Home Forums Reloading Varmint Rifles Bullet pulling

Hi there!

I had to pull 30 bullets from 270 Win. cartridges because of mistake in powder charging. I managed to get out almost all the bullets without damaging them. Question: Is it necessary to do any resizing job before I reseat the bullets? And if so, the best method? The brass is Norma and the bullets are Nosler Ballistic Tip.

All the best, - kakali

I'd run the necks into the sizing die again. I don't think I'd trust the bullets. Seems to me the cores could have shifted slightly forward in the jackets if you used a hammer type puller. Just a theory. I wonder if anybody ever tested this sort of thing.

In order to get the case neck to firmly grip the bullet, you must resize the neck, but you don't need to full-length resize the whole cartridge case.

BEFORE neck-sizing the cases, remove the primer de-capping pin and shaft from the resizing die... you do NOT want to "punch out" the new primers you just installed in the cartridge cases. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Good Shooting!

Ron T.

good advice on taking out the de priming pin

don't worry bout the "core" being moved when using a hammer type bullet remover, It will take a heap more stress than that to move the core.

If it did I don't think any bullets would make the trip safely to the store shelves... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

As I said I'm not sure it matters, but riding to the store in a truck is not quite the same as being slammed around in a hammer type bullet puller. Any way you go about pulling a bullet is not going to do it any good.

Thanks for good advise on the matter. I used the collet type puller from RCBS and afterwards I could see tiny and in most cases barely visible ring on the bullets. It did not take any force to remove them. On the other hand the brass is from Norma (reloaded) and I have heard that the Norma brass is somewhat softer and easier to deal with than from most other manufacturers. Any comment on that or the softness/hardness of brass in general?

Thanks in advance, - Kakali

I don't know of any way to pull a bullet without doing some sort of dammage to it. How it will shoot is the question at hand. Probably very few of us could tell any difference. I just wouldn't expect to do my best work with pulled bullets.

I also heard, years ago, that Norma brass is somewhat softer than say Rem. or Win. I don't know that it's true. You'd have to test a few thousand of each to tell. Then again, it probably varries by lot. I have also heard that Norma brass is among the most dementionaly consistant as to diameters and wall thicknesses, and such. Supose to be good stuff.

Softness only matters in the case neck. The rest of the case, particularly the head should be fairly hard. The neck will work harden, from being fired and resized, a few times. If it get's hard enough, you'll start seeing vertical cracks. Before you get to that point you'll want to aneal the necks. Most of the loading manuals do a good job of explaining this. You can never have enough loading manuals. Hope this helps.

NEVER, EVER use an impact-type puller... Unless you have a death wish. Buy a collet puller and use it whenever necessary. If you have to pull any bullets, I would use them again only on a load you're working up to get to near-max velocity, but not for target or hunting uses. It takes VERY little marring to get a bullet that will not perform at all. Redneck

Ok Redneck, I'll bite-

why should you never ever use and impact bullet puller?

I'd like to hear an explaination for that too. I've used them for years with no problems. Is it that the inerta could cause the primer to ignite, and set the round off? Even if that happened, (and the possability seems remote) I don't think the thing would hold enough pressure to create a problem. I would think they would be pulled from the market pretty quick, these days, if there was a problem. Of course we should all be wearing safty glasses anyway. An Auto Prime is much more dangerous, I should think, and I use them too. Lee says to only load 1 Federal, and only 10 of some of the others, because of the possability of sympathetic ignition. If anyone has had a bad experence, with such a puller, please share it.

I agree with you about the pulled bullets. Wouldn't use them for anything serious.

Ok, I'll tell you what happened to me... There are many others who've had this experience but the one I'm telling here I KNOW for a fact since I was there...

Had a few rounds of .264M that I were quite sure were loaded with a tad too much powder. Bought a new impact puller (Remington) and read the instructions thoroughly. Put a round in the puller and gave it a hit. Nothing. A little harder this time. Nothing. Harder still. Not yet. With each successive hit I put a little more emphasis in it until all of a sudden, BANG!!! The PRIMER WENT OFF. Why it didn't ignite the full charge, I have no idea but I immediately stopped all thoughts of using this pos again.... To this day, I can't believe I'm still alive or that I have any of my face left...

I posted a FS sign for this puller on the net, giving it away for free if someone would pay the postage. Along with that puller, I sent a letter of waiver for the buyer to sign so I shouldn't be able to be sued if HE gets injured. I should have probably just thrown it away...

