Bullet Pullers.

[Tall John]

Curious to know if anyone is successfully using anything other than a Kinetic or Hammer type bullet puller for pulling lead bullets in Pistol Calibers?  Hornady says their collet style is for Rifle calibers only.  RCBS only says not to use theirs for rimfire.  And FA’s wall mounted puller specifies  up to .338 caliber ruffle but then on the Q&A page it is affirmed that it will work for Pistol calibers.  

[Eyesa Horg]

I've only used the hammer and sure wouldn't want to have to do a bunch at once!!

[Choctaw Kid Tulsa]

I use the Hornady Cam Lock Puller. I did 50+ cartridges of 44-40.

 

For me, it was a little tricky to get it setup right, but once setup, it did the job quickly and i didn't notice any real deformations. This was for cast lead.

[DukeSoprano]

Do you want to reuse the bullet?

I have these set up. One for 44s 45s and one for 9mm/38

 

I have an ICORE match coming up and I have to pull a bullet from every competitor, 

[Dantankerous]

Kinetic for me. Works just fine. 

[Horace Patootie, SASS #35798]

Kinetic type for 26 years. Still works fine.

Horace

[Yellowstone Vic SASS#32968]

I have used the Kinetic and the collet style.

 

The collet style takes a bit to get setup.  I have the Hornady Cam Lock.

 

Lead bullets you will probably loose most of them to the re-melt pile with the collet style puller.  Jacket bullets will be re-useable.

 

Collet style is faster and quieter.

 

Gotta plan the mission for what and how much you have to accomplish.

 

 

[Tall John]

I don’t have to pull often but I hate messing with the o-ring collets on my kinetic Hornady hammer.

[Tall John]

1 hour ago, Yellowstone Vic SASS#32968 said:

have the Hornady Cam Lock.

I think I’ll order the .45 cal collet for mine as give it a go!

[Blackwater 53393]

I got one of the Frankford Arsenal Pile Drivers! I like it and it’s much better for use when you have a bunch of bad cartridges!

[Bingo Montana]

I'll second the Frankford Arsenal Pile Driver Bullet Puller.  Works very well, although a bit noisy when it "fires", so much so the wife had to poke her head out into garage to make sure I was okay. 

[Rip Snorter]

RockChucker and side cutters - Fast and with a little practice, no harm to bullets and cases.

[Texas Jack Black]

 This is SASS,  so we must use the most expensive ones and forget those less expensive types that worked very well before SASS 😉

[Wyatt Earp SASS#1628L]

I pulled over 300 230gr round nosed lead bullets from 45 acp loads using the RCBS collet puller with no damage.

[Blackwater 53393]

I bought the Pile Driver because I had two of the hammer type and they were slow, tedious, and they started fouling up afer a few short uses.

 

The Frankford is quick, simple, and doesn’t require me to take it apart and put it back together for each cartridge!  I can cycle through a bunch of cartridges if I need to and collect the components when I’m through!

I can dump my catch bucket into a sifter to separate the powder and bullets when I’m done!

 

In a case where I have a bad batch or need to break down someone else’s ammo, (I recently received a large quantity of .38 ammo that was loaded with Pyrodex) I can get it done quickly and without a bunch of extra steps.

 

I caught it on sale and it was less than the price of two of the hammer style from the major manufacturers.  Given the aggravation factor, it has paid for itself after the dozen or so duds I’ve collected in the past ten seasons. This batch of .38s will just be gravy!! 😜 

 

 

Edited April 13 by Blackwater 53393

[Sedalia Dave]

I use a quality shell holder in place of the o-ring collet. Fits in my kinetic puller with no issues.

 

Only time I have a problem is with the occasional round with a high primer.

[Sheriff Dill]

I use the shell holder for the caliber I’m pulling. I have the a hammer style one. Works for the little amount I need it for. 

[Eyesa Horg]

6 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

I use a quality shell holder in place of the o-ring collet. Fits in my kinetic puller with no issues.

 

Only time I have a problem is with the occasional round with a high primer.

I've always done the same.

However, I remember a while back, a Pard warned that using them can set off the primer! I still use them but make sure the primer is centered in the hole.

[Tall John]

Never thought of trying that!  See u guys are too smart!

[Scarlett]

2 hours ago, Sedalia Dave said:

I use a quality shell holder in place of the o-ring collet. Fits in my kinetic puller with no issues.

 

Only time I have a problem is with the occasional round with a high primer.

GENIUS!!! I’ll have to try that. I have 10 years worth to pull.  The pile driver was so loud I never installed the one I ordered and sold to a friend. 
 

Hugs!

Scarlett

[High Spade Mikey Wilson]

I got rid of that o-ring and collet years ago on my hammers. I use a good old RCBS shell holder for the bullet I'm pulling and it has worked just fine for me.

