For many young girls and guys around the country, this roar will be their first opportunity to hunt – or at least to hunt some of the more prized species New Zealand has to offer in their prime coats and colours. While a shooter may be proficient with their weapon of choice, this does not automatically make them a good hunter.
Aside from the bushcraft, fitness and stalking involved – not to mention antler-induced-excitement behind the trigger – a serious consideration is the choice of ammunition. Fortunately for those shooting a more common calibre, there is plenty of off-the-shelf ammo that will do the trick. If you don’t intend to shoot much aside from sighting in and hunting, then buying ammo makes much more sense than reloading.
Bullet choice in New Zealand
Some common hunting calibres in New Zealand include .308, .303, .223, 6.5×55, 7mm-08, .243, .270, .260 and .30-06. To a limited extent the old Russian military calibres see some use (7.62×39 on goats or yearlings at close range or 7.62x54R if you’re running around with a sporterised Mosin-Nagant). And .300 BLK is becoming quite popular for goat culling or in short-range (but fancy) bush guns.
If you’re buying ammo for more common calibres like .308 or 7mm-08, your store owner’s recommendation will likely be good enough. Remington Core-LOKT and Winchester Power-Point are popular choices, and Hornady Whitetail does very well in most modern bolt actions too. However, for reloaders who have been chasing accuracy, bullet choice can change the game completely.
Some of the more common 7mm-08 hunting choices.
For example, with my 6.5×55 a 142 gr SMK or 140 gr AMAX does a beautiful group at 100 yards. In fact, my new favourite is Norma-Sierra 144 gr – it’s a factory load, but I can’t seem to beat it with the projectiles I have on hand. However, all of these loads have hit-and-miss performance on game. The AMAX less so, but certainly the SMKs are not meant for hunting. They have erratic terminal performance, sometimes yawing and producing massive wounds, sometimes producing pinhole wounds that can lead to inhumane kills and extended tracking of wounded animals.
But isn’t the Sierra Match King a hollow point? Yes it is, however the HP in this projectile is not designed for expansion on game. This hollow section in the bullet is to keep weight to the rear of the bullet, stabilizing it in flight and making it a more accurate round.
The SMK looks great on paper but does not produce consistent wounds.
Factors like this need to be considered carefully, especially in calibres with higher sectional density, which can lead to deep penetration, but poor expansion if bullet choice is incorrect. This can be prominent in the 6mm and 7mm calibres.
If you’re about to start working up your hunting load for this year’s roar and do some quick sighting in, there are a few ways you can narrow down your bullet selection. You could start by checking out the forums or facebook pages and seeing what others with your rifle/calibre have been using. Or you could start by doing some research on sites like Nathan Foster’s Terminal Ballistics, or checking out the projectile manufacturer’s website. If you are the type to learn better by doing rather than reading, try a sampler pack from Gunworks to get a few different projectiles through your rifle and find its sweet spot.
There are a few centrefire rifle events every year that are just thoroughly enjoyable and worth attending. The Auckland NZDA Prize Shoot is one, as is the Thames NZDA shoot. The Hangiwera Station Sniper Shoot is definitely up there, and so is the Swiss Club’s Any Sights Any Rifle 300 metre shoot.
This year was my first shoot at the Swiss Club, although some of my shooting buddies have been going for years, and I attended on their recommendation.
An enjoyable shoot
The shoot is well organised, and is accommodating for younger or inexperienced shooters. There are club rifles available and the RO is very helpful with sighting in. The club rifles are either straight-pull Karabiners (K31s), chambered in the venerable 7.5×55, or modern semi-autos in 5.56 NATO/.223 Remington.
If you’re bringing your own rifle (as most do), you can use anything you like. If you’re really ambitious, you can try your open-sighted SKS and see what it will do at 300, but you’ll be going up against Bench Rest rifles that hit 10.1 more often than not. Most rifles on the day were a mix of F-Class, BR, sporting and service rifles. Because there is such a variety of shooters and equipment, it’s more likely that you will be competing amongst your group of friends than with the top of the table – unless you’re an excellent BR shooter.
