Pulling Bullets
Fun Ways To Spend Veteran's Day
If at first you f&*# it up, yank 'em out and try again...
The first go-round with the reloading press, Cisco Kid & I fired up the press and got things mostly figured out.
Then, we took a break for dinner.
Lesson #1 - Never take a break.
See, we shut off the powder feed supply before we left. After dinner, I started loading rounds, and it took several minutes before I figured out that there probably wasn't any more powder entering the hopper, and God knows how many primed but powderless rounds were mixed in with the good ammo.
Ooops...
I tried measuring the weight of the rounds, but variations in the case weight (about 6 different manufacturers) led to having no clue which might or might not have powder.
Firing a squib round is a Very Bad Thing. If you don't notice that bullet has lodged somewhere in the barrel due to being propelled by the primer, the next one usually bursts the barrel and gives you interesting shrapnel patterns in your face.
So, I had 100 rounds of suspect ammo laying around, and the 100 rounds I mentioned last week that had to be scrapped.
So, today's project was yanking the bastards apart, one at a time.
The good news is that with a kinetic bullet-puller, you can re-use everything.
The bad news is that it takes all frikkin' afternoon.
The better news is that I've now got 200 primed cases ready to load, and 200 bullets to stuff in 'em. Should go pretty quickly this go-round. I hope...
The worst news? Only 4 rounds had no powder in 'em! 96 pulled "just in case"
Tools of the trade: A bullet puller, cinder block, and chunk of 4x4. You put the bullet in the gizmo, tighten the cap, then smack the shit out of it until the bullet pops loose. Very easy to do on the copper-jacketed rounds. A complete PITA on the lead bullets, 'cause the softer metal holds a deeper crimp.
A mixed bowl of Trail Boss powder and bullets. Note: Do NOT use Trail Boss powder with jacketed bullets! I bought a pound of Bullseye powder for those.
The end result:
If at first you f&*# it up, yank 'em out and try again...
The first go-round with the reloading press, Cisco Kid & I fired up the press and got things mostly figured out.
Then, we took a break for dinner.
Lesson #1 - Never take a break.
See, we shut off the powder feed supply before we left. After dinner, I started loading rounds, and it took several minutes before I figured out that there probably wasn't any more powder entering the hopper, and God knows how many primed but powderless rounds were mixed in with the good ammo.
Ooops...
I tried measuring the weight of the rounds, but variations in the case weight (about 6 different manufacturers) led to having no clue which might or might not have powder.
Firing a squib round is a Very Bad Thing. If you don't notice that bullet has lodged somewhere in the barrel due to being propelled by the primer, the next one usually bursts the barrel and gives you interesting shrapnel patterns in your face.
So, I had 100 rounds of suspect ammo laying around, and the 100 rounds I mentioned last week that had to be scrapped.
So, today's project was yanking the bastards apart, one at a time.
The good news is that with a kinetic bullet-puller, you can re-use everything.
The bad news is that it takes all frikkin' afternoon.
The better news is that I've now got 200 primed cases ready to load, and 200 bullets to stuff in 'em. Should go pretty quickly this go-round. I hope...
The worst news? Only 4 rounds had no powder in 'em! 96 pulled "just in case"
Tools of the trade: A bullet puller, cinder block, and chunk of 4x4. You put the bullet in the gizmo, tighten the cap, then smack the shit out of it until the bullet pops loose. Very easy to do on the copper-jacketed rounds. A complete PITA on the lead bullets, 'cause the softer metal holds a deeper crimp.
A mixed bowl of Trail Boss powder and bullets. Note: Do NOT use Trail Boss powder with jacketed bullets! I bought a pound of Bullseye powder for those.
The end result:
posted by El Capitan | 10:27 PM
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