Pull Your Pilota

[ElPistolero]

I'm not quite sure if this belongs here or in the other "Equipment" forum, but here goes:

I have some very nice 200gr Magma Engineering hyperbolic nose, flat base, sized .451 and they have served me well. Recently I came into a powder I am not so familiar with and loaded some things that looked very good but that, when test fired in my 1911, had some feed problems. Well, I know about OAL vs. ogive and have had to feed this competition gun carefully over the years, as its ramp is very picky..

Now, the problem with this batch of loads is that it is about .02" too short, a distance that I used to have to handle with a pencil point when I worked at ACIC during the building of the "Gateway to the West" arch. I have a very good kinetic bullet remover that has been a nice tool when something went seriously wrong, but I have never tried a collet puller and know nothing (except engineering/theory) about using one.

What I want is something that is (preferably) press-mounted that allows me to PARTIALLY pull a bullet. I can do that with very careful use of my kinetic, but just often enough to be aggravating, I drop the projo' all the way out of the case, not just enough to re-seat & re-crimp to where I want it. Bleh! Then I have to deal with stray powder, some of it stuck in the lube, and reload the case from scratch (less only the sizing & primer).

Any thoughts on a closely adjustable answer to partial removal of a bullet from a case will be gladly received.

[country gent]

What you might try is a wood dowel cut to the needed length and inserted in the kenitec puller. a piece of rubber on the top end. this would limit how far the bullet can come out making it fool proof.

[Chill Wills]

Genius

[MrWolf]

What you might try is a wood dowel cut to the needed length and inserted in the kenitec puller. a piece of rubber on the top end. this would limit how far the bullet can come out making it fool proof.

Nice thinking there sir.

[OldBearHair]

Now, why didn't we think of that. You make it sound so easy Country Gent

[gwpercle]

The problem with a collet puller is by the time the collet gets a grip on the cast boolit ... it damages it just enough that you don't want to use it .
The dowel , limiting how far the kinetic puller will allow the boolit out of the case is darn near the most perfect answer . Boolit wont come out too far and be undamaged !
Country Gent ... Deserves a big ... ATTABOY !
I'm going to try and remember this one .
Gary

[Markopolo]

A typical Rocket science answer!!!

[ElPistolero]

Yes, Gent, many thanks ... that thought occurred to me long after I made my first post, but I was sound asleep at the time and never pursued it. It certainly makes sense and I will give it a try. Bless you for confirming what may be the best answer.

I think I'll make the rod out of scrap steel and make it just a tad shorter than the final OAL, using the seat and taper crimp dies to finish. Nice... again, many thanks !!

[country gent]

Steel may have a couple issues with it that may be hard to over come. 1) the weight and hardness may be hard on the plastic body of the puller. Breaking the end up quicker. the added weight will increase the kenetic blow. 2) the harder steel may deform bullets more unless well padded.

I would consider tubing with the ends plugged with wood. Thin walled steel brass or aluminum tubing would be light strong and work well.The wood ends would provide cushion to bullets and puller. If you could dedicate puller then glueing the tube in at the bottom would also stop some of the added hammering

[CastingFool]

A piece of vinyl tubing, cut to length, would probably work, and it's inexpensive

[mdi]

What you might try is a wood dowel cut to the needed length and inserted in the kenitec puller. a piece of rubber on the top end. this would limit how far the bullet can come out making it fool proof.

Well, Duh! I never thought of that. Excellent idea and so simple. Thnx...

[ElPistolero]

Thanks to all for some good ideas. I will experiment a bit, taking impulse and inertia into account.

[44magLeo]

All good ideas, just what is pilota?
Leo

[Chill Wills]

All good ideas, just what is pilota?
Leo

Yes. I just kinda looked past that and went on as if I knew what it meant.

[Martin Luber]

While your question was beautifully answered, I don't think that's your problem. You didn't mention your powder, bullet or load. Let's look at those.

[woodbutcher]

If you have access to a lathe,turn one out of delrin.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[Green Frog]

Is “pilota” a misspelling of “pistola”? That would make some sense to me.

I’ve been wondering why an OAL that is only .02” too short is a problem unless you’re at max load and you would create excess pressure. In a magazine fed gun, .02” too long might be problematic, but too short? I was wondering why the concern.

Froggie

[Pressman]

I was going to fix the spelling in the title, but couldn't decide on what word he meant.

[JMax]

An outstanding example of KIS

[Scooby]

A hot glue stick is what I use for mine, cut to different lengths to accommodate a variety of cases. Before I figured out the hot glue stick I had an ear plug shoved in the puller to try to keep soft point bullets from deforming when the come out of the case.