Hornady Cam Lock Bullet Puller for 9mm?

Kiwi cop

Kiwi cop

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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.

?
 
Nevada Ed said:
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.

?
Click to expand...

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 :eek::eek::eek:

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.
 
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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
Nevada Ed said:
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.
Click to expand...

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. :D:D:D:D:D

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

Sorry.
I couldn't help myself.
Click to expand...

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.
 
Sevens said:
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.
Click to expand...

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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Alk8944 said:
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.
Click to expand...

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. :D

Will still get the Hornady puller though. I have some .45 auto cases to reclaim and switch powders with.
 
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.
 
Alk8944 said:
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! ...
Click to expand...

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. :mad::mad:

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 !! :p:p

Ah, the joys of loading.

Hang in there.
 
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