Bullet puller

[runnin lead]

Who makes a GOOD collet type bullet puller ,A puller that none of the parts break ,
IT works great , releases EZ ..........
WHAT works , What don't work.
Thinking about buying a bunch of 7.5 X 55, you know the rest of the story.

[Wayne Smith]

I've only used the RCBS but never broke it.

[Larry Gibson]

I also use the RCBS collet bullet puller in most calibers and haven't broke anything yet in 40+ years of use. I've pulled gobs of .22, 7mm, .30 and 8mm milsurp bullets. Some that have a sealant or are well crimped pull easier if the bullet is very slightly seated first with a seating die to break the sealant or crimp.

Larry Gibson

[midnight]

I load for the 50BMG so I bought CH-4D's big puller with a 13mm collet. The nice thing about this puller is it uses standard R8 collets. You can buy any size collet you want from internet machine tool suppliers for Less than 4 bucks apiece. If you buy collets in sets of 6 it's even less. It's the only puller you'll ever need.

Bob

PS - Larry Gibson sure has it right about bumping the bullets too break the sealant or crimp. I broke off 3 linotype bullets right at the case mouth before I learned that..

[selmerfan]

I use Forster's Universal Puller because I have a Co-ax press. The locking ring alone is insufficient, as determined by breaking several of the locking ring bolts and finally drilling and tapping the lock ring for a set screw - no more problems, I can pull anything including crimped cast boolits or crimped jacketed boolits if I break the seal slightly by seating them a few thousandths deeper. Now that I've "fixed" it and informed Forster of the "fix" I have zero problems and they were considering the modification to the puller.

[Daywalker]

I have an RCBS, with the aluminum handle that works great. I also have a Cabela's all plastic that works well and a friend made me one out of a hammer handle and pvc pipe that I use the most.

As far as the collets, I never use them. I use the shell holder for the calber I am working with in place of the collet. Just slide the round into the shell holder place into the hammer and tighten the cap down around it. Great alternative if you lose the collet or break that rubber band that is around the collet.. Save you money too since you already have the shell holder....

I appologize, I started talking about the kinetic style bullet puller. I was thinking of the collet that holds the case into the kinetic bullet puller....

I have the Hornady cam lock that mounts into my press. It works pretty good as well.... Depends on the quanity that I have to pull to which I use, the hammer style or the press mounted style


As far as a hammer style bullet puller, The RCBS I have is the one with the aluminum between the handle and the head. Works great. I did find this one brand new for 10 bucks and it is an exact copy of that RCBS just yellow... http://www.fmreloading.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=FMR&Product_Code=vbsr005-4&Category_Code=New+Items

[John Boy]

Nothing wrong with a Frankford Kinetic. I just broke one after 10+ years of use. Sent a picture of the broken one to Frankford and they sent me a free new on

[462]

Perfect timing, my RCBS Pow'r Puller broke a few days ago. I bought it because of its one piece construction, versus all the others that have the plastic handle and head pressed onto the aluminum shaft. RCBS will replace, but I have to send them the broken one.

I've looked into the collet type puller but understand that they destroy boolits, which the kinetic types don't. If it's not important to save the boolit/bullet, it can be pulled by inserting the round in a press, raising the ram, and pulling the boolit with a sidecutter as the ram is lowered.

[Doby45]

I use the FA kinetic hammer from Midwayusa, has been great...

[Moonie]

Lee is supposed to have a new one out soon, obviously never used it but thought I would mention it.

Personally I use a kinetic, not sure, Franklin maybe?

[Kevin Rohrer]

I used to use a kinetic puller. Too slow and noisy.

Now I use the RCBS collet-type. It is quiet and much faster.

[wallenba]

I guess I'm the only Hornady collet puller user so far. Works well once you find the 'sweet' spot on the adjuster. Some report breaking the lever arm though. Never happened to me...yet.
I still keep a kinetic puller around for that small job.

[jimkim]

I use the body from a Lee Rifle FCD and a pair of needlenose pliers. I raise the ram, squeeze the bullet with the pliers(held in vertical position) and lower the ram. The shape of the pliers ride the die body and they apply more pressure as the ram is lowered. Quick, cheap, effective.

[Chicken Thief]

I guess I'm the only Hornady collet puller user so far. Works well once you find the 'sweet' spot on the adjuster. Some report breaking the lever arm though. Never happened to me...yet.
I still keep a kinetic puller around for that small job.

My Hornady has pulled umpteen (wrongly seated+ military) boolits in the past 5 yrs.
I love it because the boolits show no sign of pulling and is as good as new after the ordeal :-)

[Brasso]

I've used an RCBS collet type for over 20 years with nary a problem.

