s became impossible to find in Australia, allegedly because they were a "military' component and thus not for "sporting" use. I managed to stash a few thousand away; very handy as the "sporting" equivalent the 5627, has a lighter cup and is thus a little less forgiving with "robust" loads. Those keen on loading the Brit style .303 brass with the "big" primer need a supply of the RWS 6000; good luck finding them and getting more than one decent reload out of the ancient mercury-contaminated cases.