pulling bullets ?

[rebs]

I have about 30 223 bullets to pull with a Hornady press mounted puller. I want to change the powder charge. After I pull them do I have to resize the cases to maintain neck tension when I reload them ?

 

[antelopedundee]

Try to re-seat a bullet by hand, if it won't go I wouldn't waste time resizing.

 

[Winny94]

I am by no means a pro, but for me, when I have to pull a bullet, ive never had to resize, but I dont use that case in any development strings

 

[fantastic]

An inertia puller will leave no ring and the bullets can be reused like new .... Almost new .
I have shot thousands of inertia pulled military FMJ bullets with excellent results

 

[Dusty Stevens]

30 of em id be using an inertia hammer

 

[carlsbad]

30 of em id be using an inertia hammer

I would never use an inertia hammer. Collets rock.

 

[hambone1971]

Try to re-seat a bullet by hand, if it won't go I wouldn't waste time resizing.

Agree with above on check ing by re seat by hand, the inertia puller works but collet is much faster and I've always reused the bullets in testing with no problems.

 

[T-shooter]

It probably would be a good idea to resize them. Take the decapping pin out of your die. and be sure to check the cases for any stuck powder. A Q-tip is good for this. And just use enough grip on the collet die to pull the bullets. My RCBS die almost never leaves any mark.

 

[Capt45]

No need to resize, but I would run them through the FCD.

 

[Jdne5b]

I resize, or put that round in the fouler pile. The PSI required to seat a bullet the first time is substantially more than the PSI required to seat a bullet the second time in a case where the 1st bullet was pulled.

 

[Rockchuck]

I've pulled bullet done some tests on sizing and not sizing. The not sized cases seem to want too shoot vertical groups. The bullet tension just didn't stay as consistent. So I would resize the cases after pulling bullets

 

[Ned Ludd]

Yes - in order to maintain perfectly consistent neck tension with loaded rounds that were not pulled, you will need to re-size the necks. However, the question I would ask is what are you going to do with the loaded rounds? Competition? Plinking? I'd be more concerned about damage to the bullets. Even using a collet puller, it is possible to damage the jackets if you're not super careful. Between the possible neck tension differences and damage to bullet jackets - I don't ever shoot pulled [and reloaded] rounds for anything more important than plinking or sighters/foulers.

 

[Rsadams]

+1 on resizing....

 

[Rsadams]

I just pulled 800-900 .223 with the hornady bullet puller , my first time using it.... It did a great job... Now i am not planning on using a bunch of fmj 55gr bullets for accuracy especially since the go through an iron sight rifle and my vision isn't exactly great at 51....

Those bullets had been loaded since 1992 and yes a large percentage was stuck big time.... But even with that it pulled with only a few scratches from the puller... That little Hornady puller is fast and easy to use , I am not a big hornady fan but I do like that little tool... I do not regret buying it , even if I only use it for that one job..

 

[T-shooter]

I just pulled 800-900 .223 with the hornady bullet puller , my first time using it.... It did a great job... Now i am not planning on using a bunch of fmj 55gr bullets for accuracy especially since the go through an iron sight rifle and my vision isn't exactly great at 51....

Those bullets had been loaded since 1992 and yes a large percentage was stuck big time.... But even with that it pulled with only a few scratches from the puller... That little Hornady puller is fast and easy to use , I am not a big hornady fan but I do like that little tool... I do not regret buying it , even if I only use it for that one job..

I pulled some when testing HBN. These were stuck so bad that I put 50+ lbs force on the press lever without budging some of them and was lifting the bench off the floor. Even at that no marks from the RCBS puller. You can see how hard these stuck in the cases.

 

[antelopedundee]

I pulled some when testing HBN. These were stuck so bad that I put 50+ lbs force on the press lever without budging some of them and was lifting the bench off the floor. Even at that no marks from the RCBS puller. You can see how hard these stuck in the cases.
View attachment 1126287

Normally you'd seat them a tad deeper to break whatever bonding that was created and then pull them.

 

[antelopedundee]

I pulled some when testing HBN. These were stuck so bad that I put 50+ lbs force on the press lever without budging some of them and was lifting the bench off the floor. Even at that no marks from the RCBS puller. You can see how hard these stuck in the cases.
View attachment 1126287

Would you say that that is an example of bullet weld? Would you expect extra pressure if you fired them?

 

[LGKLAS]

No need to resize, but I would run them through the FCD.

The FCD ???

 

[T-shooter]

Would you say that that is an example of bullet weld? Would you expect extra pressure if you fired them?

No. That was from a test on HBN. It made the bullets stick in the necks and hard to remove and these only had .002" interference fit. These were seated and pulled right back out. I have experienced bullet weld which also made them hard to remove. There absolutely would be an increase in pressure and with a hot load, and could be dangerous. I'm not sure the exact cause of bullet weld. It could be moisture or perspiration from touching the bullets, or cases too clean? I now coat the necks and bullets with Imperial dry lube and I'm going to spot check some that have been loaded for over 2 years to see it it eliminates the problem.

 

[antelopedundee]

No. That was from a test on HBN. It made the bullets stick in the necks and hard to remove and these only had .002" interference fit. These were seated and pulled right back out. I have experienced bullet weld which also made them hard to remove. There absolutely would be an increase in pressure and with a hot load, and could be dangerous. I'm not sure the exact cause of bullet weld. It could be moisture or perspiration from touching the bullets, or cases too clean? I now coat the necks and bullets with Imperial dry lube and I'm going to spot check some that have been loaded for over 2 years to see it it eliminates the problem.

Lubing the bullets sounds like a good idea when fire forming cases so that when you seat them a touch long closing the bolt doesn't require a lot of effort to seat them the jam depth. A suggestion for handling cases and bullets would be to get a box of those disposable food gloves. You can get them cheap off of eBay.