I have loaded about 100 rds of Nickel 40 S&W with 155 gr. SWC lead bullets and I must have not had the sizing die all the way down cause them don't all the way plunk so I have to take them apart and start over except for the primer. My problem is my RCBS bullet puller for a 40 cal won't grip the SWC and it is too slow using the kenetic hammer, does anyone have an idea of the fastest way to remove the SWC bullet without destroying the bullet? The best way I have come up with is raising the ram to the top, then grip the SWC with long nose vice grips through the die hole and lower the ram and pull the bullet, I can save the powder but it damages the SWC lead bullet. Any suggestions of how to save and reuse the bullet? Thanks.
A HOW TO QUESTION??
- Thread starter 74man
- Start date
I have used impact bullet pullers for many years. There may be damage to the bullet from crimping, but you will have to bang out a few and measure them. I put a foam earplug in the chamber to reduce any damage to the bullet hitting the end of the cavity. All the other methods I've tried damage cast bullets much more...
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https://duckduckgo.com/?q=impact+bullet+puller&atb=v314-1&t=chromentp&ia=web
30-06-270peasant
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- 13
Atavar
Member
I don’t load .40 but if the bullet bulge isn’t too bad I would just resize loaded and use them for plinking.
CQB45ACP
Member
243winxb
Member
Your method works well. I use channel lock. Not much difference in accuracy reusing .224" 55 gr fmj bullets from 223 ammo @ 100 yards.
rfwobbly
Member
► In my humble opinion, your technique is flawed, therefore your results and conclusions are misleading. A "garbage IN = garbage OUT" sort of thing.
► Lead pistol bullets are typically 0.001 to 0.002" larger OD than jacketed. That means they are proabably never going to "plunk and spin" like a FMJ of the same weight or shape. So extra steps are required in your process.
When you initially do the Max OAL calculations, I suggest you take one or 2 of your SWC lead bullets and sand the OD down to a smaller diameter to match an FMJ. THEN, load up a test cartridge with those bullets and use those to find the correct seating length.
► IF you determine that your OAL is too long, then you shouldn't need to pull any bullets. Simply run them back through the press with the seating die set slightly deeper.
Hope this helps
.
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ballman6711
Member
Use the hammer, and be done with it and learn a lesson. It really won't take that long.
Last year I made a batch of 45acp 185gr LSWC that wouldn't all plunk or plunk and twist. I sat down in the basement with a cold beer and twenty minutes later they were all pulled. Put away the pulled components and move on to the next beer, and forget about any reloading for the rest of the day.
chris
Last year I made a batch of 45acp 185gr LSWC that wouldn't all plunk or plunk and twist. I sat down in the basement with a cold beer and twenty minutes later they were all pulled. Put away the pulled components and move on to the next beer, and forget about any reloading for the rest of the day.
chris
I would sharpie a round or three and find out where and what is not allowing them to plunk. Maybe the rounds could be saved instead of disassembling without knowing the root cause of the problem. There might not be a fix for the combination of components you have though. I found cast bullets that are .001" bigger than FMJ require sorting brass for the thinnest wall you can find. 9mm and 40 S&W brass varies greatly and the thick wall cases and a cast bullet either won't plunk or you have to use a Lee factory crimp die, which then squeezes the bullet down and destroys accuracy. Picking a good combination of components makes life way easier.
Varminterror
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- 14,950
Agreed. Pulling bullets, in general, is penance for having made mistakes during the loading process, the consequences of which are either lost time spent whacking a board with a hammer, or lost bullets AND lost time to use a collet puller or vise grip.
I generally use my inertial puller - my hammer - rather than setting up my collet puller on the press. Vise grips obviously work as a “brute force method,” but associated bullet damage sucks. Collet clamp dies typically will pull with minimal damage, but may not be able to grip some bullet profiles, depending how much straight bearing surface remains available outside of the case. Inertial pullers are just slow and loud, but the job gets done, and the bullets are recoverable.
So grab a pitcher of tea, set out on the deck in the afternoon, and get whacky.
Highland Lofts
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It's hammer time.
That's why I only do ten and test them.
That's why I only do ten and test them.
CQB45ACP
Member
Me too and even then it’s risky to load too many.
Before the pandemic I was shooting up to twice a week and my hands were toughened up. I loaded a bunch of my favorite 45acp loads. Now I’m only shooting twice a month and my hands are like a little girl’s. My old favorites are now too strong.
So, I hammer away bit by bit. No rush.
Charlie98
Member
Sometimes you have to pull bullets because you were stupid...
Loading 405grn bullets over a big charge of IMR4895 in the .45-70 is stupid... and the recoil knocked some sense into me. Wound up pulling nearly 100 cartridges. It is what it is... and, yes, I learned from that mistake.
EricBu
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1. Buy a case gauge.
2. Decap and size your brass.
3. BEFORE loading it, case gauge your brass.
5. Everything that fails the gauge, set aside.
6. Run the failed brass through a Lee bulge buster (assuming you don't want to drop big money for a roll sizer).
7. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
8. Case gauge the finished round.
9. Sleep easy knowing every single round you just made will go fully into battery in every functioning and SAAMI compliant 40 on the market.
