Bullet puller for cast bullets with heavy crimp

[Aldeer]

Any body found a suitable bullet puller for cast bullets with a heavy crimp? My RCBS with caliber specific collet justs deforms the bullet.

[trooperdan]

A hammer type inertia puller works and gives you some exersize as well. I usually get a Midway brand on special sale. The one I have will use regular shellholders instead of the little collets that come with it.

[KCSO]

Yes, but they don't make it any more. I have a set of pliers??? with a hole for the bullet. Put the hole over the bullet and squeeze the handle and pull down the press ram and presto out comes the bullet. They are at least 30 years old and i don't remember where they came from. I wil post a photo in case anyone else can id them. They would not be that hard to make.

[Junior1942]

If all else fails, drill a hole through the bullet. Run the loaded round up into a die-less press, then put a nail through the hole in the bullet, then lower the ram.

[Poygan]

I've used a vice grips on top of the press. Deforms the boolit but its much faster than the hammer style.

[cabezaverde]

A good set of side cutting linesman pliers. Run the loaded round up in the ram, lock onto the bullet with the side cutters, lower the ram. Destroys the bullet, but works well.

[John Boy]

Aldeer - I'll tell you what DOESN'T work ...
... The hammer type inertia puller. Even was whacking the thing on concrete
... The Hornaday ram puller. Damn near ripped the press off the workbench

Got a few 45-70's laying on the bench all mangled and ugly after trying to pull the bullets.

What to do with them? Make a bullet board saying - "Examples of False Advertising"

[beagle]

I've had pretty good luck with removing the decapping stem from a sizing die.

Then, I resize to the bottom of the seated bullet. This compresses the cast bullet and you can usually remove it with your fingers or at least a set of pliers./beagle

[KCSO]

Here is the best I've found. Slip this over the bullet and hold the handle closed and pull down on the press handle. The collet is big enough that there is almost no damage to a cast bullet. The tool head comes in various sizes and I have one in 45 30 cal and 38 cal.

[floodgate]

Another technique I've used to pull military jacketed bullets (though I don't know how well it would work with cast, and have never had occasion to try it), is to roll the neck of the case on the edge of my vise pad or anvil, under a bar of steel and quite a bit of pressure. This will both/either compress the bullet or stretch the case neck enough to break any sealant and loosen the bullet enough to pull it free with my fingers, but doesn't expand the neck enough to prevent future use with a light neck-sizing. When I'm feeling REALLY brave, I have been known to roll the case neck on the anvil while tapping lightly (LIGHTLY!!!) on the crimp area with a 4-oz ball-peen hammer, but I DO NOT recommend anyone else try this!!! Could be a disaster, especially with boat-tail bullets!

floodgate

[stocker]

I really like my RCBS collet puller. But, it doesn't always work on all types of Boolits.
If I have a heavy crimp and a boolit the collet will hang on to I don't try to do it all in one pull. Rather I bump.bump, bump, until the crimp is released. Now, if that doesn't work, I have a set of powdermans' pliers that I have modified by opening the crimp holes from both sides with a cone shaped Dremel grinder. These really bite into the boolit and will pull it no matter how tight the crimp providing you have a manly grip. Is there any other kind of grip in this forum? You will be putting the boolit back into the pot for remelting but it will come out!!!!!

[versifier]

I can usually get them out with inertial pullers That's the only way to pull them without destroying them. Collet pullers are for jacketed bullets (at least I have never managed to get one to work with cast.) If all else fails, I use the side cutters and the loading press.

[carpetman]

When I got my RCBS collet type puller about 1967,the adjusting nut did not have the set screw to lock it down. When I tightened the collet,the whole thing would turn and it didn't work so well. I put a nut with the set screw tightening nut on it and problem solved. That is for jacketed bullets and it works great. It doesn't clamp down on cast so good. So for cast,I run them up in the press and clamp on with vise grips and remove them. This ruins cast bullets,so you just recycle em. The inertia pullers provide a pretty good work out--especially if crimped. I use a section of a mesquite log and hammer on the end grain and even as solid as that it is,it takes some doing. In other words basically I dont use the inertia puller--not worth the trouble. In Phil Sharpe's Complete Guide To Reloading,he describes using a piece of lead as an anvil and rolling and tapping the neck. Now for folks that buy cast bullets guess you have to pay postage to send them back to the maker for the recycling process. Why does anyone buy cast?

[454PB]

Many years ago I loaded up 50 rounds of "experimental" .357 magnum using a cast 160 SWC. I fired six of them in my S&W model 28, and had to pound the empties out of the cylinder. I didn't care about the boolits, but I wanted my brass. Every attempt to pull, push, or beat them out failed, and I actually destroyed an inertia puller. Pliers pulled the nose of the boolit off, so I finally used a set of Klein lineman's pliers to remove the front section, effectively converting them to full wadcutters. I then fired safely fired the remaining 100 gr. or so boolits and emptied the brass.