I'm looking to take some bullets apart, dump the powder and put them back together. Trying to figure out how to do this best, even if it means firing the bullet into a catcher that wouldn't deform the bullet. The big reason why is I think it would be cool to make some jewelry out of the zmax ammo. Now it might be easier to buy the vermant rounds and just load them in brass, but was thinking of using like 9mm for this. Any good way or do i just "bite the bullet" and not use 9mm for this?
Inertial Bullet Pullers (sometimes called Impact Bullet Pullers) are used to disassmble the bullet from a cartridge without firing the round. See photo below. This is one from Frankford Arsenal. Lyman and RCBS also make them. The round is hed in by the collets (the 3-piece aluminum "jaws"), which is placed in the opening of the cylinder (see the threads on the "head" of the puller?) The endcap is tightened down, securely holding the round with the bullet facing the blunt end of the puller. Hold it like a hammer, with the blunt end facing down, and bang really hard a couple of times on wood (been using it for years, have not broken the plastic yet), until the bullet pops out. Gunpowder will spill out and be captured by the end of the "head", casing with (live) primer will remain in the collet which is still securely held by the screw-in cap. The gunpowder may be tossed into the garden, makes a good nitrocellulose-based fertilizer. The casing with live primer can be reloaded later, or the case can be fed into a gun and the primer fired (in your garage or at the range)....flaming fragments fly out the barrel when you do this, so do not aim at people, pets, your flatscreen TV or anything other than a "safe direction"...it is loud, but does not sound like a gunshot, more like a 4x4 wood plank dropped on concrete. I do this all the time in the garage and nobody has called the police to report a gunshot....yet. *NOTE* Photo is not mine, grabbed it from the Internet. *NOTE2* I would strongly recommend NOT pulling the bullets this way on live rounds with a misfired primer (primer has an impact on it but didn't fire), they can be very unstable and may actually fire while you are banging the bullet puller. I've heard of it happening, but have not experienced it. If you must do it on a misfired primer, first soak the base of the round (the primer) in WD40 overnight to contaminate the primer compound, and do this process while the primer is still wet, and BE VERY, VERY CAREFUL!!!!
Ya was gonna get one of those for pulling it out. Was just worried about the primer in the brass after the fact. Thats why i was thinking of one of those ballistic catchers. But maybe I can soak the **** out of the primer and brass then pull the primer out to use. Or just recycle that and reload the empty round into spent brass.
If you are worried about live primers when pulling bullets, as long as the primer has never been struck you should be OK. I have done this literally hundreds of times over the years, never had a single primer issue, ever. My only concern would be if the primer has already been struck but didn't go off....the primer cup may be pressing on the primer compound against the anvil inside of it, making bullet pulling a somewhat uncertain activity. But if you chemically deactivate the primer, the RISK IS REDUCED BUT NOT COMPLETELY ELIMINATED. New ammo? I would go for it without a second thought. When reloading, it is common to seat a bullet too far into the brass case, which can lead to dangerous overpressure conditions. The only solution is to pull the bullet, and I use the very same inertial bullet puller in the photo above. Like I said, never ever ever had a single primer detonation in all the years I've been doing this. Cheers!
Cool thanks. I can just see these things selling at comps and shows, yay novelties! (PS I know the Z Max is great ammo and it is my carry ammo, I just love the marketing genius of Hornady.)
