Bullet Puller Review - Kinetic Puller vs. Collet Puller

[ted_dent]

I felt like a retard trying to hump a football when using the kinetic , beating the hell out of everything in sight to get a bullet to pop out, wreck the tip and have powder all over hell.

Man I don't know how some of you people are using (abusing?) kinetic pullers but if you're doing what you've described above you're doing it wrong. Insert the loaded round, securely tighten the cap, sharply strike the puller perpendicular on a hard surface (concrete floor works perfectly). 90% of he bullets come out on the first try. Remove the cap, dump contents into a container, remove & reuse bullets and powder. If you're worried about deforming the bullet tips put a foam ear plug in the bottom of the puller head. No muss, no fuss. It ain't rocket science. Been doing it this way for 30 years with no problems. And BTW I also have a collet puller but never use it. Too time consuming, doesn't work any better, costs way more money.

Tip: the aluminum collets in the kinetic pullers will eventually strip (although most companies like RCBS replace them free). Try using your press shell holders or Lee Autoprime holders instead. They are hardened steel and never wear out and you already have them for loading your rounds.

 

[kamlooky]

I've got one of each and the hammer one wins every time to dislodge a few.
I use a piece of plywood on the concrete flood and bang away.
For a bunch, the press one works slickest.

 

[bearhunter]

X2 Luke.

I don't like getting down that low, so I use a piece of ballast lead, 6"x6"x10" as a hammering base.

The lead really absorbs the impact and dislodges the bullets from even the toughest milsurp ammo, especially that 8x63 Swede.

The lead doesn't mar the impact puller end either.

I broke a couple of the plastic handled pullers and finally found a couple of the older pullers with the hex shaped aluminum handles. They handle just about anything.

I also use a couple of collet pullers. They can mark the bullets though so I use the impact pullers whenever possible.

 

[ted_dent]

... so I use a piece of ballast lead, 6"x6"x10" as a hammering base.

You could turn that into a lot of bullets.

 

[AndrewNS]

Would you like ketchup with the words? Except for unusual bullets like fully seated wadcutters (which collett pullers absolutely can't remove) I am surprised when it takes me more than one whack to pull any handgun round and most rifle rounds. Been doing it successfully for 30+ years so I must be doing something right.

I do like ketchup... lol

I don't know what some of you are doing to get a kinetic puller to dislodge a bullet from a shell first wack, but I surely can't get them to. I have only used my pullers for .223 ammo, maybe there is something different with it that makes it more dificult to pull?? I donno... Either way, if any off you can take a .223 Norinco crimped round and get a kinetic puller to knock the bullet out of it with 1 whack I would be quite impressed. I think the least amount of hits that it took me was around 30, and that was hitting it on both wood and a concrete floor.

Either way, I find that the collet puller works exceptionally well for what I need. This, much like 90% of firearms topics, is very much personal preferance.

 

[Steyr1]

I do like ketchup... lol

I don't know what some of you are doing to get a kinetic puller to dislodge a bullet from a shell first wack, but I surely can't get them to. I have only used my pullers for .223 ammo, maybe there is something different with it that makes it more dificult to pull?? I donno... Either way, if any off you can take a .223 Norinco crimped round and get a kinetic puller to knock the bullet out of it with 1 whack I would be quite impressed. I think the least amount of hits that it took me was around 30, and that was hitting it on both wood and a concrete floor.

Either way, I find that the collet puller works exceptionally well for what I need. This, much like 90% of firearms topics, is very much personal preferance.

It's all in the name: Kinetic.
Lots easier to get a 180grain bullet to extricate itself than a 50 grain one due to inertia&kinetic energy.
I'm happy with the kinetic puller, but then I don't 'do' .22 cal.

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

I have a dedicated press for my puller, round in, ram up, cam over , ram down - done.As opposed to open puller , put base in collet, tighten , bang , open, empty contents , remove collet and repeat. There is no way the collet on the press is slower.

Can't get much faster than that AND quieter , I just hate the noise of that damn kinetic puller.

Man I don't know how some of you people are using (abusing?) kinetic pullers but if you're doing what you've described above you're doing it wrong. Insert the loaded round, securely tighten the cap, sharply strike the puller perpendicular on a hard surface (concrete floor works perfectly). 90% of he bullets come out on the first try. Remove the cap, dump contents into a container, remove & reuse bullets and powder. If you're worried about deforming the bullet tips put a foam ear plug in the bottom of the puller head. No muss, no fuss. It ain't rocket science. Been doing it this way for 30 years with no problems. And BTW I also have a collet puller but never use it. Too time consuming, doesn't work any better, costs way more money.

