Bullet pullers

[Highland Lofts]

I bought the RCBS Bullet Puller awhile ago and just got in the Hornady cam lock bullet puller. Plus I have several of the inertia hammer bullet wackamolies.
What's your favorite way of pulling bullet?

 

[dcloco]

Inertia. No damage to bullet or rim.

I place some wadded painter tape in the bottom of the inertia cavity. No damage to bullet tip.

 

[JDeere]

Rcbs collet puller for each caliber. Easy and no damage. Had 2 different inertia pullers. Both broke and ended up in the trash

 

[MWC1974]

Inertia. If I can’t shoot it, I’m going to hammer the **** out of it. Helps relieve the stress that possibly caused the need to pull the bullet.

 

[AJC1]

I've pulled a huge pile of bullets from unknown 30-06 for my dad with the rcbs. No damage from the puller but the crimp does a job on the lower section of the bullet.

 

[troy fairweather]

Rcbs.

 

[BBarn]

RCBS collet type and an old Midway inertial. For light crimps I prefer the inertial. For firm crimps, the collet style saves endless wacking.

Recently did about 300 jacketed revolver rounds. I was able to do about 100 with the inertial. Unfortunately 200 had very firm crimps, and were difficult even with the collet style.

I also pulled 200+ cast with very firm crimps. Had to use diagonal cutters on those because the collet couldn't grip the lead firmly enough. The bullets will be cast into a different caliber.

 

[kmw1954]

I have an RCBS collet and inertia puller. For the RCBS I have collets in 22 and 30 cal... Just used the 22 today as a matter of fact.

 

[Highland Lofts]

I was given a few hundred 222 reloaded ammo that has to be broke down.
His 89 year old father inlaw loaded a bunch of ammo and he was shooting the 45acp and had two double charges. So he tore the rest of the 45acp down and there were several other double charges.
To many to wack apart with the inertia hammer.
So I'll try the RCBS collet puller and then the Hornady cam collet puller.

If you have a heavy crimp it would probably dislodge better if you pushed the projectile alittle deeper then tear it apart.
When pulling nails out of wood they get set in the wood. When you try to pull them with a cats paw it pulls easier when you drive the nails a little deeper then pull it out.

 

[Shooterbob]

I have used hornady and like it very much . If you have both try them and report back.I chose hornady for the cam lock faster in believe

 

[Blue68f100]

If I have something to grab, the Hornady Cam-Lock. Otherwise your forced to the kinetic puller. Normally is cam-lock for rifle and kinetic for handgun. The last time I had to pull bullets were several years ago when I detected some powder going bad. Pulled the bullets and reused with fresh powder.

 

[PWC]

My favorite? Don't do it in the first place.

Second best; hammer type with a foam earplug in the bottom. Other methods mar the bullet for me.

 

[Handshaker]

I use a Lee Single stage press i bought on amazon on sale for 25 bucks to decap before reloading, my RL press is a turret press by Lee. With no die in it, you simply put the ram to the top and the cartridge protrudes above the press, I then use coax cable crimpers to hold the bullet above the press and push the ram down, the bullet is now in the crimpers. Its simple and fast and is much easier than the whack a mole method. Powder stays neatly in the brass and doesn't end up everywhere.

 

[Y-T71]

I use a Lee Single stage press i bought on amazon on sale for 25 bucks to decap before reloading, my RL press is a turret press by Lee. With no die in it, you simply put the ram to the top and the cartridge protrudes above the press, I then use coax cable crimpers to hold the bullet above the press and push the ram down, the bullet is now in the crimpers. Its simple and fast and is much easier than the whack a mole method. Powder stays neatly in the brass and doesn't end up everywhere.
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I just did this with about 150 old lead 9mm that have been sitting around for years (leaded up my barrel badly, that's why I pulled em)

Used a pair of sidecutters since I wasn't try to save them, they went right into my casting pot to be recycled.

My general rule of thumb is, inertia pullers for most pistol calibers and collet for my rifles.

In my experience, in cartridges like .223, the lightweight bullets don't have the mass to pull effenctly with inertial puller but do have a nice long ogive that's particularly well suited to the collet (I would think, however that once you get into the bigger calibers that the inertia puller would do a fine job, I've just never needed to pull anything larger than .223)

By contrast, most of my pistol bullets have a very abrupt ogive making the collet puller less successful than the inertial puller.

