to 4TheResistance ; i wonder if this problem will EVER go away? please be aware of the safety issue with using a shell holder to decap rounds. YOU DO NOT DO IT!! i have SEEN what can result if you try to use a shell holder in this way. the shell holder was NEVER meant to be used this way!! the facts is that if you are pulling bullets using a kinetic (read hammer type) bullet puller, DO NOT USE anything but the original parts it came with!!! a shell holder can and HAS caused primers to detonate on impact!! it covers a large part of the rear of the cartridge and that INCLUDES the PRIMER!! the pictures i saw of the persons hand AFTER the round went off were enough to convince me that the 6 bucks for the replacement collet for my puller was a hell of a lot CHEAPER than a trip to the e-ward to have a doctor spend 4 hours removing the pieces of a serious case of stupidity from your hands, face, legs, body, privates, etc. the one i saw was in 1985 in a gun store in Downers Grove just west of downtown Chicago and was the result of a .338 that detonated in the hammer type puller on the first blow to a hard surface.
this guy lost his left eye, had over 30 pieces of the case and hammer removed from the legs, front of the torso, both arms, and lost "one of the boys" need i really go on? the worst was that his older son (mid late teens i think) was hurt too
the way i see it, 6 bucks beats the hell out of $27,000.00 worth of surgery.
the kinetic bullet pullers are built the way they are built to keep you from getting hurt!!
the collet that comes with them DOES NOT COVER the rear of the cartridge FOR A REASON!! it is NEVER worth the risk to you or yours to simple ignore a safety rule when reloading. yes its a lot of fun working with gun powder and primers, bringing forth your own rounds for your effort. but don't forget that all it takes is a single mistake to ruin your whole life!!!
Uncle Don; you should know better!
i have been reloading since 1978 and in all that time i have NEVER had a problem with safety! never had one primer "blow" in the press. not one problem with bullet pulling. yes i have made mistakes, but because i check and re-check my work over and over as many as 10 times to make sure what i am doing is the right thing, i can say that i have NEVER had a mistake that didn't catch and correct no matter how much time or money it takes to be safe in absolutely every thing i do in reloading!! a totally blemish free record is humanly impossible, but that doesn't keep me from trying as hard as i can to get there!! and i am man enough to admit my failures, the three incidents that i had over the years are 1) put the wrong powder load into 793 rounds of 5.56mm, (all were dissasembled with an RCBS collet type bullet puller die to prevent powder spillage and re assembled with the correct load.) 2) had a primer flip over in the seater and had to remove it from the cartridge and reseat it correctly. 3) missed filling the powder throw when i should have and had to rework 19 rounds of .357 mag ammo. that's it. i did it by making safety my personal business, with no exceptions. period.
i would like to hear from the rest of you about this, is a $6 dollar part worth an eye, a finger? or worse?
besides, i really hate stitches!