7.62 ammo

[marksman]

7.62 brass is a bit thicker, and commercial .308 is sometimes loaded to slightly higher pressure, but other than that, the cartridges themselves are pretty much the same. If you want to be ultra safe you can buy a 7.62 x 51 barrel I have

[wanneroo]

7.62 brass is a bit thicker, and commercial .308 is sometimes loaded to slightly higher pressure, but other than that, the cartridges themselves are pretty much the same. If you want to be ultra safe you can buy a 7.62 x 51 barrel I have

With that reloaders should be aware of about 1.5 grain differences in case capacity between the cases as well due to that brass thickness difference. 7.62 NATO brass averages that 1.5 grains less than 308 Win brass typically.

[JimTom]

I am of the understanding that some of that military stuff is double flash hole. Don’t know for certain, I was told this by an old fella once. Please correct me if I am wrong.

[wanneroo]

I am of the understanding that some of that military stuff is double flash hole. Don’t know for certain, I was told this by an old fella once. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There was plenty of berdan primed 7.62 NATO brass made but became less common to find by the 1990's.

I'm shooting 1975 and 1976 Austrian made Hirtenberger 7.62 NATO right now that is berdan primed and I reload it with berdan primers. Most people don't want to bother reloading it but I do and it's not overly hard to do. I also reload berdan primed Swiss 7.5x55.

[JimTom]

Mate what do you use to remove the used primers? A conventional decapping pin in a neck sizing die obviously won’t work. Be interested in hearing how it’s done.

[bladeracer]

Mate what do you use to remove the used primers? A conventional decapping pin in a neck sizing die obviously won’t work. Be interested in hearing how it’s done.

Use a rod that closely fits the case neck, fill the case with water, insert the rod, strike with a hammer, the hydraulic pressure should punch the primer out. You need to sit the case over a hole, like a washer so the primer can move.

You can also buy or make a two-pin decapping rod, but it requires aligning with the holes, which can be fiddly.

[bladeracer]

I am of the understanding that some of that military stuff is double flash hole. Don’t know for certain, I was told this by an old fella once. Please correct me if I am wrong.

There was plenty of berdan primed 7.62 NATO brass made but became less common to find by the 1990's.

I'm shooting 1975 and 1976 Austrian made Hirtenberger 7.62 NATO right now that is berdan primed and I reload it with berdan primers. Most people don't want to bother reloading it but I do and it's not overly hard to do. I also reload berdan primed Swiss 7.5x55.

I think the biggest problem is not the mechanics of it as that is virtually identical to boxer-primed brass, getting the primers is the problem. That's why some take the extra step of converting their brass to boxer.

[JimTom]

Sounds a bit troublesome to reload. Not sure that I would bother trying to reload it unless it was out of necessity. Thanks mate. That satisfied my curiosity.

[wanneroo]

I have an RCBS berdan decapper. It's a little tool that pops the primers out like a cork. There is videos of it online on youtube. Not to hard to use once you get it dialed in. When you resize you simply remove the decapping pin in the resizing die. Seating the berdan primers you need to take care because of course you are seating the primer up against the anvil.

I also bought a berdan crimp removal tool for $20 as much of this berdan brass has crimped/staked primer pockets.

In the end it's really not a big deal that people make it out to be to reload. But yes it is different to boxer reloading and for most people it's not worthwhile. But for me I have all this nice Swiss GP11 7.5 brass and Hirtenberger 7.62 brass, so why not use it up?