30 cal. 173 gr.

[Alberta Separatist]

I have an R C B S bullet puller that does a nice job on copper plated bullets.
it does not work at all with lead boolits.
any suggestions?

[Gewehr-Guy]

I assume you have a collet type puller, you might have to try an inertia puller, or just run the cartridge through the die hole of the press, grasp the bullet with pliers, and lower the ram. But this method usually ruins the bullet, even when using a bit of leather between the jaws.

[country gent]

What are you trying to pull? Cast bullets are soft and the collet may not grip well. Here a kinetic puller or the above mentioned pliers method works better. A pair of cheap pliers with a slightly under sized hole drilled between the jaws saves some damage. usually .002 under bullet dia is good. so .306 for a .308 bullet. If pulling military rounds like your title says, 30 cal 173 grn then the biggest help is setting up a press with a seater die and seating .030-.050 deeper before pulling. This breaks the bond of any sealant or age have caused making them easier to pull. Military ammo has a sealant thet water proofs and seals the case to the bullet, this can act as a glue and hld the bullet in place also.

[john.k]

Ive found cast bullets seem to grip cases far tighter than jackets,and the method of using pliers is the only way...........anyhoo......you recast the bullet.....so what does it matter what happens pulling it.

[Baltimoreed]

I’ve successfully used an inertia bullet puller for years and just learned that you can use plain old shell holders in place of the 3 pc rubber band thing but haven’t had any problems knocking out any bullet. Even pulled a 5 gal bucket of corroded military stuff that had been in a flood to salvage the bullets and between the mil crimp and nastiness some of them DID NOT want to be pulled. It will deform any soft pointed bullet though.

[georgerkahn]

I also have the RCBS collet type puller, as well as two of the Quinetics inertia-style pullers. I came across a plier-type puller which has worked famously on my cast bullet removal challenges, called the Grip-N-Pull (https://grip-n-pull.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI_9CU-_HH3wIVCwBpCh37NQiuEAAYASAAEgLxhPD_BwE) which is not really, imho, inexpensive -- but.... it works! An added "plus" to this tool is I hate having a lub'd cast bullet in the nose of the Quinetic unit -- in the powder, much of it now stuck to it. Also, from the lub, powder stuck to inside of case. on flush/wadcutter loads, I use the Quinetics to move the bullet above the case mouth -- followed with the Grip-N-Pull. Works for me :)!
geo

[HangFireW8]

Vise Grips laid across the hole of a single stage, clamp, pull down, done. All the powder saved. I too accept the loss of a cast boolit.

Only exception is if I want to examine it, such as for crimp or neck tension issues, or reverse engineering a factory or someone else's load. Then I use the kinetic and a shell holder, and put up with the powder issues.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Thanks for the `Heads Up` on the Grip-N-Pull bullet puller, now to just count how many pennies I have in my change jar.Robert

[popper]

232964
this works fine.

[Alberta Separatist]

Vise Grips laid across the hole of a single stage, clamp, pull down, done. All the powder saved. I too accept the loss of a cast boolit.

Only exception is if I want to examine it, such as for crimp or neck tension issues, or reverse engineering a factory or someone else's load. Then I use the kinetic and a shell holder, and put up with the powder issues.


works great!
thanks

[HangFireW8]

You're welcome!

[Larry Gibson]

232964
this works fine.

Yes it does. I've an old one I picked up for 50 cents at a yard sale. I uses a conical stone in a Dremel to modify one of the holes to fit in lube or crimp grooves of 6.5 and .30/.31 cal bullets which are what I most often pull given the amount of testing I've done over the last few years with them. Most often the bullets are little damaged and are still shootable for general use or for foulers.

I am going to further modify it for 22 cal bullets and probably 7mm.

[Hardcast416taylor]

232964
this works fine.

Now you guys have got me scrounging in my tool boxes!Robert

[brass410]

that's about all those universal crimpers are good for, I've yet to see a pair that work worth diddly. finally bit boolit(pardon pun) and purchased a set of dedicated w crimpers and others, haven't had to recrimp a connection since, weatherpacks are the worst.

[RU shooter]

232964
this works fine.
All I've ever used and I've pulled prob 4 spam cans of 54R ball with it works great .multi caliber too :)

[Mr_Sheesh]

On Inertial pullers damaging soft-tipped bullets - Try some sort of padding up front in the puller's cavity, so the pulled bullet hits, say a cotton ball, instead of the hard plastic of the puller. I've seen leather used too, foam plastic, and other things

[Petrol & Powder]

I've used a little wadded up paper towel in the impact puller to cushion the bullet. I'm thinking about gluing a small piece of closed cell foam in there so that recovery of the powder will be a bit easier.

About the only time I need to pull bullets is to check to see if the casing is swaging the bullet down or to recover the components if a primer gets flipped before seating (rare). If I needed to pull a large number of bullets I would use the wire stripper/crimper tool shown above and a single stage press.

[4rdwhln]

Foam earplugs fit the bottom of an inertia puller. Also softening the last whack will help. The more you do the easier to guess the last whack.