Tip: the aluminum collets in the kinetic pullers will eventually strip (although most companies like RCBS replace them free). Try using your press shell holders or Lee Autoprime holders instead. They are hardened steel and never wear out and you already have them for loading your rounds.

 

[ted_dent]

I have a dedicated press for my puller, round in, ram up, cam over , ram down - done.As opposed to open puller , put base in collet, tighten , bang , open, empty contents , remove collet and repeat. There is no way the collet on the press is slower.

Can't get much faster than that AND quieter , I just hate the noise of that damn kinetic puller.

I think that collet pullers are fine but I paid about $20 total for my kinetic puller with shell holding collets. A dedicated press (even a cheap one) plus separate collets for each calibre would be substantially more cost wise. If I was screwing up hundreds of rounds of the same calibre then a collet puller would definitely be the way to go. Trouble is I bugger up 3 45s and then 2 9mms and then 1 357 and I think I'm pretty typical. If I had to change collets for each of these I don't see a big time saving. I'm not knocking collet pullers but I think kinetic pullers get a bad rap (bad pun) because people don't use them properly, not because they don't work well.

 

[bearhunter]

It depends on the bullets/cases etc. Some handloads are not as tight as others. Depends a lot on the sizing ball.

Another thing that really helps, is the base you're beating your hammer head against. A piece of hardwood or table top, just doesn't cut it.

That's why I use a heavy, lead block. 6"x6"x10".

Tables, wood plates etc have just to much give or move, causing deflection. A heavy block of hard wood, maybe a foot in diameter, works well too.

Inertia pullers weren't meant to pull hundreds of bullets on a regular basis. They were meant to take care of mistakes made when reloading.

When it comes to pulling some milsurp ammo, it really depends on how they were put together. Some were sealed with different types of sealant. Some of it is very thin and resembles dried lacquer and some looks like tar.

There are a couple of batches of South American 7.62x51 that are notorious for going Kaboom in an enthusiastic manner, causing harm to the shooter and rifle. I have bought several thousand of these and broke down every round. I used a kinetic puller for every round. Just to many to take the time to use a collet and press puller.

There has to be some common sense used when pulling large quantities of bullets.

In the case of the ammo above, I have a tray from Staples. It cost around $5 and will hold 100 cases in an upright position.

I take a pan of water and put about an inch and a half of water in it, place it on a hot plate and heat the water to around 200F. The cartridges are placed into the tray, bullets down. The tray is placed in the water until the sealant starts to soften.

Then, only taking the cartridges from the tray, one at a time, go through the standard procedure for pulling the bullets with the kinetic hammer.

If the cartridges are only sealed with neck tension, this method doesn't help anything. Then, sometimes, as long as they aren't seated to the ogive, a collet puller is needed.

I've never had an issue removing pistol bullets with more than one whack.

 

[Andy]

I have pulled bullets using three methods:

- Kinetic: if it's only a few, or as mentioned I seated a bullet too deep and need to back it out a bit;
- Collet: if there are more than a few, and the ogive on the bullet offer enough flat to grip; and
- "Destructive": using another empty cartridge, or a piece of metal barstock with a bullet-sized hole drilled through it. Used if all you want is to salvage bullets and powder and the brass will be discarded. Insert the bullet portion, wiggle back and forth until the neck is distorted and its grip on the bullet is broken, pull the bullet out with your fingers, and repeat.

 

[Kelly Timoffee]

As I don't own any pistol's is likely the reason I don't use the kinetic really would be my guess.

If I need to make small calculated seating depth changes I can throw it in the pulling press , give a little tug and back to the seating press.

To be honest I haven't pulled a bullet yet where I haven't had to re-seat it and reclaim the powder.

Also when doing COAL changes and calculations I find it an extremely handy tool to have available, along side the press with the seating die of course so no switches are made.

Compared to a box of .338 bullets the cheap press and collet puller didn't seem like a huge budget breaker at the time.

I think that collet pullers are fine but I paid about $20 total for my kinetic puller with shell holding collets. A dedicated press (even a cheap one) plus separate collets for each calibre would be substantially more cost wise. If I was screwing up hundreds of rounds of the same calibre then a collet puller would definitely be the way to go. Trouble is I bugger up 3 45s and then 2 9mms and then 1 357 and I think I'm pretty typical. If I had to change collets for each of these I don't see a big time saving. I'm not knocking collet pullers but I think kinetic pullers get a bad rap (bad pun) because people don't use them properly, not because they don't work well.