Mr Bullet Feeder

[Echd]

I have just acquired one of these and currently have all of the caliber conversions for pistol. I have spent the past couple of hours familiarizing myself with it and feeling it out.

Have you found some bullet designs, lengths, or types to feed more readily? Do some exhibit more problems than others? Did you have any teething issues you figured out after a while?

So far I have found that it is very easy to make it work with any 45 bullet I have thrown at it, has no problems with most of my 357 bullets, but appears a bit touchy with coated truncated cone 40. Overall it appears like a very well made tool, but I would just like to know if there are any issues I can head off ahead of time!

I have it on a 650.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Echd

[Sarge]

Mine runs 99.9% flawlessly on my 650. I get an occasional, rare, upside down bullet with 115 MG JHP for some reason.

Edited February 22, 2016 by Sarge

[Foxbat]

I had some issues with flat nose 9mm bullets, and in general the flat noses seem to require more attention, long noses usually, in my experience, feed more reliably. I don't use lead bullets, only jacketed.

[amokscience]

Once you adjust it the round nose bullets should be practically perfect. Flat nose requires some very fine tweaking and can still result in an upside down one every few hundred.

You may need to tape some plastic or cardboard to the top of the case to prevent bullets from lodging in the groove where the bullets are supposed to fall and re-upright themselves.

If you have issues with multiple bullets feeding you may need to strap the feeding slinky to something to keep it straight. I taped some extra lead weights to balance it out.

The wire going to the stop sensor broke on mine (maybe 10k rounds in), soldered it back together myself and it works fine again.

[Echd]

After spending some time fiddling with it, I got around to loading with it.

I loaded 1000 rounds of 40. Overall I am happy with it but I am having some issues.

I had a handful of upside down bullets, which I don't think is a big deal. It was very rare, 1% maybe. It's going to happen eventually, especially with these TC profile bullets.

Two times it dumped the entire load of bullets without warning, which was a bit surprising, but not a huge deal. I am assuming that was the result of an upside down bullet feeding and causing an issue. I moved the machine forward some to alleviate any pressure on the dropped mechanism. Hasn't happened since then.

I do however have an issue with a bullet falling sideways out of the collator and jamming up the spring-tube thing. They would become lodged right inside of the drop and I would have to cut off the collator then reach up there and either smack it or poke it with something to make it drop through. This happened about once every 50-75 rounds. And ideas? I want to say I should fiddle with the angle of the collator. I called myself following the directions to set it up, but I don't know how close to 45 degrees it needs to be- or how close I am. This is the only major issue I have had.

Edited February 23, 2016 by Echd

[Foxbat]

Once you adjust it the round nose bullets should be practically perfect. Flat nose requires some very fine tweaking and can still result in an upside down one every few hundred.

On my last Mr. BF there were not enough spacers to properly set it up for 180gr flat nose bullets, so I had to make another spacer, then it became pretty reliable.

[Echd]

Really? I am using one thick and one thin spacer with 180s for 40. Just ran another 200 (the novelty of this thing is going to have me loading every piece of brass I can find until it wears off) and only had one flipped.

[JatCarver]

If you load any rifle rounds use boat tail Bullets if possible. I've had a little bit of trouble with flat base getting hung up in the drop tube.

[RickT]

I'm only loading 115gr 9mm currently. The Bayou 115gr with a relatively pointed profile are easy to set up. There is an occasional failure to feed - something to do with the shape of the bullet in causing the stack to hang at the interface between the plastic tube and the actual die. Had the same thing with a mini Mr. BF. The Bayous, however, have a slight chamfer on the bottom which means they seat flawlessly in the case 100% of the time.

Acme 115gr never hang up in the tube (different length, different profile), but since they are quite blunt the collator adjustment is very sensitive. They also require a bit more bell than the Bayou bullets to seat consistently. I'm getting maybe 1 upside-down bullet every 100 or 150 rounds. The most common cause is a bullet that actually comes out of the collator tray and just bumps along interfering with the mechanism that turns the bullet.

I'm happy enough with the performance with the Acme bullets that I'm going to stick with those for the time being.

[RickRak2000]

I do however have an issue with a bullet falling sideways out of the collator and jamming up the spring-tube thing. They would become lodged right inside of the drop and I would have to cut off the collator then reach up there and either smack it or poke it with something to make it drop through. This happened about once every 50-75 rounds. And ideas? I want to say I should fiddle with the angle of the collator. I called myself following the directions to set it up, but I don't know how close to 45 degrees it needs to be- or how close I am. This is the only major issue I have had.

