Why do you need a bullet puller???

barbwire44 · March 31, 2005, 10:23 AM

Just wanting to know why you need a bullet puller???? I mean is it because of mistakes made during reloading, or to see how tight you are crimping pistol bullets?????
Thanks

mtnbkr · March 31, 2005, 10:36 AM

Mostly for fixing mistakes, but I guess you could test your crimp that way as well.

Chris

redhawk41 · March 31, 2005, 10:37 AM

i've used mine for a couple of reasons:

1) when i set up my bullet seating / crimping die. i seat a few bullets in powderless / primerless cases, adjust until right. use bullet puller so i can take apart the test rounds and reuse the bullets and cases.

2) i got a batch of 'manufactured' reloads that i refuse to shoot. use the bullet puller to take apart and reuse cases.

3) when working up a load you may reach a point where you are getting excessive pressure. any loads beyond that point are not fired. bullet puller used to reclaim cases and bullets.

in general, any rounds you do not feel confident shooting, but would like to reuse the cases and / or bullets, that's where the bullet puller comes in

novus collectus · March 31, 2005, 10:39 AM

When I have time I weigh my reloads to see if there is one I forgot to put powder in or doubled the load. Had to pull the bullet and redo a few times. It happenned to me when I started loading but I can see it happening a few times to someone loading their bullets with a multi stage loader that has a brass powder dispenser. I assume that if they are not paying attention to whether or not they had run out of powder they can losd a couple of duds. I also use mine to pull bullets on dented milsurp ammo because I want to reuse the bullets. My experience is very limited though and I'm sure some others can tell you more reasons.

hawk · March 31, 2005, 12:52 PM

Both reasons for me. When I screw up and to check the crimp on pistol bullets.

tjhands · March 31, 2005, 01:47 PM

For screw-ups. **hangs his head in shame**

Oldphart · March 31, 2005, 02:03 PM

A bullet puller is, for a reloader, what an eraser is for an accountant.

NoLeftTurn · March 31, 2005, 02:55 PM

Oldphart is right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Benzene · March 31, 2005, 03:40 PM

The comments above on bullet puller are useful. Any suggestions about which one to get/price? Thanks.

G56 · April 1, 2005, 12:30 AM

Quote:

A bullet puller is, for a reloader, what an eraser is for an accountant.

Exactly!

I have both an inertia puller and a collet puller, the inertia puller is good for handgun loads, the collet puller works well on rifle shells. I just scrounged some old military 7.62 cases to play with a load for my 308 rifle, I carefully trimmed them to the correct length and loaded 20 of them on the mild side, when I got to the range I couldn't close the bolt on them!!!!!!!

It was very frustrating, what was wrong? I pulled a bullet and measured the case, the case length was fine, the OAL was fine...I took a guess that these might have been fired in a rifle with a loose chamber and maybe the shoulder was a bit too far forward, so I cranked the die down tight as I could to move the shoulder back a bit more, I can close the bolt on them now, it's a little tight but after they are fired in my rifle they should be fine, they will be fire formed to my rifle.

Any place that sells reloading supplies will have bullet pullers, the inertia type are the most common.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=215517

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpag...eitemid=680804

Oldphart · April 1, 2005, 10:32 PM

The type of bullet puller you get will depend on what kind of shooting you do. The impact type causes the bullet to crash into a hard, plastic 'cup' that can scar the bullet. If all you're doing is plinking, that won't make much difference. If you're target shooting though, you don't want any extra marks on the bullet that might make it go astray. Even some collet type pullers will leave slight marks on the bullet, perhaps making it unusable.
I use a jury-rigged thing that seems to do the job reasonably well without leaving any marks. I had a flaring tool for working with copper tubing. It comes with a clamp that will hold onto several different sizes of tubing. One of them, with a small strip of soft leather in it, will grip a .30 cal. bullet with enough power to let me slip the casehead into the shellholder on my press and then back the ram down, pulling the bullet out of the case. This method has the added advantage of not spilling the powder all over the place. The big disadvantage is having to carefully load each bullet into the clamp... It's time consuming. But then, I'm retired. I have the time.

redhawk41 · April 1, 2005, 11:21 PM

i put one of those squishy earplugs (every shooter has a few, right?) in the bottom of my kinetic puller to help cushion the bullet when it comes flying out of the case.

only takes a couple of pulled bullets to pretty much flatten it, though.

novus collectus · April 2, 2005, 01:10 AM

Oldphart,
Is it possible for you to show us a picture of your contraption? I may want to try to make one myself and it sounds interesting.