Of course, this isn't a black and white thing just my experience.

 

[Kevin Rohrer]

This has been discussed before.

Inertia for lead, collet for jacketed.

 

[Handshaker]

This has been discussed before.

Inertia for lead, collet for jacketed.

To go down that rabbit hole... Everything has been discussed sometime in time, its just a matter of time. There are very few new ideas, even though your teenage son thinks he just re-invented the wheel, lol.
I have use my lee method for about 5 years now when 556 was so hard to get torn down with the whack a mole hammer. I had about 100 30-30 i had to break down recently, it took maybe 5 minutes to do them all with the lee press. With the coax crimper, i was able to save around 80 percent of the bullets, the other 20 had some small marks on the bullets, i still shot them, they seemed to be ok.

 

[westernrover]

I recently had to pull 450 bullets from 357 Magnum cases. My Harrell's Pistol model powder measure drifted because the heavy brass adjustment knob rotates the same direction as the drum handle and the detents did not hold it from rotating with inertia -- this is a design oversight. It could be fixed with a drum adjustment lock, stronger detents, or a piece of tape.

I had previously purchased a Lyman hammer puller for occasional use. I thought I was going to need to get a collet puller to do hundreds. Once I got to work with the Lyman, it went very fast. I was impressed how easy it was to shove the cartridge into the o-ring collet, spin the collar tight, give it a single whack, spin the collar off, dump bullet and powder into one round plastic tub, and the brass into another. I could do one every 10 seconds and was able to the 450 in a little over an hour -- about an hour and a half.

To get a bullet out of a crimped 357 case with a single whack takes good technique. It's not a very forceful hammer smash that works best. The key is to get head velocity high with a fast snap before it hits a ungiving surface like a concrete floor or a heavy anvil.

I haven't tried any other pullers, but I'm very happy with the Lyman hammer-type inertia puller.

 

[Bfh_auto]

First choice is a firearm...
Second is a inertia puller with an ear plug in the bottom.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

RCBS collet for jacketed and thick plated. Inertial hammer for lead, including coated and thin plated. I use my old BNC crimping tool for stubborn jacketed bullets the collet can’t grab and my old CAT2 wire strippers/crimpers for stubborn lead the hammer won’t knock free. Kinda depends on how much I want to reuse the bullet vs the amount of time I want to invest. I have to say frugal usually wins

 

[9mmepiphany]

If there is nothing to grab a hold of, I'll use a hammer type to get the bullet started and the Hornady Cam-Loc to finish the job.

I like the Hornady because it only has to be adjusted once to where you want to grab the bullet and it maintains that setting as you use the lever to cam the jaws of the collet closed the exact same amount each time.
1. It leave the powder in the case to be poured into a container
2. The case is then dropped into another container
3. The bullet is release and dropped into a third container
4. You then insert the next cartridge into the shell holder

Using the above method, it is easy to pull several hundred bullets an hour and have all the components in separate containers ready to be reused. With the Hornady die set up, all containers placed and a bin of cartridges at hand, I helped a friend pull 400 9mm cartridges, which he had dangerously overloaded, in about 20 minutes

 

[GooseGestapo]

For Pistol, a RCBS inertial puller. For rifle, a Harbor Freight wire crimper.
Used with press.

 

[mljdeckard]

I have a hammer-thumpy one. I have parts of it kicking around everywhere.

A few years ago, I had a squib in a batch of 9mm. (A few hundred.) I decided better safe than sorry, I was going to pull them all apart. But I didn't want to do it with the hammer. So I did some homework, (I probably asked you guys,) and got the RCBS collet puller. Easy, fast, and effective. I saved all the components and reloaded them all with the same components, they were fine. I can't see myself going back. (No other squibs, btw.)

 

[JSneezy]

I have the Forster collet puller and the Frankford Arsenal hammer. I use the Forster for rifle rounds and the hammer for pistol. It's usually just a quick smack on a section of 4x4 standing up on end and the bullet and powder falls right out.

 

[Remington1911]

Hammer, I have the Hornady one and it chews up the bullet too much for my taste. Plus it is quick and easy, put it in the hammer and wack, or two and bobs your uncle.

 

[Skgreen]

Cam-lock for me. Inertia puller only comes out when I can't get a grip on the projo otherwise.

Inertia pullers are slow and you end up with a projo swimming in powder. Powder and projo stay separate with Collet pullers.