Thread: Read if you have Hornady Camlock Bullet Puller

I've had one of these for a few years. Not done a huge amount of work by me but did buy it used. Lent it to a club member recently. Came back with the plunger firmly jammed in the tool body. Tried lube and eventually freed it to about a third out by holding the end in vice and twisting turning..Took it in that state into Reloaders for advice, which was "foreign material jamming it..can get gunsmith to look at and free up. Otherwise buy a new one". Fair enough. The $89 cost of the new tool, no collets, I figured would not pay for much gunsmith time so took it home for more effort.

The plunger is obviously hardened steel. As is the Cam and the Cam Pivot Pin which is riveted. Which means you can't just line up a brass rod and drift the plunger out. Which leaves holding the plunger end in a vice, lubing and turning while pulling the tool body along with using a brass rod to tappity-tap on the end of the tool body. Fun.

I suggested to the Reloaders team that problem was possibly caused by wear from cam action on top of the plunger head. "Nope, not likely..some sort of dirt jamming it"

Well today persistence paid off and I finally got it out without having to drill/grind the end of the hardened pivot pin to remove the cam handle and drift the plunger out.

When I could see the plunger end, sure enough it has a dish worn in it and a miniscule lip has formed that jams it solid.

I borrowed a new one for comparison. The new plunger works perfectly. The old plunger starts to jam about halfway up in either the old tool body or the new one.

Photo attached shows the old and new plunger ends side by side.

So some things come out of this. These things have not likely been on the market long enough to get a lot of them used enough to be this worn. So its a good bet others are going to start having the same issue.

Hornady needs to consider first making the plunger available as a consumable replacement item at appropriate cost. Secondly they might consider making the Cam Handle Pivot Pin easily removable so as a stuck plunger can be readily drifted out.

Finally, having a significant investment in the now $35 per each calibre collets to go with the tool, when I either fork out for a new tool or can get a replacement plunger, I will be adding a dab of grease to the top of the plunger effort each use. In the meantime I'm glad I still have my old RCBS unit on the shelf.

You might want to take a look at yours. Here's the photo of new and old side by side.

I have written to Hornady.