doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion Classic & Custom Single Barreled Sporting Rifles @ doublegunshop.com Advice on bullet pullers and recycling components

I recently reloaded some cartridges where I over applied the factory crimp die and distorted the cases to the point they won't chamber. I plan to buy a bullet puller to disassemble the cartridges and recycle what I can. Can anyone recommend a bullet puller they've had good luck with? I'm leaning towards one that I can mount in my press and hopefully remove the bullets without damaging them. These RCBS pullers seem to get good reviews: https://ads.midwayusa.com/product/1012943183?pid=680804 My press is a Lee Classic Cast, so whatever I use will need to fit my press, perhaps using an adapter.

I'm also curious what components can be recycled from the disassembled cartridges? Can the bullets be re-used if they are not damaged? How about the powder and the primed cases? I'm assuming the handful of mis-shaped cases will need to run through a full length sizing die to make them useable again. Like always, I welcome input on these questions.

Thanks!

I've used an inertia (hammer) type bullet puller for years when needed. It works very well, and all components including powder, primed cases, and bullets can be re-used. Precautions must be taken to avoid mixing different gunpowders. They are less costly to use versus buying a different diameter collet for pulling various calibers.

I've only used a collet type bullet puller once, a Forrester-Appelt in .30 caliber. It worked OK, but was a bit slow and left light marks on the bullets. I'm sure they could be re-used, but don't know if the minimal damage could affect accuracy. These were not cartridges that had the bullets heavily crimped.

A lot of military surplus powder has been harvested from ammo that was disassembled. Same with mil-surp bullets. So re-using components is nothing new. When I used to use a ball puller to unload my flintlock rifle at the end of a day of hunting, I'd keep the lead roundball and use them later for plinking at groundhogs or other targets. I'd just try to center the hole in the ball from the puller so they weren't unbalanced. But then Pennsylvania made it legal to travel in a vehicle with a loaded flintlock, as long as the flash pan was empty. A lot of guys, including me, used to fire their flintlock at the end of the day to unload it, but then you'd have to quickly do a good cleaning job to avoid rust and pitting.

I'm not sure how well trying to resize cases that were bulged behind the shoulder will go. I felt it might be worthwhile to try rolling the bulged cases between two plates of steel to work the bulged areas back down. Don't forget to remove the decapping pin if you attempt to size cases with live primers.

earlyriser,
If you don't have many bullets to pull, an inertia puller will work fine. You can salvage all of the components. Pull the bullet, pour the bullet and powder into a container and remove the bullet; remove the de-capping pin when you resize the cases (to leave the primer in place), then reload as normal by re-weighing/measuring the powder. If you have a lot to remove, a collet type will be more convenient but caliber specific (with 1 collet) and more expensive. The procedure to save components will be the same.
Mike

If you have a lot to pull get a collet type puller. You can easily pull 4 bullets a minute, dump the powder in a container, drop the bullet and case into another, done. Plus you don't have all the racket of banging an inertia puller then disassembling and reassembling the darn thing for every bullet.

The collet will not harm the bullet for shooting in the least. The ogive or sides of the bullet have absolutely nothing to do with steering the bullet, that is the job of the bullet base. I've reloaded cast and jacketed bullets I've pulled and if there's any difference you need to be mystical to tell the difference.

I use an Electricians pliers to pull unusable ammo apart.
The kind that has a crimping tool in it.

Put the round in the shell holder,,no die or other accessory in the press.
Raise the round till the bullet itself is above the top edge of the press.
Grip the bullet with the crimp tool edge of the pliers and hold it there.
The pull the round back down in the press.

The bullet gripped by the pliers will be pulled against the top edge of the press and stay there. The case will by pull downward and free of the bullet.

Yes the crimp tool will leave a mark on the bullet, but I haven't seen much of any difference in 'my' shooting.
They have all been usable for range shooting.

Lead bullets are a bit more difficult to pull this way as the lead can start to deform around the grasp of the crimp tool edge as the case is pulled down and away.
But I've still have good luck de-bulleting most of those as well.

Most I do 'dud rounds' left by other people at the range. Some are just that, others are dented cases and such.
The bullet is what I'm after and the primer is an extra prize.

I've owned and used both the RCBS collet pullers and their kinetic pullers. I've found the collet pullers less than satisfying on spire point bullets where they often slip off. And in some bullets (especially cast bullets) they damage the bullets and the bullets can't be reused. The kinetic is slower, and pulling a lot of bullets by banging the puller on my vise is time consuming, but it never damages a bullet, and I prefer it.
I sold the RCBS collet puller and all the dies, as I never used it after awhile. Luckily I bought it and all the collets cheap at a gun show, so it was easy to sell and get my investment back.

Vall, I've heard that a lot but I have never had the first difficulty with spire point bullets or, most cast bullets if they have much of a nose, with no damage of note, they shot fine. Rifle bullets are simple, it's the revolver bullets that the collets mostly don't work. There is definitely several types of cast bullets the collet is worthless for. For those I do as Kutter described and it's not much of a loss as they are easily re-cast.

I tried an inertia puller and couldn't get rid of it fast enough.

As with almost everything, that was my experience and others will vary.