"Pulled" Bullets

[lhecker51]

Are there any issue with reloading "pulled" bullets regarding accuracy? I bought some Federal HST and Federal Guard Dog pulls and would appreciate any feedback. There are very minor pull marks. Just curious as I have not seen them discussed anywhere.

[Bill Steele]

Are there any issue with reloading "pulled" bullets regarding accuracy? I bought some Federal HST and Federal Guard Dog pulls and would appreciate any feedback. There are very minor pull marks. Just curious as I have not seen them discussed anywhere.

The only bullet types I have pulled enough of to get statistically relavent data on were plated and they did show significantly poorer results than their no pulled brothers from the same lot. These bullets were Berry's and pretty soft, so the rings on them got pretty deep at time.

If you are not trying for extreme accuracy or if they are harder FMJ style, I think I would not worry much about it.

[bruceflinch]

I got some pulled Hornady's from MiWall. JHPBT 30 cal. 147 gr. .18 each & they work great.

[ireload]

Since you mentioned they are HST and Guard Dog pulls with minor pull marks they would be good to go to reload.

[ireload]

The only bullet types I have pulled enough of to get statistically relavent data on were plated and they did show significantly poorer results than their no pulled brothers from the same lot. These bullets were Berry's and pretty soft, so the rings on them got pretty deep at time.

If you are not trying for extreme accuracy or if they are harder FMJ style, I think I would not worry much about it.

I'ved had my fair share of my "oops" with pulled plated bullets. About 300 of the "oops". Loaded them too hot powder wise. Lucky for me I caught it during my final check. I had "medium" crimp on them. Now with plated bullets I use "light" crimp and that minimizes the crimp marks on the bullets.

[Bill Steele]

I'ved had my fair share of my "oops" with pulled plated bullets. About 300 of the "oops". Loaded them too hot powder wise. Lucky for me I caught it during my final check. I had "medium" crimp on them. Now with plated bullets I use "light" crimp and that minimizes the crimp marks on the bullets.

I too use a very light crimp, basically just taking the bell out of anything I shoot out of my 9's or 45's, with the exception of when I am loading LSWC's for my 1911's. I crimp the case mouth down to .470" on these to assure reliable feeding.

On the plated bullets I was talking about, the ring was on the ogive pretty far down toward where the bullet would meet the lands. This was caused by the puller I use which is a collet style job from RCBS. The puller is easy to use but getting the soft plated bullets out without damaging them to some degree is pretty difficult.

I have given up on plated, not for above reasons though. For handgun, anything I load now that is not lead or HP, I use either Precision Delta or Montana Gold.

[kurac]

There could be issues depending on how bad the pull marks are and what your expectations are.

[lhecker51]

The pull marks on the HST's look to be 4 very light tool marks from the pull die. There is no evidence of over crimping that would leave a ring around the bullet.

There are no pull marks on the Fed Guard Dogs. At $20 for a box of 20 9mm, I will have recovered the cost of my Dillon 550 in about 1000 rnds (bullets $160 per 1k).

Not sure why the Guard Dog factory ammo is so expensive. I would have purchased the HST's for my 9mm, but they are only available in .40.

Regarding accuracy, I will update with the results.

[ivanimal]

I had to pull 200 rounds once. I used a bullet puller and it left marks on the projectiles. I did not notice any real difference in the way the shot when reloaded. I would not use them for hunting or personal defense but they were great for shooting at the range..

I use plenty of pulled 30 cal in my 1919 as well.

[lhecker51]

There could be issues depending on how bad the pull marks are and what your expectations are.

My expectations are that the rounds will give me a decent group at 30' for the purpose of home defense. Not sure what the delta is regarding the extreme spread for non-pulled factory and pulled reloads that chrony the same. If I have the time and motivation, I will get a box of factory and go through the drill of working the loads up to a comparable fps with OAL and head-stamps being the same.