Bullet pulling... RCBS collet where have you been, what next

[magnumwheelman]

So.... I’ve been playing with the 22 CCM lately... today I was going to shoot up some Velo-dog cartridges ( in good shape ) as they are what the CCM is based on...

At 1st, I thought something was goofy with my high end Single Six custom... bullets appeared to just enter the bore, locking up the cylinder... sometimes the primers blew out the back side... chambers are tight on my custom gun, and the cases looked normal, even when the primers got pierced and blew out the back side... we were on the chronograph, & the bullets that came out were all at 630 fps ( which was higher velocity than I expected )



After getting back home I decided to pull the bullets, to score that rare brass

Well 1st couple went normal with my impact ( hammer puller ) but like the 3rd cartridge I was whacking myself silly... the bullet would just not budge

I’ve run into galvanic corrosion before trying to pull some old bullets... these are 80’s vintage, original boxes in good shape???

I went to the shelves looking for a different idea... found FIL’s box labeled 38 RCBS collet bullet puller ( the box was full of most calibers of collets )... well where have you been??? no more whacking myself silly... but still about 1 in 10, the collet puller wouldn’t budge them... I’ve had to bump some before, but these cases are thinner than paper, and only filled ( literally with just a pinch of what looks like a mix of black and unique... maybe unique turning bad??? ) but I’m worried I’ll crush the case if I try to bump it in 1st

Any other ideas???

FIL had the full collet set, even though the die box said 38... which is why I never tried it, if I had know that most / all the collets were in there I'd have been using this a long time ago... I’ll be collet pulling rather than whacking myself silly for normal pulling in the future

[dhd]

Not sure how much purchase you'll get with those short bullets. I know you mentioned not wanting to bump them, but I'd still try one and see. Just a kiss and it might bust it loose so you can go back to wacking it.

There is always the Grip N Pull. Not a real fan but I've got one and it works. Kiss the bullet goodbye in my case but better than having unusable ammo laying around.

[magnumwheelman]

Bumping them using the collet puller helped on about 2/3 of them... may be throwing a handful away but I took an interesting picture of a bullet I did get pulled, that actually has brass film on it that pulled off the case...

A good point of this thread, is those “welded” cartridges are dangerous... looking back, these cartridges were cracking about 1 in 10 that I fired in my Velo-dog revolver... chambers are loose enough to bleed off the excess pressure... but luckily I never stuck a bullet in the barrel

The last bullets I found that were this “stuck” was 250 Savage... if the gun was questionable ( I didn’t have a gun so chambered and pulled them to sell the cases ) the 250 Savage cartridge may have had enough powder to detonate a worn gun???

[dhd]

When I mentioned bumping them, I meant to use the bullet seater and push the bullet in a tiny amount. This may crumple the case but if you're going to end up tossing them anyway, it's worth a try on the cull pile.

[magnumwheelman]

I was going to save some originals for my Velodog revolver... but now thinking I’ll pull everything, and reload a handful with Trailboss and new primers and bullets for the old Velodog revolver

The rest will all be loaded hotter as 22 CCM

[magnumwheelman]

I decided to reload a dozen cartridges specifically for my Velodog revolver... I only ended up with 4 cases that were damaged or I couldn't remove the bullets... some I bumped into the cases too far ( the bullets are pretty short ), & had to use the impact puller to get the bullet back out far enough to grasp with the collet again... & still couldn't pull some of them out, even crushing the bullet to as tight as the collet would go... not too bad a loss for as bad as they were... when I got to the last new old stock box, I only had 1 stuck bullet, but was able to bump that one & got it to come out... the 1st box had about 1 in 3 or 1 in 4 that were stuck...

pictured is the pulled very stuck bullet, that I was able to get out with the collet puller... that actually has a film of brass still attached... they were so "welded" that the small charge couldn't push some of the bullets out... on some cartridges, the charge actually only bumped the bullet forward... on two of them, locking up the cylinder & requiring driving the bullets back into the case... definitely not a safe situation... better to have reloads of these cartridges, rather than unsafe factory loads...



tossed in a couple other bullets in the mix just to practice getting them seated in the Velodog cases for the CCM as well, these needed seated deeper in the Velodog, than they were designed for ( the CCM has a longer cylinder & will be able to seat those bullets as they would in the Hornet, for which they were designed )... the recipe is printed on the back of the original box, & these are just going in a Ziplock to stay with the Velodog revolver ( nice to know I can load more if needed, with the CCM dies )

[lws]

I just pulled 3 boxes of 7-08 ammo and one box of 338-06 that I had loaded with IMR 7004 ssc. There is a recall on that powder. What I used is a electrical crimping stripping tool ,and my single stage press works good .

[magnumwheelman]

Assuming you needed an extended shell holder to get the bullet above the top of the press??? then just lay the tool on the top of the press, & pull down on the lever...

I just bought a couple of those RCSB universal extended shell holders that fit the regular shell holder into an extension... thinking that should work well... might try that on the couple I have left, that I couldn't get out with the Collet...

[lws]

That will work.I didn't need the extension as I was working with rifle ammo.

[matt56]

I have grabbed bullets with a pair of pliers through the die threads and used the ram to pull downwards. Primitive yes but it has worked for me with bullets heavily crimped.