I have a quantity of close to 800 9mm rounds that were loaded with the incorrect powder some time ago (powder is okay for 9mm but as it is close to a max load it is slightly hotter than I like and not very accurate). I would like to reclaim the cases and primers if I can.

The projectile is a 100 gn LRNFP and there is just not enough weight to overcome the slightly heavy crimp on the cases with my inertial bullet puller, so I am thinking of getting the Hornady Cam Lock puller.

The only thing is one seller here states it is for rifle calibers only. Another has the #9 338/358 collet and I am wondering if this can be used to pull the bullets from my 9mm rounds.?

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Well if just slightly over powered..............

I would just let them fly if they are not a +P and might hurt
your pistol, if too old or rated for standard ammo pressures.

NATO pressures never hurt a pistol in good working order.

Just work on your trigger pull in single and double action with
those 800 rounds.
Ten single action.
then twenty with a single and double action, if your pistol is like a P92.

?

They are not overpowered but pretty much at maximum load. A 100 gn LRNFP at 1290 fps. They are safe to fire in my pistols if a little unpleasant in muzzle blast

I can get four out of five rounds into the black of an ISSF 25/50 meter Olympic target at 25 meters out of my pistol calibre carbine (Roni type chassis with my P19 CZ clone inserted) and the fifth will go way out into the outer rings, or even off the target entirely, so I can't even use them for practice rounds for PCC Speed or IPSC.

I have the North Island Speed Steel championships coming up in April and rather than load up 1500 or so cases (500 for the comp in pistol and PCC divisions and 1000 or so practice rounds in the lead up) I was hoping to reclaim the cases and primers and reload them. Would save me about NZ$80 in primers as well as the time it takes to hand prime the cases (you guys in the US paying $35/1000 for primers don't know just how good you have it. Pity I couldn't have shipped a 10,000 or so home with me) although would loose that time in stripping the rounds.

Options, options, options.

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I would use them if you can. I have used the Hornady bullet puller for 9mm with 147gn bullets. I have a feeling it would be hard to get a grip on a 100gn bullet.

I don't have experience on this cam lock puller but I don't blame you for wanting to pull them because of a load you don't like....been there done that.... had a thousand rounds that I absolutely hated and just went ahead and shot them any way, I really regretted doing that. I was so glad when I finished them, will never make that mistake again.

But you may be better off just emailing Hornady and asking them about a good cam lock puller for 9mm, instead of people not answering your question and here telling you to just go ahead and shooting them instead.

If you can't pull them with an inertia bullet puller you absolutely will not be able to pull them with any form of collet puller!!!!!! Lead pistol bullets are not hard enough, and the alloy does not have a high enough coefficient of friction to work with any collet puller. All that will happen is the bullet will be crushed and pull out of the collet!

There is one option. Buy an RCBS Extended shellholder for 9mm.This will allow the cartridge to be raised above the top face (deck) of your press where the lead bullet can be gripped by a set of end-nippers which will pull the bullet when the ram is lowered.

The other way of doing it is simply SHOOT THE DAMNED THINGS, just like others have said.

Worst case you can put a shellholder in the press, raise the cartridge to the top of the press and grab the bullet with a pair of pliers or Visegrips. Lower the press and the leverage will pull the bullet from the case. At that point the bullet is only good for remelting but you still have all your fingers. 800 is a lot to do.

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I was pretty sure what Alk8944 said about cast bullets and a collet puller was correct, but had never tried pulling any with my old CH collet puller. I think the collet style bullet pullers are only good for jacketed bullets. I have pulled quite a few 223 and 260/264 bullets with mine but all were jacketed bullets.

Just that 800 rounds is a fair amount of work.

True, raising the load to the top of your ram w/o a die in it is the best way at no added cost, if you have a set of pliers that can grab and hold the bullet.

Then you need to save the powder, then..........

Adjust you de-primer die to leave the primer alone, so you can resize the case mouth again..........
and also re-bell it, for the next bullet.

Have fun.

800 rounds is a lot and very time consuming. I usually do 100 at a time with my inertia puller when i want to recycle components, but the rubber rings on both collets have perished and snapped. Using shell holders is a PITA.

I'm not too fussed with saving the powder to be honest. I have never had much luck with it in either 9mm or .45 calibers and wouldn't try it in any other calibers I reload.. I would end up tossing it on Karen's corner gardena s fertiliser.

