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Posted: 7/24/2012 7:06:30 AM EDT
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So I have this large batch of .20 Practical ammunition and I need to pull the 32 grain bullets. (Made the ammo on FC cases before I learned they were soft and I get an occasional primer falling out into the trigger of my AR. The problem wasn't evident when I worked up the load.) I started with my old trusty Quinetics inertial puller, using a .223 shell holder instead of the aluminum chuck. With the light bullet it took about a dozen sharp hits onto am anvil to get the bullet out. After about 5 pulls, the body of my puller broke in two.
Any one have any ideas on how to deal with this batch? Reading about collet pullers, it seems that there are problems with the bullet sticking in the collet and with often pretty much destroying the bullet. Further, .20 cal is going to be a bit more tricky than would be, for instance, .30 cal. My inertial puller has worked well for me in all other cases, but these light bullets are a problem. |
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Inertia bullet pullers are for the occasional one or two rounds. For seriouse bullet removal, use the Hornady Cam-lock bullet puller with the correct 20 caliber collet. I’ve pulled thousands of rifle rounds with this and it is an excellent product. It will pull match grade bullets without affecting its precision/accuracy. |
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Use the collet that comes with the inertia pullers. A shell holder seems like a good idea, but it's really a sure fire way to break the puller. The first hint is the crushing of the plastic under shell holder after pulling only one bullet.
Been there, done that. If your bullets are crimped, seat them deeper before pulling. That might not be a bad idea if they aren't crimped, the bullets will get a little "run" at the case mouth when the puller strikes. Try whipping your puller, use a good piece of hardwood to strike, and strike it on the end grain. I can't think of any time I needed more than maybe 5 strikes to pull a really tight bullet, usually two and no more than three is needed. |
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Don't use an inertia puller against an anvil, place a chunk of 2x4 on the anvil to strike, it will soften the impact to the plastic but not deaden the blow enough to keep the inertia from pulling the bullet.
I use a Fulton Armory inertia puller to pull range pickups and have at times pulled over a hundred bullets in a sitting and it still has no cracks, the 2x4 chunk however will be beaten in half unless you stand it on end and hit along the grain of the wood. |
| That sounds like a tough spot to be in. You want to save brass, bullets, primer, and powder, and go again, apparently. How many are you talking about? Maybe somebody has a stash of bullets they can give you, then you won't feel bad about destroying the bullets while saving brass/powder/primer. In that case a collet puller would seem best. I use vice grip (r) pliers, running the round up through the press, and just go ahead and destroy the bullet. |
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Light bullet is hard to pull that way. After getting a bunch of 204 Ruger hand loads given to me, I bought a collet puller.
The bullet type makes a difference if it can be salvaged. I pretty much have to crush 39 bk's to pull them. 40 v-max pull with hardly a scratch. |
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If the powder charges aren't compressed, the bullets can be pushed completely inside the case. Then open the case necks, either with a die for a .223 Rem (run the expander button way down and leave the die body up so only the neck is engaged) or a punch. Then the bullets will come out easily. A dedicated constant diameter punch of 0.205 inches diameter would work great. Add a radius on the end to ease entry into the case.
The necks have to be reformed, but that's easy with .20 Tactical or .20 Practical. |
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