A couple of batches of my experimental 44 mag loads wouldn’t even chamber (the gun has 0.4336″ throats but will not chamber bullets larger than 0.432″, at least not without turning cases) so I attempted to get some use out of the cartridges by conducting a pull test on the unfired rounds. Lacking a real bullet pull force measuring system, I instead counted the number of whacks required to pull the bullet with an inertia puller. The rounds had been crimped using a standard Redding crimp die.
Number of whacks required for shallow seated bullets:
3
3
5
6
8
8
8
8
9
9
27
100+ (gave up)
110
126
200+ (gave up)
I was unable to pull any of the deep seated bullets with the inertia puller, even after 200 whacks.
Conclusions Most of the shallow seated bullets came out easily, but a few rounds were more stubborn than the rest, for no obvious reason. We have to wonder if this would cause the velocity or the accuracy to vary. The deep seated bullets had a much more tenacious grip on the case, which I consider a very good thing for this particular application.
Questions Why were some of the shallow seated bullets much harder to pull than others, since the case length and crimp were uniform? Does the age of the cartridges (they were loaded 6 months ago) have an effect on bullet pull?