Best bullet puller - opinions please...

[rwsmith]

There 18 good suggestions here....

I'm tired of impact bullet pullers and I've even broken one.

RW;

Maybe you should double check your work habits, to where bad loads don't happen.

You don't need a hammer, then..............

I've gotten 18 good comments here from people that pull bullets and no one has suggested that poor work habits are the cause of having to pull apart cartridges. Is your comment aimed at them, too?

I DO check my work habits and am in a constant state of streamlining and improving. I have always been an experimenter, which give rise to a good many failed loads. Also, in 40+ years I HAVE produced some bad rounds for some reason or another.

 

[rwsmith]

The handle didn't break...

...the actual plastic body of the puller broke. I generally hit on the end of a chunk of 4x4. I have found the whipping the hammer with velocity is better than trying to hit hard. But again, I'm just tired of the process.

Since I use a lot of lead bullets I may have to stick with the RCBS, but I will certainly try the shellholder instead of the PITA grommet thingy.

 

[Drm50]

I broke a RCBS hammer years ago hitting it hard. You overwork doing that.
Hold it loose and hit a solid end grain works better that sledge hammer method on hard surface.

 

[torizus]

Afterall.....plastic is plastic..the theory of combining impact,hard surfaces and plastic most certainly gives rise to the eventuality of something gotta break at some point.

Some bullets just need pullin..yours or someone else's

 

[carpriver]

I have used a RCBS hammer pulled, I most I have ever had to pull was 100 45 colt. I used my bench vice 2 -3 hits and the bullets fall out. Yoy don't need to have a death grip on the grip a good grip but relax the hand when the hammer strikes the surface, its not the force of the swing its the force of the impact.

 

[4barrel]

I have 3 different impact hammers mentioned and never broken one. I use a steel block or concrete and never had a problem whacking lead boolits. Wad cutters seated deep are a pain. The heavier the bullet the easier they move.

 

[AManWearingAHat]

If you're doing low volume, I have the Lyman hammer style puller. I've broken one in 10 years. Pretty good service life for a piece of injection molded plastic if you ask me.

High volume I've heard very good things about the RCBS collet style bullet puller. I suspect Ill upgrade to one of those one day.

 

[DWalt]

I generally don't need to pull enough bullets at once to make anything beyond an inertia puller worthwhile, normally no more than a few rounds at a time. The biggest job I ever did was once pulling about 500 9mm cartridges which had been overloaded (not by me), and it didn't take all that long, maybe three hours spread over a few days. Last weekend I pulled 70 rounds of old military 8x57 ammo to salvage the bullets and powder (high rate of misfires), took less than 45 minutes. I have always used a block of Lead as an impact surface for the inertia puller. Much better than concrete or wood, no bounce. Have been using the same inertia puller for many years without breaking anything.

 

[2lmaker]

I will pass some of this info on to the man that built the original injection molds for the RCBS puller. I am sure they are worn and replaced by now and he built the molds, he didn't design them.
Thats the way it is in the toolmaking business, if you want 100000 of something as cheaply as possible, get an engineer to design it. If you want ONE that lasts forever and works like a charm, let a toolmaker loose on it.
personally, I have an RCBS hammer, but when salvaging gun show reloads for brass I generally just mangle the bullets with pliers and pull them in the press. Lead melts.

 

[PattonTime]

Best bullet puller

I have the Hornady for a collet style and when I can get ahold of the bullet it works well. As in rifle loads.
For the times I can't, which is most all of the time on cast lead revolver loads I have the RCBS hammer puller, just got my third one from them in 35 years or so, which is why I like RCBS customer service so much, no B.S., just took my name and address and in less than a week, it was here.
I also have a Frankford Arsenal piece of junk, I bought it because it and the
cartridge holders were less expensive on sale than just the holders themselves.
It is really **** compared to the RCBS, I thought I might like it as part of it anyway is metal, but it is just not as easy/nice to use as the RCBS, not as ergonomic I believe you would call it, I am glad to hear that the shellholders work well, I always wondered, but thought it might break the puller.

 

[rwsmith]

Update: New product...

I will pass some of this info on to the man that built the original injection molds for the RCBS puller. I am sure they are worn and replaced by now and he built the molds, he didn't design them.
Thats the way it is in the toolmaking business, if you want 100000 of something as cheaply as possible, get an engineer to design it. If you want ONE that lasts forever and works like a charm, let a toolmaker loose on it.
personally, I have an RCBS hammer, but when salvaging gun show reloads for brass I generally just mangle the bullets with pliers and pull them in the press. Lead melts.

Frankford Arsenal has a new wall mounted inertial puller with a lever you pump up and down. You raise it and when you lower it, it shoots the shellholder onto an anvil. Pistol bullets still took 4 or so pumps to unload, but the the effort is minimal.

 

[AZ2VET]

Gavin from Ultimate Reloader just put out a video on you tube about the new FA Pile Driver bullet puller. Looks pretty interesting, although probably not a time saver over the hammer type but the bullet does not end up in the powder. It might be what you are looking for. Cost is about $55

 

[wv109323]

I am not satisfied with any model I have used. Forget any bullet where there is not an exposed full diameter of the bullet. Then there is pulling marks on bullets. I consider any bullet pulled as unusable. That is my experience.

 

[andyo5]

I have been using the Dillon impact puller (hammer type) for 25 years. I smack it against a 2x4 and have never damaged it.