Bullet Puller break even

[wiiawiwb]

I'm trying to understand why it makes sense to buy a bullet puller versus throwing the bullet away. I've got a Forster Co Ax and to get a bullet puller and collet for 45LC and 9mm, we're talking north of $45 including shipping.

That would be ~ 110+ full rounds of 45LC thrown away to break even. Will I be pulling that many rounds?

 

[drband]

Get an impact puller for handgun rounds. $15.00. No need for a collet puller.

 

[rcmodel]

Collet pullers won't work on most handgun rounds anyway.

There usually is nothing but tapered or curved bullet ogive sticking out of the case for a collet to try to get hold of.

Use an impact puller to pull handgun rounds.

rc

 

[Reefinmike]

If you are loading lead and dont mind ruining the bullet(read save scrap for when you start casting), you have two options-

1- remove your decapping pin from your sizing die and run the round up in the die. This will squeeze the bullet down in size and it can be pulled out of the case with your fingers. Should be fine for plated bullets too. Fmj bullets may have too much resistance. This may not work for cartridges with a heavy roll crimp.

2- grab a pair of cutters, slip a short piece of pvc over your press ram, grip the bullet and use your press to pull the bullet.

The beauty of casting is that you never really waste a bullet.

 

[TBJK]

I say why not? I bought the hornady cam lock bullet puller. When I make mistakes or a primer doesn't seat, I will pull it. My kids even will join me pull a bullet. I can reuse my bullets I pulled since I adjust it to just right amount of tension

 

[joem1945]

I use the Hornady Cam loc puller. I've pulled thousands of bullets for components only. I hammer would be too time consuming. I once got 1500 8mm bullets for $150.00. Where can you get a 8mm FMJ for 1.5 cents.

 

[Nature Boy]

I hate that hammer. It says it's supposed to take 3 or 4 blows to dislodge the bullet but I end up pounding the hell out of it before it unseats. I guess the collateral benefit is that I pay closer attention to my process to avoid this annoying step.

 

[Reloadron]

I hate that hammer. It says it's supposed to take 3 or 4 blows to dislodge the bullet but I end up pounding the hell out of it before it unseats. I guess the collateral benefit is that I pay closer attention to my process to avoid this annoying step.

Well, look on the bright side. In the case of bottle neck cartridges how many blows and the force of the blows gives you an idea of how good the neck tension was.

Ron

 

[Nature Boy]

You must have read the other thread on .308 neck tension. Good point!

 

[Rule3]

I hate that hammer. It says it's supposed to take 3 or 4 blows to dislodge the bullet but I end up pounding the hell out of it before it unseats. I guess the collateral benefit is that I pay closer attention to my process to avoid this annoying step.

You are not using it correctly. The bullet is actually pulled on the rebound,

Several quick taps work better than a heavy I am gonna smash this thing.

Use the end of a 4 x4 and tap it on that. I use indoor outdoor carpet on the concrete floor. It's all in the wrist.

That said I do not enjoy using one for a lot of bullets either.

http://quinetics.com/

 

[Reloadron]

You must have read the other thread on .308 neck tension. Good point!

That would be true.

Ron

 

[PJSprog]

I once got 1500 8mm bullets for $150.00. Where can you get a 8mm FMJ for 1.5 cents.

Might want to revisit the math there, joe. But yeah, even 10¢ each is still less than half the cost of new.

 

[ATLDave]

Get an inertial puller. Even if you NEVER screw up a round, there's stuff to be learned by pulling a few rounds.

Also, you WILL have instances in which you have DOUBT about whether one or more rounds you have assembled are OK. You will think it's PROBABLY right, but maybe the weight, the feel of the handle on the press, the fact that your mind wandered and you don't specifically recall seeing powder in the case, etc., will give you pause. If you have a puller, you just take the round apart and check. If you don't, you start second- and then third-guessing yourself. You either end up tossing a bunch of good rounds (bad) or proceed on faith with some bad rounds (much worse).

 

[Dudedog]

Also, you WILL have instances in which you have DOUBT about whether one or more rounds you have assembled are OK. You will think it's PROBABLY right, but maybe the weight, the feel of the handle on the press, the fact that your mind wandered and you don't specifically recall seeing powder in the case, etc., will give you pause. If you have a puller, you just take the round apart and check. If you don't, you start second- and then third-guessing yourself. You either end up tossing a bunch of good rounds (bad) or proceed on faith with some bad rounds (much worse).

The first part of this is so true, can't say how many times over the years I have thought , time for the puller.

(don't toss, don't proceed, pull and check)

OP did you get a puller?

 

[RugerBob]

not having read the previous posts- Most of my bullets that need to be pulled are from adjusting dies on a new bullet. When I load 30-06 from 150gr to 190gr they vary till correct.
Some are perhaps to far in and crimp to tight to cause laoding issues. But none have powder. I don't do powder till everything is perfect.
So, I end up with a few that need pulling to save the brass and bullet.
This also happens with other calibers.
If you only load for 1 or 2, maybe you can toss em.
But when you load for 10-12 and various sizes and lenghts, you end up with ones thats can be pulled.
For me, they end up in a box and over winter pulled and all reused.

 

[45Frank]

Been using one of these for 20 plus years and never had a problem. Just have a half a brick or the flat part of a cement block around and one or two hits does the job. I use it when I am setting adjusting the bullet depth with un-primed brass.