Sam

[3006guns]

Same here....RCBS puller and collets for many years. As to ruining the bullet, all they do is put some insignifigant marks on the jacket if the bullet is hard to pull. The marks don't affect it all as far as I can tell. Most times there's no mark at all if you're using the correct collet.

I have the same situation too..........a bunch (about 500) of 7.5 French with "hangfire special" primers. I going to pull the whole batch, save the powder and bullets, then stick 'em back in boxer brass.

[462]

" As to ruining the bullet, all they do is put some insignifigant marks on the jacket if the bullet is hard to pull. The marks don't affect it all as far as I can tell. Most times there's no mark at all if you're using the correct collet."

3006guns,
Thanks for the information.

[W.R.Buchanan]

Well,,, I bought 1000 rounds of Wolf .223 ammo for my Mini 14 a year or so ago. I still have 46 boxes and none of the ranges I go to will allow me to shoot them because they have bullets that "attract a magnet". I can't sell the ammo because I would be loosing money as the price has now dropped below what I paid for it which was cheap at the time. What's a concerned shooter to do?

I have been contemplating a RCBS collet puller, as I already know a hammer type would be excrusiatingly slow to use on 900+ rounds. From what I have read above the RCBS seems to be the way to go. As far as the marks on the bullets go simply smoothing the front edges of the collet out with a piece of rolled up fine snadpaper will stop that. Luckily I don't care about these bullets, as they are the offending items anyway. Maybe I'll sell them on Ebay? HA!

My plan is to put the puller in the center rear station of my C&H 4 station press, and pull the bullet. Then take that open cartridge and move it to the bullet seating station and install a new non magnetic bullet. Then move directly to the last station which would recrimp the new bullet in place. I will replace the bad Rusky Bullets with pulled US Govt surplus bullets I have found at $55. per 1000. One cartridge done 899 more to do!

The only other use for this ammo is to pray for an insurection which is really the reason I bought the stuff in the first place.

Randy

[Doby45]

I would just place the Wolf insurrection ammo in a storage locker and hold on to it for it's purpose. Find some once fired 223 brass for the cheap and get to reloading..

[W.R.Buchanan]

Doby: I just got back from a 4 day rifle class at Front Sight. We each had to leave about 400 rnds of once fired brass on the ranges due to a new policy.

My class had 60 people in it and 56 were shooting .223's! After a while by the 3 and 4th days the brass laying on the ground was starting to become distracting to me. I figure we left over 20,000 cases there, and that is typical of every class. they have 60,000 members now and they are running several rifle classes per week.

Obviously they are mining the brass. They are also mining the lead out of their berms. Betweeen the rifle and pistol classes I bet they are selling a ton of brass a week! Maybe more.

In defense of the new brass edict, they are very concerned about safety, and having people bending down muzzling everyone else with their guns for a few cents worth of brass is not really in the best interest of anyone.

I will just have to make up for it at my home range. I can ususally pick up 200-300 in a few minutes with my Ammo Wizard (best doodad I ever bought). Still every time I look at that box of Wolf ammo in the corner, I just bite my tongue.

Life goes on.:violin:

Randy

[Duckiller]

Randy have you checked the bullet and the case that you pulled with a magnet. My experience with some range personnel is that they can't tell steel bullets from steel cases. Even if they are steel cases they probably wont let you shoot it. Just a thought.

[cajun shooter]

I shoot some cowboy matches that are what is called LOST BRASS MATCHES where you are not allowed to pick up your rifle brass. As you say about the amount of brass collected by Gun Site. Show me where a shooter has been injured by the act of picking up brass. If they are going to keep brass that is about .26 a case then the shooter should either have a brass credit or given a chance to later police his brass after all weapons are cleared. I have also shot matches where the boy scouts pick up your brass for you to keep the stages moving. They are tipped and earn a fair amount of money for the pack they belong to. Some shooters have tried to save that brass by using old brass with small problems and they end up losing because of a hung or stuck case.

[MikeS]

I just got a Forster collet type puller, and it worked fine on my first use of it. I pulled 40 old 30-30 factory rounds with unknown & various bullets, and reloaded them using known powder, and some of my first 170gr Lee boolits that don't look too good, but should shoot good. The old bullets I pulled were a mix of 170gr and 150gr jacketed, It didn't seem to damage any of the old bullets. Now I just have to figure out what to do with the old bullets, as I don't really want to shoot any more jacketed rounds thru my model 94 as I cleaned the barrel really well, and plan on shooting nothing but cast lead in it now. I was thinking of just throwing them in my pot, and skim off the jackets.

[1hole]

I don't know of anyone who makes a poor bullet puller, they all work. I use a collet puller for long rifle bullets and an impact/hammer for short rifle or handgun bullets.