The variety of rifles on the range is a joy in itself.
Although I knew there was no way I could beat the top BR shooters with my modest sporter, this did not diminish my enjoyment of the day at all. I’m pretty competitive by nature, but found myself comparing my scores to my wife’s and those of the other Howick shooters. It also meant I got to see a bunch of really cool guns that you wouldn’t usually see in one competition.
Three-hundred metres is a pretty challenging distance if you haven’t shot past a hundred before. There were even a few who had not shot at all before. However, with the help of the club’s rifle master, these young shooters were hitting paper in no time.
The cost of the shoot is not prohibitive, with a range of $20 on the day, and of the cost of 25 rounds of ammo. The Swiss Club has a really good website for the ASAR shoot, which lets you book your position on the mound ahead of time. With several details across a few days of shooting, you’ll definitely find a time to shoot, and you may even try and better your score on another day.
Swiss Club target.
The format
The shoot starts with 5 individual sighters. Each shooter on the line takes a single shot from the prone position (all shooting is prone), after which the targets go down and the scorers call back the score and location of the round to the RO via radio. A notepad and pen are handy, as you try and figure out where your sighters are landing. The shots are called out like “9 at 3 o’clock” or “7 at at 1 o’clock”, with the first number being the score (1-10) and the position on the clock helping you to identify which segment of the target you are landing on.
After you’ve gone through your 5 sighters, there are 10 individual scoring shots, shot in a very similar fashion. Each shot is still called out, helping you adjust your shot placement, especially if the wind picks up downrange.
A notepad is essential to sighting in at 300 metres.
After the individual shots, you have “rapid” groups of 2, 3 and 5. I say rapid, but it’s really not. It’s simply a few shots in a row. There is no pressure to hurry up, and there are plenty of people single loading their shots.
All shots are still called out, except for the final group. This means you can adjust your shot placement right up the last minute.
How hard is it to hit the 10 ring? You’ll need to be shooting around MOA (just over) to consistently hit the 10 ring at 300 metres. If you want to notch up a bunch of 10.1’s, you’ll need to be shooting around between 0.5 and 0.66 MOA.
The experience
I thoroughly enjoyed the shoot. I went a bit early to watch some of my mates shoot, but also to familiarise myself with the format and calls. I did end up waiting around a bit, but I ended up being there for most of the day, as I had some “technical difficulties”.
After watching the 11 am detail, I hung around over lunch time before taking up my spot on the mound. I was a bit nervous as I was shooting my rifle in its complete configuration for the first time. Since the last time I had shot, I had fitted and bedded my Boyds Prairie Hunter stock, had a new bolt handle machined, and modified my magazine follower. Also unfamiliar to me was a 6-24 scope that I had been sent to review.
One new bolt handle coming up, thanks to my mate Thomas.
Unfortunately the scope did not perform and was unable to be zeroed on the day. This meant I had to wait through an entire detail, pushing out my wife’s shoot as well. However, I used this time to fit my trusty Vortex Diamondback 4-12×40 BDC, which I brought just in case. I have learnt my lesson with taking unfamiliar equipment to a shoot.
Unfortunately this meant I had to sight in from scratch, however, I was on paper on my 3rd shot, and the rest was just fine-tuning. By the end of my shoot I had it right were I wanted it, which meant my wife had the rifle ready to go for her shoot, and actually did quite well. Results can be seen here.
Overall I was very happy with the my complete sporter set up, and with some more powerful glass, I think I’d be comfortable taking this rig out onto the F-Class range.
Looking forward to some Norma brass at the end of this.
I think the load development still has some way to go, particularly as the barrel on this rifle is quite short. Not having developed a satisfactory handload, I shot this competition with factory 6.5×55 ammo. I used the Norma-Sierra 144gr HPBT, and the round seemed to perform pretty well. To be honest, I was more interested in the brass than anything else, as I think this rifle will prefer lighter projectiles, in the 130 – 140 grain range. Over the holidays I’ll be testing out the 129 gr Hornady Interlock and 140 gr A-max. I’ll be comparing this projectiles side-by-side with the 142 gr SMK and the 144 gr OEM projectile in the Norma-Sierra load.
