What is the best bullet puller?

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tcoz

tcoz

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Because of a family health issue I’ve had to sell my .308 rifles and I now have 400-500 loaded rounds that I want to pull. I’ve always used an inertia type puller but I’ve never had this many rounds to pull so I’d like to get one that’s faster and easier to use and won’t damage the bullets so I can sell them (Hornady 168gr HPBT Match) and the Lapua brass. Hornady and RCBS appear to have the most popular ones. By the time I buy the puller and collet I’d have about $50 wrapped up in the Hornady and maybe $40 in the RCBS so I’d like to know what most people here use and if one is considered to be “better” than the other or if there’s a better alternative outside of those two.

The only thing I know for sure is that I don’t want the Frankford Arsenal one. It looks overly complicated and I don’t think I could stand to listen to that loud twang 500 times.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.
 
I have the RCBS. Very happy with it, but collets in certain calibers can be hard to find if the one you need doesn't come with the puller.
I haven't used the Hornady cam lock, but they are on shelves everywhere and I've come close to buying one just to try.
 
I have the RCBS collet puller, works very well. I just pulled about 300 5.56 and a couple hundred 9MM.
 
I have the same green one that came with
my used reloading tools i first bought
back in the 80's. I seldom have a need to
pull bullets, so it's did the job just fine
since then. It is getting kinda thin and
mushroomed on the end though, and I
might have to get another one someday.
I've had to pull some loads for the powder
to use in some different loads, and I
noticed it was old and worn like the user
 
I have the RCBS collet puller. Love it. No mess, most of the time doesn't mark up the bullets, pretty darn quick, did I say no mess?
 
Fairly new to this........and started out with a Hornady impact puller. Tedious methodology aside, I was trying to pull some bullets I crimped by mistake, and it wouldn't do it. Then found a used Forster collet puller on ebay, with collet puller for caliber I was loading for. Then found the collets for others. Once it is set, it seems to work well.

This may be me, but I have found that the strain on the press pulling these crimped bullets is far greater than anything I've encountered sizing brass. Is this typical?
 
I think I’ve decided to buy the RCBS puller. I like the collet design better and I like the idea of being able to adjust the gripping pressure more easily by just turning the handle in or out slightly
 
Howa 9700 said:
Fairly new to this........and started out with a Hornady impact puller. Tedious methodology aside, I was trying to pull some bullets I crimped by mistake, and it wouldn't do it. Then found a used Forster collet puller on ebay, with collet puller for caliber I was loading for. Then found the collets for others. Once it is set, it seems to work well.

This may be me, but I have found that the strain on the press pulling these crimped bullets is far greater than anything I've encountered sizing brass. Is this typical?
Click to expand...
If the bullets are seated with the normal seating die, then they are about the same or less as the force needed for resizing, only you are lifting the handle instead of pushing down , so it can seem like more force.
However, if you have a round with a heavy collet crimp, that takes a lot more force to remove the bullet.
 
I agree with flight762. I think the Hornady is by far the easiest to adjust.
 
FROGO207 said:
I like the Cam Lock feature of the Hornaday puller. It is easy in and out with the lever. The RCBS you have to screw it in and out and that seems time consuming to me. They both need collets so theres that. Heck buy one, use it, and sell it.
Click to expand...
I like the Hornady too, but I also use a kinetic..

Thewelshm
 
Since your wanting to resale the pulled bullets your choices are going to be limited. The Collet pullers are faster and only put light marks on the bullet provided their is no burrs on the collet. If crimped you may get one to slip and put a scratch on the bullet. The impact puller will give you the cleanest bullet. But if the bullet has been crimped it will be work. I use the Hornady CamLock it's fast and very repeatable.
 
Blue68f100 said:
Since your wanting to resale the pulled bullets your choices are going to be limited. The Collet pullers are faster and only put light marks on the bullet provided their is no burrs on the collet. If crimped you may get one to slip and put a scratch on the bullet. The impact puller will give you the cleanest bullet. But if the bullet has been crimped it will be work. I use the Hornady CamLock it's fast and very repeatable.
Click to expand...

The bullets don’t have a cannelure and they aren't crimped. The come out pretty easily with an inertial puller. As it turns out, I forgot that I had put aside a stash of loaded ammo in addition to the rounds that I knew I had. The total number that I have to pull is actually around 800. I think I’ll pull 100 a day for eight days. It sounds better that way.
 
tcoz said:
The total number that I have to pull is actually around 800. I think I’ll pull 100 a day for eight days. It sounds better that way.
Click to expand...
I'll just mention that I once pilled 500 9mm bullets for a friend who had over loaded them.

Using the Hornady Cam-Loc, we pulled his 400 bullets in less about 40 mins.
That included:
1. inserting the cartridge into the shell holder
2. raising the ram
3. pressing down the lever
4. lowering the ram
5. removing the case
6. pouring the powder into a container
7. dropping the case into another container
8. lifting the lever and catching the bullet
9. dropping bullet into a 3rd container
10. picking up and inserting another cartridge

Obviously a .308 isn't the same size as a 9mm cartridge, but I would think you could pull 500 bullets in under an hour
 
I have the rcbs collet bullet puller and several collets, works well and pretty fast, before I bought that I used diagonal cutters or vise grips, but those methods damaged bullets some.
 
Will the Hornady work with bullets that aren’t as prominently sticking out from the case than the 9mm is? I have a bundle of unknown-load reloaded .41 AE that I was given. I want to pull the bullets (Sierra 210 JHP and JSP) for use in my .41 Mag and sell the primed cases elsewhere. The truncated cone shape doesn’t give much for a collet on grab onto. I’ve popped out a couple dozen with my impact puller, but it’s beating the puller (and me) to death. o_O

Stay safe.
 
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