Pulling Cast .45 ACP SWC

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AZSouth

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I have a batch of .45 ACP cast SWC that I need to pull, about 500 or so. I recently got them from a friend who said he tried reloading and thinks he messed up on these. I took them off his hands because he doesn't think they are safe. With the powder situation what it is, I want to pull the whole batch and save the Bullseye. if possible I would also like to save the projectiles, as they are also worth some money. other than an inertia puller, which is time consuming on a batch this large, or a collet puller, which would ruin the SWCs, are there any suggestions on a quicker way to pull this batch of ammo?

I refuse to even try to shoot it, and it would be a shame to let all those components waste away in the garage.

Thank you.
 
Since I have never tried pulling cast bullets with a collet puller, I do not know for certain, but on the instructions for my RCBS collet die, it specifically says for use on jacketed or plated bullets only. I immagine the teeth inside the collet would damage the softer surface of cast lead. Do you think this to be an inaccurate conclusion?
 
AZSouth said:
Since I have never tried pulling cast bullets with a collet puller, I do not know for certain, but on the instructions for my RCBS collet die, it specifically says for use on jacketed or plated bullets only. I immagine the teeth inside the collet would damage the softer surface of cast lead. Do you think this to be an inaccurate conclusion?
Click to expand...
You are probably right.

How about the pliers type puller? You grab the bullet and lower the ram.
http://www.midwayusa.com/product/42...-puller-32-35-38-40-caliber?cm_vc=sugv1428098
 
Even if you deform the lead with a collet, the tip of the bullet doesn't touch the rifling. I haven't had to pull an SWC-style bullet yet, but when I do it will be with the next smallest size collet puller. Just my opinion.
 
If you want to pull them un-damaged you will need to use the kinetic puller. If your not going to resuse them, use anything. Since the 45acp has some weight in the pill it will pull fairly easy. Just do a few each day and you will get there. If you don.y mind a little damage the press is the easier way.
 
I could not get a grip on .45 SWC with my Hornady Cam Lock collet puller.
I had to use the inertial and whack them out a few at a time.

Maybe if you had a full set of collets, you could grip the nose like Havok suggests.
The plier type would require an extension shellholder to bring a short round like .45 ACP above the press frame.
 
A collet puller won't pull .45 caliber SWC bullets, since there's nothing to grab onto with the jaws of the collet. You'll simply have to either use an inertia puller, or if your press allows it, run the case all the way up in the shellholder without a die in place, and grasp the bullet with a pair of pliers, being careful to not screw up the threads in your press. When you withdraw the ram, the bullet will come out of the case rather easily, but it won't be salvageable.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I would LOVE to start casting, and I'm buying various tools as I can afford them, or find them at a good price. For now, I am not quite set up for that, but I guess it is an option.

I do have a short stack of .45 projectiles in the garage, so I could use those in the mean time.

I may go with the pliers method, and that will give me the excuse to buy the lube/sizer and start that adventure.
 
Just be sure to pad the threads in the top of your press with something or the pliers will mess them up. I've cut the plastic off a shotgun shell and cut four petals from the part that will be sticking out the top of the press, where the pliers will be contacting it. I fold the petals over as a pad between the two metal parts.

Hope this helps.

Fred
 
I once pulled bullets from 250 9mm cartridges, a few dozen at a time.
I wasn't all that bad, it took about a week is all.
All the bullets were reusable, too.
Think of it as additional daily arm exercise.
 
Having screwed up (and subsequently pulled) some of my LSWC reloads I can say that it is possible to use an inertial puller on them on them and then re-use the bullets. When doing this, I have a cut off corner of a rag stuffed down in my inertial puller so that the front end of the bullet takes as little of a beating as possible.

I don't know about the experience level of your friend, but I would examine the pulled bullets to see if they exhibit any signs of "trimming" on the driving bands or over-crimping. If not, I would consider re-using them. Otherwise trade them 2:1 to somebody who can re-cast them and get 250 bullets that you can use.
 
use the inertia puller on one cartridge. measure the diameter of the pulled bullet. if it isn't .452" all the way down you may not be able to reload them anyway. soft lead has a tendency to shrink a bit when seated into the case.

murf
 
Also, just as a reminder, you'll still need to resize the cases (remove the decapping pin), re-bell the case (likely if using softer lead) before reseating bullets, then taper crimp after seating. Also I've found it's quite a pain cleaning cast bullets of all the loose powder from inside the inirtia puller. I do however cast my own and use a very soft, NRA 50/50 lube. May not be an issue with commercial hard cast, hard wax lube bullets.
 
I pulled about a hundred .44 magnums with lead SWC bullets. I used a .35 collet puller. Did scrunch up the nose a bit. But you could have shot them if you had/wanted to. I didn't since I was giving up on cast bullets, hence the pull...
 
I have most of the gear I need to start casting. I am only in need of a lube/sizer. I am saving for a magma/star unit.

The projectiles are soft cast, 200 gr, with a short nose swc. I pulled a few with inertia and several took 10 or more whacks. So the crimp is unbelievably tight. I will get the shell holder extender and go to work with the pliers later this week. I measured with a caliper and all projectiles come up well shy of .452 . I might be able to find someone who would size my castings for a fee/trade.
 
FYI, stuffing foam type ear plugs ( 2 ) down into the capture portion of the kinetic puller prevents all but the most superficial damage.
 
I just got through pulling ~120 LSWCs from a bunch of 38 spls that got non-loaded by a missing part on my progressive loader's powder measure (fixed that sucker). I have an old aluminum bodied kinetic puller with old factory (?) screw-on top and universal collet shell holder (machinist friend gave it to me ~40 years ago). Pulled a bunch to start, then banged the rest out over several days, 10-12 or so at a time. Not a real pain when you spread it out. I just can't bring myself to ruin perfectly good bullets if it is not necessary, and the bullets were perfectly fine after, and were promptly re-loaded. I do stuff some gauze padding down the body of the puller so the bullet won't get deformed when hitting the bottom. One of the other members who goes by USSR/Don (Best regards!) sums it up:
Never underestimate the amount of toil and angst a cheap SOB will put himself thru to save 50 cents.
:neener:
 
Shortly after I began reloading, I had to pull 100 rds.
I tried to reload from memory - that was dumb!

I did it in one sitting with a kinetic hammer-style puller.
It wasn't that bad.
 
I once did 100 38spl wad cutters with a kinetic puller..... took me 2 months
 
I am pretty sure that it has already been suggested, but put a foam ear plug, I've found that the cylindrical yellow ones work best, in the bottom of the kinetic puller. I have salvaged many boolits that way and the powder too. Just be sure to have a very solid place to strike the hammer. I use the flat part pf my vise.
 
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