RCBS Bullet Feeder on a 650

[RocketCity1911]

Anybody using an RCBS Bullet Feeder on their Dillon 650? If so, how well does it work and are you happy with it or do you wish you had gone with another option?

[gohuskers]

Here's a review of one on a dillon 650:

My link

Personally I would probably spend a little extra money and get the Mr. Bulletfeeder. By all accounts he's got great customer service and they just plain run.

[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.

[glynnm45]

Very extensive review, thank you. Very different than the Youtube video of it being setup on a XL650. For the price difference,however, I will still be going to Mr. Bullethead.

[XD Niner]

Thanks for sharing your painful experience. Hopefully, others will consider your experience before buying a bullet feeder so your pain was not totally in vain.

[RocketCity1911]

Thank you for sharing this sad story. I'm sure this will save many others from making a big mistake. This is why I do a search on Enos or post a question before buying. Sadly, someone has to be a guinnea pig when a new product comes out. Maybe RCBS will fix this, but until then...buyer beware!

[gohuskers]

Good review. Hopefully others wont make the same mistake

[BBoyle]

Call RCBS. I am sure they will get it working for you. They have been helpful the few times I have called.

I would think that that plastic retainer in the feed die is either not in correctly or worn out.

[jason237m]

I have had similar experience with the RCBS bullet feeder. I would add that I am on my 3rd plastic insert for .45. These seem to be extremely fragile. The plastic tube in the top bowl that drops the bullets into the spring feed chute also broke into several pieces after about 10 minutes of use. I am also starting to think this unit is more trouble than it's worth.