Is this a berdan or boxer primer?

[mlbgpride]

I'm relatively new to reloading, only a month or so. I have over 1k rounds of 7.62x25 that I think is the old polish kind for my cz-52. Sometimes it takes 2 or 3 strikes to fire off the primer. It happens in both cz-52's that I have, so I doubt its the gun. I also saw that these are hit or miss with the good ones, but a few years ago, they were cheap. I'd like to rip them apart and reload them, its not fun having to fire 2x on a single action gun! However, I can't tell if they're boxer. They have a center hole, but also a small hole next to it. Most berdan primers have 2 spaces one on each side. Any help is appreciated.

[M&P Chris]

My guess would be Berdan. A single flashhole would signify boxer.

[Enfielder]

2 holes = Berdan. You can read about reloading it here
http://www.makarov.com/tokload.html

ETA Yes your photo is different from the Berdan-primed rifle cases I am used to looking at. I've never dealt with Berdan-primed pistol ammo.

[mlbgpride]

Here's a picture of it to show you what I'm talking about. It's definitely not your standard Berdan if it is one

[mlbgpride]

That way my whole thing with it, it just doesn't look like any other berdan primer holes. I've used a lot of berdan primed ammunition and haven't run across this yet

[nijwnfi]

It's not your gun. Some surplus 7.62x25 will take more than 1 hit to fire. Just cock the hammer and hit it again. I believe it's some Yugo that does it to me out of more than 1 pistol. As said the stuff is Berdan primed, not worth breaking down.

[tabasco_joe]

If you want a challenge you can reload Berdan cases if you can find the primers. Periodically Graff and some other reloading suppliers have the primers.

[dk99358]

Pop the primer and look in the primer pocket. If it is flat bottomed, it is boxer. If there is a built up anvil in the case, it is Berdan.

BTW, the inside of that case looks funny like it's a balloon head, not the modern style case with a solid web. Maybe shadows in the photo too, I can't tell.

Dale

[MT1]

You are right, it doesn't look like any Berdan primed ammo I have seen/used. Are you sure this is not ammo someone has already reloaded? It looks like it could be Berdan ammo that someone center primed and reloaded. I don't know if anyone out there is actually doing this but in theory it may be possible.

[mlbgpride]

I don't think there's any ballooning on it, it looked right from the outside when I was handling it. I'll have to figure out a way to pop the primer, I don't have any dies for it currently, but I'll figure that one out to see the anvil.

I don't think anyone has rebored it to make it boxer from berdan, I've heard of that, but this was mil-surp that I bought a few years ago. It came on stripper clips, so I would imagine that it was intended for the sub-machine gun. When it does fire, it works well in the cz's, but it's just a hassle to keep cocking the gun.

I thought about trying to reload the berdan primers, but really it seems like a lot of work that people here haven't made good tools for. They say the decapping pins for the berdans aren't the best and don't really work well. Maybe someday in the future, but 7.62x25 is still too cheap to put that much time in it.

Thanks for all the replies so far