I have a spare 9mm die without a depriving pin. It usually sits on the second station when I deprive just to give the cases a second run through the sizing die as sometimes the case mouths bounce back a bit after sizing.

I went into my LGS today and they will order me in a Cam Lock on Monday. it should be here Friday with luck. I'll try pulling some of the LRNFP 9mm rounds and if they don't work I'll go to plan B, once I decide what plan B is. Shoot the loads as is or try a pair of pliers/vice grips. I can always reuse the lead.

The Cam Lock will not go to waste. I am always playing with different loads that don't pan out, and I still have several hundred .45 loads in those new Winchester cases I need to recycle.

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If you have a machinist friend nearby, you could get the .358 collet and have him (or her) turn grooves on the inside surface to grip the bullet with. The collets are hardened steel, so they would need to use a carbide boring bar or thread mill. I would be happy to do it for you if the shipping isn't too much of a hassle.

Another idea, you could have a machinist make a collet out of mild steel and groove that one. It would be an easy job for anyone who knows the trade.

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Do you ever do small test lots, say around 20 rounds..........
to see if things work out ??

Sorry.
I couldn't help myself.

I was going to say something on that order... the way I have put it before is that pulling down loaded rounds is always a negative and labor-intensive experience.

If you have EIGHT HUNDRED screw-ups, the lesson learned is necessary. Either you take the financial hit or slag through the work.

Eight hundred bad, unwanted rounds is a pretty big failure, no matter how it gets explained. The loss of money or valuable components or the awful labor spent to reclaim should reform the handle-puller responsible for that large sized mistake.

Kiwi cop,


One other thing to try if you really can't bring yourself to shoot those rounds. Remove the de-priming stem from your sizing die. Run the cartridges through the sizing die! This compresses the bullet slightly and the brass springs back slightly, which reduces neck tension on the bullet to nothing or nearly nothing, and reduces the crimp strength. The bullet will probably be loose enough now to turn in the case using your fingers and the inertia puller will easily extract them now. In fact, using a shell-holder to grip the case head (Holding in your hand) and pliers on the bullet you should be able to easily pull the bullets by hand.

I have done some 25 round lots, but find that after chronographing 10 and using a target behind the chrono for grouping I want to shoot more standing from 15 out to 25 meters as I know that they’ll shoot slightly differently in my hands than off a rest.

The result has always been I need to go away and load some more for a second trip to the range, so I started loading 50 at a time.

The downside is that if they don’t chronograph to the power factor I am looking for I need to strip the unused ones down and reload them again.

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Prior to the year 2000 I did a fair bit of competition shooting with my Tanfoglio P19 using 105 gn lead bullets going about 1300 FPS using a Winchester powder. These shot very well in this pistol.

When the supply of bullets ended (and financial implications occurred) I stopped competing and slowly used up my supply of components. Then in early 2015 I wanted to get back into shooting competitions. 100 gn Cowboy .357 LRNFP bullets were available and I bought 1000 which were sized to .356 for me. I was told not to use my old Winchester powder in 9mm as it was not suitable, so got a supply from a local remanufacturer of repackaged “Action Pistol” (possible WAP but not confirmed) powder, and using loading tables loaded up 1000 rounds. They did not shoot well in my pistol (although velocity is right on).

After realising that the load was a mistake I put them in the cupboard and started shooting remanufactured ammo for my first two competition. I then changed to Classic (1911) division. But these loaded rounds have stared me in the face every time I open up my ammo cupboard.

I have now utilised my P19 in a Roni type carbine frame, and thought it a good idea to reclaim the brass and primers from these rounds so I no longer have to look at them and remember my folly.

Yes, lesson learnt.

As to the labour, I like to spend time and relax in my loading area so sitting and pulling apart 800 rounds in 8 - 10 sessions will not be too much hardship for me.

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Well not quite as described but I did manage to reclaim 150 cases/primers and bullets in under an hour. I sat down at the press after getting off the exercise machine and ran the 150 loaded rounds through the sizing die, then stood at the high bench with the impact puller.

Some required multiple hits with most bullets falling free after only one.

Will still get the Hornady puller though. I have some .45 auto cases to reclaim and switch powders with.