At the end of the day, the shoot was enjoyable, and definitely an experience worth repeating. You can shoot multiple times on one day, or on multiple days across the competition. If I have the time next year, I’ll probably try shoot it on a few days. Being located only 45 mins or so north of Auckland, the range is really accessible, although it is also rarely accessible. The Swiss Club is, of course, a club for Swiss nationals, and as far as I know, this shoot is the only time of the year that the range is opened up to the general public.
If you would like to try a different range and format, and perhaps a longer distance than you usually get to, you’ll definitely enjoy the Swiss Club’s ASAR shoot.
The annual NZDA Auckland branch Prize Shoot is a great day out for Auckland shooters of all abilities. Falling in September each year, the weather can be a bit hit and miss, but aside from that, it’s a perfectly pleasant day on the range with your favourite rifle and some mates.
This year – the 46th Prize Shoot – I shot for my second time and my wife completed her first centrefire competition. We both did fairly well, but she truly excelled. I’ll claim that it’s because I sighted the rifle in through my shooting (we shared a rifle). However, all credit to her, as she outshot some great shooters.
The field
That’s another thing that makes the day enjoyable – there are shooters of all abilities. I placed well ahead of some very experienced shooters, but was beaten by someone shooting for their first time ever. And vice versa. It really is a great field of competitors, where everyone can benchmark their performance against others.
100 metres is more than enough from the standing position.
At the top of Division A were the usual suspects, including Paul Carmine. My wife, Kassie, took out Division B – which got her called up second in the order of prize recipients, allowing her to choose a really nice Hunting and Fishing backpack for her prize.
This year there were four ladies and two junior shooters. In total, there were just under 40 shooters, making up two details. Last year there were around 60 shooters (despite the inclement weather), and apparently previous years have had a similar turnout. Perhaps timing a competition to coincide with Bathurst wasn’t the best move…
The format
The format of the shoot is very simple and easy to follow. Once the safety instructions and competition rules had been read out, the first detail (Squad A) went to the mound for sighting in and the prone target shoot.
Rest and bipods are allowed for sighting in, however, you want to make sure you’re sighted in before competition day if possible.
Sighting in is done on a target on the right hand side of the frame, and five minutes are allowed for unlimited sighters. The range for the competition is 100 metres. I got 13 rounds off in this time, trying to get my rifle on point. The lesson here being to always sight your rifle in before competition day if you’ve done some work on it. After 13 rounds, there was a decent amount of mirage created by the heat of the barrel and my new MAE suppressor. However, by taking my time this didn’t affect my prone shoot.
You can use a rest or bipod to sight in, however the rest of the competition is shot without any aids (aside from a shooting mat and a kneeling roll).This means no slings, jackets or gloves.
The prone shoot is 5 shots in 7 minutes – plenty of time. After this is finished and the rifles are cleared and removed from the mound, scorers go forward to retrieve targets. Squad B is next, but in the meantime, people stand around chatting and enjoying the all-day sausage sizzle.
After Squad B, the same process is followed and Squad A goes up for 5 rounds in the kneeling position, also in 7 minutes. Rinse and repeat for Squad B. The last shoot of the day is 5 rounds standing, again in 7 minutes. This is what separates the men from the boys. Some of those scoring in the 40’s in the prone event struggle to scrape 20 together in the standing position.
In between these, there is a 5 round rapid shoot on the 25 metre range, to be completed in 40 seconds. Again, making sure you know your hold under/over and your parallax settings before competition day is invaluable. If you’re sharing a rifle with your partner or buddy, you will be accommodated with an extra rapid at the end – although you’ll probably have time in between while targets are retrieved and people yack on about how they pulled that one shot. Targets are also given out once scored, so there is plenty to talk about during the day.
The rifles
Generally speaking, the rifles are hunting rifles in hunting calibres. There are some rifles that would look more at home in an F-Class shoot, and some that would be quite comfortable in the lineup for a military service rifle shoot. The most exotic calibre of the day was probably .310 Cadet, with one .22 Hornet and a 6BR making an appearance.
