Here is the deal:

A few years ago Century Arms had some 7.62x51mm NATO ammo for sale at very low prices. I ignored the quiet "you get what you pay for" voice in my head, and bought some. Quite alot really. It was 640 round cans for $50 delivered.

Well, what I ended up receiving was over 5000 rounds of 1997 Indian OFV FMJ. There are quite a few threads on various forums about this ammo. I think its general consensus that the stuff is bad. Mostly because of random powder loads, some seriously undercharged causing squib rounds, many with case necks which are not square, or seriously off center seated bullets.

Right now its taking up space. I cannot ethically sell it withut disclosing the problems with the ammo. So what I am looking to do is try to salvage what I can from this batch of ammo.

So my question to you guys, is what equipment and tooling would you suggest for pulling the bullets on 5000 rounds of ammo?

With minimal or no pull marks which would seriously effect function.

Speed is important, but safety comes first. In your suggestions, please keep this in mind. I am a newbie to reloading. I have no intention of reloading the Indian brass at this time. What I would like to do is pull all the bullets where they could be reloaded. This way, I could at the very least recoup some of my foolishness from years ago.

So what I am looking for are suggestions on equipment for pulling the bullets quickly and safely. With a minimum of damage to the bullets themselves.

Thanks,

-Thed

Years ago, my dad "came up with" a full wooden crate of 30 caliber M2 Ball ammo, circa 1942 vintage. He taught me how to use the inertia bullet puller, and turned me loose....many hours in the basement banging away..( so to speak..). Lotta effort, but no damage to the bullets. These days I use an RCBS collet bullet puller to de-construct rounds that I don't wish to shoot. Not sure that the bullets are totally free of damage to the point that they would be suitable for benchrest competition, but they still work fine for my purposes.
Your results may vary,
Cheers,
Don

what I think you should do is, pull the bullets and seat a quailty bullet like a ballistic tip, most of the accuracy problems with milsurp ammo is the bullets suck. I use a forster super fast bullet puller, however it pretty much ruins the bullet

Inertia pullers are great for a few rounds but a collet type like the Forster is easier & faster when you are talking more than a few rounds. 5000, I assume you bought it as blasting ammo for a battle rifle? Why not just shoot it or sell it for what it is?

For what you want it's a collet style puller. They aren't that expensive and they last forever. RCBS sells 'em. You buy the universal "die" that screws into your press then you have to get the caliber specific collet. I've found collet bullet pullers to be quite fast and they're a lot less messy than the inertia style pullers. With the inertia pullers, there is a constant concern of dumping powder & bullet all over the place. Also, with the collet style, they'll last forever. My inertia puller is gradually crapping out & I'm gonna have to get a new one pretty soon.
Just my opinion. Bear in Fairbanks

Thanks for all the responses!

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:
Inertia pullers are great for a few rounds but a collet type like the Forster is easier & faster when you are talking more than a few rounds. 5000, I assume you bought it as blasting ammo for a battle rifle? Why not just shoot it or sell it for what it is?

Yup. I have considered both of those options (sell or use). The problem is, this Ammo is already so inconsistant, so shooting is not really a priority. I have thought about getting a digital scale and weigh each existing round to possibly sort out the way undercharged ones. But this still would not be fool proof.

In selling it, I would be handing it off to someone who will either:

A- Use it, and possibly follow a squib round with a live one.

B- Take it apart to salvage the components.

So I am hopimg to salvage what I can.

The brass of this ammo has issues, however I think that with sizing and triming the brass I could use it. Its boxer primed. However, I plan to put this on hold for a bit.

I am not a bench rest tack driving shooter. I like all position iron sight shooting. So making match ammo is not in any way critical, but something to the same scale of accuracy as higher end surplus ammo would be fine. This is my immediate objective. From what I have read, the Indian FMJ bullets themselves actually are half way decent. Only trying will give me a better judgement.

