Krag Collectors Association Forum

I am sitting on five thousand berdan primers. I bought them back in the dark days of the O'bummer years. Saw the writing on the wall and figured I would grab some for the future. Just is case, ya know.

Tumbled two loads today and, boy howdy, is that brass purty.

Roger that, BR. Saw PPU brass last week. I just can not see good brass go to waste without at least a couple of reloads.

FredC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 10:10 pm. . . Looks like a design secret that helps to prevent marking or scratching the face.

Nah. I understand a good quality scratch awl works as well - no rock and roll. The contour I ground was just to provide strength with the more brittle material used (worn chainsaw file).

FredC wrote: ↑Wed Jul 06, 2022 4:31 pm Paul,
Does the hydraulic pressure swell the case or the neck when you do this? if so, it definitely needs to be done before resizing. If your 9/16 socket is not flat on the bottom and deforms the case, I guess you could use the shell holder, just dry and oil it before putting it away as it probably has no plating to prevent rust.

I've not had a problem with swelling. It really doesn't take that much pressure to pop the primer cups out. Again, the worst problem is it being messy with water getting everywhere. I always decap before I clean the brass. My 9/16 socket is pretty flat inside and the case head fits nicely (it's an el-cheap-O from the flea market, LOL). I clean my cases in my tumbler with the standard corncob media. There is sometimes a problem with the tiny flash holes becoming fouled with the media... and this MUST be checked before you reload. Also, I use a brass end brush in my dremel tool to clean the primer pockets before they go into the tumbler. After cleaning I have a stiff piece of wire that I use to "POKE" the media out of the flash holes.

Now... for a word of advice:
Be very careful how you size your brass, AND your OAL. The K31 WILL NOT fire if the bolt is not fully in battery. Brass (with the shoulder too far forward) or OAL (bullet seated too long in the case) that prevents even a hair from the bolt being fully seated will prevent firing. I found this out the hard way at Camp Perry one year. I had 6 of my rounds go "CLICK" during Rapid Fire... all because my OAL was a hair too long (I set the OAL for the bullet to engage the rifling to remove the jump. Critical error on my part)! Each and every round fired just fine when I "SLAMMED" the bolt home. I took the remaining ammo back home, re-seated the bullets about 0.05 deeper and they all worked perfectly!

I have noticed when I run the brass through the process that I have brass flakes in the wet tumbler, then the wash container and the drying sheet. I think it is residual primer cups. It is almost like dandruff. It just keeps flaking. I tumble for a couple of hours and find some of the pockets still a tiny bit of primer. I may have to do as the Great Steinmayer and that is scub-a-dub-dub the pockets prior to tumbling.


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