As far as I could see, the only semi-auto was a Norinco M305 (the Chinese version of the M14), whereas last year a couple AR-15’s placed very highly in the field. At the 2014 Prize Shoot I did take an SKS – what a mistake. The iron sights had not been sighted in and after I took the muzzle brake off, the scope’s zero was so off that I wasn’t on the paper. It was an exercise in frustration, and using the iron sights and a whole lot of compensation, I managed to get some scoring shots in the kneeling and standing events.
This year I went armed with my 1943 Husqvarna M38, chambered in 6.5×55. This rifle was sporterised when I got it, and has since been modified even more. Over the last ten or so months it has a new matte black coating applied, the bolt has been replaced and the cocking piece cut down to reduce lock time. I’ve also installed a Vortex Diamondback BDC 4-12 x 40, and a new adjustable BOLD Trigger, which was kindly supplied by Boyds. Completing the setup was a brand new MAE suppressor, which thoroughly impressed my shooting buddies as well as those that heard it perform.
I also have a new Boyds Gunstock waiting to be fitted to this rifle, but I didn’t want to rush the bedding and finishing before this shoot. It should be ready before the 300m Swiss Club shoot in November. And I’ve learnt my lesson – sight in beforehand!
The load I was shooting was as follows:
Projectile: SMK HPBT 142 gr
Powder: ADI AR2208 34.7 gr
Brass: PPU (twice fired)
Primer: Federal Gold Medal Large Rifle Match
Aside from my wife and I, there was one other person shooting 6.5×55. The most common calibre by far was .223 Remington, with 14 shooters using this round. There was one .243 and three .270s, with eight .308 rifles as well. The winning rifle was a .222. There were also four other rifles in this calibre on the day, two placing very low in the field and the other two coming in near the top.
The MAE suppressor cut down felt recoil and the loud crack of the rifle, making it a pleasure to handle.
The prizes
The prizes for the shoot are kindly donated by several sponsors, including major Auckland gun stores, as well as private individuals and club members. Also on offer was a one-year membership to the club, as well as a couple magazine subscriptions.
There were some great prizes to be had, including four of these Leupold knives.
Dotted along the prize table were all sorts of cool items for the garage, range, shed, field or bush. Ranging from knives and a machete to ammunition, books, cleaning products, car accessories and even a leather-working voucher.
Everyone walked away happy, having picked a prize that was probably worth more than the $25 they paid to enter the competition. With free sausages all day, and a lot of shooting to do, it adds up to a very worthwhile day.
With the prizes on display all day, everyone eyes up what they want, and probably spend a fair bit of time vacillating between equally awesome prizes. Last year the knives were first to go, however this year they stuck around for a bit. There were a fair few on offer, and myself and two other members of HSSRC managed to score three out of the four limited edition Leupold hunting knives. The first place junior made a bee-line for the machete, which was clearly something he’d been eyeing up all day.
Whether you only break out the centrefire rifles a few times a year or you regularly enjoy taking your hunting rig out, the NZDA Annual Prize Shoot is a rewarding experience in more ways than one, and is something I’d definitely recommend.
It can be hard to find the perfect gift for someone. It can be harder if they’re into shooting and you’re not – harder still if you don’t have a firearms licence and can’t legally purchase the things they would like. However, there are a few go-to things you can consider, and they won’t break the bank either.
Things made out of ammo that aren’t ammo
Shooters like things that go bang. However, the next best things might be something that looks like it goes bang. However, not all mementos are created equal. Ask any golfer, and they’ll tell you every year they get terrible golf-club or golf-ball shaped items to bury in a draw somewhere. Every now and then they get something that’s actually kind of cool. It’s pretty similar for hunters.
It’s hard to find a cooler bottle opener than this .50 cal case from Gunworks.
