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Bullet Tray on a Budget


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I've been thinking about making a bullet tray for my 650 and here is what I came up with.

I started with a piece of 16 gauge steel from Lowes, any gauge you may have laying around will work but I think 16 is as thin as I would go. I cut a piece 4.5 X 6 inches, rounded the corners and filed all of the edges to remove any sharp spots. I had to drill 2 each 1/4 inch holes to accommodate the bolts that hold the press to the Strong Mount. I did not think the 16 gauge steel would tip the press too much but I was wrong and installed 2 each 3/8 inch washers on the other side to correct the offset. After it is installed all you need is a 6 inch stainless magnetic parts bowl and you are in business.

Merry Christmas

Tom

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Edited by Hawker Man
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If you have a strong mount, just form sheetmetal to bolt to the bracket and drop on an Akrobin. Like in the lower left of this photo (unused with a bullet feeder except for tools). Also, a primer box cover will fit in front as shown to increase capacity.

Not as sexy as a powdercoated aluminum one but cheaper and holds more.

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Edited by jmorris
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I have a 550 that I put on a strong mount. You get a new loaded round chute and bin holder that bolts to strong mount. The original loaded round chute and bin holder works as my bullet tray. Just drill 1 hole a little oversize and put under left rear press bolt. If you need it higher you can get a longer press mount bolt and put as many washers as you need under the old chute to get height where you want it. You can cut off the part that sticks up if you want it to look nicer but it doesn't hurt anything to leave it on.

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Nothing fancy. Scrap plastic decking, bent piece of scrap steal, some poster putty to stick everything together. It's rock solid despite the poster putty sounding weak. If you rested your hand on it you would want to bolt it down. The yellow tray is not as strong as the Dillon tray.

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  • 3 years later...

Nice thread...an older one, but very good.

I want to make a bracket like this one, that I can mount under the front-left 650 bolt, that mounts press to the 650 strong mount. This will solve two issues; I want whatever I use for a bullet tray (something much shallower than an Akro bin) to be fairly level to Station 4, while keeping the left strong mount available so I can make a wooden hex key/wrench holder like the one in the Cheap Tricks and Tips thread. I will however raise the tool holder to be easily accessible behind the new bullet tray...whatever that will be. I'm thinking a small steel/aluminum shallow cake pan...something I can get from a garage sale or Goodwill for a couple bucks, and mount it using wide washers to evenly disperse the weight.

This is InlineFab's bracket design, but don't be concerned, as he'll be selling me a bunch of other stuff very soon, like the Quickchange Ultramount (with a couple of top plates), Skylight, Casefeeder-mounted Primer Storage Bin, etc...but I'm not paying $20 for a bracket and $53 for a Dillon bullet tray! That's the cost of his Ultramount, so...no.

Here's the bracket...it should be easy-enough to bend and drill some steel from Lowes, but if it gets up >$10, I'll just buy it from inline, or just make the platform from some scrap wood I have already....I could get all that done in wood for well under $5...flat black spray paint will make it look good.

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Edited by Signess
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If you are both cheap, and, have zero talent at manufacturing, like me, here's another solution: Two angle brackets and a magnetic parts bin.

Total cost, around $7

Thanks Jerryz.

I didn't realize the magnetic parts bins were so inexpensive. I want to get my tray higher, though, as the less you have to move to perform a repetitive task, the better I like it. Even the stock Dillon tray is too low, IMHO.

The main reason I want cheap is that this tray is only a temporary upgrade, until I get a Mr Bullet Feeder...but I have a lot of items to buy before that happens...like a casefeeder and RT 1500 case trimmer so I can trim-up some 300 Blackout brass.

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Well, the tray is sure not a Matco or Craftsman quality thing, but it does not need to be. I think I got it from Northern or Cheap Tools R Us, or some sort of discount junky tools place.

And, yeah, you can certainly raise or lower it any way you'd like. Just drill the mounting holes higher.

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The 6" diameter magnetic bolt and nut holder is on sale at Harbor Freight for a big $3.99 right now, if too expensive, the 4" is only $2.99. I hadn't thought about using one for bullet bin, but should work better than aerobin. Easier to get bullet.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've never used the Dillon one, because I'm too cheap to buy it. I did use one of those plastic parts bins, like the Dillon uses to drop the loaded rounds into, and that was bad because it was so deep it was hard to quickly grab a bullet.

The magnet tray is very shallow. I put the metal brackets onto my strong mount and the magnet holds tight tight, so, it's not flopping around.

I think I can pick up a bullet just about as fast as possible. I don't think any other device, other than a bullet feeder, would make things any faster. At least not for me.

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Upon further consideration, for just a little more than the Dillon bullet tray with the mounting bracket I wanted from Inline Fabrications ($45 + $25), I opted to get the Bully Adapter and go with a bullet feeder. The Bully marries the Hornady bullet dies to the Lee bullet feeder tubes, so for under $100 I get a bullet feeder comparable to the Mini Mr Bullet Feeder, except you don't need to keep buying extra "cartridges" from Mr Bullet Feeder for each caliber; the Lee Tube Feeder does ALL pistol calibers.

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