STEVE M · April 2, 2005, 08:19 AM

G56, makes you want a case guage doesn't it? Do we really reload to save money or so we can buy more tools (toys?) to work with?

BHP9 · April 2, 2005, 08:33 AM

We need it to fix the stupids that we do.

BHP9

Russ5924 · April 2, 2005, 06:30 PM

Like the time I loaded 100 rounds light on powder.Found out my scale was in grams not grains.With mine to stop damage I just stuck a piece of paper towel in.Works for me

Oldphart · April 3, 2005, 12:07 AM

Novus Collectus, I have no way to post a picture of it except to send you off to the Harbor Freight site, where there is a picture.

Flaring tool

The clamp I use is the part with the two wing-nuts. As I said, it's kinda slow but it does a good job.

Since the link doesn't seem to want to work, go to the search function there at Harbor Freight and look for "Flaring Tool." Sorry.

highteckredneck · April 3, 2005, 09:24 AM

I have a Winchester hammer style puller.
I have only used it 1 time for around 50-60 rounds when I loaded a bunch of .44 mag. to what the Lee reloading manual said was max. load, but they still were not hot enough for my 14" TC Contender. After buying a TC reloading manual a few weeks later and seeing their reccomendations I knew that the loads were way too mild, and that was why I had a lot of unburnt powder left behind with terrible accuracy. Then I went out and purcahsed my bullet puller and started over on those reloaded rounds that I had not already fired.

novus collectus · April 3, 2005, 10:51 AM

Thanks oldphart. Now I can picture it better.

cracked butt · April 4, 2005, 11:01 AM

I never could justify the cost of a bullet puller. I would have to pull at least 100 SMKs or 50 premium hunting bullets to come anywhere near justifying the cost.

When I need to pull a bullet I do this:

Put the cartridge in the proper shellholder on a single stage press.
Run the cartridge up until the entire bullet is above the top of the press.
Grab the bullet with the sharp edges of a pair of wire cutters.
Slowly lower the ram. The wirecutters gripping the bullet against the top face of the press will give you adequate leverage to pull it.

Jacketed bullets will get a few scratches in them, but they will work well enough as plinkning bullets. Lead bullets I just melt down and reuse.

Edward429451 · April 4, 2005, 11:55 AM

Oldphart, thats a great idea. I've got a few old flaring tools in the garage. I do have a RCBS collet type puller but only one collet and about a half can of rejects of varying calibers to be pulled.

Poor man and prioritizing funds has kept me from buying more collets. Every time I get 20 bucks ahead to buy a couple collets with I go get primers or such instead..

Hate those hammer type pullers. They work but don't last long before breaking. I made a hammer type puller from 1/2" steel pipe (and tees etc with a union on top, which takes the hammer type collets perfectly) (gaspipe) in desperation one night when pulling 1000 45's which were crusted over from someones Y2K stash stored in a leaky crawlspace.

It takes Thors shoulder to swing it but does work if you keep at it. A chunk of water heater diptube cut to length inserted inside keeps the bullets from being banged up on the way down.

Flaring tool...thats one of those why didn't I think of that things!

cuate · April 4, 2005, 12:10 PM

I am kind of like the rest of you with bullet pullers, sometimes need to because of a boo boo, and then I have some armor piercing that I pull, dump the powder as I don't know what it is, chunk the APs and have a new cleaned, primed case to load to my needs.

One puller is an inertia one, like a hammer and the other is an RCBS collet type.

barbwire44 · April 5, 2005, 09:58 AM

Thanks guys I will ponder the idea of buying one a little more now. I usually make a boo boo when working up a new load so I will most likely purchase one.

MADISON · April 11, 2005, 08:51 AM

You need a Bullett Puller, when:
[1] You have 2,000 Ruger loaded 44 Magnum cased loaded up and own a S&W.
[2] You load up 10 rounds too many experimental loads and find they don't shoot well.
[3] You are cleaning up your shop and find you have too many miscelaneous and unknow loads and, don't want to throw the loads away.

March 31, 2005, 10:23 AM	#1
barbwire44 Member Join Date: January 13, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 49	Why do you need a bullet puller??? Just wanting to know why you need a bullet puller???? I mean is it because of mistakes made during reloading, or to see how tight you are crimping pistol bullets????? Thanks

March 31, 2005, 10:37 AM	#3
redhawk41 Senior Member Join Date: February 1, 2005 Location: Red Desert Posts: 819	i've used mine for a couple of reasons: 1) when i set up my bullet seating / crimping die. i seat a few bullets in powderless / primerless cases, adjust until right. use bullet puller so i can take apart the test rounds and reuse the bullets and cases. 2) i got a batch of 'manufactured' reloads that i refuse to shoot. use the bullet puller to take apart and reuse cases. 3) when working up a load you may reach a point where you are getting excessive pressure. any loads beyond that point are not fired. bullet puller used to reclaim cases and bullets. in general, any rounds you do not feel confident shooting, but would like to reuse the cases and / or bullets, that's where the bullet puller comes in __________________ {empty thought cloud}

March 31, 2005, 02:03 PM	#7
Oldphart Senior Member Join Date: May 19, 2004 Posts: 375	Why do you need a bullet puller??? A bullet puller is, for a reloader, what an eraser is for an accountant.

March 31, 2005, 03:40 PM	#9
Benzene Junior member Join Date: January 27, 2005 Posts: 384	Cost The comments above on bullet puller are useful. Any suggestions about which one to get/price? Thanks.

April 1, 2005, 10:32 PM	#11
Oldphart Senior Member Join Date: May 19, 2004 Posts: 375	Why do you need a bullet puller??? The type of bullet puller you get will depend on what kind of shooting you do. The impact type causes the bullet to crash into a hard, plastic 'cup' that can scar the bullet. If all you're doing is plinking, that won't make much difference. If you're target shooting though, you don't want any extra marks on the bullet that might make it go astray. Even some collet type pullers will leave slight marks on the bullet, perhaps making it unusable. I use a jury-rigged thing that seems to do the job reasonably well without leaving any marks. I had a flaring tool for working with copper tubing. It comes with a clamp that will hold onto several different sizes of tubing. One of them, with a small strip of soft leather in it, will grip a .30 cal. bullet with enough power to let me slip the casehead into the shellholder on my press and then back the ram down, pulling the bullet out of the case. This method has the added advantage of not spilling the powder all over the place. The big disadvantage is having to carefully load each bullet into the clamp... It's time consuming. But then, I'm retired. I have the time.

March 31, 2005, 10:36 AM	#2
mtnbkr Senior Member Join Date: May 1, 2000 Location: Manassas, Virginia Posts: 914	Mostly for fixing mistakes, but I guess you could test your crimp that way as well. Chris

March 31, 2005, 10:39 AM	#4
novus collectus Junior member Join Date: March 15, 2005 Location: Maryland Posts: 940	When I have time I weigh my reloads to see if there is one I forgot to put powder in or doubled the load. Had to pull the bullet and redo a few times. It happenned to me when I started loading but I can see it happening a few times to someone loading their bullets with a multi stage loader that has a brass powder dispenser. I assume that if they are not paying attention to whether or not they had run out of powder they can losd a couple of duds. I also use mine to pull bullets on dented milsurp ammo because I want to reuse the bullets. My experience is very limited though and I'm sure some others can tell you more reasons.

March 31, 2005, 12:52 PM	#5
hawk Member Join Date: May 16, 1999 Location: Fremont, NE Posts: 22	Both reasons for me. When I screw up and to check the crimp on pistol bullets.

March 31, 2005, 01:47 PM	#6
tjhands Senior Member Join Date: January 20, 2005 Posts: 1,718	For screw-ups. hangs his head in shame

March 31, 2005, 02:55 PM	#8
NoLeftTurn Junior Member Join Date: March 25, 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 6	Oldphart is right!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

April 1, 2005, 11:21 PM	#12
redhawk41 Senior Member Join Date: February 1, 2005 Location: Red Desert Posts: 819	i put one of those squishy earplugs (every shooter has a few, right?) in the bottom of my kinetic puller to help cushion the bullet when it comes flying out of the case. only takes a couple of pulled bullets to pretty much flatten it, though. __________________ {empty thought cloud}

April 2, 2005, 01:10 AM	#13
novus collectus Junior member Join Date: March 15, 2005 Location: Maryland Posts: 940	Oldphart, Is it possible for you to show us a picture of your contraption? I may want to try to make one myself and it sounds interesting.

April 2, 2005, 08:19 AM	#14
STEVE M Senior Member Join Date: February 7, 1999 Location: TN. USA Posts: 607	G56, makes you want a case guage doesn't it? Do we really reload to save money or so we can buy more tools (toys?) to work with? __________________ MOLON LABE! I've joined the 300.