[Griff]

When the o-ring on my RCBS bullet puller gave up the ghost, I got a 4 set of Berry's Collets.  In the 12-14 years I've had them, nary a problem.  The RCBS hammer I bought 40+ years ago is still going strong... Based on what I read on the internet, I expect it to break the very next time I use it...  Only once have I needed to pull more than a few bullets at a time.  I also have a press mounted collet puller, but have seldom used it, mainly saving it for the 2.625" .40-90SBN BP rounds that need to be taken down...  I'd rather not be slamming 85 grains of black powder down to a sudden stop.  While there's no air space, and the power can't gain any momentum, I don't want to be changing the grain size of my powder as I'm sure it'll move some, cause the round doesn't like any compression.

[Sedalia Dave]

11 hours ago, Eyesa Horg said:

I've always done the same.

However, I remember a while back, a Pard warned that using them can set off the primer! I still use them but make sure the primer is centered in the hole.

 

I remember reading that as well. However I cannot figure out how. With a round in the shell holder and it installed in the bullet puller I can see no way for the primer to impact anything.

[Sedalia Dave]

With kinetic bullet pullers technique is important. While you swing them like a hammer you are not driving nails. If you hold it like you're driving a nail you will break it.  Hold it firmly but not so tightly that it doesn't bounce when it strikes a good solid surface.

[Blackwater 53393]

9 hours ago, Scarlett said:

 The pile driver was so loud I never installed the one I ordered and sold to a friend. 
 

Hugs!

Scarlett

😜Yeah! The Pile Driver IS loud! I don’t mind it so much for a couple of cartridges. I’m ‘bout half deaf anyway. For a big project like breaking down all those Pyrodex loaded .38s, I’ll break out my headphones and listen to some good music like I do when I ride my stationary bike! A couple hundred rounds ain’t something I want to tackle with the hammer type puller!

 

[Eyesa Horg]

7 minutes ago, Sedalia Dave said:

 

I remember reading that as well. However I cannot figure out how. With a round in the shell holder and it installed in the bullet puller I can see no way for the primer to impact anything.

That was my thought as well back when that was posted. I don't see the issue either and it has worked well for me. Beats the hell out of the o ring collet!! Just be observant I guess!

[Woody Shootem, SASS # 24816]

I recently had the misfortune of needing to disassembly 1,700 .45 ACP's.  Having used (and broken) a couple of kinetic bullet pullers in the past, I decided to get the Pile Driver.  I found it cumbersome to use and very loud.  I confess I never really gave myself a chance to become proficient with it.  I bought a Lyman kinetic bullet puller and did all 1700 of them, then found a batch of .44-40's with suspected squib loads and did those as well.  The Lyman is still going strong.  I will probably wind up selling the Pile Driver.

[La Sombra]

+100 for the FA Pile Driver. Loud? Yeah. But I wear hearing protection in my shop anyway. I have used it on almost everything that I shoot except the Martini Henry 577/450.  As with all things, YMMV.

 

La Sombra

[Lucky R. K.]

12 hours ago, Sheriff Dill said:

I use the shell holder for the caliber I’m pulling. I have the a hammer style one. Works for the little amount I need it for. 

This.

Lucky 😁

[Toranado, SASS # 58447]

19 hours ago, DukeSoprano said:

Do you want to reuse the bullet?

I have these set up. One for 44s 45s and one for 9mm/38

 

I have an ICORE match coming up and I have to pull a bullet from every competitor, 

 

I've used this method for the last few years.   Works well on any truncated cone type bullets.   Had about 5 years worth to pull and refused to do the impact. (too slow) so bought the RCBS and haven't looked back.

[Cpt Dan Blodgett, SASS #75655]

I use a kinetic hammer puller for the odd round or two.  If I have say 10 or more use the hornady collet puller had used that one on 44-40 and 45 colt.

[Taos]

On 4/12/2026 at 4:49 PM, Tall John said:

I don’t have to pull often but I hate messing with the o-ring collets on my kinetic Hornady hammer.

Use a shell holder for the caliber and toss that o-ring thing in the trash.

[Turquoise Bill, SASS #39118]

I've used the Hornady Cam Lock Bullet Puller for years, I have it mounted on my Lyman T-Star Press, I've pulled hundreds of rounds apart without any difficulty. 

It beats the kinetic bullet puller hands down!

 

https://www.hornady.com/reloading/presses/lock-n-load-accessories/bullet-pullers-bullet-collets/#!/

 

TB

[Sheriff Dill]

Also with the hammer style of your planning on reusing the bullet make sure you put a cotton swab or something in the bottom of it to help the bullet not get beat up. I got a type of rubber tubing on my handle that that @Eyesa Horggave me. Don’t know what it’s called though. It makes a world of difference in your hand over the plastic for sure. 

[Eyesa Horg]

I stuffed a large patch in the bottom to protect the bullet.