Hornady Cam Lock puller...What am I doing wrong?

[Stopsign32v]

Good grief no matter what adjustments I try I can't seem to get past this

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52316754851_8b00de0bd8_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/gp/113193676@N08/5Xpc8hxmcU)

[45workhorse]

Get a Inertia bullet puller.
I don't know a any thing about the above critter.

[Stopsign32v]

Get a Inertia bullet puller.
I don't know a any thing about the above critter.

God no...I have one and would toss them before taking the plastic hammer apart, inserting the bullet, using my strength to bash it on the floor, powder goes everywhere in the puller, taking it apart, removing the bullet, powder everywhere, rinse and repeat...No thanks.

[Stopsign32v]

Figured it out: This video is invaluable. I watched Hornady's and it wasn't that great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5mfFD2O0Us


This is a great tool now! Fast and you can save every bit of powder, bullets, and brass.

[Dusty Bannister]

This type of bullet puller requires a parallel portion of the side of the bullets to engage the collet. Most handgun bullets do not have this. Post #2 is correct. If you do not like that option, try the side cutters or modified wire crimping tools and this will destroy the bullet but save the case.

Guess I typed too slow.

[Driz]

I used one of those to pull about a thousand .40 cal. Hey they work and the plastic somehow held up fine. Best method is to grab a piece of old 2x wood to put on your counter and beat on that or you’ll definitely soften / pulverize your bench.
I find they work great are cheap and do the job plenty well enough. All it is is slow but then so is a reloading press. Runnings has them for about $20.


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[Stopsign32v]

The Hornady Cam Lock puller has to be the best money I've spent so far in reloading in general. Just pulled 150 bullets in no time with as much effort as I do while reloading (using the press). You guys that use an inertia puller are absolutely crazy and should upgrade to this.

No damage to the bullet or casing once I figured out how to dial it in. If I can do it anyone can!

[Carrier]

Do they work with powder coated lead bullets?

[Stopsign32v]

Do they work with powder coated lead bullets?

Yup! Tried it on one of my 9mm little Lee mold powder coated bullets. Not even a little mark and pulled it fine.

Pure lead might be another story though...

[Winger Ed.]

I'm a big hammer/inertia puller fan too.
Just use a single stage shell holder instead of that 3 piece mess that comes with it.

When the bullet comes out, pour it and the powder in a bowl.
When you have a few, take out the boolits, and pour the powder back in a can.

[Driz]

I'm a big hammer/inertia puller fan too.
Just use a single stage shell holder instead of that 3 piece mess that comes with it.

When the bullet comes out, pour it and the powder in a bowl.
When you have a few, take out the boolits, and pour the powder back in a can.

Yup, why complicate things unless you’re routinely pulling hundreds.


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[Winger Ed.]

Yup, why complicate things unless you’re routinely pulling hundreds.

There's a big learning curve in this addiction.
Also, I often have to aggressively try not to over think this stuff.

[Finster101]

A lead ingot or muffin works very well to strike an impact puller against laid on top of your bench or the floor. Doesn't cause any damage to the bench or puller.

[TNsailorman]

I have an RCBS collett bullet puller and use it only on 30-06 military ammo. I have had a inertia bullet puller for over 40 years and that is what I pull everything but military ammo bullets. I seldom have to pull most ammo anymore and I did pull quite a bit of 30-06 corrosive primer ammo in the 60's and 70's with my collet puller. But I did have to put each round into a seat die and seat it just a tad deeper to break the bullet sealer bond on the bullet loose and then pulled bullets came out without a mark at all on them. Learned this trick from an old WW II veteren who did the same thing to his military ammo. james

[Bookworm]

I wanted to Mexican Match some 7.62x54r surplus some years back. No way in the world was I going to hammer out 100 rounds. Screw that.

Got one of those Hornady Collet pullers; best money I've spent in a while.

Once it's adjusted,, just put the cartridge in the holder, raise the ram, tighten the puller lever, lower ram. Easy peasy.

Pull 3 or 4 a minute. No spilling the powder either.

No banging away like BamBam, driving the whole house crazy.

Absolutely a fantastic buy. I have 4 collets now. Need more.

