Pulling

[buck1]

I have been pulling bullets all day. Some old loads I made up before I saw the light of casting my own. I kept telling my self I was just going to blast them all at the range but I never take them. I am down to 150 rds of 44s with BullX HARD CAST left to go, and just needed a brake!!
Those bullets sure look ugly next to mine, and they leaded like crazy! I will be happy to reform them with my WWs in to good BOOLITS!!
They will be self fluxing with hard blue wax and sprinkles of 2400, Self mixing??!! LOL...
WELL BACK TO IT!!

[454PB]

Are you using an inertia puller? Are your arms sore?

[buck1]

Are you using an inertia puller? Are your arms sore?

Its a Quinetics Corp. kinetic inertia puller. My right arm and my left hand from turning the cap, are fairly sore. I put on my shooting glove half way through the job, It was welcome by then.
There is no doubt that the rolled crimp was very good.
The cookie cans are full of lead for a future alloy and the old long stored 2400 cans are full of powder once again. I have been putting that off for well over a year.
But I can reflare the brass and fresh GOOD slugs are ready to reseal the cases.
I loaded up a bunch of that ammo about 3 months before I got in to casting! go figure.
But at that time I could see no need to get in to casting as the bullets were cheep.
I never thought I would fall so much in love with pouring my own.
The thought of shooting store bought slugs now seems like a sin!
One more box to go................Buck

[keeper89]

Got to agree. Being both quality conscious (read anal) and frugal (read cheap) it really breaks my heart to pay out hard earned cash for a product I can produce myself, control my own quality and quantity, and save lot$ of beans!!!! Not to mention the loooong winter up here in the Adirondacks. If you don't ice fish or snowmobile you either become a drunk or a boolit caster!!!

[NVcurmudgeon]

One of the surest signs of terminal casting addiction is pulling plinkable factory CB to replace them with your own homemade boolits. Congratulations, you have arrived!

[fecmech]

If the bullet will show above your loading press in the shell holder with die removed and ram fully extended, grab the bullet with a pair of side cutters(wire cutter, dikes etc.) and retract the ram while holding the cutters. The press will keep the cutters from following and you will easily remove the bullet. Beats the hell out of inertia pullers when you don't care to save the bullet. Nick

[charlie / sw mo]

Are you using an inertia puller? Are your arms sore?

a few years ago i ran across a post dealing with the inertia puller and couldnt belive i hadnt thought of it myself---get rid of the shellholder that comes with it and use the shellholder off your press--works like a charm.

charlie in sw mo

[StarMetal]

....better yet grab it with one of those combination pliers, the ones where the nose section crimps wire terminals, and in the handle section is that wire strippers. I've found the largest hole for wire stripping grips the bullet with hardly any damage, I've even pulled jacketed with them. If there's a cannelure grip it there and the damage is minimized.

Joe

[carpetman]

For pulling a cast bullet the best way seems to be as others have said,run it to the top of the press with no die and clamp onto it with a pair of vise grips--probably ruin the bullet---easy fix just recast it. For jacketed bullets,the RCBS collett puller works good. When I bought my RCBS(back in 60's)the locking ring did not have a set screw so when I tightened the collet,the whole die would turn. Putting a lock ring with set screw took care of that and it works great---for jacketed. Downside is you do need a collet for all the sizes you pull. The inertia type have one huge advantage(for the manufacturer----people buy them. Except for a one time deal,I find little use for them. If you are going to use one,having a big limb(log)to use the end grain to rap it on helps. For a one time deal you can also use a block of lead as the anvil and a mallet and tap all the way around the neck and it will loosen---this tip was in an old Phil Sharpe book.

[454PB]

Luckily I've only had to pull boolits from one box of ammo in my life. I tried the inertia puller....ripped the rims off.....finally shattered the puller. Final solution was to cut the nose off of the rounds with a pair of wire cutters (lineman's pliers) and shoot them out. Man, I can really crimp a boolit!

By cutting the nose off, I reduced the boolits from 160 grain to about 100 grains. I learned a good lesson in the use of HS-7 in the .357 magnum during this misadventure. At least I got my brass (minus the ruin rims).

[JohnH]

Put a 1/2" washer on top of your press so the sharp edges of your pliers/vise grips don't cut into or gouge your press threads. I have a nice 7/8 x 14 tap in my house these days..... Bet you can guess why

Edit: BY the way, the press method beats the crap out of an inertia puller without beating the crap outta you.

[drinks]

Ever try the tubing holder you use to hold copper tubing while you flare it?

[buck1]

thanks for the advice. the puller looked better than it worked. On non crimped cases it would most likely be ok but the crimps are a down side for sure. ....Buck

[ghh3rd]

I recently pulled a few of my 310gr .44 boolits with an inertia puller. I had a good crimp, but was surprised at how those big boolits loosened up with two or three whacks on the garage floor. Small boolits have actually been harder to dislodge.

I really like the ideas in posts #6 and #7 -- I have some unfired range pickups to test with.

Randy

[lwknight]

The inertial puller is just good for saving the bullets. Too much work otherwise.

[HamGunner]

I have found myself in about the same way before. I had a lot of rounds loaded up and found something that was a much better load or a much better bullet or something and just could not stand to have something less than my best loaded up. I also should have just went out an shot them up and enjoyed a few outings of shooting, but sat for hours pulling the darn things. With the price and scarcity of primers and such, I suppose it might actually make sense to pull them now days.

[44man]

Don't bang your puller on concrete. I use a big chunk of oak. It keeps from breaking the plastic.

[OutHuntn84]

+1
And dont think a carpeted floor will help ya either, I broke one doing that a while back and then even worse after I was done I noticed it damaged my carpet a little bit. SHMBO was ticked!