Pulling surplus ammo

[Andy632]

And where might be a good place to acquire such a thing as a Hornady Camlock and some collets ?

Mine came from Tim Hannam

[Dark Skies]

oomans: your opinions please.

We're pondering the pros and cons of pulling and rebuilding military surplus ammunition. We use a lot of milsurp 7.62, in both its x54R and x39 incarnations. We're contemplating the potential benefits of pulling the ammo (with a press tool rather than a hammer), then tipping out the powder, weighing it and refilling the cartridges with a uniform quantity. A worthwhile undertaking ?

I had to do this with a large batch of milsurp 7.62 x 54R. It was so old that every time I shot it the steel cases would split a little showering my face with flecks of burning powder. I pulled it all, took an average of the powder weight from ten cases and then stuffed the components into brass cases. Shot just fine - and reasonably tight groups for something spat out of a Mosin M44

[snayperskaya]

At the moment I have around 500 Egyptian brass and Russian and Polish steel primed cases and the same quantity of bullets (182gr and 148gr Egyptian and 148gr Russian "L" and "LPS") waiting to be reloaded.Will let you know the results once they are done.Going to reload them with N140 I think.

The powder charge in the Russian "188" (Novosibirsk) ammo that we seem to get over here (usually 77-dated) is pretty consistent as the Russians had quite tight quality control in the form of the OTK Technical Control Department inspectors.Hungarian 54r is also very consistent and the Hungarian 148gr silver-tipped LPS has given me the smallest groups I have shot with the Dragunov and was more accurate than commercial Sellior&Bellot ammunition.

[DOGGER2UK]

I found that to reduce the damage caused to the bullet during the pulling operation it helped to send the rounds through the seating die first and push the bullet into the case a millimeter or so, breaking the seal applied to most military ammunition and therefore easing the extraction of the bullet.

[DaveB]

It is very common in North America - where it is called 'Mexican Match'. I used to use it in my Savage 110 FP with 5.56mm and 80 grain VLD bullets. It was loaded very hot so the harder, crimped-in primers in the military cases prevented some unfortunate side-effects!

[Maggot]

I found that to reduce the damage caused to the bullet during the pulling operation it helped to send the rounds through the seating die first and push the bullet into the case a millimeter or so, breaking the seal applied to most military ammunition and therefore easing the extraction of the bullet.

Good advice, beat me to it.

Often they are crimped and sealed with pitch or air drying lacquer.

Kinetic pullers can really struggle, particularly with the lighter bullets, so when you do get them going, beware that it is possible for the bullet to bounce back and trash the lip of the case.

IF the bullet comes out really easily, consider neck sizing and the brass may well have had enough (some old stuff can really get sloppy over time).

I use a collet puller for .308 hand loads only, made by forster, that was utterly carp until ovenpaa re built it so it worked....its the go to now but would still struggle with crimped, sealed 762x51.

If you want a giggle, try pulling a light bulleted steel factory load .223 with a kinetic....never managed it (and Dave, you still owe me a bloody steel collet!!!).

Might take my own advice and push it in a tad

[ovenpaa]

I broke the head off my Kinetic hammer start of the year on some heavily crimped rounds that had been handed in and decided there and then to stick to the Hornady collet puller and just order more collets as and when I need them.

Maggot, it is on a job sheet held by a magnet alongside around 40 other jobs, busy is an understatement right now :)

[Maggot]

I broke the head off my Kinetic hammer start of the year on some heavily crimped rounds that had been handed in and decided there and then to stick to the Hornady collet puller and just order more collets as and when I need them.

Maggot, it is on a job sheet held by a magnet alongside around 40 other jobs, busy is an understatement right now :)

And has been for 12 months.......

[ovenpaa]

Well as I have broken my own Kinetic hammer you can have the insert out of it until I machine you a tougher version. :)

[snayperskaya]

Spent some time neck sizing around 300 milsurp cases this morning and will let you know how they shoot once reloaded......it was actually quite therapeutic!