Bullet pullers. Life span?

[Edward429451]

Well my buddy got bequeathed someones Y2K stash of 45 ammo that laid in the crawlspace and got corroded and ruined. Mostly Blazers and some WWII surplus. No problemo, pull it all down, tumble the slugs and reload for blasting ammo...

There's about 600 to 800 rounds rounds there. Crunched the slugs a little deeper in case to break the seal and started pulling. I got about 250 pulled and the bottom striking surface of (Frankfort?) puller came off like a little ring. It appeared to have been punched through by the heavy slugs striking the bottom after having worn down the tapered flutes or whatever they're called that catch the bullet.

My buddies puller broke off at the handle after about 200 rounds or so. Just wondered if any of you guys ever had one break on you and how much life you got out of it before it broke. I thought it should've lasted longer.

[Geno]

I would have thought my arm would break before the puller would. Gotta wear gloves or your hand gets chewed up.

[mbott]

I had a lot of 9mm to pull: much too many to use a kinetic puller. So I picked up a collet-type puller from CH-4D. (They're just "up the road" in Mt. Vernon, OH.

Note that they don't recommend their standard puller for military .45 ACP.

CH4D (http://www.ch4d.com/)

--
Mike

[Edward429451]

Now thats a robust looking puller there mbott. Does it work good? How many 9's did you pull down with it?

Those are also the same if not cheaper than the kinetic one too. May just have to order one. Still got about 3 or 4 hundred to pull down.

mbott, is the powder room still there? used to get my reloading supplies there when I lived in Columbus. Heard they trashed the Delaware range and make you guys shoot through pipes now?

[mbott]

Yes, the Powder Room is still there, although Robert Trowbridge doesn't own it any longer. The cat is still there, though. I'll be there tomorrow shooting downstairs on the 100 yard rifle range.

The puller works great. I did about 150 9mm and it didn't take long at all. It's one of those things that you hope not to use too often.

No tubes at the Delaware range and it's still much nicer that it was when I first visited it in '78, although there's talk it's going to be moved. Army CoE wants to raise the level of the lake and if they do, the City of Delaware has to fund a new range as a replacement...someplace on the high ground. Two or three years ago the place was flooded out for several weeks: eight feet of excess water will do that.

--
Mike

[Edward429451]

The cat is still there, though

LOL,thats funny. The new owner only thinks he owns it, its really the cats!

Thanks!

[johk01]

I bought one of the inertia hammer styled bullet pullers that has an aluminum shaft and it bent to the point of being unusable after maybe 200 or so rounds pulled. So I bought one of the RCBS lexan handle inertia pullers. I hope this one lasts longer.

[Edward429451]

My buddies broke at the handle but mine just got one two many 230 grainers into the bottom. The instructions said to do it against wood and I split 3- 1 X 6's multiple times and never did pull one that way. Concrete floor with a couple layers of carpet is how I wound up pulling any.

[tommygun2000]

Originally posted by Edward429451
My buddies broke at the handle but mine just got one two many 230 grainers into the bottom. The instructions said to do it against wood and I split 3- 1 X 6's multiple times and never did pull one that way. Concrete floor with a couple layers of carpet is how I wound up pulling any.

type puller before it cracked. The key is to use a hardwood end grain. I used a piece of mahogany and although it peened down a bit, it worked well for 2000 rounds, and never split the wood.

By the way...the pulling was penance for screwing up reloads.

I had to pull them all and recheck the powder. I had inadvertantly mixed two similar looking powders and loaded rounds with it. the ammo was loose in cans and the only way to be sure was to pull it all.
I only keep one lrg rifle powder now. IMR 4064.

Hey, I Fu@ked up and I paid my dues.

[22man]

not just cut them? no more than bullets cost, I'd say you work very cheap. With a kinetic puller, you get maybe 30 bullets an hour. Wow, x 6c each. $2 an hour.

[Edward429451]

not just cut them? no more than bullets cost, I'd say you work very cheap. With a kinetic puller, you get maybe 30 bullets an hour. Wow, x 6c each. $2 an hour.