You might try running the collator at a different speed. The particular bullet you are using may be falling into the output tube funnel and hitting at an angle that causes it to bounce in such a way as to fall sideways and get stuck.

Since you also load 40 cal, you're probably set up with the large diameter output tube assembly. Most short 9-38's (especially 90-100gr) bullets have this issue more than the longer bullets... but the 9-38's will also pass through the small diameter assembly... and its output tube funnel has a smaller aperture which will most likely eliminate the problem altogether. I've also heard of guys putting a small piece of duct tape (or velcro pile tape) into the large end of the funnel to soften the bounce as the bullet drops into it. If you need the small output tube assy, they can be bought separately.

Sometimes, a very minor change in the tilt angle will do the trick. It's easy to simply use a small shim under the front upper hanger puck to tilt the collator up a tiny bit, or under the rear puck to tilt the collator down.

If you have a smart phone, there is an App that will make the phone operate as an inclinometer that you can use to measure the pitch angle. I hope this helps.

[Foxbat]

Really? I am using one thick and one thin spacer with 180s for 40. Just ran another 200 (the novelty of this thing is going to have me loading every piece of brass I can find until it wears off) and only had one flipped.

Yes, exactly, the bullets are 180gr Precision Delta, and you can clearly see the home made spacer in the middle of the stack, it made the operation fully reliable. A .040" thick piece of aluminum.

[Echd]

I do however have an issue with a bullet falling sideways out of the collator and jamming up the spring-tube thing. They would become lodged right inside of the drop and I would have to cut off the collator then reach up there and either smack it or poke it with something to make it drop through. This happened about once every 50-75 rounds. And ideas? I want to say I should fiddle with the angle of the collator. I called myself following the directions to set it up, but I don't know how close to 45 degrees it needs to be- or how close I am. This is the only major issue I have had.

You might try running the collator at a different speed. The particular bullet you are using may be falling into the output tube funnel and hitting at an angle that causes it to bounce in such a way as to fall sideways and get stuck.

Since you also load 40 cal, you're probably set up with the large diameter output tube assembly. Most short 9-38's (especially 90-100gr) bullets have this issue more than the longer bullets... but the 9-38's will also pass through the small diameter assembly... and its output tube funnel has a smaller aperture which will most likely eliminate the problem altogether. I've also heard of guys putting a small piece of duct tape (or velcro pile tape) into the large end of the funnel to soften the bounce as the bullet drops into it. If you need the small output tube assy, they can be bought separately.

Sometimes, a very minor change in the tilt angle will do the trick. It's easy to simply use a small shim under the front upper hanger puck to tilt the collator up a tiny bit, or under the rear puck to tilt the collator down.

If you have a smart phone, there is an App that will make the phone operate as an inclinometer that you can use to measure the pitch angle. I hope this helps.

Awesome to get a response from the man himself! I tried shimming and I believe that fixed my issues. I will give it a more thorough examination this weekend after shooting some of this ammo. If I continue to have issues I will go the velcro/tape route and see if that does the trick.

The MBF wasn't a cheap setup, but it sure is awesome to crank that handle and pump out the ammo.

[JD1]

I do love the MBF, but it is always a little fussy switching bullet styles or weights or calibers. The very short bullets of any caliber can be vexing to get set just right. I once emailed the owners in Europe about it and they said to recheck the tilt to be certain of the 45 degree angle. I had made that setting as a guess, so I went to home depot and bought a simple tilt meter for a few bucks. Sure enough, I was at 42 degrees. I reset to 45 and the vast amount of problems vanished. Trust the instructions.

[glockman75]

I love this thing now but when I first assembled it I was hating it.

I just bought a 1050 and Mr. Bullet feeder. It took several hours to get both adjusted and running properly. What an amazing experience once it was working properly. Big step up from 2 square deals! I wish I'd done this years ago.

So much fun to load. It took me quite awhile to figure out how to keep the bullets from dumping out of the feeder onto my work bench. I ended up having to use all 4 shims for the flipper that came with it. Then it started to work well except double feeding. I stopped that by by stabilizing the slinky. I just used a rubber band to hold it to the powder measure to stabilize it. That allowed the dropper to function freely.