When I screw up I go big.

[mmb617]

Well it didn't take long to find out that the collet puller is the way to go. Holy **** is it easy! I can now pull about 6 bullets per minute with no visible damage from the collet. And I'm not losing any of the powder.

It may be likely that you'll need to resize the cases again to establish firm bullet grip. Pull the decapping pin first!

Thanks, I did figure that I'd need to resize the cases and I did remember to pull the decapping pin first.

Now that I have a much faster way to pull the bullets I expect to have the situation corrected in short order.

 

[Nevada Ed]

If by chance you are using a plastic hammer.....
it will last longer if you hit it on wood....... I use a 28" long 4x4, on end, held between my knees.
I used a towel over my empty RCBS singe stage, but that got old.

Broke my first hammer hitting a steel plate.

Carry on.

 

[mikld]

I would at the very least, just put them in a box somewhere and label the box "To be handled later". When you have time, no other reloading need, just get a few out and pull the bullets and dump the powder. Place the primed brass and the bullets back in your component stash for further use. In 45+ years of shooting I have never thrown away any ammo, especially some handloads...

 

[bigggbbruce]

It's a good practice to check a scale's zero every time you use it. It takes just seconds.

I check zero and check charge before I start loading, during loading I zero and check charge AGAIN...

I've had my powder measure come loose and up the charge.(I check that often also)

Good thing you didn't shoot any of them..

 

[Trooper224]

Years ago, I decided to move my scale off the primary bench just because of this.

 

[lrrifleman]

OP, in the future, when you return to the kinetic bullet puller, you can either:
a) put a piece of electrical tape over the hole in the puller's nut, or
b) cut a piece of tagbord or manila folder to fit inside the nut/cap

Either method can trap powder that flies out with each wack.

 

[mmb617]

If by chance you are using a plastic hammer.....
it will last longer if you hit it on wood....... I use a 28" long 4x4, on end, held between my knees.
I used a towel over my empty RCBS singe stage, but that got old.

Broke my first hammer hitting a steel plate.

I was using the Frankford arsenal hammer and started out hitting it on wood as per the instructions, but it was taking 10-15 hits to dislodge the bullet. I then started hitting it on an iron plate and 3-5 blows did the job.

I was pleased with how well the hammer held up. I did about 500 rounds with it and saw no obvious damage to the hammer.

I would at the very least, just put them in a box somewhere and label the box "To be handled later". When you have time, no other reloading need, just get a few out and pull the bullets and dump the powder. Place the primed brass and the bullets back in your component stash for further use. In 45+ years of shooting I have never thrown away any ammo, especially some handloads...

Now that I have the collet puller the job is going much faster. I can do 50 rounds in a few minutes. I expect to be done with the entire batch of 2200 rounds today, or perhaps tomorrow.

I have been reloading some of them in between to break the monotony.

OP, in the future, when you return to the kinetic bullet puller, you can either:
a) put a piece of electrical tape over the hole in the puller's nut, or
b) cut a piece of tagbord or manila folder to fit inside the nut/cap

Either method can trap powder that flies out with each wack.

I did put a piece of tape over the hole in the end but still some powder is lost with this method. Not a lot, but some.

Now that I've got the collet puller it works so much better that the hammer is probably permanently retired. And now I don't lose any powder.

I think I've learned a lot from this experience. The higher the price of the lesson the better the chance that it will be remembered. I don't think I'll ever forget this one.

 

[Krogen]

We all learned with you! Thank you for sharing your situation. Did you happen to weigh any of the charges thought to be overcharged? It would be interesting to know how high they went.

 

[LostintheOzone]

If it were me I'm going to pull them all with a collet puller. I've done the same thing with 50 or so and tried to weight them to find out which ones to pull but the measurement was never precise enough using range brass that I don't separate. If you're using one type of brass and it is consistent in weight you might be able to cull the cases that were overcharged but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[max503]

Just today I was dipping Red Dot into 30-30 cases with a 1.0cc Lee Dipper and a funnel. Part way through my 40 rounds the powder bridged in the base of the funnel. Had I not noticed, that partial load in the funnel could have gone with a full load into the next case.
I ended up dumping out all the cases and charging them instead with my RCBS powder measure. Then I checked the powder level in each case with a bamboo skewer stick.
This kind of stuff is par for the course in reloading. Alertness is key.

 

[RonPagan]

This stuff happens, stay vigilant. Had a squib and had to pound it out with a dowel. This on the most expensive gun I've ever owned.

 

[bigggbbruce]

Just today I was dipping Red Dot into 30-30 cases with a 1.0cc Lee Dipper and a funnel. Part way through my 40 rounds the powder bridged in the base of the funnel. Had I not noticed, that partial load in the funnel could have gone with a full load into the next case.

Certain powders do this to me in my powder measure also, on several occasions I've had powder drop out as I'm moving the loading tray to the next case. Now every dump is followed by a second (vigorous)click of the handle to drop anything out.

When using a funnel it gets a tap and a visual check.