Yeah, well I give myself a discount for labor. Seriously though, cast bullets are around .06 each and these are jacketed. It used to be that casting wasn't really worth it, but lately thats changing. I've shot so much lead, that the jacketed ones are kind of a treat. Usually I'm just limited to shooting up my older carry ammo for jacketed use. These didn't take any more time than casting.

Besides, I enlisted my buddy's help and we did an assembly line thing. I crunch while he pulls, then later we both pulled. Broke both pullers. We was getting at least one per minute at first (each). When we used two collets and one hammer it really speeded up. He'd pull & dump it and I'd put a loaded collet in his hand and retrieve the empty one to reload it with another round while he pulled that one and so on. It didn't take long.

Doing menial tasks that is not economical is still skill building and an assurance that when the bullets get pulled from the shelves for political reasons, I'll still be shooting.;) In twenty years, we may look back and laugh, or we may be casting bullets from Franklin Mint Chess pieces.:eek:

Got em all done BTW. It turned out to be 648 rounds. Heres a before shot. Sorry forgot a pile pic for before.

[Edward429451]

And after. Finished product.

[22man]

Man, 700 rds is just a halfway decent one day's fun at the range. If you want to be shooting when the guns or ammo are outlawed or really expensive, better invest now in casting gear, lots of lead, and a .22 conversion unit.

[Edward429451]

better invest now in casting gear, lots of lead, and a .22 conversion unit.

Yup. I cast, swage, and scrounge. I's a plumber so's the old lead pipes & bins do stack up. They got kits to make jackets out of copper pipe too. Dont have it yet. Or the conversion unit. One piece at a time. ;)

22man has to have a conversion kit. I mean come on now. What kind did you get? Are you happy with it? I had thought of getting the Ciener, but heard mixed reviews about it...

[Cisco]

Hey Edward,

I have one of those RCBS kinetic pullers. Before I moved, I always used it on the carpet with a concrete slab underneath.

Later I used it against some treated 4x4s. One day I had some round that was tufffff. I hit it on the tongue of a trailer and that sucker busted into many pieces.

Much later I was on the phone with RCBS about another screwup and they said "No problem, we'll send you two of them for free." Then I told her about my busted hammer and she said No Problemo. They sent a new one and I've only used it a few times.

My favorite way of pulling bullets (altho it probably would not work well with all those 45s) is to put the shell holder in the press and use a pair of diagonal pliers (aka sidecutters or dikes) and raise the ram to where the loaded round has just the bullet sticking above the die hole, and grab bullet with dikes and then lower the ram.

This pulls the bullet and leaves the powder in the case and only leaves two tiny marks on the bullet. Reload it again and shoot it. Have never seen where the accuracy was affected. A few times the bite was tooooo big and had to take a file to the burr so it would chamber.

[Edward429451]

I've heard of that method before but never tried it. You ever pull any rifle bullets like that? I've had to pull a few rifle bullets with the kinetic hammer and the noses always deform. I'll probably get one of the screw in types suggested above and try it.

Hopefully I wont have to work this weekend and be able to get up there and blast up all them 45's. Them are all new mags that need tested too.

[22man]

I favor the old steel slide Colt, preferably cut to Detonics length, on an alloy frame. Then it has very nearly the same difficulty of control as does a P35 9mm. I've had a Ciener. If you get one, be sure to get the adjustable-sighted version. the sights are aluminum, and distort REAL easy, unless you have a $30 , screw- type, "sight pusher". The mag springs are also a bit on the weak side. I had to shim them from the bottom,to make them completly reliable. The colt is $350+, even tho it hasn't been made for over 20 years, and factory mags, if you can find them, are $60 each. Furthermore, quite a few of the Colts had defective barrels. That floating chamber can be a real pita if its dimensions are not perfect. Many of them wont handle unplated lead bullets at all. Most wont feed hp's at all, either. The slide lock notch is soft, so it quickly stops locking the slide rearward on the last shot. That means that you dry fire it,if you're not careful,and that breaks firing pins. Practicing firing 10 rds out of an 8 rd gun (.45) is a real bad idea. So load 10 in the .22 mag, but always reload after 6-7 rds.

While $400 is a lot of money for what aint even a gun, remember, it's saving you 15c a shot. Since it can always be sold for $300, no problem at all, it really pays for itself the first 1000 rds that you fire. I've had literally scores of 1000+ rd days at the range.

