Pulling cast boolits

[Jim]

Quite by accident, I found a rather weird way of pulling cast boolits. I had some Lee .452-230-2R-TLTCs loaded into .45 ACP cases. I failed to size them and they wouldn't chamber. Dang! On the off chance it might work, I pulled the decapping pin from my carbide insert FLR die and pushed one in. It sized the case down but, it also compressed the boolit. The brass case "sprung" back a little and the boolit almost fell out!
I haven't tried this with any other calibers. I feel sure it would work fine on other straight wall pistol cases, rimmed or not. It might work on tapered cases like .38-55 or .45-70. I have my doubts about shouldered cases. I'm thinkin' it would fold the shoulder.
Anywho, it beats smackin' a bullet puller against a wood mallet and havin' to open the puller every time and then retrieve the boolit from a catch pan.

[Blammer]

neat trick! I'll have to remember that.

[BruceB]

Since our investment in any single cast bullet is very small, and I don't expect a once-seated cast bullet to retain its original dimensions or usefulness, I regard such a bullet which has to be pulled, as scrap metal.

I just run the loaded round up into a vacant die-hole in my turret press (in the correct shellholder, of course) so that it protrudes through the die plate enough for the bullet to be grabbed by my vise grips. I cinch those vise grips down HARD, so hard that I can hardly manage to get them to clamp into the bullet...this is a REAL "grip", which cuts deeply into the bullet.

Then, I just lower the ram, the vise grips contact the the top of the die plate, and the case pulls away from the bullet which is clamped in the vise grips. No cost, no fuss, no bother.

Loosening the grip of the case on the bullet, by running the round into the sizing die, also sounds like a good idea. "Different strokes"..... (literally, in this situation!)

Incidentally, if using one of the inertia-type hammer-pullers with the pesky three-part chuck, try substituting the cartridge's shellholder for the supplied chuck. It works great, and is MUCH easier to manage.

[jonk]

Hmm, I"ve never had that happen to me and I have run loaded rounds into a sizing die before. Never had a loose bullet, lead or otherwise. Probably depends on the brass and lead alloy. Still, interesting thought.

[redbear705]

Cool!.....I have some 38spl that need to be broken down because of a powder bridging problem. I currently use the impact method but as stated above ...it sucks!

With the heavy roll crimp I put on the 38's for consistant ignition I am wondering if the sizing die trick will work? If it doesnt I am gonna use the vice grip trick!

Thanks Guys!

JR

[powderburnerr]

Bruce , to expand on your method , if you use a pair of wire strippers with the holes in the end rather than below the pivot bolt , it will be faster and a whole lot easier , just hold the sharpened edge on the bullet and pull down on the ram , a whole lot easier than running the vice grips and they almost never slip like the vice grips......................Dean

[NVcurmudgeon]

I use wire cutters, and the two resulting grooves leave the boolit still capable of minute of beer can accuracy.

[LarryM]

I have also done the vicegrip/press to pull bullets but none of my presses are short enough to do that trick with .45ACP so I had to go buy a inertia puller.

[shotstring]

Bruce, I have been using an inertia bullet puller for hundreds and hundreds of rounds, and never once did it dawn on me to use the shellholder rather than that infernal 3-part chuck, which is always coming apart. What a great piece of advice - had to run and out and try one and it works slick! May total strangers buy you free beers wherever you go.... :drinks:

The tip about the FLS Die I haven't tried yet, but that will be on my list as well.
Cool stuff.

[fourarmed]

The 3-segment chuck is only mildly annoying on bottleneck cartridges. On crimped revolver cartridges, they are a pain in the @$$. On straight wall cartridges that headspace on the case mouth, they are an object of utter loathing.

[S.R.Custom]

What, no one uses this?

http://www.midwayusa.com/rewriteaproduct/680804

[powderburnerr]

Fer crynin out loud that costs too much money ,, my wire cutters are rejects from work after being used on live wires and grounding them.......Dean

[MGySgt]

Super Mag - Wire Cutters and Vice Grips are 'One Size Fits All'

Thanks for the tip about the shell holder!

Drew

[MtJerry]

DANGER!!!!!

DO NOT DO THIS !!!


Incidentally, if using one of the inertia-type hammer-pullers with the pesky three-part chuck, try substituting the cartridge's shellholder for the supplied chuck. It works great, and is MUCH easier to manage.

No offense to BruceB, but that is a dangerous method. Here is a thread I ran on another forum regarding an accident I had using that very technique.

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THREAD.

http://www.familyfriendsfirearms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48609&highlight=accident+morning

[Newtire]

DANGER!!!!!

DO NOT DO THIS !!!



No offense to BruceB, but that is a dangerous method. Here is a thread I ran on another forum regarding an accident I had using that very technique.

PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THREAD.

http://www.familyfriendsfirearms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=48609&highlight=accident+morning

I see how that could happen. I would also think that it would be good to use the collet instead of a shellholder as the collet doesn't allow any free movement which may have an impact on the primer.

I bought a set of three collets from Midway for the "Frankford Arsenal" puller and they provide more close fitting in my Quinetics puller.

I tried the RCBS collet bullet puller method and my boolets are just too slippery in cast version. Those things are the ticket for J-words though

[stocker]

Similar to using a wire stripper I had a powdermans' set of pliers which have a single opening jaw similar to strippers but with a larger opening for crimping. I used a dremel coned grinder to really open crimp hole to handle a wide range of bullet sizes. The RCBS collet puller works fine on bullets with a long enough nose but not on stubby or sharply tapered noses.