Removing DEWC's from .32 S&W Long cartridges

Brewster20

Brewster20

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Long story short, I need to remove wadcutter bullets from loaded .32 S&W long cartridges. I have tried the inertial hammer, no luck..the bullets are too small (not enough mass), I have mounted a wood screw to my drill press, to grip the lead and pull it out, no luck. I am basically trying to salvage the brass and primers. (I have a new press, and had set the throat expander die too wide, and it created a small ring in the brass when the bullet was seated, which stopped the cartridges from loading. so, in my brilliance I figured all I needed to do was put them through the sizer die to eliminate the "ring". This worked, but it also lengthened the bullets so much that all my shots were "keyholling" the target.)
So, I am open to any suggestions (maybe I should just fire them off, but am a bit worried what all this undersized lead will do to my barrel)
Any suggestions ?
Thanks
 
You did exactly what I would have tried.
Shooting undersized bullets should do no harm but there may be some lead build up that would be solved be cleaning.
It would no more damage than fire forming .223 FMJ Military to 7mm TCU.
Set your target close enough that you produce a group . . . and in future you can offer expert advise.
 
It won't hurt the barrel.

When you resized them it squished the bullets to too small a diameter. That made them longer of course but it's the diameter which is causing them to not grab the rifling correctly and spin fast enough to stabilize.

I don't know what you're hitting the inertia hammer against but try a heavy block of wood and hit the end grain instead of the side grain. For best results the wood should be something harder than cedar or the common building lumber. Douglas fir or harder should produce enough of a shock with a good swing to pop them out. At least that way you can save the primers and powder. The bullets are going to be suitable for melting down and re-casting to something else but at least you save the powder and primers.
 
BCRider said:
It won't hurt the barrel.

When you resized them it squished the bullets to too small a diameter. That made them longer of course but it's the diameter which is causing them to not grab the rifling correctly and spin fast enough to stabilize.

I don't know what you're hitting the inertia hammer against but try a heavy block of wood and hit the end grain instead of the side grain. For best results the wood should be something harder than cedar or the common building lumber. Douglas fir or harder should produce enough of a shock with a good swing to pop them out. At least that way you can save the primers and powder. The bullets are going to be suitable for melting down and re-casting to something else but at least you save the powder and primers.
Click to expand...

Yes, I hear you, I have a piece of ironwood that I use, actually fractured a Lyman puller (they replaced it ) I find the .32s at 90 gr too light to create any kind of momentum in the puller.
 
Thanks all. problem solved, mounted a piece of hardwood (lengthwise) on top of the ironwood, as a base...3 wacks average and out they came..problem solved
Thanks again
 
ironwood? I used iron ball . . . weighs about 12 pounds . . . fractured (a nice word) a RCBS puller but did not even consider sending it in for replacement.
 
I think another option would have been a Lee factory crimp die. It has a sizing ring that isn't as tight as the sizing die.
Glad you got the hammer to work. wack away, wack away :)
 
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