I have the RCBS collet bullet pulling kit, I have outfitted it with six collets, one being 30 caliber. Do they actually make one that is sized to .308?
It is .300 and it really screws up the bullet because it doesn’t go down to the top of the case to grip it like all the others do. It grips the bullet about 1/4 inch above, see the pic. I do have the kinetic puller and while it does work it’s PITA.
Granted I’m not pulling hundreds like I did with the 10mm bullets last year, but I have my Lee single stage with collet puller next to my loading press for ease of pulling up slightly to get the right seating depth if the bullet is too short.

Suggestions?
1) modify existing collet with spike and 3# hammer with brute force.
2) spread the collet with a screwdriver like you have done before dummy.
3) Suck it up buttercup and use the damn kinetic puller. FRAKKK.

My RCBS 30 cal collet measures about .325" (loose - not installed in the puller). Did a quick check and a Hornady 168 gr easily slid fully into the collet.

With the collet loose, a bullet should slip fully in. If it doesn't, then perhaps your collet has taken a permanent set. Assuming you have calipers, what's the inside diameter of the collet at its mouth?

If you want to recover the bullets for future use, the inertial puller is usually a better choice. Anything pulled with a collet goes in the "blems" category, at best.
(At the very least, even with a properly fitting collet, you've probably squeezed the bullet enough to change where it contacts the lands. And this bullet may be squeezed more or less than the next one, etc.)

A trick to make bullets pull easier - set up your seating die to seat the loaded rounds .020" deeper, run through the whole batch, then pull them. Rounds that have sat for any length of time will often make a crack or snap sound when seating a little deeper - that's evidence of cold welding, and breaking that bond makes them easier to pull. But if you seat 10 or so without having any do this, they all seat deeper smoothly and easily, then you don't need to bother with the rest, it won't help.

But yeah, it sounds like your 308 collet is messed up, or just not relaxing fully.

I measured the inside of the collet and it measures .300 inches. Me thinks it is out of spec so I’ll get a hold of RCBS, they have always been great about replacing out of spec parts.

Thanks

I generally use this puller while loading rifle rounds, I tried to explain what I use it for but it must not have hit home. For 223/556 it has never squished the bullets that I can tell since I barely add pressure it’s before the crimp location.
At this moment I use a Lee seating die that is not very accurate. When loading hundreds of rounds in a session I check the seating depth on every round and want it to be as close if not dead on that I can get. For those that are under my target length I put them in the puller and raise them slightly then adjust the seating die to get the right length.

No, it hit home just fine, I have the same puller set and know exactly what it does and does not do.

That spot in front of the crimp location is what contacts the rifling lands first, and it matters a lot, far more than the nose of the bullet. Ever heard someone talking about "distance to the lands"? That's the distance between the rifling in your barrel, and this spot you're squeezing with the collet. You can't measure the difference with a tape measure, but collet pulling does change this, and it's not consistent. That's why bullets pulled that way should be considered seconds, at best. Whether you've been able to tell a difference or not is a different conversation.

On the seating depth and overall length - you're focusing on the wrong detail. Your Lee die is more accurate than what you're trying to do. What you're actually measuring is difference in bullet nose length, but it doesn't really matter. Adjusting each round to the same OAL is counterproductive and a bad practice - you're making the jump to the lands inconsistent by doing that, and making your ammo less accurate.

A much better way is to measure cartridge base to ogive (CBTO); you'll find that your Lee die is pretty consistent and it's just length of the bullet noses that varies, which is of little to no consequence. You'll also see that with collet-pulled bullets, this measurement can vary a LOT, because the bullets are no longer consistent.

Well then I've been doing it wrong for years then. Damn, there's a visual that send it home for me. After all I am a caveman.
I still have an out of speck collet.
https://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/20 ... -consider/
Thanks for the info Yon.