[Stopsign32v]

I wanted to Mexican Match some 7.62x54r surplus some years back. No way in the world was I going to hammer out 100 rounds. Screw that.

Got one of those Hornady Collet pullers; best money I've spent in a while.

Once it's adjusted,, just put the cartridge in the holder, raise the ram, tighten the puller lever, lower ram. Easy peasy.

Pull 3 or 4 a minute. No spilling the powder either.

No banging away like BamBam, driving the whole house crazy.

Absolutely a fantastic buy. I have 4 collets now. Need more.

You pretty much summed it up. I can only imagine the inertia puller folks are the type that also kept their cap and ball revolvers into the 1880's case it was better than them dang blasted cartridges. :mrgreen:

[alfadan]

I have a Forster collet puller but only the 8mm collet. I also use an intertial puller.

I believe the idea of having to use a whack-a-mole puller for more than ten rounds will make you a more careful reloader!

[Daekar]

I have a similar contraption from RCBS, I think. After using it to pull apart literally hundreds of 70 year old 8mm Mauser surplus, I can honestly say I would never consider using the impact puller type devices again. Nope nope nope.

[Rickf1985]

The trick to an impact puller is the same as using a hammer to put in a nail properly. Let the tool do the work, do not try to force it harder than it wants to go. Anybody who has done automotive body work knows how to slap with a hammer. You swing it down but before it hits you loosen your grip a little and let the hammer follow through. Same with the pullers. Do not try to knock the bullet out with one shot, it is not going to happen. I have found three hits is the average. I am using the same inertia puller my dad used to pull thousands of bullets from 30-06 rounds in the 50's, it still works fine today and it is not falling apart. It is all in the technique.

[David2011]

You pretty much summed it up. I can only imagine the inertia puller folks are the type that also kept their cap and ball revolvers into the 1880's case it was better than them dang blasted cartridges. :mrgreen:

You just might be imagining wrong. No need for an inertia puller for a cap and ball revolver. I have the RCBS collet puller and use it any time it will work. Some cast and jacketed bullet shapes don’t lend themselves to being pulled with a collet. As said, technique is everything with an inertia puller. If it’s held tightly as with a carpenter’s hammer, it’s not working at the best efficiency. It HAS to rebound. The impact surface is important as well. I think vertical end grain is far superior to a bench top. Something like a 4x4 on end, resting on the floor and attached to your bench works well. I was lucky to have a piece of 4” thick engineered beam left at my last house. It’s 14”x 16” so it’s heavy and has plenty of inertia of its own. It’s relatively gentle on the impact puller, too.

Right after a move my presses weren’t set up yet. A friend offered to load some .40 S&W for me on his Ammo Plant for upcoming matches. At the first match with that ammunition I had a squib and had to withdraw from the match. Not trusting the ammunition, I had to pull about 350 boolits with an inertia puller. No way to pull truncated cone boolits with a collet. It was justified. There was one more round in the batch without powder.

[oldsman]

Good grief no matter what adjustments I try I can't seem to get past this

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52316754851_8b00de0bd8_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/gp/113193676@N08/5Xpc8hxmcU)

you are grabbing the case not the bullet is your problem. you need to feel the collet bump the top edge of the brass and then raised the die a little and grab the bullet , you have to adjust the collet as you do this . make sure the cam handle is pointed straight up when adjusting then snug down on bullet then pull the cam handle down to bite onto the bullet and pull . after you get the first on set you only need to use the cam handle

[44Blam]

I have the RCBS inertial puller. You get rid of that little wad of fuzz at the bottom and clean between different boolit types and you can reclaim the boolit, case, powder and primer. I made a ladder of 25 10 mm rounds recently and by my calculations, row #1 should have been 1120 fps and row #5 should have been 1220.

My goal was right around 1200 and accuracy.

Well... Row #1 averaged around 1220 and had good accuracy. BUT that put my calculated pressures pretty high so I didn't want to shoot the rest.

Took me less than 15 minutes to pull the 20 I didn't shoot including dealing with 2 of them left their gas check in the case... And I reloaded all of them a little lower and found a good load.