A barbecue lighter shaped like a shotgun may not get someone’s juices flowing, but a bottle opener made out of a .50 cal. case with a 750 gr A-MAX projectile seated in it might just get the right reaction. Yeah – 750 grains – that’s four to five times the average .308 projectile weight. My wife and I got one for my father-in-law last Christmas – and I liked it so much I got myself one too. The brass is obviously softer than bottle caps and will mark after use, but hey, it looks so freakin cool. You can get them from Gunworks in Christchurch, and because it’s not live ammo it can be sent anywhere. They have other options too.
Another cool ammo-looking option can be cuff links. These can be done poorly or very well, so be selective. The imitation 12-gauge cuff links my wife got me are not only well made, but look pretty damn good too.
A magazine subscription
If you’re significant other or best friend has a hunting magazine lying around but they don’t have a subscription to it, that could be a great option. Look for the subscription page and photocopy or scan it, or find the magazine’s website. It’ll be pretty obvious if you tear out the page…
Make sure to take a picture of the product code so you can find what you need at the store.
While everything and anything can be found on the internet, gun magazines are a great way for shooters to enhance their knowledge of local shooting spots, new equipment or competition results.
Reloading supplies
Well, you can’t buy ammunition for your partner if you don’t have a licence, but if they reload, you can buy them everything they need to make their own. You’ll still need to have ID, as primers and powder are explosives.
How do you know what to get? Go over to their shooting bench and see what’s running low. Make sure to take a picture of the item or the product code to show the guys at the gun store. Also, make sure to shop around. When you’re spending near a hundred bucks on projectiles or a box of primers, looking at different websites or stores can save you around 10 per cent.
Prvi Partizan ammo has been on the market for years – decades even – but has only just started to make an impact in New Zealand. Or so you thought. Abbreviated to PPU, Prvi Partizan as we know it today has been around since the 1940s, although the company traces its roots back to the late 1920s and has had a few different names as wars and politics have shaped Europe.
My Serbian friend tells me it’s pronounced “pr-ah-vi”, not “privvy” as most people sound it out. It translates roughly to “first partisan” and gets its name from the long and thing rifles produced for partisan forces by the factory in earlier years.
War – what is it good for?
Well, most of the sporting arms and ammunition we enjoy today share their history with their military counterparts. A tonne of the most popular hunting and sporting cartridges today are military cartridges from the past 100 years or more, including:
7.62×51 NATO (.308)
5.56×45 NATO (.223)
.300 AAC Blackout
7.62×39
7.62x54R
6.5×55
7.5×55
7.92×57 Mauser
30-06
.303
.338 LM
.50 BMG
The price of PPU makes it hard not to stock up.
Not to mention the endless array of pistol ammunition too. Of course the search for bigger, better and boom-ier things has led to a surge in development in the cartridge market today, much of which is driven by shooters who demand a high level of accuracy. Ammunition that used to only be available to wildcatters for varminting or bench rest shooting is now common place in the USA and is making its way over to New Zealand as well. Rimfire is also growing in leaps and bounds with the .17 WSM making waves in the shooting community.
But what about those stalwarts of scrub hunting and cheap and cheerful plinking? The cut down .303 bush guns and the semi-auto fun-makers in 7.62×39? Well, PPU is your knight in shining armour. For those that love shooting their military calibre rifles without breaking the bank, the ammunition produced by Prvi Partizan is worth your consideration.
On the plus side
While you might think Prvi hasn’t been in the New Zealand market for a while, it actually has. If you’ve shot Highland ammo, you’ve shot PPU. It’s the brand they’ve been using down here. In terms of military cartridges, Highland hasn’t been the cheapest, but it’s a step up from the dirty steel-cased stuff from Russia. It’s certainly better than putting corrosive ammo through your firearms, especially if you’re not that thorough with your cleaning.
Annealing marks on .303 and 7.62×39 PPU factory rounds.
Prvi Partizan ammunition is brass cased and generally considered to be good brass for reloading. Many Swedish Mauser fans rate the 6.5×55 PPU brass behind Norma and Lapua, but ahead of the American-made stuff. In terms of how soft or long-lasting it is, I can’t personally say. I’m on my second round of firing with this lot of brass and haven’t seen anything untoward yet, but we have a ways to go before anything should be cropping up. When I do get my brass into the higher firing counts I’ll post again to let you know, but considering I have over 140 cases for 6.5×55 alone, I doubt that will be any time too soon.
