Are lead bullets pulled from cartridges reusable?

[Gallow]

I've got a couple thousand .45 cartridges that are suspect for one reason or another--the result of over-enthusiastic use of my 1050, fifteen years ago. I've been pulling the bullets in order to reclaim the brass, but now that I've seen bullet prices (!) I'm wondering if I can re-load the bullets. They're all LSWC of various weights. I'm using an inertial bullet puller, tedious though it is. Most of the pulled bullets look OK. Would the taper crimp deform the bullet?

Now I'm wishing I'd separated suspect loads by powder instead of just dumping them all into a five-gallon pail. Then I could re-use the powder, which ain't cheap either nowadays. Probably a bad idea to use a mixture of Bullseye, 231, AA7 and Unique.

[Steve J]

I would have far less concern reusing the bullets then I would reusing the powder. Another option. A buddy of mine plucks bullets out of the berm to melt down and recast. That includes melting the core out of jacketed bullets.

[Intel6]

You should have no problem using the bullets. I have a small can for my screw ups and when it gets full I will sit down and pull the bullets. If I have a handfull of 200 SWC's and I am loading fresh 200 SWC's in .45 ACP I will load them up and just keep them seperate till I shoot them for pratice. Unless you have severly deformed the bullets by crimping, you should have no problem.

Neal in AZ

[DEADEYE]

I've got a couple thousand .45 cartridges that are suspect for one reason or another--the result of over-enthusiastic use of my 1050, fifteen years ago. I've been pulling the bullets in order to reclaim the brass, but now that I've seen bullet prices (!) I'm wondering if I can re-load the bullets. They're all LSWC of various weights. I'm using an inertial bullet puller, tedious though it is. Most of the pulled bullets look OK. Would the taper crimp deform the bullet?

Now I'm wishing I'd separated suspect loads by powder instead of just dumping them all into a five-gallon pail. Then I could re-use the powder, which ain't cheap either nowadays. Probably a bad idea to use a mixture of Bullseye, 231, AA7 and Unique.

If the bulletts are not deforemd too bad usem buddy letem fly....

[Gallow]

I would have far less concern reusing the bullets then I would reusing the powder. Another option. A buddy of mine plucks bullets out of the berm to melt down and recast. That includes melting the core out of jacketed bullets.

Thanks, guys. I'll give them a try. Just to be clear, I wouldn't dream of using powder that didn't come straight from a labeled can.