Was just talking to a fellow handloader about something I noticed today.
I was pulling bullets on some rounds I loaded a few months ago, and did"nt have a kinetic hammer.
I put a shell holder in the press without a die.
I raised the cartridge up to the top of the stroke, gripped them with the pliers and lowered the press thus pulling out the bullets.
What I noticed was the difference in the force required to pull them out. All were fulll length sized on the same die, all seated the same depth, but noticeably different to pull out.
I have"nt measured neck thickness yet,(probably a major factor) but I was surprised by the difference in them, which was more noticeable than if I had been using a hammer.
Is there big variation between different brass?
good shooting

I'd say there is some definate variations in brass like win and rem.
My question though is what kind of neck lube do you use and do you make a point of getting it out of the case neck after sizing?

i also occasionally pull bullets this way. the only time i have noticed a difference in pressure required to pull them was when case necks were starting to get brittle.

ps. reloaded ammo that's more than a year or so old can have a chemical reaction caused by the carbon in the case neck that will chemically bond the bullet to the case neck. this will take excessive pressure to release the bullet along with a pop when it releases all of a sudden. i have frquently noticed this in ammo two years old, but maybe it could occur sooner.

Maybe my loading method is not so crazy after all!
Does the chemical bonding make any noticeable difference?

I've seen the "bonding" especially in the old days when I left a film of lube in the case mouth. Take a couple shells that are about a year old and put them in your seating die and try to seat the bullet about .015" deeper. If it goes ez you are doing it right. If there is alot of pressure and a sort of "crack" as it lets loose.....you have some bonding going on. I have seen it increase pressure considerably on max loads if there is bonding.

quote:

I raised the cartridge up to the top of the stroke, gripped them with the pliers and lowered the press thus pulling out the bullets.

and probably hosed the threads at the top of the press.

I hope some local machine shop has a 7/8-14 tap to loan you so you can fix it.

Rolltop, I don"t remember asking for comments on how I pulled the bullets, but just to be clear I held the pliers flat on the top of the press, so they never touched the threads. Perhaps we could keep this thread about neck tension?

you can also notice this when seating bullets, some will take more pressure to seat, I think this is what leads to different velocity readings more than anything. a couple weeks back I asked about neck turning, what I was trying to get at was if outside neck turned brass would help with consistent neck tension

I still have"nt got a chance to properly measure some neck wall thicknesses, but it is definately worth looking into.
good shooting

Original 303 British ammo used a wad sealed in asphalt. The bullet was also sealed in asphalt. Would that sort of thing prevent bonding? How important is neck annealing in keeping the tension constant? I have been known to shoot off a few loads then reload those cases and put them back with the rest. That would result in a different number of reloads per case.

I have experimented with less tension by sizing the neck only enough to hold the bullet firm. (I made some neck sizing dies for this purpose). The theory is that if the neck is sized small enough to actually stretch plastically, differences in tension could be introduced, whereas with minimum sizing the neck only deforms elastically and might produce a more constant tension. I haven't put this to the test on the range yet. Just using different expander plug diameters could produce the same results I think.

Next time you pull bullets put your seater die in and push them into the case about .050 deeper they will pull easy....can't explane a thing about tension....and I also pull bullets in the same way as you with no harm to my press at all.