Franksremote

I got the RCBS Bullet Feeder to try out on my 650 and with the hopes of possibly adapting it to my 1050 if it worked well. I came across a unit when one of my vendors got one into stock at a bit less than the Mr. Bullet Feeder setup; both at wholesale as I'm an FFL/Retail Gun Store. After setting it up according to the instructions, the first impression was that it sorted and loaded the bullet feeding tube without issue and didn't really need extensive setup or adjustment at all to properly orient and "load" the feeder tube on top of their adapter/setting die. Initially, it even dispensed bullets properly onto powder filled cases, but only after a lot of fidgeting with the die's depth, etc. Once it was finally properly adjusted, I thought I had actually managed to save a few dollars, while getting a comparable product to the Mr. Bullet Feeder, which would really double my rate of production The good feelings didn't last long. The "die"/adapter for placing/setting the bullets on top of the power filled case was/is a worsening problem spot. At the beginning, it was just sporadic in its malfunction(s), sometimes setting a bullet and other times not; roughly 70% ok and 30% not. Following the instructions to the "T" about belling size as well as trying a variety of different belling sizes did nothing to improve the situation, it just worked sometimes and not others. Very lightly deburring the inner surface of the adapter removed a high/roughly spot and seemed to solve the problem, but in the end, it only proved to be a very temporary fix. For a whiles there, it performed well at roughly 95% ok and 5% not, lasting for about 1000 rounds or so; pretty decent and I was happy with how it working (as advertised), feeling as if it was actually making my reloading life faster as well as easier. Until... bullets just started free falling unimpeded through the die. Five (5) to 15 of them at a time would drop out after the press was cycled but without setting a bullet on the case and they would smack the powder filled case below with such a continued onslaught that powder would just be knocked out going every which way joining bullet heads as both littered my bench and floor creating a nice mess. The bullet heads were all over the place, but still, it was only a sporadic problem, maybe once every 100 rds or so, and I held out hope that things would work out as claimed given my experience with the quality of RCBS's other products that I've personally used and sold to many satisfied users. The sporadic performance was annoying but I felt it was acceptable to me as it was increasing productivity even with the occassional "cluster bomb" drop of bullet heads. I really though that as time passed and it settled in, overcoming its "growing pains", it would be a great addition to my reloading equipment that increased my productivity, or so I thought... You'll never guess what started to happen - the retention/setting problem just got worse. Bullet heads would now free fall out in a never ending stream with only the capacity of the bowl as the limiting factory: it just wouldn't stop regardless of what was done to the connector, tube or die depth. It took physically plugging the underside of the "die" opening with my finger to stop the free flowing mess, all the while it would continue to fill the bullet tube (properly, I might add, with insult to injury), thus requiring the disconnection of power (one handed) to finally staunch the flow of bullets. As you may have guessed, the rest of the bullets in the tube/magazine, proceed to fall out the moment I remove my finger from the opening. After loading (or attempting to, depending on how it performd on any given day) roughly 2000 total rounds, it became a bigger hassle than any miniscule of realized benefit to even attempt to use the RCBS POS and it's just sitting in the corner of my gun room, literally gathering dust. Purchasing that POS not only wasted my hard earned money, but even worse, it wasted what precious little time I already don't have extra of. My mechanically unassisted rate of 100 rds every 6 minutes without the RCBS Bullet Feeder, quickly became and exceeded 100 rounds every 15 minutes (or more) and the mess it made of things with bullets and powder everywhere added on another 15 minutes of clean up time at the conclusion of my loading session, where previously it took just moments to switch the case feeder, lights and scale off. It may need another (or change of) tension rubber band(s) installed around the adapter to "fix" th free falling bullet problem, but already, after only a couple of thousand rounds? It really shouldn't require in depth troubleshooting and modification in order to get it running right out of the box or even after only a couple of thousand rounds through it; saddest part is that it never, ever, ran 100% even when loading a small batch of 200 - 300 rounds. Something would always occur, mostly lack of a set bullet at first which progressed to the bullet mele discribed above. The RCBS Bullet Feeder is definately more hinderance than help and I kick myself, every time I see it sitting there gathering dust, for not just getting the well reviewed (and proportedly excellent functioning) Mr. Bullet Feeder, instead of trying out this POS RCBS product which saved me $120 at the time of purchase but has ended up costing me much, much more in lost time and productivity. To its credit, as previously mentioned, the bullets in the bowl almost always sorted into the proper orientation and was not a difficult setup in order to attain that fractional portion of its claimed performance. But really now, what good is orienting them correctly into the tube only to have them all fall out like you hit the jackpot on a slot machine? What value does it really have if it won't reliably place the bullet on top of the powder filled case? It is a "Bullt Feeder" afterall! And not just failing to dispense bullets onto powder filled cases, but deciding on its own that it would be best to just set all of the bullets free to shower my bench and feet with 124gr JHP bullet heads? Useless unless you're into punishing yourself or like to tinker unendingly with a product the doesn't perform as advertised and wouldn't whether it's on a Dillon, RCBS or any other press. Save the headache and skip this "upgrade" product from RCBS and buy the Mr. Bullet Feeder instead! Your stress level will thank me for it in the long run. Unless of course you like paying to be a guinea pig without any sort of reward including loaded ammunition.