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The only qualms I have about the Hornady pullet puller is from reading some of the reviews at MidwayUSA. Some people said that they used some cheap quality pot metal parts in the handle and camming mechanism, which broke easily. I would think that the screw type mechanism such as my CH #402 or the RCBS collet puller to be more stout. Instead of camming down, you rotate the head, which tightens down on the collet giving you a good grip on the bullet. But since I've never handled the Hornady collet puller, all I can say is what I've read. I can tell you that the CH-4D #402 bullet puller is robust as heck and the one I have was one my father ought back in the mid 60's.

My experience. I suggest trying what Alk8944 suggests in his 3:02 PM post. I wouldn’t waste the money on a collet puller for this job.

Yes developing a load can be a pain.

I hate it when a powder does not work out and you need to start over with another powder.

It is a bummer also, when you go through 250 loads with a certain bullet
to find out that your weapon does not like it !!

Ah, the joys of loading.

Hang in there.

You say that there is not enough weight(the bullet)to use the inertia puller.I've used mine for lighter bullets;I use the shell holder in it instead of the supplied universal holder and ram it on the concrete floor.I've used mine over a thousand times(9mm loaded way too hot;had been sold repackaged powder that wasn't the right burning right)and I can say that's the quickest way to proceed.Never broke one...yet!

I too had a lot of 9mm rounds that needed to come apart. I did what ALK8944 said, and ran them back through a sizing die. Pulled the bullets out with my fingers and was able to save the brass and powder. Way better than throwing it all away and pretty easy.

So were the 100gr lead too slow/fast or just not good in your weapon.

I shot a 125gr coated RN out of a C9 3.5" pistol with w231 from 945 to 1065fps.
Bullseye up to 1115fps and HS-6 up to 1173fps.

Usually you can find a load your pistol will like with a bullet.
Sorry to hear this bullet is not working out for you.

I never had luck with bullets lighter than 115gr in any of my pistols
be they lead or copper.

OAL makes a lot of difference also, with a bullet from starting loads to maximum.
I have yet to get a JHP and a plated RN of the same weigh to be "Twins"
in my pistols with light, medium and a full load.

I have finished with the heavy bullets and my next outing will be
a JHP 115gr in target to full loads in my 9mm C9 and 5" pistols,
since I never gave a "Full Load" a test with reloading. It has always
been a standard 9mm or lower, in all my years of loading a 115gr.
All the +P ammo was factory stuff.

Hope you get that brass taken care of and find a powder that works
from your "Down under" stores.

The velocity was good, right where I wanted it to be and consistent. The bullets were just not accurate in the gun, not like the 105 gn ones I used to have.

I tried Tightgroup and W321 but still never got the accuracy i did with that old Winchester powder.

I had the same problem with reman ammo loaded by the manufacturer I bought the powder from and which I used in competitions before going to Classic Major. The factory floor is run by my club president who strangely enough sells a lot of their ammo to club shooters, but does not use it himself. He likes to reload his own using W231. Coincidentally our club secretary is now working for the same company and some of the club members are telling me that quality control has certainly improved.

My Tightgroup loads are working well but I am in the process of switching to W231 for .45, it is slightly more accurate and a lot more consistent with the velocity.

Tonight I used 100 of the reclaimed cases to load up some of my club president's preferred W231 9mm load. I'll give it a try on Wednesday when running a club competition in both my Kimber 1911 and the carbine frame.

Oh, and I now have around 60 of the 9mm/100gn LRNFP loads left to pull apart. I would have finished them tonight but called it quits early.

As for the Cam-Lock puller, I haven't yet picked it up. I will do so on Wednesday on the way to the range. I have some .45ACP loads that I need to pull apart as well as quite a few test loads that didn't pan out as I had hoped I will reclaim,

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Since you seem to like lead for matches, have you ever shot a Lyman #356402
120 gr. design type bullet in any of your weapons?

W231 from around 950 to 1250fps might be doable.
I also noticed that Alliant Green Dot will almost match w231 in a lot of my 9mm loads.
GD has just a wee bit more energy and top end fps, and can be a compressed load,
if that is important.

Have fun.

You need to break the crimp before pulling the bullet....just seat the bullet a little deeper , 1/32 inch will do it.
After doing that pulling will be a breeze...whatever method you want to use .
Gary