Get a COLLET puller. They are absolutely safe. The impact pullers are as unsafe as anything I've ever seen and I can't believe they're still on the market. Do NOT use an impact puller. Redneck

Sounds scarry. I don't think there is much chance of igniting the whole charge, if it did, I doubt you'd get more than a puff of pressure. However, I bet that primer fleww off to god knows where. I've always made it a point to stand clear of the primer when I smak one of these things. Then again, if you were working with a pistol round, loaded with somthing fast, maybe it could let go. I don't pull a lot of bullets, but I've proubably pulled a hundred over the years with no problem. 'Course it only takes one. Collets for every caliber I load would be expensive, but you've got me thinking. Maybe I'll start collecting some. Thanks for the insight.

I've owned and used several inertia (or impact) bullet-pullers ever since Gun Products introduced the first one in 1962. Never had one "go" on me.

But I don't advise using this type of puller. I have seen a photo of the gathered fragments of one that ignited the primer, which in turn DID fire the main charge, which blew the plastic body of the puller into flying shards.

Shards don't have to be as dense or to fly as fast and true as bullets to play Billy Blue Hell with human flesh. Painful injury is the least to expect if one lets go in your hand, near your face and the rest of your body.

Odds can fool you. Remember that 999,000 out of a million is for all practical consideration 100% but admits to 100 actual exceptions. So far, the inertia pullers that most of us have used have done their job OK in that 99.9 percent. What I want to avoid is having my next swat with one lap over into that 0.1 percent.

So I now have an RCBS collet puller with a collet for every caliber of bullet that I load and shoot. I've also had relatively minor surgery on one eye (for a problem caused by my stroke, not related in any way to handloading). Even with Medicare paying almost the entire total of the hospital and surgeon's bills, my minor share of either bill far exceeds the total cost of the collet puller and all the collets. And the discomfort of that failing eye is beyond calculation.

Call me cowardly if you like, but I'm damned protective toward my remaining eye.

Okay, good enough for me. What about the Lee Auto Prime? Lee does warn aginst loading more than 1 Federal, and says to limit the others to 10. I think they say you can load a hundred or so CCI's. If I remember right. Should we switch to the RCBS, which seems safer, but not as easy to use, and costs more. I hate to give up my Auto Prime, but wouldn't that same 1 in a million logic apply.

Make your own decisions, Troublesome. They're your eyes, not mine. And I bet they're worth more to you than they are to me.

(And I think my reference was a million to a hundred, not "a million to one." As a mere guess to illustrate a point, it's not important here except as a suggestion that one should read fairly carefully anything that he quotes or refers to.)

You should try the pulled bullets at least and see how they work. I've shot almost 350 .224 50 grain Nosler BTs in my 22-250 at rock chucks and they work great. A friend of mine gave them to me already pulled. I never have asked him why. They have a slight ring mark on them, but I cannot tell any difference between new ones. I can't imagine how a little ring mark would affect them much after being pushed through the rifling.

Looking back, I see you're right of course. But the point is the same. Now at the risk of sounding like a smart ass, let me throw some of that back at you. That's troublsom, with a 1 on the end, but without any e's. Small things ARE easy to miss. It's not important, but it does help illustrate your point.

Yes, I know. I spelled Troublesome correctly on purpose -- as a word, not as a forum "handle." Sort of a gentle, friendly dig. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> Glad you aren't terribly offended, my friend.

Redneck-

thank you for your post it was very interesting. I too have an impact bullet puller and have pulled many bullets. Several hundred that I can immediately recall... anyway. i also have a collet puller cause I had several hundred 223 I needed to pull and It was much faster.

My technique to pull bullets is to put it in the puller and give it a medium 'whack'. never any harder, I never tried to get the bullet out on the first hit or the second I always had to smack it 3-6 times. I see the bullet edging out. As it gets close, i give an appropriate final smack to east it out. I have also put a piece of paper towel in the inside so the bullet has a "soft" place to land. Just my .02 cents worth.

If you still want to give it away, send it here! PM me and I'll send you my addy.

Blammer, sorry but I already gave it away. Posted a "To Give Away" ad on the Shooters board the day after the cap went off. Had the new owner sign a waiver to absolve me of any liability if HE had a primer go off...

I couldn't wait to see the mailman take that thing and get it out of state.... I can't believe there haven't been any lawsuits regarding those impact pullers yet. Redneck