Howdy all,

I recently came into possession of a new rifle (not a Krag, a K31), along with a large amount of brass which is Berdan primed.  In the interest of reloading what I have (until I can secure a lot of Boxer primed 7.5x55 Swiss brass), I've decided to reload the Berdan primed brass.  I've already de-capped a large number if it and found that it's not too difficult.  The problem I have is finding Berdan Primers.

So the question is:  Where can I get Berdan standard rifle primers???  No dice on Graf and Sons, Cheaper than Dirt, or Midway.

Ok, I went ahead and purchased the 500 count Berdan primers.  I would have purchased all 2000, but that was just too much for me to spend right now!  500 will supply me for a couple seasons, and maybe by then, I'll have some good Boxer brass.

These guys are the answer.

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Thanks to the excellent instructions published by M.Chandler at (You need to Login to view media files and links) , I finally found a practical method of converting .217" Berdan brass to take .210" Boxer primers. The tools I used are an RCBS primer pocket swager, a good loading press, a drill, a spare shellholder, and a ball bearing about 1/2 inch in diameter. The process is simple and quick, requiring under two minutes per case once everything is set up. It works very well for me. Once I'd made up a dozen cases, I loaded and fired 150-grain bullets with charges of WC852 from 43 to 55 grains, then reloaded and fired one case 7 times with the stiff 55-grain load. There were no gas leaks at all and the primer pocket was just about as snug after 7 load/fire cycles as it was immediately after conversion.

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Much more detail is at (You need to Login to view media files and links)

I looked at the Chandler procedure, quite interesting.
I thought of one improvement to using the tool makers vice for swaging the primer hole. If you were to lay the ball in the primer pocket of an old case holder installed in your reloading press. If the ball does not sit centered in the recess for the primer you might have to grind some of the top off.  A modified decapper in an oversize shell forming die (45/70 maybe) would provide the pressure inside the case. With the reloading press the swaging would be easier, faster, and more uniform.
I checked putting a .45 inch ball on a shell holder and it looks like it would work a smaller 3/8 or 10mm ball would fit more shell holders. If I was doing it I would still use an old one.

Just to let all know, I secured a small supply of Berdan primers about a month ago... so I reloaded 50 of the GP-11 cases with the Berdan primers.  My load consisted of 168 gr Nosler HPBT match bullets over 40.0 grains of H4895.  I shot these in a CMP match yesterday (only the second time I've shot this rifle), and wound up just short of a medal - 97-3X Slow, 92-1X Rapid, and 70-1X Offhand, for a total 259-5X.  I attribute the low Offhand to my being terribly unsteady.  The bottom line is - even though it is a little more trouble to decap, it's really not a big deal to re-prime, and the rest of the loading process is the same... so for now, I'm going to continue loading these as is.  I am thrilled with the results!!!

Paul, what was the OAL of your loaded cartridges?  Did you make up dummies?

I used Sierra 168 gr HPs, and they have a different profile than either the Nosler or the GP-11 bullets.  It has been a while, but I think the note with the 7.5 Swiss die box says 2.873.  The loaded cartridges looked strange, with the case mouth almost forward of the cylindrical part of the bullet.