RCBS Inertia Puller

[hpshooter]

Am I the last person on earth to discover that a standard shell holder will work in the RCBS inertia puller as opposed to the fiddly "O" ring collet arrangement? Had to pull one .45 acp round and could only find the puller with the small collet in it. Thought I would see if a standard holder would work, it did. Would bet the rest of you already knew that.

The information is probably in the instructions that I didn't read 40 years ago.

 

[Chuckhunter]

You are correct....

 

[bozo699]

Am I the last person on earth to discover that a standard shell holder will work in the RCBS inertia puller as opposed to the fiddly "O" ring collet arrangement? Had to pull one .45 acp round and could only find the puller with the small collet in it. Thought I would see if a standard holder would work, it did. Would bet the rest of you already knew that.

The information is probably in the instructions that I didn't read 40 years ago.

Have owned one for 30 years and did not know that!..... thank you!
Wayne

 

[Twicepop]

Yes they will work in a pinch, the hammering action has a tendency to break the rims of the cases when using a shell holder instead of the supplied collet.

 

[TAJ45]

Well! I didn't know that either. TY

 

[Cecil S.]

I just dont have the nerve to use that puller.....LOL

 

[bozo699]

I just dont have the nerve to use that puller.....LOL

Why?.... I’ve pulled hundreds with mine. Wayyyy better then a collet puller at least they don’t deform the bullets
Wayne

 

[Cecil S.]

Why?.... I’ve pulled hundreds with mine. Wayyyy better then a collet puller at least they don’t deform the bullets
Wayne

I understand what your saying but I use a collet puller and have gotten very good with it. Just sayin....lol

 

[Fast14riot]

Yeah, I'll do it on occasion with a shell holder, but they do tear up your case rim.

 

[DRNewcomb]

Why?.... I’ve pulled hundreds with mine. Wayyyy better then a collet puller at least they don’t deform the bullets
Wayne

Just make sure that you never use one to break down an observation round.

 

[David Milisock]

I just dont have the nerve to use that puller.....LOL

I and my son pulled nearly 1,000 rounds from old military cases to get the bulletts worked like a charm.

 

[dcali]

I had no idea, and Ive had mine for about 25 years. I still get nervous about using it- there was a thread on here a while back about one setting the primer off. Nobody could quite figure out how that's possible, but apparently, it is.

 

[rr2030]

I added a 1/4" long piece of 3/16 vacuum line to the bottom of the cup. Keeps the bullet tip from any possible damage when hammering.

 

[Ramblerman]

Thanks for posting...that never even occured to me in probably 30 yrs of owning a puller of said type...and yes, a shellholder fits in an old Midway puller too...duh. hahaha.

 

[hpshooter]

"Just make sure that you never use one to break down an observation round."

Interesting you mentioned that. My father was an avid cartridge collector and sectioned many cases and projectiles. After a lot of research he safely sectioned some WWI vintage German spotter rounds that were used to verify T&E settings on machine guns when the setting of the fields of fire was a "science". The 8MM projectiles contained an inertial firing pin, a bore safe device which was a small brass ring pressed onto the firing pin which only allowed the pin to move forward when the projectile struck something, a priming charge and the explosive spotter/flash/smoke charge. These projectiles would detonate on .125" aluminum plate but not 1/4" plywood.

BTW, a couple foam ear plugs placed in the chamber of the bullet puller saves projectiles from deformation.

 

[Gun Smith]

I use one of those hard foam yellow earplugs in the bottom to cushion the bullet tips. In my experience, the Inertia type pullers are ok for a few rounds, but for a boatload, forget it.

 

[bozo699]

I use one of those hard foam yellow earplugs in the bottom to cushion the bullet tips. In my experience, the Inertia type pullers are ok for a few rounds, but for a boatload, forget it.

I do exactly as you do!... the only time I usually use my inertia puller is when I’m working up loads and I hit pressure I’ll unload the other 2 or 4 depending on what I’m doing and dummy rounds. Factory crimped rounds or even my own if for some reason I need to pull them I use a collet Puller and usually seat them deeper before doing so but if I have a lot to do I usually throw or give them away I got better things to do!...
Wayne

 

[divingin]

I just dont have the nerve to use that puller.....LOL

I use it, well, sometimes (only when I can't use the collet puller - I do shoot a lot of lead wadcutter and semi-wads in pistol, so the inertia puller does get used.)

I do have a friend who reported that he was inertia pulling a bullet from a live rifle round and had the primer detonate. No damage (aside from a small dent in the ceiling sheetrock from the primer), but he said it scared the crap out of him. It did not ignite the powder in the puller (though I suppose that would be different had the bullet not fallen free prior to primer ignition - could have been exciting.)

 

[tsyarnall]

Holy moly...........bet that would wake ya up!

 

[M-61]

I've heard of this primer igniting story numerous times.
Problem is I've not heard from someone it actually had it happen to them.
I used an inertia puller for years and with the supplied collet. Never a problem and fortunately never had a lot to pull. When I wound up with quite a few to pull I bought the RCBS puller and collet. That was an eye opener. Never knew how well it worked. Couldn't believe it took 30 years for me to realize it. My inertia puller has not been used since. And it had nothing to with safety.