Best Bullet Removing Method or Die

[jlow]

I have an empirical problem with pulled bullets because I believe that grabbing the bullet to get enough grip to pull them out can potentially “squished” them a bit. Since bullets are basically a soft bag of lead covered by a slightly tougher coat of brass, I believe that the squished bullets can end up having slightly different ogive shapes and bearing surface lengths. If you want to use pull bullets for something important such as a competition or load development, I would suggest at least measuring them via these parameters against new bullets just to make sure this has not happened.

 

[M-61]

Impact hammer. Cotton ball in the bottom. Never had a problem. Bullets are untouched.

 

[CH Luke]

I think damage will depend on neck tension. I've pulled a bunch with both an inertial and an RCBS. If I have to pull down 50 or 100 bullets, I'm putting the RCBS in the press

+1

 

[savagedasher]

Impact hammer. Cotton ball in the bottom. Never had a problem. Bullets are untouched.

+1

Why would someone want to pull a hundred bullets? Larry

 

[Shynloco]

Good like how? Fast and easy - Hornady cam-loc bullet puller. No damage to bullet - can't be done - use pulled bullets for fouling rounds.

I've been using the Hornady Cam-loc for years. And yes there is scaring on the bullet which then goes to my fouling round bin. Still, I've found the Hornady the most safe and efficient way to pull bullets from a loaded round. And you find that fouling a barrel needs a source and using new bullets as that source is a waste.

Alex

 

[XTR]

Why would someone want to pull a hundred bullets? Larry

My job sometimes requires that I travel a lot. I have to look ahead and if there are matches that I want to make but travel doesn't give me time to prep, so I load months in advance.

I have been known to load close to 700 rounds in a week to be used over the next several months of F class shooting. (I have a lot of brass, I buy in lots of 1000) As a result I sometimes have loaded bullets left around that are loaded with either loads that I no longer want to use, or loaded with loads that for what ever reason I'm not sure of any more. (all boxes look alike, and when you see the tag in the box says something about a load with 200 hybrids and the bullets are obviously 215s then something is amiss. Those get pulled) I've just today found a couple of 50ct boxes with about 75 185Juggs loaded up, but I don't shoot that bullet any more in competition, they'll all get pulled.

Last week I pulled down 150 rounds left over from the last FCNC because I've re-throated my barrel and the seating depth is off (way off, and I completely re-worked the load)

I pulled down over 200 once several yrs ago when I was using an ultrasonic cleaner and discovered after loading close to 250 rounds that some of the cases weren't dry. (oops)

Back in the 80s when I shot USPSA/IPSC I blew up a 45 with a double charge of Win231 loaded on an auto-indexing progressive. I knew what caused it (I half cycled it) and I couldn't be positive I hadn't done it twice. Pulled the entire lot of over 500 45ACPs. I did that one with an inertial puller, it was all I had...I hated that

 

[savagedasher]

With the price of bullets. Why would you not want to save them? Larry

 

[XTR]

With the price of bullets. Why would you not want to save them? Larry

I do. If I am positive of the powder I save both the powder and the bullets. If there is any doubt as to the powder (like is it Varget or H4350) I toss it.

I don't crank on the collet. My neck tension and seating depth make it pretty easy to pull them, I've never seen visible damage to a bullet.

 

[waldo1979]

Dies work better than hammers. My hammer broke after maybe 50 extractions. I have the Forster clamping bullet puller l, RCBS seems to work better.

 

[waldo1979]

Also you're really saving your brass more than the bullets. Last time I pulled it was because I had some over charges in my ladder and pressure signs were evident. Yes the bullets get mangled but good enough for sighters.

 

[savagedasher]

Also you're really saving your brass more than the bullets. Last time I pulled it was because I had some over charges in my ladder and pressure signs were evident. Yes the bullets get mangled but good enough for sighters.

My rcbs is 12 year old and done several hundred rounds. With out a problem. A friend broke his in less then a hundred rounds. But he swings a hammer like a girl.
Very seldom do I have swing it more then twice. Larry

 

[RW]

My rcbs is 12 year old and done several hundred rounds. With out a problem. A friend broke his in less then a hundred rounds. But he swings a hammer like a girl.
Very seldom do I have swing it more then twice. Larry

Has any one used the grip-n-pull it looks like it doe's the job and leaves the bullet intact! It looks to be better than collet or impact> Rw

 

[waldo1979]

My rcbs is 12 year old and done several hundred rounds. With out a problem. A friend broke his in less then a hundred rounds. But he swings a hammer like a girl.
Very seldom do I have swing it more then twice. Larry

The problem with hammers is they can be messy when dealing with powder.

 

[savagedasher]

The problem with hammers is they can be messy when dealing with powder.

The powder is contained in the hammer. Dump both the bullet and powder . In a in bowel pick the bullets out. Disposeofthe powder or save it .Larry

 

[XTR]

The powder is contained in the hammer. Dump both the bullet and powder . In a in bowel pick the bullets out. Disposeofthe powder or save it .Larry

If you put a large strainer in the bowl you can just lift the bullets out.

 

[rogn]

I use the hammer type puller, for instance with Berger 6mm hybrid, endangered species bullets. I needed to revamp the load and couldnt afford to loose them. Im surprised no one commented on putting a flanged foam ear plug in the puller. The foam keeps the bullet from bouncing back and dinging the case mouth and the powder stays abouve the plug. Dump the whole mess into a container and separate bullets when done. If I only have a couple and theyre hunting or plinking rounds I often run the case up thu the press frame and grip the bullet with a set of wire strippers(HD) useing the biggest opening. I grip the bullet above the bearing surface and raise the press handle slowly. Done carefully and slowly there is no spillage and the bullet has 4 small nicks in the ogive, which puts them in the fouler set or short range use. If youre pulling light 17 or 20 cal bullets this is 100X better than inertia puller.

 

[Paddyd]

I've never tried the die pulling method so I can't comment on it, but depending on how long those rounds you're pulling have been laying around you may want to run them through a seating die to seat them .001" deeper first. After awhile the slightly dissimilar metals form a bond and the bullets stick in the case mouth pretty tightly. I found that by breaking that bond they pull a lot more easily using the inertia method.

 

[BartsBullets]

If you put a large strainer in the bowl you can just lift the bullets out.

Part of this depends on your need and situation. All three work.

For short range benchrest. I keep a forester collet puller set up. Works great and you can pull quite a few bullets quickly. Powder doesn't go everywhere and you can get them reloaded quickly.

The PMA is very handy easy to use. Doesn't take up much room and can go any where with you and doesn't need an additional press.

The hammer method is the slowest and the messiest of the three. I've also seen plenty of the hammer types bust and bullets that refused to come out. But to each his own.

As for myself, regardless of which method is used, a pulled bullet is either used for fire forming or practice.

Bart

 

[RSCHELL]

The Hornady bullet puller works great with a Coax. You start to develop a "feel" for how much pressure is needed.

The inertia, hammer-type work fine if you only have to pull one or two. Anymore than that, they're for the birds. Pick up the Hornady with the different collets that you need and you're good to go.

 

[1newmexkid]

I use a bushing die so it takes very little force to remove bullets. I have a Hornady puller and the hammer type. Both work just fine.