I opted for a solid extended steel punch I had laying around, I put it in the die while it was still in the press and a couple of good whacks to pop it right out.

Saw a Giraud/Gracey "look-a-like" on Sniper's Hide a guy made from a Flea Market bought sewing machine. Looked like it works pretty good too. I opted for the Gracey (that already had the Giraud upgrades installed for my main caliber .308), and got it used with two caliber setups for 1/2 price of a new one (I actually want(ed) the Giraud but it's 4-6 months for a new one and I haven't seen any used ones popping up lately), and I am getting complete (kinda like a quick change for a Dillon) replacement units (collet, shaft w/ adjusted cutters) for each caliber I trim so that I won't have to spend mondo time adjusting the cutters when I switch calibers. I'm still on the look out for a Giraud as they're supposed to be the bee's knees of trimmers.. I've got the Lee setups as a backup in case my main trimmer dies and considering they just released their .338LM casegauge, I can trim those while waiting for the changeovers from Gracey. At $4-$5 a pop, they're a good deal but the shellholder drives me batty sometimes. I've got the RCBS trimmate unit and was considering threading the Lee cutter (or shellholder) to one of the stations to convert it to a powered affair. It's either that or make a fixture for a drill or even the sewing machine thingie on SH... I love tinkering and avoided buying one of the more expensive trimmers, but in the end it's like the primer filler, how much is one's time worth. For me it wasn't worth screwing around with initially and not having a trimmer to use, but now that I've got one, it may be time to start tinkering again as an option vs changing the Gracey/Giraud over for just a coupla hundred pieces of a different caliber that and even only for S&Gs

So does RCBS, with either you can remove the decapping stem if you're using a universal decapping die, same for the FL (stem can be removed). +1 of the Giraud or Gracey I got the latter with the Giraud upgrade and it makes trimming stupid simple (like sharpening a pencil in an electric sharpener). You have to FL resize first (I decap as well) as the neck is stretched by the FL sizing, not to mention it uniforms the shoulder on all the cases. You can have them make collets for NK sizing only. ChrisS turned me onto the Lee Trimmer w/ a drill (and I've got 'em as a backup) but it's just easier and FASTER (8-12 cases a minute) to use the Gracey, err.. it's kinda fun too

Looks like we're 19th and 45th for the Lim/L10/Revo Nats so woohoo, Vegas here we come!

+1 You definately see them at matches large and small, sometimes surrounded by lots of no-shoots, but rarely setup at practice sessions (at those clubs that have practice sessions/days). I find that most folks complain about stages, props or positions that require them to use skills (weak hand, strong hand, TX Stars, etc.) that they never or rarely practice. They've gotta learn how to shoot the star sooner or later and in all reality, any other skills that they don't use often nor practice ever... My $0.02.

13 and 43 for us for the Open/Prod. Dunno about Lim/L10/Revo though, hopefully not in triple digits... See y'all there

Frank, I am not sure which manufacturers you are talking about, but yes, we have our stories also. 1) The large AR-15 company who called us on the day after the election and told us that the price of stripped lowers previously ordered are now $20 higher. And did we want to approve that price increase as our order was ready to ship. 2) The jobber aftermarket parts manufacturer in the upper midwest that we signed on with as one of their first dealers and helped to make a marketable name. A new employee was hired to handle dealer relationships and during our first phone call with him told me personally that our business was not very important now since Brownells and Midway carry their stuff. Odd, a common complaint about this company is the poor customer service from this new employee's area of the company. And the employee who formerly handled dealer relationships is apparently willing to sit back and watch his hard work go down the drain because of this new employee. I would love to say more on this topic, but will hold back. Your words struck a chord with me. The stories are all the same. Company "Nobody" begs for your business and offers you the sky and then some to stock their product and when they've "made it" forget that you even exist. What can you do? I'm not sure why it's so hard to understand that customer service is first and foremost but repeat business is built on a mutual long lasting relationship, not a one-night stand. Geesh, I'm sounding like Dr. Phil lol. More of my 2 cents, change welcome. Frank

My better half almost always beats me... It's nice we shoot in different divisions so there isn't a direct comparison, but I still relish beating her with my limited gun on a stage or two now and again; it doesn't help since she waxes my ass in almost every match though I'm all for it, at least one of us is getting better and closer to the top.

