To minimize fumbling, a common practice is to use a shell holder in place of the O-ring collets supplied with plastic hammer style inertial bullet pullers. It turns out this can be DANGEROUS. Board member MtJerry describes why in the thread quoted below. You have to read the thread down to MtJerry's final posts to see what the problem is:
Thanks for the warning, Jerry!MtJerry said:I had an accident using a shell-holder instead of the supplied collet. The accident almost cost me my kids. Please don't do this. It SIGNIFICANTLY increases the risk of discharging the round in the puller.
First Post
I was in the garage with my boys waiting for the school bus to pick them up for their summer swimming program and I was pulling some 45ACP with a Frankford Arsenal Inertial Bullet Puller (hammer type) and I had primer detonation that set off the round.
The scariest part of this deal was that my boys were standing right next to me when it happened. When the round went off, they scattered. And to be quite honest, I ran too.
I quickly checked my boys who were uninjured (thank God), but understandably shaken and scared.
After spending some time calming them down, I started trying to piece together what happened.
I have no idea what caused this. I have had this pullet for about 3 years and have used regularly without a problem.
The round was as I said a 45ACP (unknown brass because I can't find it) loaded with a 200gr Hornady Combat/target SWC, 5.5gr of W231, and a CCI LP primer.
The round went off on about the third blow.
I found the pieces of the Intertial Puller and the only damage is a large crack in the top locking collar as seen below:
And here is the indentation made by it when it struck the ceiling of my garage:
I still have not found the collet that was holding the base of the brass, or the brass itself. I am SURE it didn't "grenade" as the hammer portion of the tool is undamaged and none of us received any injuries.
Now, what did I learn from this? I will NEVER use an inertial puller again. I am a safe reloader and when my boys are helping me, I am extra safe. I am at a loss for what happened in this case. If anyone has any ideas, let me know.
I need some coffee ....
Second Post
Some more pieces of the puzzle. I spend almost an hour looking in my garage after coming home from work and FINALLY found the bullet, shell casing and the collet.
And what I found really frightened me more. The case did indeed "grenade" as it left the inertial puller. And I found the bullet in the ATTIC of my garage. I found a small hole where it passed thru the sheetrock, pulled out the ladder and found it laying in the insulation.
Apparently my sons were in serious danger when this occured, fortunately all these pieces were found in the opposite direction from where they were standing.
Here is a look at the primer ... It has a horseshoe shaped crease in it. I have no idea what may have caused it.
Third Post
Ok, I think I solved this mystery ...
First of all, I still think I had a primer that was not fully seated.
And second of all I created an unsafe set-up by not using the proper equipment. Instead of using the collet supplied with the puller, I was using an RCBS shell holder (proper size for the caliber). THis is a common practice that others have used and I myself have used it for several years. The collet supplied has three pieces to it that are held together with a rubber band thingie ... it can be a real pain at times.
When it is fitted correctly into the puller, it grabs the bullet by the rim, and leaves lots of room around the primer pocket and as you can see below, there is little chance of accidental firing of the primer even if it is seated high.
The RCBS shell holder holds the case by the rim as well, BUT it severly reduces the free space around the primer pocket ...
... and when it is placed in the puller it is possible for the primer to shift enough to get the primer underneath the lip of the shell holder.
So, in short this accident was my fault, not the equipment's.
There are a lot of "shortcuts" out there in the reloading world, and this is one that is dangerous and should not be practiced.
I learned a valuable lesson ... and I hope someone learns from my mistake. Please be safe out there.