You can choose to bulge bust it all out of the gate as well if you want.
This is the way forward, if you want to shoot safe and reliable 40.
As far as your current predicament...if you have a FCD, you can try running them all through that, if it will gauge after the FCD, send it. Otherwise pull it down using any of the methods discussed here, kinetic hammer is probably the cheapest and easy to use. As another mentioned, drop and ear plug in it. I have a block of wood on my bench for this, better than constantly beating your table.
You might hear from a few who say, "I've been loading <insert huge number here> years and I've never needed a case gauge, plunking in a barrel is fine! Sure...and there's lots of people out there who've gotten away driving after 3 or 4 beers their whole life.......until they don't. There's still a few "I don't wear a seat belt because the car might catch on fire" guys left out there too, and they are fine.......until their head comes apart like a ripe melon in a 20mph wreck because some entitled snowflake was looking at his phone and hauling ass across the mall parking light to get into the line at Starbucks. Don't be the guy sitting on a thousand rounds of "plunked" ammo, who buys a new gun and realizes it is all out of spec and won't run in his new gun..because it has a tight throat, or his old gun a sloppy throat.....or even worse, you go shooting with a buddy and he shoots your ammo and it doesn't go all the way into battery, just enough to fire, and he blows the mag and mag spring into his foot. Makes you a bit unpopular.
Note: I loaded about 8K rounds of range pickup 40 last month. They were mass rollsized first. Every single round passes through a gauge block, and every single one passed. I know for certain that every single one of those rounds will go fully into battery on every single functioning 40 on the market that has a SAAMI compliant chamber.
"We don't need a tape measure babe, I have a stick that I"ve marked out". Wife: "Sure dear, but if we use that stick to measure the benches you're building, they'll be 3 inches too low for the table".
2. Decap and size your brass.
3. BEFORE loading it, case gauge your brass.
5. Everything that fails the gauge, set aside.
6. Run the failed brass through a Lee bulge buster (assuming you don't want to drop big money for a roll sizer).
7. Wash, Rinse, Repeat.
8. Case gauge the finished round.
9. Sleep easy knowing every single round you just made will go fully into battery in every functioning and SAAMI compliant 40 on the market.
You can choose to bulge bust it all out of the gate as well if you want.
This is the way forward, if you want to shoot safe and reliable 40.
As far as your current predicament...if you have a FCD, you can try running them all through that, if it will gauge after the FCD, send it. Otherwise pull it down using any of the methods discussed here, kinetic hammer is probably the cheapest and easy to use. As another mentioned, drop and ear plug in it. I have a block of wood on my bench for this, better than constantly beating your table.
You might hear from a few who say, "I've been loading <insert huge number here> years and I've never needed a case gauge, plunking in a barrel is fine! Sure...and there's lots of people out there who've gotten away driving after 3 or 4 beers their whole life.......until they don't. There's still a few "I don't wear a seat belt because the car might catch on fire" guys left out there too, and they are fine.......until their head comes apart like a ripe melon in a 20mph wreck because some entitled snowflake was looking at his phone and hauling ass across the mall parking light to get into the line at Starbucks. Don't be the guy sitting on a thousand rounds of "plunked" ammo, who buys a new gun and realizes it is all out of spec and won't run in his new gun..because it has a tight throat, or his old gun a sloppy throat.....or even worse, you go shooting with a buddy and he shoots your ammo and it doesn't go all the way into battery, just enough to fire, and he blows the mag and mag spring into his foot. Makes you a bit unpopular.
Note: I loaded about 8K rounds of range pickup 40 last month. They were mass rollsized first. Every single round passes through a gauge block, and every single one passed. I know for certain that every single one of those rounds will go fully into battery on every single functioning 40 on the market that has a SAAMI compliant chamber.
"We don't need a tape measure babe, I have a stick that I"ve marked out". Wife: "Sure dear, but if we use that stick to measure the benches you're building, they'll be 3 inches too low for the table".
CQB45ACP
Member
This is better than most manuals.
sksshooter
Member
Have you tried to plunk one in your barrel? i'd give that a try before doing anything else. If that is no successful then my first action would be to aquire a lee factory crimp die as others have stated and run some through it and try it again.
Atavar
Member
Just remember to set it so it doesn’t actually crimp.
You really haven't given us any info why they don't plunk. First of all, tell us exactly what was loaded, case, primer, powder type with charge amount, bullet diameter and OAL, then examine them closely for a possible defect. Is there a budge? Maybe the OAL is too long, and lead bullets have a lot of room for discrepancies depending upon the load. Second do try to run a few through your chamber and see how well they go into battery. There are a variety issues that can occur in a plunk test. I just had some range brass in 9mm that wouldn't plunk using 124 grn. swc. I found some rough aberrations on a few rims. I separated those from the successful ones and will have to chamber those separately. I think they will fire, but I need to chamber them at a range first and make sure they go into battery completely.
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