Pulling bullets

[wrangler5]

My "anvil" for pulling bullets is a foot of railroad rail that sits on my (concrete) basement floor. As my knees get older it becomes less fun to pull bullets, but that's also an extra incentive to avoid doing things that require pulling bullets.

 

[Nevada Ed]

I don't mind pulling smooth wall pistol bullets.

It is the cannelure, heavy crimped lead bullets in a 38 or 357
type loading that I hate to try pulling !!

True, some factory pistol loads are sealed but not my reloads.
One reason I do not worry about a small mistake, now and then.

 

[gwpercle]

Did not give full info. This is a hard taper crimp that is pushed into sides of bullet, so I don't see how pushing bullet down into case is going to break that crimp?

The other hint about hitting a harder surface is also null as I hit it on the concrete floors of my garage 5 hard blows and could not move it. I have used this to pull lead bullets before and know the amount of force necessary and this is over and above that.

The bullet collet puller just smashes the lead. Would like to save the bullets as well, but I may pull a few with the pliers method described just to check case volume.

I can't explain how or why it works , but it does. Once the crimp is broken the inertia puller will work . I pulled 1000 rounds of US Army surplus 30-06 machine gun ammo , had to remove the linked belts and all ( it was cheap), breaking that crimp first worked, no break = no pulled bullet. Trust me.
It doesn't have to be much.
Another idea that may seem strange is to take a steel sizing die (carbide might break) and size as much of the case/bullet as you can, this will squeeze the lead bullet smaller , hopefully the brass springs back just enough to break the seal.
Might be worth trying....Gary

 

[GeoJelly]

I have used an inertia type bullet puller for years. The surface you whack it against has is important. I have a big hunk of butcher block table solidly mounted as a workstation and have yet to find a cartridge that with one good whack cannot unseat the bullet. Concrete floor works great also. Frank

I hope I won't be chewed out for this slightly off-topic question: has anyone ever had a primer go off when using an inertia puller? Many years ago I pulled several hundred factory .38's with no issues - but it sure makes me nervous!!

 

[DWalt]

"Powder loads were 8.8, 9.2 and 9.0."
For Blue Dot, that is a very light load. Probably too light. I suspect there are propellant burning problems at such low chamber pressures resulting in considerable MV non-uniformity.

What I have used for many years as a surface to pound an inertia bullet puller on is a 5# block of lead. It gives a dead blow, no bouncing on impact.

 

[Wapakfred]

I hope I won't be chewed out for this slightly off-topic question: has anyone ever had a primer go off when using an inertia puller? Many years ago I pulled several hundred factory .38's with no issues - but it sure makes me nervous!!

I have not, and I've pulled more than a few mistakes. That said, I've always wondered the same thing, but I can't really say I'm nervous about it.

 

[LoboGunLeather]

Never found a load that I could not pull bullets from by using vice grips to hold the bullet above the reloading press die opening, then lowering the ram. Takes about 30 seconds per cartridge. Of course, all bullets become scrap.

 

[H Richard]

I use the anvil portion of my bench vice to smack the inertial puller against.

 

[hdwhit]

The whole idea of trying to pull the remaining 900 or so bullets with an interial bullet puller just makes my elbow ache.

Have you looked at your Hornady cam-lock to see if it can be cleaned or adjusted? Even if the reloader sealed the bullets using an asphaltic sealant, the friction between the case and bullet shouldn't be so high that the bullet puller can't overcome it.

Jetman22's suggestion to seat the bullets a little deeper to break any seal might also clear the way for the Hornady puller to work.

 

[BZimm]

A while back I bought a Hornady cam-lock puller used and I knew the price was right. So now, reading up on it I find that Hornady recommends NOT USING the unit for handgun ammunition. I've thought this through and I can't understand why they say that. Will someone enlighten me please?