I somehow loaded 20 rounds with 10 grains less powder than I intended so I started pulling them apart. I was using my RCBS hammer type puller. The thread on cap shattered on the first one. I then went to my back up puller and the little fingers that hold the rim in place tore off . I guess I was done pulling bullets.

I waited 90 minutes on hold with RCBS this morning. Crazy long wait! They were willing to send me more parts BUT- the plant is shut down because the power is off due to the fire danger! No idea when i will get them now!

Anyone ever broke one of these?

Broke a few inertia hammers. They wear out/fatigue after awhile.

I threw two of em away after my incident with primer detonating.

Get a collet puller, no breakage nor frustration.

Yes, have pulled the rims off of the aluminum holders, never did work very well either. I use an RCBS collet pullet now, much nicer, faster, more reliable. I have mangled a few bullets if I wasn't careful though,

Run the cartridge up thru your press without a die installed. Grab bullet with side cutter pliers. Pull ram down. Bullet comes out. And the core isn't damaged by banging a damn hammer.

Instead of those three piece aluminum shell holders that come with the inertia puller, try using a regular shell holder from your press. I think you'll find it works much better and you'll never have one wear out like the aluminum. Also, look at getting a collet puller. Especially for smaller bullets. I've broken a couple pulling small diameter bullets before I got a collet puller. I still use the inertia puller on larger stuff.

https://grip-n-pull.com/


^^^^^^Heres your huckleberry^^^^^^^^

Mine has payed for itself many time over. I have a bad habit of loading in 50-round lots and deciding that after 20 rounds into it, I don't want to use it anymore....

+1 on the collet puller! I have one permanently installed in my Redding T7 press. It sees plenty of use and it seldom damages a bullet.

I’ve had my RCBS hammer for over 25 years and the only problem I’ve ever run into was the rubber O-ring wearing out. Called RCBS and the sent me 3 new collets with O-rings for free.
Never heard of the threads shattering, did you hit the wrong end of the hammer by mistake?

Friend Dennis, good catch on the under-loaded rounds. When I need to pull bullets that are really tight in the neck I run that round into a turned-down seater die to seat the bullet maybe a smidgen (1-2 mm?) deeper, breaking the seal between the bullet and the brass neck. Then I use the inertia puller or the collet puller and they seem to come apart easier.

Sorry about your experience with RCBS. They usually provide better service, but they are in California and plagued by the same stupid folks that decided long ago to not build reservoirs or power plants. The power was shut off for nearly a million people due to wind hazard maybe breaking electrical lines, maybe causing sparking wires, maybe causing fires.

Give my regards to Ruby.

I think I've broken 3 over the years, eventually they just shattered. Finally wised up and bought an RCBS collet puller, should have gotten one decades ago.

I'm ordering one of those. Put it off long enough.

Ha Ha them hammer pullers are a darn funny idea! The noise and the effort you have to put out using one of them is ridiculous! One of RCBS's most dufus ideas. Get a grip and pull though I pull many bullets using side cutters without damaging the bullets enough to matter and if there is a bit too much of a mark left you can still use them for working up loads.

It's an omen--buy a collet puller.........

This, slow but sure and a lot safer. Also JB has written that inertia pullers can loosen the core and jacket alignment and hurt accuracy. I have observed this but didn't know the cause until JB wrote of it.

I blew a cap with a hammer puller when I was 12 yrs. old. Fortunately no powder in the case (the reason I was pulling) and I had glasses on too. That one eventually shattered and good riddance to it.

This is how I do it too. It doesn’t hurt the bullets......you don’t have to grip hard with a good side cutter.

I broke two. RCBS replaced them both times but couldn't get a reason for failure from them. Both broke in the thread area of the head. I use a piece of oak stump as my bang block and normally don't need to whack too hard. On the last break the whole cap with aluminum case rim collet blew off the top complete with male & female threads, hit a florescent light cover about 6 overhead, broke it, and ricocheted a bit further across the room. The one I have now will most likely be my last.

I bought 1 a few years ago and it is basically all I use. I still use my rcbs collets once in awhile and the hammer type mainly for crimped pistol bullets. I have only broke 1 hammer and sent in a piece of it to rcbs and they sent me a new one.

I've broken a few. They have their place but I prefer a collet puller. If I don't care about saving the bullet I do what mjbgalt does. I use linemans pliers and this damages the bullet. Then it goes into the melting pot to be recycled!

