Hornady cam lock bullet puller disappointment

[Cryhavoc]

it may be a waste but I only used pulled projectiles for barrel break-in's and fouling shots.......never for score...

 

[Della]

Dude! That's Genius! Did you figure that out?

Can’t take credit, the guy in this thread is the genius.

 

[Alexander-M]

An inertial puller works just fine, and all components can be reused. No damage to the bullet.
Alex

 

[whatsupdoc]

An inertial puller works just fine, and all components can be reused. No damage to the bullet.
Alex

I have and use an inertia puller but it is not without issues either, I have had the primer compound
knocked out of the primer and mixed with the powder.

 

[B Nettesheim]

Those hornady collets work much better after a good amount of deburring inside, the interior of it is piss poor

 

[46490]

I had to rebarrel my 6mm Rem. I went to a different chambering. Since I had a lot of 6 Rem ammo loaded up I thought it would be prudent to pull the bullets and reuse them. I have a Hornady Cam Lock bullet puller. Upon reusing the bullets accuracy went into the toilet. I am talking a four feet group spread with many rounds at 600 yards. I compared it to ammo where I used new bullets and I am at about a minute of angle at 600 yards.
My only conclusion is that I slightly deformed the bullets during the process throwing them off balance or out of round. It doesn't happen with every shot but frequently enough. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have an idea for you - I use a kinetic bullet puller the hammer type. I put several cleaning patches in the bottom to softly catch the bullet and poor the bullet and powder into a clean plastic container - pullout the bullet and reuse the powder. It is slower but the bullets are not deformed you can weight the powder to ensure you recovered it all and reload - yes it is slower but cartridges are accurate.

 

[Doug Casner]

It seemed to me like the the jackets were different thickness some mark worse than others. Just use mine to get the powder and case throw the bullet away. Doug

 

[Ksracer]

I've never had an issue with mine when I've had to use it. I don't adjust it per the instructions though. I just run the press up until the case touches the collet, then apply pressure to the handle while lowering the press.

I wouldn't trust the bullets in a BR type match, but I had no problem shooting .5moa @700yds while practicing on steel with them.

One variable that may effect your success is the FB of your rifle. Mine always left plenty of bullet shank behind the ogive to grip on. I could definitely see an issue if the bullets are seated deep into the case.

 

[Straightshooter1]

I have pulled several hundred 6.5 match bullets and reused at matches at 500 yds. with very good results. Made sure collet was all the way down the bullet and barely touching the top of the case. I did not cam over the die lever very much, just enough pressure to grip the bullet and then slowly pull the case back down to remove the bullet. I am very satisfied with the system.

Ditto

. . . I've pulled 6.5 and .308 bullets ("barely touching the top of the case" with a Hornady tool) and had good results. BTW, when doing this , the camlock doesn't grab hold of the ogive, as suggested in a previous post, it grabs the bearing surface . . . or that's the way is should. If it's grabbing the ogive, one is using the wrong technique. IMHO. And just how easy a projectile can be pulled is dependent on how much interference/neck-tension that's been used. For me, they come out as easily as they went in.

 

[mongo chicago]

I have an idea for you - I use a kinetic bullet puller the hammer type. I put several cleaning patches in the bottom to softly catch the bullet and poor the bullet and powder into a clean plastic container - pullout the bullet and reuse the powder. It is slower but the bullets are not deformed you can weight the powder to ensure you recovered it all and reload - yes it is slower but cartridges are accurate.

I have one of those. I was just too lazy to use the hammer on 1,100 rounds of ammo.

 

[Longtrain]

I really try not to make mistakes when I load…but, it does happen. I use the Hornady puller and really like it. Can I use bullets again after pulling? Yes, but they usually get designated as foulers before a big match or maybe velocity testing where accuracy isn’t important yet. If they are soft seated, they hardly have a mark, not so much with Greek 30-06 Garand ammo, which was loaded too hot and maybe a bit unsafe. Those have to seat deeper to break the tar seal and then pull the bullets. Into the pins for the cases, a thorough cleaning before using them with a more sane load.

 

[jepp2]

An accuracy test of pulled bullets being reused. The change in neck tension didn't even impact groups.

 

[Gun Smith]

I had a Hornady puller, an RCBS, and an a vintage C&H. They all benefitted from internal polishing,
and a light coat of anti-sieze on the tapers and the threads. I had 3 different presses set up to brake
down unknown reloads of different calibers to salvage brass and bullets to sell at gunshows. The
RCBS and C&H were easier to get a feel for correct tension, and to tweak either more or less tension.

 

[Webster]

I had to rebarrel my 6mm Rem. I went to a different chambering. Since I had a lot of 6 Rem ammo loaded up I thought it would be prudent to pull the bullets and reuse them. I have a Hornady Cam Lock bullet puller. Upon reusing the bullets accuracy went into the toilet. I am talking a four feet group spread with many rounds at 600 yards. I compared it to ammo where I used new bullets and I am at about a minute of angle at 600 yards.
My only conclusion is that I slightly deformed the bullets during the process throwing them off balance or out of round. It doesn't happen with every shot but frequently enough. Has anyone else experienced this?

I have pulled very few bullets with my RCBS collet puller. I have to tighten it a lot or it doesn't grip the bullet. The few I reused were definitly outside the group.

 

[jackieschmidt]

Pulled bullets are good for fireforming or fouler shots.
I cannot imagine using them for anything else.

 

[Doug Casner]

I cant either Jackie. At lake city they got scrapped if they had any kind of scratch. Doug

 

[rjtfroggy]

I pulled 50 custom bullets yesterday, not a mark on any of them. It all depends on the tool used. I put the RCBS collet puller away and haven't used the inertia hammer in years.
For $50-60 get yourself a Grip n Pull, one of the best tools on the bench.
Look at their web site and watch the videos.

 

[mikeinct]

I concur with many of the opinions expressed here. I have the Hornady in a few calibers & the RCBS in all I play around with. That & an Impact Job as well. {hey, I'm a Tool Freak} Anyway The few serious efforts I had to do in the past 40 years. Plan it out, just a few, Impact job. If You got a bunch of stubborn PIA's & you want to reuse the bullets. Pay attention. Crack The seal by seating the bullet deeper. A few whacks w the impact puller gets the bullet out of the case enough to let a properly fitted collet remove the bullet w/o damage. Got It ?

 

[fkimble@charter.net]

I use an inertia/hammer style. Put about an inch long piece of rubber tubing, fuel line type, in the bottom of the puller. It's a close but loose fit. For smaller calibers , I put some soft type hot glue or silicon in the bottom half of the tubing. One or two hard wacks to loosen bullet, then easier hits so the bullet doesn't bounce back up an make a smiley cut on the bottom of bullet. 22 and 6mm usually just stick in the tubing .

Frank

 

[moorepower]

Before trying to pull bump the bullet with a seater a few thou to break it loose.