We've kept our prices inline with pre-Obama MSRP (we're one of the lowest in our area as is and still are) provided vendors didn't overcharge/increase our cost. I'd like to believe that folks will remember, but in reality, I think the public forgets as fast as the next event occurs. It does make me feel better that we're "doing the right thing" and I would think that karma would smile on us in the future for our efforts. I am truly disappointed in some of the manufacturers that have gone off the deep end, one who we supported heavily when they were nobodies are now turning their backs on us cause the "big boys" are stocking their products. I thought they were good people and can't begin to express how disappointed I am in their "new tune." My 2 cents, Frank

Reviving this as I'd like to change out the knob on Jenny's Cmore and have already whacked at it a few times with a rollpin punch and nadda. Gotta stop before I actually break somethin'...

Can't say enough about paying attention, the following would've been worse than a double IMO. A friend needed to load ammo for a gun he's borrowing from me as well as learning to reload. On my dedicated .40 cal 1050, I setup the alternate measure, adjust the seating die and get him loading moly bullets. I'm blabbing away about the reloading process, how to use the primer filler, completely stroking the press, paying attention, etc. etc. While demo'ing the loading process, I check the drop and it's low at 3.2, reset it to 4.5, add some TG to the measure to fill it up and get him underway loading. Luckily he's being overly cautious as all beginners tend to be and after stroking the press he checks a couple of cases, and finds erractic weights (4.7 - 6.9 grains), even though the powder check went off, not possible says I for it to be that erratic and recalibrate the scale just to be sure. Set and test the drop for 4.5 grains and two cases weigh that, he checks one 5 or so down the line and finds 6.5 and 4.8 again. I stop him completely to check everything over to make sure nothing's wrong with the scale, measure or press. Lucky we did... Originally I thought I just hadn't reset the measure after loading for a GSSF match, it finally dawns on me that I've got two different powders in the measure (Clays ang TG) I was embarassed to say the least as I'm supposed to be mentorring him and properly getting him started reloading, instead I'm screwing it up worse than a newbie with no experience at all We toss the loaded rounds into the recycle bin to be pulled for components later and I change him to my "match" measure with Vhit powder and switch to JHP bullets. All goes well the rest of the night as I fertilize the lawn with the TG/Clays mixture. I'm an experienced reloader and reloading instructor at the shop, but still I learned a BIG lesson (especially about complacancy) that night and still thank him for being overly cautious his first time catching what could've been a truly catastrophic blowout when he'd have touched one off out of my backup Limited gun. It could've/would've really hurt him. I think he learned something that will stay with him forever too... Yes, it didn't look right in the case, the powder check sounded off and the weight was wrong on the scale. All the signs were there, I was just having a serious brain fart and am glad he/we caught the mixup before it was too late. Still would've been better to pay more attention BEFORE it happened, but paying attention while loading revealed the mistake before it was too late (couldn't have setup that kinda lesson). I still use the powder check and look into each case, but now I double check the powder measure and which powder before getting started in the hopes that future brain farts can be avoided... Embarassing but thought I'd share. Please forgive the thread drift.

CONGRATS! Nothin' like your first classification. So have you figured out what percentages you need to get to B yet? Keep havin' fun, believe it or not, it actually gets to be more and more fun

It wasn't an issue until they came out with their "new" adjustable rear Bomar design about 6 months ago. Since then it seems as if there isn't a DP front sight tall enough to make up for the height. We were selling and installing quite a few until this came up and we had to "special order" the taller front sight. It was DPs customer service that told us that the .310 sight was what was needed, but we had to order 10 or more to get them specially made.

There are "pistol" marked receivers from a lot of the lower manufacturers. They enter it as a pistol and it stays that way upon manufacture, on the 4473, it's an "other" as it's neither a pistol or rifle in stripped receiver trim. You can make a pistol but it has to stay that way, once registered in the state (with CA) as a pistol, it cannot legally be made into a rifle (same goes for receivers not marked "pistol" you can make it one, but can't change to a rifle afterwards.)