 

[Duster340]

I use a collet pull for my 44s, has pulled everything I've thrown at it jacketed or cast of various configurations. No fuss no muss.

 

[cfullgraf]

You are not using it correctly. The bullet is actually pulled on the rebound,

Several quick taps work better than a heavy I am gonna smash this thing.

Use the end of a 4 x4 and tap it on that. I use indoor outdoor carpet on the concrete floor. It's all in the wrist.

That said I do not enjoy using one for a lot of bullets either.

http://quinetics.com/

I find my kinetics bullet puller works best when hit against an object that does not absorb any of the energy of the blow. What you are looking for is the most rapid deceleration of the bullet pullers head as possible.

The bounce as indicated in the Quenetics instructions is a good indicator that you are getting a higher deceleration of the bullet puller and the material that the puller is struck against is not deforming. A harder hit against a "soft" surface will absorb some of the energy of the strike, slowing the deceleration of the bullet puller. Hence, the bullet puller will appear to not be working as well as it could.

I have a farrier's anvil and it does a great job of pulling bullets along with the kinetics bullet puller.

(For the tool junkies out there, an anvil fits the category of a tool that you cannot justify before you have one but cannot live without it after getting one.)

 

[Mauser69]

Collet pullers won't work on most handgun rounds anyway.

There usually is nothing but tapered or curved bullet ogive sticking out of the case for a collet to try to get hold of.

This is not correct in my opinion - I have had ZERO problems pulling handgun bullets with a collet puller. And I find its use fast and easy.

I do not think a collet puller is necessary at all, but I do find it incredibly useful and absolutely worth the small investment to just have it available for "whenever". Here's why:

I reloaded for 40 years with only having a kinetic puller for a very few occasional rounds I didn't trust. It worked fine, but quite time consuming for any more than one or two at once. When working up new loads, testing powders, etc., I was always happy to just shoot up any excess loads 'cause all shooting was fun. But those many years were when I primarily only loaded .38/.357 handgun and a two rifle calibers.

Recently I have been working up MANY different loads with new powders and lots of different bullet types in .38 Spl, .357 Mag, .40 S&W, .44 Spl, and .44 Mag, and frankly, I am running out of time to just blow off excess loaded rounds after I have finished chronograph and accuracy tests for each load. More than time - I'm getting enough shooting in with the testing that it seems more like a waste of money to throw additional lead down range just to empty the brass! So I bought a collet puller and now just quickly pull the bullets and salvage the powder from those left-over loads that I don't want to keep for any specific purpose. Makes the next reloading session a bit faster also, since I start with a bunch of already resized and primed cases.

Turns out I'm happier loading up a few extra rounds for each test load so I can easily repeat a test or two in question instead of just loading the expected minimum and occasionally having to waste time re-loading a particular recipe to just verify a questionable test. This is primarily because I was so pleasantly surprised at just how quick and easy it is to use the collet puller.

 

[spitballer]

Can't speak for handgunners but a hammer puller was one of the first investments I made when I put together my components for rifle reloading: amazing how many times I've used it. Went by a fab shop and got a piece of scrap metal to pound it on, using a scrap piece of conveyor belt from work for a bottom cushion. However I don't normally crimp and the few times I've pulled a crimped bullet with that hammer puller I thought for sure it was going to break first. If I crimped on a regular basis I would probably be finding something besides a hammer for sure.

 

[LiveLife]

I'm trying to understand why it makes sense to buy a bullet puller versus throwing the bullet away.

The hammer type bullet puller allows me to do certain QC checks:

- Measure post seat/crimp bullet diameter to see if I am reducing the bullet diameter which is significant for lead bullets in reducing/eliminating leading

- Check if I am cutting into the plating which is important for plated bullets

and to pull apart dummy rounds (no powder/primer) I used to determine max/working OAL/COL and out-of-spec finished rounds that won't fully chamber in my barrels (due to out-of-round bullets, inconsistent case wall thickness, etc. that I don't want to use FCD to fix)

 

[gamestalker]

I kind of prefer to use a an inertia puller for handgun ammo. They can be had for $15, but I've even seen them a bit cheaper than that also.

When used correctly, I've had little issue even pulling roll crimped wheel gun bullets with them. The biggest mistake folks make with them, is they try to pound them on a wood surface, this doesn't produce enough inertia, and will often break the puller. Smack them on concrete or steel with a good smack, usually takes 2-3 smacks to pull a bullet.

But I do pull handgun bullets with my collet puller also, it's works fine with jacketed bullets, don't know about pulling cast bullets though.

GS

 

[WestKentucky]

Been using one of these for 20 plus years and never had a problem. Just have a half a brick or the flat part of a cement block around and one or two hits does the job. I use it when I am setting adjusting the bullet depth with un-primed brass.

I have the same puller. It came to me pre-broken. Superglue works wonders though. I have put it back together 3 times, never in the same place twice.

 

[nettlle]

Out of 18,000+ reloads I have 6 that need pulled. I keep throwing them in a desk drawer until I feel there are enough to justify a puller.

 

[Catpop]

I never owned a collet puller.
Instead, I have the big green stress reliever. It works wonders to relieve stress. Whenever I feel the need to vent, I just get out my big green "whack-a-mole" and have at it. I use the flat portion of my 5" bench vice as I feel it relieves my stress better.
Oh, it also doubles duty as a bullet puller.
Catpop