We were given a large assortment of old military ammo.

Some is in caliber we can use for practice, others we have no rifles for.

I wanted to recover the powder by taking this ammo apart.

Hammer type is not really an answer when one is talking thousands.

So any suggestions would be appreciated.

If you don't want the bullets, use "sidecutters"/pliers and an open press (no die) to grab onto the bullets and reverse the ram. Dump the powder into approved container using some sort of vibrator/electric razor to get it all. Do the bullets have cannelures? If so, the sidecutters can be used to do minimal damage to retrieved bullets by careful slotting.

Hornady cam-lock device https://www.midwayusa.com/prod...m-lock-bullet-puller might also be time conserving and marks the bullets minimally.

Hire it done or use shop personnel you'd trust to keep mistakes low. RCBS collet die offering is what I use, but it would wear someone's fingers out and isn't so handy if we're talking thousands of operations.

Spilling powder would be my own utmost concern, but I am accident-prone and tend to overkill on caution.

2 cents

It might work to take sidecutters and grind a little undersized bullet dia into the jaws to minimize bullet damage.

I have an old RCBS collet type puller that works well if there is enough bullet protrusion for the collet to grip. For thousands of rounds it could get tedious. A fine tooth blade in the band saw and a jig to hold the case, lots of PPE and go at it???
C.G.B.

do one thing first - put in a seating die and just bump the bullet in a bit - just enough to break the seal - makes removing them much easier

Sinclair sell a "pliers style" puller that is used in conjunction with a press with no die installed. Simple, fast and cheap.

I use a pair pliers (vise grip needle nose) that are ground a few thousands under the bullet diameter.
I have a turrnt press with a plug that somewhat mates to the bullet. I just rotate the head from plug to open hole. the pliers are adjustable to minimize damage to the bullet
I did 60 44mag that were crimped like what butch recommended the bullets were fine. 200gr xtp's

Sidecutter pliers and the press with no die as BNagel suggests is the quickest if not keeping bullets. The Hornady and RCBS collet type pullers are great but slow if doing a lot of cartridges and of course you need the correct collets for different calibre bullets. Sidecutters instantly adjust to any caliber and it is a one handed action with the cutters to grip the bullet and drop it into a container once pulled then grip the next. The other hand does all the rest.
Any other method will be fussy and tedious if doing thousands of rounds.

I use a hammer puller for onezees and twozees but when serious bullet pulling has to be done the RCBS Collette puller is just fine . roger

There is a better solution to an excess ammo problem; build a rifle to shoot it in. I have actually done that.

if not keeping bullets hard to get more convenient than needle nose vise grips. If saving I prefer my hornady collet puller over my RCBS. It faster and I like how the cam works.

Forrester bullet puller. Attaches to the press, once adjusted. It pulls fast and retains the powder. You have to get collets for caliber diameter.
A few days ago, I pulled about 160 bullets .270 win. in about 40 minutes.

I use sidecutters, and if they are sharp enough to grab without denting the bullet, I have seen no detrimental effect on accuracy.
I do it right above the main portion, on the ogive. With practice, you would be surprised how well it works.
Been doing it for over 40yrs that way.
I will pull the bullet, since I use redding dies,I will button resize without stem, then reseat, and shoot.
I have never, will never use a kinetic puller

I also use side cutters to pull bullets. Although I have never needed to pull a large amount. Maybe you could hire a teenage kid to help out?

C4 and a bunker?

OK -safety first.... Bunker and C4?

Rethinking the bandsaw approach, probably not a good idea. But you do have a cnc lathe so how about some sort of tubing cutter head attached to the cross feed with backing rollers. Sever the case at the bottom of the neck (do you want to recycle the bullets?) and dump the works into a large plastic bin. Hard part would be to build a case feeder for the lathe. No filings or contamination of the powder. Filter out the big pieces and you would be good to go.
C.G.B.

quote:

Originally posted by mlfguns:
Forrester bullet puller. Attaches to the press, once adjusted. It pulls fast and retains the powder. You have to get collets for caliber diameter.
A few days ago, I pulled about 160 bullets .270 win. in about 40 minutes.

Saeed is talking of thousands, 160 pulls in 40 minutes is over 4 hrs per thousand. Geez poor Saeed won't get to Africa this year if he uses any kind of collet puller to do want he wants. Then we will be all the poorer because he will have no video to so kindly show us.

Rifle ammo is a whole different deal than pistol ammo.
I was given a level full 5 gal bucket of .38's once. That's right at 5000 rnds. I pulled about 300 with the hammer and saw the light come on.

Was going to the indoor range 4 nights a week anyway. Just started shooting them. Was told they were rejects from a commercial reloading business and to expect duds.

At least ten different powders and quite a bunch of bullets. Took a 6' starter rod for a muzzle loader along. When a squib stuck in the bore, just punched it out. Turned out to be great trigger control practice.

I'd weighed each of the various powder charges and kept notes. None was over 7 gr, or less than 4gr. With over a quart of powder. WTH, I just mixed it up and loaded cast bullets with 4 gr to use it up. Never a problem doing that.

Much of the winter was spent shooting, I gave a bunch of it to others with the info and I wanted the brass back. Sure saved a bunch of expenses for half dozen shooters.

Much depends on if it's all the same cartridge, or caliber for rifles.

Is it mixed stuff, or all the same? Maybe use a TC contender pistol to just shoot it up for practice. That many bullets is a bunch of value too. Much more than the powder, even at today's prices.

Have fun whatever you do with it.

George

It is very old military ammo for the 8x57 Mauser.

We have no rifle for it, and we are only interested in the powder.

I tried 35 grains in the 308 Winchester with a 168 grain bullet, and got a velocity of 2287.

I will pull a few more bullets and try shooting some groups with it.

Got a $6 bolt cutter from China.

With two of us, one pulling and holding, we are making short work of this!

Works like a charm.

Pulled 30 rounds in no time at all.

Tried 36 grains in the 308 with the Sierra 168 MK.

Got 2405 fps, and a 3 shot group of 0.270!

Not too bad at all.

Saeed

what is so special about that old powder? Are you also sure that there is the same powder in all cartridges?

I am just interested because of the cost of the powder vs labor you put in the bullet removing.

Jiri

I hate to waste any components.

Besides, if we did do this the ammo is totally useless to us.

I have pulled many 8mm X 57 Turk and German mil.bullets. I mean a lot. I NEVER achieved decent accuracy in any of the many caliber rifles I tried it in. This was all flake powder . roger

I would like to stand corrected.
In a .223 there were two loadings that proved below 1 MOA using the Turk flake powder.That was two out of many,however. roger

Seat them about .050 deeper or until they pop then pull them with sharp side cutters

Gentlemen,

Thank you all for your suggestions.

We got it all worked out.

With one person holding the bullet with a bolt cutter and one pulling the case down, it works very fast, even with the crimp.