How do I pull a .50 BMG bullet

yidava25

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La Crete, AB.
Anybody done it without a special tool? I have an ordinary reloading setup and an inertia puller but that’s obviously useless. Also work as an auto mechanic and have a shop with most any tool/equipment you’d expect to see…
Bought one live round of .50 bmg just to add to my cartridge collection but I’d prefer to have just a shell. Don’t know anyone with a .50 rifle and they’re illegal now anyway so wouldn’t DREAM of that.
Obviously I could just find an empty somewhere but now I’m somewhat curious if there isn’t a way to do it.
These are the kind of important problems that occupy my leisure time 🥴
 
If you have an extensive shop you can probably find a way to seat the bullet a little deeper to break any sealing there may be on it. Then you hold the case in some sort of clamp and the bullet in vise grips and pull it out. If it was regular sized you could just put the whole cartridge in your press and raise the ram up, attach pliers to the bullet and lower the ram but you probably don't have a 50 BMG size press. I'm sure you can figure out how to secure the case though- You can even drill a hole in a piece of metal and secure the metal in a vise or something and then apply pulling pressure.

Cosmetic damage to the bullet is likely
 
i've got a 50 bmg bottle opener from when the price was reasonable

s-l1600.webp
 
Secure the bullet in a 3 jaw chuck if you have a lathe and you should be able to put some side to side pressure equally as you manually rotate the chuck, it shouldn’t be too hard to loosen the neck tension enough to pull the case off the bullet. Take your time and don’t reef on it too hard.
 
The problem with pulling it and then dumping the powder is when you want to put the bullet back in it will be loose in the neck
You would have to glue it in or something and you most certain will damage the bullet trying to pull it without a proper puller
Having a live round for display isn’t a big issue, I’ve gave quite a few away to others who wanted a round just to have one
Maybe better off just getting a spent case and bullet from someone who reloads the 50
I was going to buy the press and dies but then the ban happened so I abandoned that thought otherwise I could put together a round for you with no primer/powder
 
A vise, locking pliers, and a hammer worked fine.
I wanted it empty because the rest of my collection is empties, I don't want half of them with bullets and half without, nor do I want the hassle of finding and seating appropriate bullets in each one.
Thanks for the replies
 
Find your local EOD center. We have bullet pullers to turn 50bmg into impulse cartridges.

Or ask around for a spent casing. I'm sure someone has some near you, or would be willing to ship you one, if you cover the shipping.
 
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