Another happy Grip-N-Pull user. You don't have to worry about the tool breaking, primer detonation or damaging the bullet. One tool handles multiple calibers and they are quick and easy to use.

I have had no problems with accuracy from pulled bullets using the inertia puller, the collet puller works great but the bullets are ruined 100% of the time.

Agreed.

The grip-n-pull looks cool if you don't have any big bores though.

For singles I use an inertia puller. Anytime I need to pull more than two bullets the collet puller comes out. I use Hornady.

I'll never use an inertia puller again after getting a grip-n-pull. So much easier. I've got two of them, the one for the standard bullets and the one for the big boys.

Yep

Those hammers make you look like a monkey trying to fix an automatic transmission with a plastic bat. Collet pullers are the only way to go. If I'm only adjusting powder charges I use mine to put the bullet right back into the case it just came out of. I use the RCBS model.

This, I can not understand. I have the Hornady collet puller and have used it for nearly ten years to pull many hundreds of bullets. It has never left a mark on a cup and core, or on a mono-metal in 6mm, 6.5 mm, or 7mm.

I do not have collets for 22 or 30 cal. But there are 3 inertia pullers in the drawer for those.

Now that made me laugh--best description I've ever heard of hammer pullers!

I use the Hornady Collet Puller in a Coax. As long as there's bullet bearing surface to grab, the only time I've messed up a bullet it's been my fault, e.g. I used the wrong collet (usually knowingly), had collet too tight, manhandled lever, etc.. Run the collet down to within a half hair off the case mouth and grab the bullet by the bearing surface with just enough grip to extract it plus a smidgen.

Assuming you've got bearing surface to grab, if your wrecking bullets, then either you have the puller adjusted with too much grip or it's a neck tension/crimp issue. I run minimal neck tension. The smaller the bullet the trickier. I did wreck a few .204 bullets back when I first started using the Hornady Collet Puller.

My thinking has been, any slight surface damage to the bearing surface will get worked out by a trip down the bore. Regardless, If there's any doubt a bullet was damaged, it gets used in a fouler or velocity check. This choice is a function of an unsubstantiated belief that pulled bullets are substandard.* It should be noted that, the bulk of my loading these days is for matches ranging to 1200 yrds. or practice for said matches.

I don't typically pull too many bullets. If I did, I wouldn't be loading them in match rounds, regardless of how they were pulled. *See above.

The head/cap will break if not on tight. Tighten every couple of whacks.

I keep a four inch long piece of rail road rail on the bench for an anvil. With a solid anvil, a couple whacks with an inertia puller is all it takes, unless the cartridge is crimped hard.

This ^^^^^^

MM

The hammer type, inertia pullers work fine if the bullet has some weight to it, 45 Colt, 45-70. And if you throw the aluminum collet away and use your shell holder instead.
Collet pullers are a nicer solution!

Most of the time there is no mark at all but I start out with very little tension and just add enough to do the job. Even on the really soft bullets without much sticking up to grab, sure a collet puller might leave a pretty good ring dent but I guarantee you that bullet's BC will not be affected nor will it affect accuracy or the performance on game. At least nothing I can see on paper. I have tested it every which way during 40 years of having to pull bullets during load development and never once has accuracy been affected.

I even super tightened it just short of bending the handle on a batch of 20 bullets that had 43 grains of H380 which is way too much for a 22-250 when it's over 100 degrees out. and sure it left a huge ring on the soft little .224 Hornady 50 grain SPSX still found the ground squirrels every time to 300 yards. That or that barrel being over 8000 rounds has so much experience it just tells the bullets where to go.

I will say the best way to wreck a bullet is using a pair of side cutters and squashing the bullet way out of shape. I assume that will affect accuracy and performance a little bit.

I got a hammer puller for Christmas once. I tried it a few times and since I like to use my puller to push the bullets right back in once the powder is corrected I didn't have any use for it so I gave to to the neighbor kids to smash potatoe bugs with it. If a guy is determined to use those I recommend buying them buy the dozen.

My RCBS is kind of cool because I can adjust the tension and once you collect all the collets you can pull from 17 through 50 cal. A lot of collets will do several calibers close in diameter. A 270 will do 6.5 and 7mm if you want to. 30 cal will grab 8mm. Over the years I finally have collected them all just because.

I like my Hornady Cam Lock.