I screwed up... Now I need to pull down 47 shells.

[longbow]

Yes, pretty much any kind of thin paper should work to seal off powder kernels and keep them where they are supposed to be and not affect pressure or wad column height. Wax paper might be the best choice in that napkin paper might smoulder being a bit "puffy". Not sure where you are but we are into fire season here and the bush has been very dry.

Please post results from your kinetic puller. I am wondering if PVC will be robust enoiugh to take the pounding. If the PVC a better way to go than what I did.

I used 3/4" steel pipe and that worked fine but I did have to whack a wood block pretty hard to get the crimp to open. Then again, I was breaking down slug loads. As you say, once the crimp is open a bit the shot will pour out then you can pull the wads out with needle nose pliers.

Longbow

[I'll Make Mine]

Please post results from your kinetic puller. I am wondering if PVC will be robust enoiugh to take the pounding. If the PVC a better way to go than what I did.

I just came here for that exact purpose.

First: if you have a choice, use screw-on PVC/ABS pipe at least for the end where the shell goes; I found the interference fit/glue-on cap got so tight after the first time whacking the thing (on a stack of concrete pavers) that I had to get slip-joint pliers (aka Channellocks) to get it off, but then after installing a collar inside to limit that, it would pop off and fly over my shoulder on a good whack, so I spent the rest of the session holding the shell with my thumb and not using the nice handle I added (around 16 inches).

Second, after pulling down all 47 shells, the cap that was whacking on the concrete showed hardly a mark; I could probably pull a thousand shells with this thing before needing to rebuild it due to wear.

I found that even without the leverage of the handle, five to seven good solid whacks were enough to open the crimp and dump most of the shot into the bottom cap, and any remaining shot could be worked out in a few seconds by squeezing the hull behind the crimp to get it to open a little more so I could pour/shake the remaining shot out into my retrieval container. BTW, this is strong evidence that I bought more parts than were actually needed; I could have gotten the result I did with nothing more than a six inch threaded nipple and a pair of matching caps (except I wound up with glue joint parts because while Lowe's had threaded caps, neither I nor the Associate I called for could find the threaded nipples I've used for other projects before (nearly twenty years ago, however; plumbing, somewhat surprisingly for a DIYer, changes over time!).

After adjusting cap and then technique following the first shell, I was able to complete the whole lot in about half an hour, which is comparable to the time I'd spend with my Load All II to load that many, assuming I didn't need to handle overshot cards, nitro cards, or other components other than primers, powder, wads, and shot from the hopper. And all the hulls, primers, and wads will be reusable (wads in taper-wall hulls like Remington or Winchester), better than 99.9% of the shot was recovered, and I expect to recover roundly 85% of the powder (remainder will stick in the hulls due to static and likely be lost by blowing it out of the hull with air); I may or may not find the bingo chips recoverable due to static sticking powder on them.

For now, I've left the shells with the wads and powder still in place in a zipper bag, since rain was coming (and my press setup is a clamp-on bridged on a corner of the porch rail, not well enough sheltered to load shells when raining), but I'm going to call both this homemade tool and the component recovery project successful.

I've got correct wads for these straight-wall hulls right behind me, I have valid load data on hand for low pressure, low velocity loads that will cut my recoil a bit vs. factory target loads with the same payload, as well as running pressures low enough (below 9000 psi) to be safe even if a component substitution increases pressure a little. I should be able to get these corrected shells tested and reloaded over next weekend.

[longbow]

Congratulations on both the success of the tool and in breaking down your loaded rounds!

I think I will make a tool myself using PVC. I did just what you said but using a 6" steel nipple and just holding it in my hand. A handle would have been nice but I only had 8 rounds to beak down so didn't put much effort into making anything. I did worry a bit using the steel nipple in that if a primer was sensitive and went off the loaded round in a steel nipple would be contained and some pretty bad things might happen. Using PVC the containment would not be very strong so less pressure build up.

I had not worried about this before but there was a thread posted about one of the kinetic pullers being destroyed breaking down metallic rounds when a primer detonated during a whack! I would not have thought it possible but...?

Regardless, the plastic seems like a better way to go. OI didn't think it would be strong enough for the whacking but you proved it is.

I have used the steel pipe nipple in the past for a few rounds here and there that I wanted to break down and the last batch were slugs that seemed to generate more recoil than I would have expected and the shotcups are mangled so I decided that I would break down the remaining rounds to double check everything and then reload with different wads and possibly different powder or reduced charge. This was a 525 gr. wad slug using 525 gr. load data but the slug/wad fit seems to be an issue.

Thanls for posting that! I will make up a PVC tool for future use.

Longbow

[I'll Make Mine]

there was a thread posted about one of the kinetic pullers being destroyed breaking down metallic rounds when a primer detonated during a whack!

I won't say it's impossible. The construction of a metallic case primer is such that if the pocket is a little loose, the cup might move and compress the pellet against the anvil when the case suddenly stops moving. I wouldn't think the round involved would have been in good condition to begin with, but the nature of such an accident is that we'll likely never know. The safety record of kinetic pullers for metallic cartridges is such, however, that I don't spend a lot of time worrying about it for the small pistol rounds (.32 S&W) that I've used mine on.

Steel or PVC, I surely wouldn't want to have a 12 Ga. shell in a pipe in my hand if it goes off -- and in that case, I'd probably prefer steel pipe (some slight chance it won't blow out, and if it does, shrapnel will show on X-ray). This is one of the advantages of having a handle -- the puller itself is further away from flesh. If I need mine again, I'll try again to find threaded parts or make another attempt at making the removable cap stay removable so I can get my hand off the shell itself.

[longbow]

Yes, the likelihood of a primer detonating is very small but if it did the results could be very bad.

Instead of a cap to retain the round in the puller I have been thinking of using something like Theraband as a rubber strap to retain the round. That way should there be a problem the round could pop out easily without significant pressure build up.

Yes, a handle would definitely be better than holding the pipe in your hand (or my hand). I'll see what plastic fitting are available locally.

Longbow