I have a BUNCH of 12 gauge Winchester and Remington brass shotshells and also several new Alcan Berdan primed brass shells. Being a che...frugal kind of guy, I wanted to know if there was a way to make those Berdan shells useable. I'm certainly no machinist but I do have an old metal lathe and I used that to drill out the Berdan center portion of the primer pocket. Found the proper sized drill to make the hole for 209 primers and then countersunk the base for the recess for the primer. Now, how to know if everything was OK.....revelation! I found the brass shells were a very good fit in the empty threaded hole (for dies) in my regular press. Insert them mouth up from the bottom. I had a scrap piece of 3/4" round stock about 1" long, put that on top of the ram (any flat piece of metal would work). Put a fired 209 primer (for checking fit) on top of that and raised that up to just below the base of the shotshell. Looking through the shell, it was easy to see if the primer was lined up. Then just finished raising the ram up until the primer seated flush. WOW, made my day! Saved me trying to figure out a way of buying/making a shell holder, etc. Next is making/finding something to put a slight crimp on the case mouth. Any suggestions or advice welcome!