Like stated earlier. I am a newbie to reloading. I have an Ishapore 2aNo1MkIII Enfield in 7.62NATO which I was hoping to use my first batches of reloaded ammo with Indian bullets on. Ideally I would like to work up a load that will work better in my 7.62NATO autoloaders (Garand, FAL, G-3, etc). But have been thinking it would be most prudent to take my time and work out the learning curve with a bolt action, Lake City Brass, and the Indian bullets.

Already in this thread, I have seen the Forster and RCBS collect pullers recomended. With the above information, will these pullers damage the bullets beyond being salvagable?

Or all of the Collet Pullers approximately the same, where different brands are like a "Coke VS Pepsi" or "Tastes Great VS Less Filling" perspective?

Thanks again,

-Thed

I use and recommend the Hornady cam-lock collet puller. It uses a collet similar to the forster and rcbs collet pullers, but the collet is tightened on the bullet by lowering a lever, rather than screwing the top down, and is much faster.

Faster still if you're using one of the calibers they are offered in, is the forster superfast bullet puller. It is available in most rifle calibers up to 8mm. It automatically closes on the bullet as you lower the cartridge back out of the die. You remove the first bullet by pushing it out with the next round. Note that it does leave a mark on the bullet (per the instructions).

Andy -

In your experience, does the Hornady Cam-Lock collet puller leave marks on and/or deform the bullets when you pull them? Thanks!

I'm with big Jake, I have both the Hornady cam-lock and the Forster superfast. The Hornady leaves little or no marks on the bullets, the Forster superfast marks them up quite a bit. I don't know if it's enough that you wouldn't re-use them for your purposes, but the hornady definitely wouldn't.

Good Luck--Don

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Don Edwards:
....many hours in the basement banging away..( so to speak..). Lotta effort,

i dont know why thats so funny to me, it just is

Sorry for that last post, it didnt help anything. i dont recommend an inertia puller for that many bullets. They work grea for small batches, but you are gonna be there for ahile

quote:

Faster still if you're using one of the calibers they are offered in, is the forster superfast bullet puller. It is available in most rifle calibers up to 8mm. It automatically closes on the bullet as you lower the cartridge back out of the die. You remove the first bullet by pushing it out with the next round. Note that it does leave a mark on the bullet (per the instructions).

yes...it marks the bullet but the marks are not at all detrimental.

run the cartridges thru the seating die to push the bullets a bit deeper into the case to "unseat" and push the cannelure from the crimp.....
Then use the Forester tool...it's fast and the marks are truly not an issue .....except mentally!!!

I've used the cam-lock on lead bullets and barely got a mark on them, and it had no impact (pardon the pun) on bullet performance. No mark on jacketed bullets, but I did not have any that had to overcome difficult crimps, etc. +1 on using a seater to "break loose" the bullet before pulling it.

The only thing I wish they'd add to the cam-lock is a lock nut/ring on the collet fine adjustment. Not a big deal though.

Thed,

I like the Hornady cam-lock. Have used it a lot to remove bullets from milsurp ammo.

Vapodog has one of the best suggestions that I have heard to "unseat" the bullets. Anyone who has removed bullets from milsurp rounds knows what a bitch it is when the asphalt bullet sealer gives way to a big mess if one is not careful.

As far as recycling the powder; instead of weighing each round when you pull the bullet, my suggestion is to use the weight of 10 rounds and divide by 10 to get the average and use it for your new loads.

I have destroyed a midway whack hammer and my RCBS one is starting to crack. I finaly scored a Hornady collet type when K Mart pulled out of Alaska and I realy like it - once you get the hang of it you can clip right along and it reefs out light small caliber bullets like nobodys business and the bullets hardly show a mark. The whack hammers are ok on heavier bullets or if the neck tension is not too tight but man-o-man them little critters is like bustin a ball bearing. Same goes for ANYTHING that is sealed or glued. I like the idea of running them thru a seat die first to crack the seals. I have gotten lots of reloads at gun shows for cheep as no one will touch them with a 10 foot pole. I pull the bullets and save what I can use and sell some of the odd ball brass on Ebay. My advice is get the collet type for medium to small caliber bullets or any Mill surp stuff. If you don't want the powder just scatter it on your grass and water it in -- supplies nitrogen, a necessary nutrient!!