Reloading Notes

Caution!
Had to pull 20 odd 308 loads recently, loaded with AR2206H. Hdy Collet puller did a great job of lifting projectiles out. Tapped powder into receptacle and placed each case into a loading tray. Decided to eyeball them with small torch shining down inside brass. Lo and behold, there was still powder in the bottom of the case. More rapping on the side of receptacle failed to dislodge. So a small bladed screwdiver was twirled gently inside each against case head. On average I collected an additional 1.5gn of powder per case. What a diff that would have made with a near max load on top of it!!

There's lots of reloading tips and tricks spread among various threads on this forum. Feel free to add here. Maybe this thread will become useful enough to be a sticky.

That's interesting Jhon, I've [Ahem] had to pull many bullets in my time but once the powder flow stopped and after a tap I've not looked, simply taken the expander out , resized and refilled
Will certainly look from now on.

I had some reloads that were about 20 years old I pulled apart. The ones with AR2208 were okay, but the ones with AR2206 (not 2206h) were caked quite badly.

I wonder how this caking would affect the primer plume and subsequent powder burn had you used them as is. Nothing good I guess.

Twirl a cotton bud inside the brass to get the last of the powder out

Then do it again and tap on a hard surface

Then look inside

Care at every stage of reloading pays off

Try and develop a written method with reloading tasks, so you always achieve the right outcome.

Making a spreadsheet into a tick box exercise isn’t a bad idea either.


Attachment 195403

Foer sure always check a pulled bullet. some grains of powders adhere very well to the side and if you have used a lube wax when expanding / resizing the powder can stick to this smudge as well. If its a compressed load there will definitely be a granule or 5 imbedded into the flash hole.

Using a Kinetic Bullet Puller.

I'm a bit slow. It took me a couple of years to figure this darn thing out from the vastly inadequate instructions. Here's some tips.

It is designed to load the cartridge with the correct 3 part clamp assembled with a supplied rubber ring. The clamp sits on the top of the hammer flat base down, with the threaded collar screwed on a few turns up from being hard down.

The flat rubber washer which is the first thing to fall out and get lost, sits in the top of the threaded collar so when the collar is tightened down on the cartridge head, it seals the hammer against powder loss.

The unit is designed to insert the cartridge to be pulled from the top through the opening in the top of the threaded collar.

Once the cartridge is inserted, the collar is tightened down prior to striking the hammer on a hard surface. Do not over tighten. The rubber washer should not be distorted or squished up around the cartridge head. A light tightening to hold things in place is all that is required.

For years I used a heavy piece of wooden beam cutoff to strike against. Lately I have found a flat thick ingot of lead, sitting in my knee works much better and with a lesser blow. Hard steel or concrete will eventually destroy the hammer.

A kinetic puller will pull any projectile. But only a Kinetic will pull soft lead cast bullets. A mandrel or collet simply crushes a cast bullet. Also short Pistol bullets are difficult with the latter as there is not always enough length to be gripped.

The nose of the hammer has 3 or four hard plastic ridges internally to strengthen it. Smashing the hammer harder than what's needed to release the projectile simply damages its nose when it released, especially if it is cast or a jacketed SP. A couple of lighter blows are better than one hard one.

Finally, for large bullets, e.g. 45, I reamed a chamfer on the inside top edge of the three piece clamp which makes it much easier to load the cartridge for the bullet to be pulled- especially 45ACP cast.

the wee shell holders used in a LEE primer are far superior in the kinetic pullers.....chalk and cheese some might say.
since I learnt this trick the wee rubber banded plastic bits have stayed in the packet....