April 2, 2005, 08:33 AM	#15
BHP9 Member Join Date: May 19, 2004 Posts: 76	We need it to fix the stupids that we do. BHP9

April 2, 2005, 06:30 PM	#16
Russ5924 Senior Member Join Date: February 18, 2005 Posts: 1,874	Like the time I loaded 100 rounds light on powder.Found out my scale was in grams not grains.With mine to stop damage I just stuck a piece of paper towel in.Works for me __________________ Russ5924

April 3, 2005, 12:07 AM	#17
Oldphart Senior Member Join Date: May 19, 2004 Posts: 375	Why do you need a bullet puller??? Novus Collectus, I have no way to post a picture of it except to send you off to the Harbor Freight site, where there is a picture. Flaring tool The clamp I use is the part with the two wing-nuts. As I said, it's kinda slow but it does a good job. Since the link doesn't seem to want to work, go to the search function there at Harbor Freight and look for "Flaring Tool." Sorry. Last edited by Oldphart; April 3, 2005 at 12:11 AM. Reason: Link didn't work

April 3, 2005, 09:24 AM	#18
highteckredneck Member Join Date: February 16, 2005 Location: Loogootee, Indiana Posts: 36	I have a Winchester hammer style puller. I have only used it 1 time for around 50-60 rounds when I loaded a bunch of .44 mag. to what the Lee reloading manual said was max. load, but they still were not hot enough for my 14" TC Contender. After buying a TC reloading manual a few weeks later and seeing their reccomendations I knew that the loads were way too mild, and that was why I had a lot of unburnt powder left behind with terrible accuracy. Then I went out and purcahsed my bullet puller and started over on those reloaded rounds that I had not already fired.

April 3, 2005, 10:51 AM	#19
novus collectus Junior member Join Date: March 15, 2005 Location: Maryland Posts: 940	Thanks oldphart. Now I can picture it better.

April 4, 2005, 11:01 AM	#20
cracked butt Senior Member Join Date: December 22, 2001 Location: southeastern wisconsin Posts: 537	I never could justify the cost of a bullet puller. I would have to pull at least 100 SMKs or 50 premium hunting bullets to come anywhere near justifying the cost. When I need to pull a bullet I do this: Put the cartridge in the proper shellholder on a single stage press. Run the cartridge up until the entire bullet is above the top of the press. Grab the bullet with the sharp edges of a pair of wire cutters. Slowly lower the ram. The wirecutters gripping the bullet against the top face of the press will give you adequate leverage to pull it. Jacketed bullets will get a few scratches in them, but they will work well enough as plinkning bullets. Lead bullets I just melt down and reuse.

April 4, 2005, 11:55 AM	#21
Edward429451 Junior member Join Date: November 12, 2000 Location: Colorado Springs, Colorado Posts: 9,494	Oldphart, thats a great idea. I've got a few old flaring tools in the garage. I do have a RCBS collet type puller but only one collet and about a half can of rejects of varying calibers to be pulled. Poor man and prioritizing funds has kept me from buying more collets. Every time I get 20 bucks ahead to buy a couple collets with I go get primers or such instead.. Hate those hammer type pullers. They work but don't last long before breaking. I made a hammer type puller from 1/2" steel pipe (and tees etc with a union on top, which takes the hammer type collets perfectly) (gaspipe) in desperation one night when pulling 1000 45's which were crusted over from someones Y2K stash stored in a leaky crawlspace. It takes Thors shoulder to swing it but does work if you keep at it. A chunk of water heater diptube cut to length inserted inside keeps the bullets from being banged up on the way down. Flaring tool...thats one of those why didn't I think of that things!

April 4, 2005, 12:10 PM	#22
cuate Junior member Join Date: February 18, 2005 Location: Comanche Co. Texas Posts: 737	Bullet Pullers I am kind of like the rest of you with bullet pullers, sometimes need to because of a boo boo, and then I have some armor piercing that I pull, dump the powder as I don't know what it is, chunk the APs and have a new cleaned, primed case to load to my needs. One puller is an inertia one, like a hammer and the other is an RCBS collet type.

April 5, 2005, 09:58 AM	#23
barbwire44 Member Join Date: January 13, 2005 Location: Ohio Posts: 49	Thanks guys I will ponder the idea of buying one a little more now. I usually make a boo boo when working up a new load so I will most likely purchase one.

April 11, 2005, 08:51 AM	#24
MADISON Senior Member Join Date: January 1, 2000 Location: Roanoke, Virginia Posts: 2,678	Bullet Puller You need a Bullett Puller, when: [1] You have 2,000 Ruger loaded 44 Magnum cased loaded up and own a S&W. [2] You load up 10 rounds too many experimental loads and find they don't shoot well. [3] You are cleaning up your shop and find you have too many miscelaneous and unknow loads and, don't want to throw the loads away.