One screamin'-meani-ball

Frogbert

The stuff these guys make for my Garands is excellent, so I'm thinking their 8mm Mauser FMJBTs are going to be great performers in M48 and 48A. Has anybody shot any of this exact stuff?

http://www.sportsmansguide.com/cb/cb.asp?a=140585

It's brass cased, but non-reloadable. Why is it non-reloadable? Is it just because of the Berdan primers?

Tailgunner1954

quote:Originally posted by Frogbert
Why is it non-reloadable? Is it just because of the Berdan primers?


Bingo

Frogbert

Well, this post from the reloading section gives me pause, and encourages me to dig deeper:

vytis
Starting Member



USA
19 Posts
Posted - 02/07/2005 : 7:16:33 PM

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Good news for those of us who fool around with European cartridges. Berdan primers for reloading have always been hard to find at reasonable prices. If you're loading someing weird like the rimmed 6.5 Mannlicher numbers they're a real necessity. Grafs in Mexico, Mo is stocking PMC Berdan primers in large rifle size (.217). Price is not too much higher than Boxer primers. Best of all they are non-corrosive. Pulled some loads in some bad primer 8x57 stuff I had on hand and tried them out in my G43. (you don't want to use good boxer primed cases in this gun as it is quite hard on cases) Shot great and what a luxury not to have to detail strip and boil out the gas system. Now to reload some of that beautiful Berdan primed swiss and Swedish brass! Besides the RCBS depriming tool is fun to play with.

Would someone expound and expand on the possibilities that some do reload military rounds with hard primers, and how one might communicate with one of them who is successfull at it and experienced enough to take on a little 8mm reloading? I'll move to the reloading section if no one has any knowledge about this topic here.....
Frog.

Tailgunner1954

The problem with reloading Berdan primed cases is very simple, it's a royal PITA to get the old primer out.
You can do it hydrolicly, by filling the case with liquid and a tight fitting rod (hit the rod with a hammer to force the primer out), or by using a special tool to dig it out of the case.
After that, everything else is the same as reloading standard Boxer primed brass.

tsavo303

had some olympic 5.56, the worst modern ammo I have ever had. stuck in everyones ARs

1KYDSTR

In my experience, the Olympic stuff is crap anyway. The few I have used for reloading (and yeah, what a PITA puching those friggin' Berdan primers is!) lasted around 3 times each. For the time and effort, buy REAL brass and deal with the initial higher price. By the 10th time you reload that good stuff, you'll wonder why you ever even considerted going the Berdan route. The only way I would do it is if it was REALLY weird and hard to get, them whatever it takes to make the old smoke pole go "BOOOOOM"!!!!

Frogbert

I guess it was HXP (Pyrkal) M1 ball that I liked so much. Is it totally different to Olympic, or is it all made in the same factory in Greece, as some one said on another shooting forum?

This stuff at SG is new manufacture. Does anyone have a report on the presently offered ammo?