[Cisco]

Hi Edward,

YES, I pull rifle bullets like that. Rifles are about all I load for with a few exceptions like 38, 357, 9mm, 44, and 45. Have pulled several hundred rifle bullets for various reasons.

That method works better than anything that I've ever tried. It is cheap toooo!!

If you'll put some foam in the end of the hammer, the bullet tips will be less likely to distort.

Have never tried the caliber specific type puller and aint likely gonna because of the cost involved. Already have dikes and shell holders and they work great.

JD

[Steel_Talon]

Hello Edward,

I've been using my same RCBS Kinetic puller going on 14 years now :) , pulled everything from 9mm to .300 Win Mag.

I modified things abit, in the puller I placed one of those spongy foam ear protector pads. This allowed me to keep bullet tip integrity for my spire ponts. And protects the plastic floor inside.

I rap on the end grain of a piece of 4x4 (i cut down to 3in. so 4x4x3 :) ) I usually place that on top of my small rail road tye anvil I made. I also used a piece of shag carpet on my anvil, before I started with the wood block.

Remember when using a kinetic puller, it's in the wrist snap not in brute arm force :D .

Another fast way to pull bullets(if you dont mind a bit of distortion) is to use your single stage press and a set of lineman pliers. Insert cartridge run the ram up, grab bullet at cannalure/crimp, brace pliers on top of press lower ram.

My 2 cents :) Hope it helps

All The Best
Steel :samurai:

[Edward429451]

[QUOTE]Remember when using a kinetic puller, it's in the wrist snap not in brute arm force

That became very apparent pulling all those down! Keep that handle level upon strike helps too.

I blasted up all those 45's on the 4th. Had a great time at my friends place. Lotsa bullseyes, caught a big trout in his private pond (almost 5 lbs!), Two of em fell in the pond outta the boat, had some of the biggest thickest steaks you ever seen...mmm. :P

[Steel_Talon]

Originally posted by Edward429451@Jul 11 2003, 08:55 PM
[QUOTE]Remember when using a kinetic puller, it's in the wrist snap not in brute arm force

That became very apparent pulling all those down! Keep that handle level upon strike helps too.

I blasted up all those 45's on the 4th. Had a great time at my friends place. Lotsa bullseyes, caught a big trout in his private pond (almost 5 lbs!), Two of em fell in the pond outta the boat, had some of the biggest thickest steaks you ever seen...mmm. :P
Hello Ed...

Glad to hear you had a great time.

5lb Trout! wow, thats a heavy fish wish I had that luck LOL

All The Best
Steel :samurai:

[Edward429451]

I didn't listen. I bought over 2600 223 reloads for a penny a piece from a guy and two more Frankford pullers with the aluminum handle. I got about 800 rounds pulled with them before they both broke. I then bought a new style Frankford (8 second puller) Ha! Broke in two rounds at the cap.

I went to the gunshow yesterday and got a RCBS press mount collet puller and pulled around another 800 rounds with it in two hours. Effortlessly. A 1/4 to 1/2 turn grips it well and no damage whatsoever to the slugs.

The instructions with the RCBS puller say to rap on the die if bullets stick...Don't. I had no stickage at all until my friend stopped by and wanted to try it. He invaribly tightened it up too much and slugs started sticking. Really slowed things down. What I did was to take a soft yellow brass punch, tapered, and gently tapped it in the collet to spread the legs of the collet just a bit and had no more bullet stickage at all.

I really speeded things up by just letting the slugs drop into the primer catcher tray to collect.

I could've bought two press mount pullers and twp full sets of collets for what I have in broken hammer types. :blink:

[GreasyStool]

Put a big wad of felt in the bottom of the puller...........bet it lasts longer than you will then! Black Powder revolver wads work great. :huh:

[Edward429451]

Got em all mostly pulled and began working the LC brass...I'm sitting there wiping sizing lube from them and brushing the case necks and dink, the caseneck brush wouldn't go into one of them....

Found a perfectly good decapping pin embedded in one of the flash holes, standing straight up inside the case!!

Good thing he rejected that high primer load. :lol: