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Bullet Puller


Graham Smith

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I have a regular kinetic bullet puller, but sometimes find myself wishing I had one of the types that would go in a single stage press. In this case, I made up about 150 rounds (.40S&W) that I am just not happy with. I can either shoot them up anyway or get one of these because I'm not going to sit and bash away with a hammer puller.

I've seen mixed reviews on these, but thought it would be worth asking as there is nothing current I have seen. FWI, these are all MG FMJ bullets, so I don't figure they would be likely to deform much.

The three choices would seem to be Forster, Hornady and RCBS. Any pros or cons to either/both?

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I have an RCBS that I've had a long time. It works fine. Hornady's uses a cam-lock lever system which should be a little quicker than the screw type the RCBS has. I've no experience with the Forster, but, they don't make junk either. If you're pulling a bunch of bullets, a collet type is definately worth the cost.

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I've got the hornady unit and it makes pulling bullets apart a walk in the park. Pulling plated/jacketed bullets is easy with very minimal bullet deformation. Lead and moly on the other hand takes a bit of effort and deforms the bullet depending on how much you need to clamp down on it to get a good grip.

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I've got the hornady unit and it makes pulling bullets apart a walk in the park.

I like the design, but the selection of collets appears to be designed for rifle bullets. There is a .35 that might work for 9mm and a .41 that might work for a .40S&W, but might and will are not the same thing.

The RCBS, at least, has collets specifically for these two calibers.

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I have both the hammer and the RCBS collet type. If you hve to do a lot of bullets, get the collet one. The hammer one takes a lot

longer to do each bullet, your wrist and elbow really take a beating, and you need to wear ear protection. The collet one is fast, easy,

and quiet. Plus, you don't have the mess of powder going all over the place. It's a very controlled operation.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've done a similar thing (finishing some bad loads) and I learned a lot from taking them all down. First; I parked my butt on a "beach chair" (legs are about 4", folding type). Then I proceeded to bang and remove, after a while I learned that with just a little more swing, I could take out most with one bang on the concrete floor. Later on, I needed a better way of separating the bullet from the powder. I stole a screen strainer from my wife's kitchen and set it in a wide mouth canning jar and proceeded like a man with no sense. Before long I was disassembling the unwanteds at the rate of three per minute with my inexpensive hammer (inertia) bullet puller.

REMINDER: Wear eye protection at all times while reloding or "DELOADING!

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OK. I think I'd like to get the Hornady with collette(s) for 9mm and .40 S&W, but they don't seem to make anything those sizes.

What they have are .17, .22, .243/6mm, .260, .270, .280/7mm, .30, .32, .35, .375, .41, .44, and .45 which seem to be mainly rifle sizes.

Do they not make these for pistol calibers?

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IMHO the best way to get the right collets for the Hornady Cam-Lock is to call customer service at Hornady Mfg. They helped me get the right ones for 9/38 super, 10/40, and 45. They treated me extremely well. I would also recommend getting the Lee shell holder set so you can make a quick change when needed.

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OK. I think I'd like to get the Hornady with collette(s) for 9mm and .40 S&W, but they don't seem to make anything those sizes.

What they have are .17, .22, .243/6mm, .260, .270, .280/7mm, .30, .32, .35, .375, .41, .44, and .45 which seem to be mainly rifle sizes.

Do they not make these for pistol calibers?

I have numbers 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 to cover 9mm, 40 s&w and 45 acp.

#9 usually works for 9mm. If the bullets to hard to pull, I have to resort to the kinetic puller.

#11 will work for 40 s&w but i got the #10 if the bullet gets so undersize from using the #11 (I don't like throwing away rounds that could accidentally go off).

#13 will work for 45 acp and again the #12 is there for the same reasons as above .

The size hornady shows are the actual opening while at rest. When compressed it gets small enough to deform bullets.

You don't need to much pressure to pull reloads unless you roll crimp (for revolvers, iirc). I have found pulling factory rounds a bit harder.

Hope this helps.

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OK. I think I'd like to get the Hornady with collette(s) for 9mm and .40 S&W, but they don't seem to make anything those sizes.

What they have are .17, .22, .243/6mm, .260, .270, .280/7mm, .30, .32, .35, .375, .41, .44, and .45 which seem to be mainly rifle sizes.

Do they not make these for pistol calibers?

I use the Hornady in 9MM & .45 and next time I have to order anything else I'm going to grab a .40 as well. They work very nicely once you get a "feel" for them. Common collets sizes are below and others are listed on the attached .pdf file:

9MM = Collet #9 (.358)

.40 = Collet #11 (.416)

.45 = Collet #13 (.451)

Hornady_Shellholders_Collets.pdf

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