Bullet Puller

[The Master Chief]

Fellow Reloaders: Can anyone recommend a brand and type of bullet puller for me? I re-load .38 and .357. Thanks for your help.

 

[jimbo728]

Chief, Any of the handheld kinetic bullet pullers with a good collet will be fine. Ive used a green RCBS hammer puller and havent destroyed it yet. Purchased in 1978.
Jim

 

[Boogsawaste]

I use the kinetic puller like mentioned. But I also have a rcbs press mounted puller for pulling larger quantities of rounds apart.

 

[madd matt]

I have a cabelas kinetic puller and a rcbs press mount puller.
Wish I would have got the hornady lnl press mount as the screw collet
loosens the lnl bushing on my hornady ss press. Other than that small issue the
rcbs works fine.

 

[SMSgt]

I have a kinetic puller as well. It's okay for a few rounds but I wouldn't want to use it for a large batch of ammo. I'd probably break it midway thru.

 

[arjay]

Ive gone through a few kinetic pullers and they work fine on taper crimped rounds.If you're taking apart more than a handful of rolled crimp rounds,it's a slow,torturous process.

 

[Boogsawaste]

Ive gone through a few kinetic pullers and they work fine on taper crimped rounds.If you're taking apart more than a handful of rolled crimp rounds,it's a slow,torturous process.

I had to use my kinetic puller on 50 wadcutters once to salvage brass. Never again.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

I have used kinetic pullers and collet pullers. For a mixed bag of ammo the "Bang em till they break" style works best but when there is a major brain fart, and need to disassemble a whole batch of ammo, then is when the collet style really shines. I use a Forester, their collets are 1/3 as long as RCBS and seem to get a better grip.

As the kinetic pullers get old the universal jaw get worn out, I then use a normal shell holder or from Lee auto prime works too. Ivan

 

[Nevada Ed]

If the load is safe and the bullet crimped..............

I use the "Trigger".

 

[m19862]

The Frankford Arsenal bullet pullers go on sale from time to time for about $5.00. I have used mine for roughly ten years and have no complaints.

Frankford Arsenal Impact Bullet Puller

If you look at them side by side on the Midway website, they all look roughly the same:

Bullet Pullers | Reloading Supplies

 

[gwpercle]

It really depends on two things. How many to pull and do you want to reuse ( not damage) the bullet.
Lots of bullets and not concerned about the bullets, use a press mounted puller.
Kinetic pullers are cheap but all the componts can be reused and they are a bit slow . But they do work. I use the shellholders from my Lee priming tool to hold the cases. works better than any "universale" collet holder.
Gary

 

[meistermash]

I just used a kinetic type, one with the aluminum rod between the head and handle, to pull down about 400 38 special rounds.
About 4 raps for a 38 special loaded with a 158gr bullet.
Use a colander over a good size bowl.
rap rap rap, twist, invert over colander, tap upside down on the edge, bullet case and powder fall out, insert next round, twist, rap rap rap.
I didn't do it all at once.
CFE pistol is not a good choice for the 38 or 357 with a standard primer. Position sensitive.
I have a press mounted one for 22 caliber rounds which are harder to pull due to the light mass of the bullets.

 

[.41 cal]

Pulling handgun bullets with a collet style puller can be hit and miss. Depends on how much of the untapered length of the bullet is available to grab on to. I had to use a the kenetic type on some .44's and any 9mm I pull.

 

[Doubless]

I have two of the RCBS "exploding hammers", but typically I use a set of end cutters and my Rockchucker; I find it much easier than using a collet type of puller. I insert the loaded round in the shellholder, push the press handle down to run the ram to "full up", grab the projectile with the end cutters (typically in the cannelure...), then lower the ram. The end cutters are held in place by the boss at the top of the press, and the projectile is pulled from the case during the down stroke. Occasionally I will leave marks on the rifle projectile, but these bullets shoot to the same POI as the unmarked ones.

I have seen too many photos of kinetic pullers that were blown up. I don't know how it happened but I don't need to know. The method I use will NOT cause a round to detonate. It simply cannot...

 

[rwsmith]

One way to get them to explode.....

One way to get them to explode is to use a metal shell holder instead of the provided collet.

I consider this to be VERY important. Who has FACTUAL evidence of inertial pullers exploding when properly used?

 

[Doubless]

One way to get them to explode is to use a metal shell holder instead of the provided collet.

I consider this to be VERY important. Who has FACTUAL evidence of inertial pullers exploding when properly used?

I am not a member of the "Campfire", but here is a link. I am certainly not about to call these men liars...

Kinetic Bullets Puller = KB. Possible? - 24hourcampfire

 

[glowe]

I also have a Franklin Arsenal Kinetic hammer. I bought it about 10 years ago, because is was cheap and thought I would replace it with something better, but I can not break this one. I recently did about 150 - 44 Russian reloads, because I wanted to sell the brass and it worked like a champ. Works fine on everything from 9mm to 45-70. All you need is a concrete floor and a $10 bill.

 

[Nemo288]

I like the RCBS collet puller. I gave up on the plastic hammers years ago.
The lighter and tighter the bullet the worse the hammer works.
Another use for the collet type is to start bullets into the case in a truly concentric manner.
This can really help with slightly over sized cast bullets and eliminates the dreaded scrape and shave.
I learned this little tip from re-reading old Handloader mags from the 90's.
It works.

===
Nemo

 

[Pilot172P]

I use the Hornady cam-lock press mount puller. Works extremely well and fast. I have only tried it on 40S&W. Couldn't imagine using a kinetic hammer after using this.

 

[The Master Chief]

Thanks to everyone for the input. I went with the green RCBS hammer which seems to work fine for low quantities.