Preferred Bullet Puller - Collet or Kinetic?

[bsand]

+1

Have and use both. Collet when pulling down enough rounds to make it worthwhile. Kinetic when I'm getting seating depth sorted with dummy rounds or just have a few rounds to do.

A collet puller shouldn't leave any marks at all. If you can tell a bullet has been pulled except by the marks made from the case neck tension, may I suggest your collet is set up incorrectly.

Care to explain how to properly set up the collet?

 

[Seagull]

I use both. Collet is the way to go.
If you use a Kinetic puller and are getting issues with damage use the foam earplug trick. If that doesn't work add another ear plug. If you put in enough ear plugs the bullet can come out and pop back in just enough the powder doesn't come out but you can still remove it by hand. Works most of the time....

 

[Cleftwynd]

I use an old Pacific C press for the collet puller, since the handle works backwards to what we now are accustomed to, the bullet it pulled on the handle downstroke. Makes it nicer to use and has more feel.

I polished my collets and now they don't mar the bullets, what are you doing different flashman?

 

[flashman]

Care to explain how to properly set up the collet?

Mine's the Hornady one, I just followed the directions. Set it so that at full lock you're not gooning the bullet, yet it's not loose enough to slip. That's it. If the handle at full lock is damaging the bullet, it's too tight. If it's damaging the bullet from slippage during pulling, it's too loose.

what are you doing different flashman?

In practice I don't actually ever set it now. I found it's a lot faster in both set up and operation to ignore the handle lock feature. I run the ram all the way up with a cartridge on it, then spin the die down with the handle in the full lock position until it stops. Two fingers ish of pressure on the die handle and give the ram a pop down. I keep the lever at full lock all the time and just use it to turn the die in and out to grab each bullet. I found it's much faster to set up and about twice as fast in operation than the kosher way. It also gives great feel and pretty much eliminates any risk of crimping a bullet from too much clamping force.

I get some light marks from the case neck to show the bullet has been seated, but that's it. Definitely no crimp or slip marks of any kind unless something is out of adjustment.

 

[hunters home]

Got both of them, but I use the collet ( Foster)most of the time. The hammer style one is good when the oal is a little short. A slight tap then re-seat with the seater die.