Considering how good the brass is, it’s certainly worth the price. This is especially the case with calibres like the .303 where you might only have a few options, all of which are more expensive. Not only do you get an acceptable level of accuracy out of it, but you have (I’m guessing) between 6 and 10 more reloads out of them – if not more.
What is the cost? I’ve seen the blue boxes cropping up in a few stores around the country and they’ve ranged in price from $31 to $36 for big rounds like the .303 and 6.5×55. The 7.62×39, which I’ve bought for a reloading experiment, runs at around $30, but if you go to the right Hunting & Fishing, you can pick it up for $25. Most stores will give you a bulk discount if you buy a few packets anyway.
How accurate is it? Well, how long is a piece of string? How accurate a particular round is will be determined by many contributing factors, not least of which are shooter skill and the particular firearm in question. The picture below shows PPU 139gr FMJ 6.5×55 three shot test groups, one is about 1.5 MOA and the other is 2.6 MOA. These are shot from my cut-down 20.5″ barrelled Husky M38. The other target, for comparison, is another reasonably priced brand, Sellier & Bellot 140gr SP, at 2.4 MOA.
PPU 139 gr FMJ and S&B 140 gr SP
This is not bad, considering many are happy to get 3 or 4 MOA groups with milsurp rifles and cheap ammo. However, you don’t get many people bragging about S&B brass for reloading. The picture below shows the S&B group with an unfired round for reference. Bearing in mind that the orange circle is about the size of a kill zone on a deer, this is very reasonable accuracy. If these groups were zeroed in, every shot would be a clean kill.
S&B 2.4 MOA group with unfired 6.5×55 round for comparison.
The negatives with PPU
Well, no one on the range is going to look at your ammo tin on the range and think your other car is a Porsche. But, if you don’t mind that, there’s not much to gripe about with Prvi Partizan. So far I have only shot .303, 7.62×39 and 6.5×55 in PPU and each has performed better than I would expect budget ammo to. I also find it to be quite clean, generally speaking.
However, if you’re wanting superb accuracy without hand loading your own ammo, this may not be the ammo for you. I would suggest trying it – your rifle may love it – but you may be better off paying one and a half or two times the price to get match-grade ammo.
0.64 MOA group shot off a bi-pod with PPU brass, Federal Match primers, 142 gr SMK HPBT projectiles and 34.7 grains of AR 2208.
There may also be variations in weight of brass and even wall thickness or hardness. This is pure, untested speculation. The only reason I say this could be possible is that the low price indicates that the machinery that produces this brass may not be as thoroughly regulated or maintained as those operated by Hornady or Lapua. The staff may not be as well compensated. But who knows?
What you may wish to do is individually weigh up the clean and empty brass out of a box or two, and see what the variation is between cases. Some spread is to be expected, but too much could have an effect on reloading. You could also see how much water each case holds to determine case-wall thickness and internal capacity. Anyway, I’ve been managing to get smaller than 1 MOA groups out of this brass, so I’m not complaining.
Overall, I think it is well worth the purchase. The accuracy is good enough for hunting ammo if you get the soft point variety, and there’s certainly a place for it in the safe if you just want plinking ammunition or a source of cheap brass.
It’s an unfortunate fact of life for reloaders – at some point, you’ll need to pull bullets and start again. For me,this happened recently when I made a mistake with my mechanical scale while reloading for 6.5×55. I was tossing up between a press mounted bullet pulling die and a ‘hammer type’ inertia puller, when my mind was made up for me.
As often happens when you’re at your local gun store, you see something that you’ve been meaning to get for ages. For me, it was a bullet puller (as well as some dies, a cleaning rod, solvent, shell holders and more, but hey…). My initial leaning towards an inertia bullet puller was (typically) the cost saving. Most hammers are able to handle a huge variety of calibres, while a bullet-pulling die requires a collet for each calibre you’re pulling.
