Hornady Bullet Feeder: I LOVE IT!

A

aridan

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I finally bit the bullet ;) & got myself a bullet feeder from Hornady! Seeing that most places were out of the 110V units, I got a 220V one from Graf & sons. I did have to get a step-up transformer, but another $40 was worth it IMO, I wasn't prepared to wait any longer.

I'm not the most mechanically-inclined person - although I can't say I have two left hands, either. I've heard a lot of people had to tweak their feeders to make them work. I'm happy to report that none of that happened in my case. I took my time, and about 2 hours later had the process running pretty smooth. I still have an occasional bullet tip sideways when advancing to the seating die, but I didn't want to have too much belling of the case so that's OK.

The addition of the bullet feeder allowed the left hand to do a single operation, which is picking up & feeding the case. I want to keep this part manual, gives me a chance to inspect the case before putting it through. Besides, there's nothing else to do while I crank the handle.

The only con I see so far: they should have included a limit switch, to stop the feeder motor when the tube is full. The tube fills up faster than I can empty it. Then again, having frequent stops & starts is probably going to work the motor harder than just running it constantly. Do you guys have any thoughts on this?

I have a small board that I pulled from a dead photocopier years ago, it has a transistor-driven relay, so I can use a low-voltage switch to control the 220V going to the motor. I just don't see this working with a single switch - I think there should be two, an upper one to stop the motor, and a lower one to start it again. Otherwise, the start/stop will be happening for each bullet.

Any ideas would be appreciated. ;)
 
I only do half as much. I get some NT brass, some damaged brass, and some that just won't go in for whatever reason. I do get some proud primers, too. If I crank too fast, bullets tend to tip over before they enter the seating die. I also need time to check powder.

I can't imagine using a case feeder unless the whole operation is flawless - mine isn't. :( But I do enjoy the process, so 500/Hr is OK for me. BTW, that includes time to load primers, lube brass, clean finished rounds, and box them. :D
 
You can spray cleaned brass after media separation with One Shot in a plastic bucket and just stirr them a bit, do it twice. You don't need much of that lube. It coats cases very nicely and loading gets smoother :)
I don't clean finished ammo and normally don't box it either, may be first 100rds just to weigh them and then keep pouring ammo into regular cardboard boxes by weight in 500rds and 1000rds.
 
I use 5 drops of Ballistol in a large ziplock bag, add 4 handful of brass, then shake. After loading, I just wipe 50-60 at a time in a large towel.

I like boxing ammo. :D

Please tell me more about weighing the finished brass. :confused:
 
I get lots of bad brass, if the machine wont size I toss it..If it gets loaded i find them when I chamber check everthing, no need to look at the powder in the case the powder measure will do it's job everytime as long as nothing is stuck in it... ( I found a spent primer and a stone in mine once) :(

Case feeder leaves your left hand free to right the odd tipping bullet and speed things up, put a light on the press to shine into the station where the powder thrower is if your worried about it...I used to get the odd proud primer till I switched to CCI primers they
slip in a little easier... :)
 
JOJOPINTO said:
I get lots of bad brass, if the machine wont size I toss it..If it gets loaded i find them when I chamber check everthing, no need to look at the powder in the case the powder measure will do it's job everytime as long as nothing is stuck in it... ( I found a spent primer and a stone in mine once) :(

Case feeder leaves your left hand free to right the odd tipping bullet and speed things up, put a light on the press to shine into the station where the powder thrower is if your worried about it...I used to get the odd proud primer till I switched to CCI primers they
slip in a little easier... :)
Click to expand...
That's great, thanks! Looks like I still have a long way to learn the finer points...
 
It's more or less 1230gramm, it will vary due to mixed brass weight and bullet weight not being exactly same from case to case or bullet to bullet.
But I can still tell if I have 99rds or 101rds on the scale as finished round is ~13gr :)
 
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