Pulling .204 Bullets?

[Crusader]

Newbie here. Great forum, by the way. Anyway, I have 150+ 40gr V-Max bullets I need to pull from handloads. I have an inertia puller (Quinetics brand) that just isn't working,I guess because of the light bullet mass. The Hornady cam-lock puller I have isn't working well either, it is really chewing up the bullets I think because they are seated fairly deeply and it can only grip on a tapered section of the bullet.

So, have any of you guys had any experience pulling the 20 cal bullets, and what worked for you? I think I am leaning towards just using the cam-lock and sacrificing the bullets. It will save time and at least I can salvage the powder and cases.

Thanks,
Crusader

[jlc204]

I've had decent luck with inertia pullers by laying a towel over a cement cinder block. About 3 blows and they seperate. Just don't whack it too hard or it might break the tool.
Also, jam a foam earplug or something similar down inside the tool. When the bullet seperates, it will hit the foam and stop any damage from occuring to the bullets.

[204cat]

also have had good luck with inertia pullers. have not pulled that many. i once lost the load date so i had pull the batch and rescale. discovered the coller was not the correct coller. then purchased the one with three collers. picked the correct coller that fit. with a medium strick just keep doing that untill it lets loose.

[Rick in Oregon]

I gave up on collet pullers years ago as they were just ruining too many bullets. I've used a Quinetics inertia puller for many years with very good success, even pulling .17 cal slugs from .17 Mach IV and .17 Ackley Hornet cases.

In use, try smacking the inertia tool on a 2x4 laid on a hard flat surface. The wood really helps dampen the initial shock to the tool, but still generates enough inertia to pull .20 cal bullets without breaking the tool itself. You'll need more than a couple wacks, but they'll come out. The foam earplug trick in the bottom of the receptacle is something I do also, and if I've got alot of bullets to pull, I'll even wear ear protection in the garage while wacking away on the wood.

Don't be afraid of putting some "oomph" behind your swing with the intertia puller. As long as your hitting it on wood, you won't break anything and those .20 cal slugs will pop right out.

[Ol` Joe]

Run a cartridge up through your press without a die in place and grab the bullet with a vice grip or side cutter and then lower the ram with the pliers braced on the press top. The bullet will pop out quite easily and with a little practice you won`t screw up the bullets either.

[204cat]

if you do ol joes plies method make sure you do NOT brace the pliers on the threads of the press. if you do you may have to have it rethreaded. that is the press die threads that hold the dies. hope that was clear.

[bow shot]

I too gave up on collet puller. It did fine for bullets setaed "out-ish", but not for longer bullets seated deep.

Back to inertia and patience...

[Joe O]

I always had good results pulling my 204s ond 6mm with the Hornady collet puller (reloads),without damage to the bullet.If seated deep it could be a problem.The inertia should work with reloads.Now so well with the factory crimp.

[bow shot]

"If seated deep it could be a problem.."

That was my problem. When I was loading bullets seated not-very-deep, the inertia and collet pullers both worked. (wow... grammar massacre....). seated deep... impact is my only successful tool. JMHO...