When I saw the Lyman Magnum Inertia Bullet Puller under the glass counter, the decision was made. Most of the impact-type pullers I’d seen did not cater for larger rounds like .416 Rigby or .338 Lapua Magnum, or even Winchester WSMs or Remington Ultra Mags. According to the packaging – the Lyman does! While I didn’t need to pull a big game magnum round any time soon, I liked the idea that I could if I really wanted to.
Putting it to the test
The Lyman Magnum Inertia Bullet Puller has all the instructions you need on the packaging.
Well, how did it work? Simply and easily. I did make a simple mistake, which I’d be remiss not to share. I didn’t want to mark the plastic of my brand-new-hammer-looking-thing, so I started rapping it on a piece of timber. No dice. Then on a laminate bench. Damn… That bench top now has a massive bulge in it from being hammered into oblivion with no bullet-pulling success.
Resigned to the fact that I had made a dud purchase, I gave it a few quick raps on the concrete floor, and lo-and-behold – success!
The long and short of it
Using the Lyman bullet puller is extremely easy. It covers just about every calibre you can think of and is a cinch to use. You simply select one of the two collets, depending on the calibre you are dealing with. You slip the loaded round into the collet so the rounded edge is facing the primer end. It will sit nicely in the extractor groove.
The next step is to put the loaded round in the body of the hammer, while the collet keeps it suspended. Screw in the retaining cap and give it a few good whacks on some concrete or something to separate your ammunition into powder, projectile and primed case. I found the end cap could come a bit loose, which may require tightening after a couple blows – not a big deal really.
The instructions are on the packaging, including the size of collet you want for various calibres, so the whole process really is super easy.
I don’t like pouring powder back into the container once it’s been loaded for a while. No particular reason, I just don’t. I prefer to know the powder I’m using is 100% what it’s supposed to be when I’m loading fresh rounds. So, for that reason, powder from pulled rounds gets put straight into the hopper and used for plinking ammo. Or, if I have another jar of powder that is almost empty, I’ll put it in there and use fresh powder from a new bottle for my target loads.
My freshly pulled SMK ready for reloading.
The bullet itself is obviously reusable. The primed brass is too – unless, you are taking your round apart because of an issue with the primer. Now, do not try and decap an unfired primer. I shouldn’t need to explain this, but it’s basically crushing the primer from the anvil end – which will make it go bang. Not fun for your decapping pin. Not fun for you. The best way to get a primer out so you can reuse the brass is to fire the round in your rifle. You can simply load the primed case into your gun and pull the trigger (outdoors, with the muzzle pointed a safe direction – i.e. the same way you would treat it if it were a normal round). Now you can decap.
What you shouldn’t do with an inertia bullet puller
A pulled bullet resting in powder.
Lyman recommends on the packaging to not use the product without safety glasses. There’s not much danger in it, but you can guarantee that if anything is ever going to go wrong, it will be the one time you’re not wearing protective gear. So, as with your regular reloading (because you’re working with explosive components), chuck on some safety glasses.
You should never try and pull bullets from rimfire ammunition. It will go bang. You will regret it.
You shouldn’t expect perfect bullets if you’re using projectiles with plastic tips. Kerry from thebloke.co.nz tells how his Nosler Ballistic Tips were damaged when using this exact same puller. Bear in mind, when a bullet is moving at supersonic speeds, there is a cushion of air in front of the projectile, which means slight deformities aren’t the end of the world. This is why hollow points aren’t less accurate than FMJs. They are often more accurate because of the weight distribution.
The collet sits in the extractor groove, holding the round in place.
That’s the theory behind Sierra Matchkings anyway, and it seems to be working well so far. So, while I wound’t mind if my lead- or plastic-tipped rounds got a bit of a crumple in them, I wouldn’t use them for target loads. Repeatability leads to accuracy. I would use rounds like this for hunting at normal ranges or general plinking or practice – they’ll still do their job and expand on game.
If you are concerned about the condition of the your match rounds or long-distance projectiles, a press-mounted bullet puller might be what you’re after. However, I have used the Lyman puller for SMKs, and it’s worked out just fine, with no damage to the projectile tip that I can see.
