LNL Buller Feeder

[Babaganoosh]

Ok I got a Hornady Bullet Feeder for Christmas.

This is how I have it set up at the moment.

1 Size/Deprime

2 Bell case

3 Powder

4 Seat

5 Crimp.

I'm going to assume I should go with the Powder thru Expander. Should I go with the Powderfunnel one or have they worked all the kinks out of the Hornady ones?

Right now I will be loading 9mm and 45. Emphasis on the 9mm. I may be getting a .40 in the semi near future so that is a probability as well. Anything I gotta know about the calibers?

I know I can only run plated or FMJ thru it which is no problem since that's all I shoot anyway.

So any tips or tricks? It gets mixed reviews so if it's horrible obviously it goes back, however if I got a good one I am pretty damned happy.

Thanks guys

Edit, I forgot the name but it is called the Powderfunnel.

Edited December 27, 2011 by Babaganoosh

[acekc]

I'm not familiar with the PDX (Hornady's new one is the PTX I believe). FYI the bullet feeder dies come with the powder through expander for that caliber, and the PTX bracket comes with the bullet feeder. Since you need the bullet feeder die to set up the feeder, it's "free" for you to use Hornady's expander system. I mention this because they also sell the powder through expanders separately, and I unknowingly ordered those too and wound up with extras.

There is a great post on ar15.com that is both a review as well as a lot of tips and tweaks from an early adopter of the Hornady bullet feeder:

http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/330605_Review___Hornadyandapos_s__Bullet_Feeder_Part_1_andamp__Part_2__more_pictures_andamp__2_videos.html

Reading through that will save you a lot of time.

I've loaded well over 1,000 rounds of 9mm since getting my bullet feeder and generally I think it works pretty well. Mine is set up as follows:

1. Resize/deprime

2. Expand/powder throw

3. Bullet feed

4. Bullet seat

5. Lee crimp die

Be aware that the die area is really tight once you get everything set up. The powder measure basically has to sit with the metering insert facing the center of the shell plate rather than facing outside. Its position is dictated by the narrow band where it won't interfere with the sizing die on one side and the bullet feeder die on the other. Make sure that the metering insert doesn't make contact with either of these at all - I use the micrometer metering insert for pistol and before I adjusted the angle, the insert was barely rubbing the sizer die, causing the micrometer to slowly get adjusted for more and more powder delivery. Not good.

Since it's bascially churning bullets around in a big plastic bowl, the bullet feeder is loud; I wear hearing protection when it's on. Since it doesn't have an automatic shutoff I usually turn the case feeder and bullet feeder on and walk away for a couple of minutes to take a mental break. When I come back I shut them both off and load until the case feeder runs out (assuming both are full when you start, you'll always run out of brass before you run out of bullets). Unlike the case feeder which tends to stick if too many cases are added at once, the bullet feeder works better with a larger number of bullets in it. I find that once the bullets in the hopper get below a certain number, bullets just don't make it into the tube no matter how long it runs.

I was a little surprised at the lack of polish on some pieces in the kit. I can accept the fact that a good amount of tedious adjustment is necessary for each caliber (height of the center plate in the hopper, position of the bullet wipers) but I didn't expect to have to spend so much time sanding the inside of the bullet tubes so that bullets wouldn't stick. I was admittedly a fairly early adopter so perhaps some of the parts have been tweaked or improved since I got mine.

All of this probably sounds like the thing has been nothing but trouble, but you asked for tips so I'm talking mostly about the difficulties I encountered. The fact is that without too much effort I got the thing tweaked to where it would do its job around 99.8% of the time. How did I come up with that number? I estimate that twice in 1,000 rounds an upside-down bullet made it into the tube. I could probably mess with the wipers in the hopper and improve on that, but since I'm visually checking powder level and proper bullet drop between every pull, it's just not worth messing with in my opinion.

Once everything is up and running you can really crank out the ammo with this setup. I purposely slow my pace to allow for visual checks and take breaks so my brain doesn't turn off, and I've still increased my loading rate significantly with the bullet feeder.

Edited December 27, 2011 by acekc

[Babaganoosh]

Awesome write up. Thanks.

[pfeife]

As mentioned above, the bullet feeder is quite loud.

On the bottom half of the bowl i glued in a strip of thin rubber (i cut some old bicycle tube) with two-sided sticky tape, this helps a little against the noise of the bullets falling from the top of the bowl.

Also i cut a circle the size of the bowl out of styrofoam with angled edges, so with a little pressure it´s fitting well, also reduces the noise, and you can remove it quickly for new bullets.

Hope this helps a little!

[Foxbat]

Here is the picture of my installation when I had that bullet feeder - the cover and the micro switch made it virtually totally quiet, and suspending it made it invisible.

[CocoBolo]

The thing isn't nearly as loud as a 105 howeritzer, or B52's carpet bombing. Yeah it makes a bit of noise but it works rather well.

The only real tip I have is to keep it clean, if the bowl gets dirty it will get into the bullet die and bullets will get stuck, then you have to take it apart and clean it. I use brake cleaner.

I do shut mine off when I notice it is full and keep lots of bullets in it.

[Babaganoosh]

It's up and running, and running well I might add. I dumped about 2000 9m bullets thru it and loaded them all perfectly.

Thanks for the tips guys.

[rnbore]

Here is the picture of my installation when I had that bullet feeder - the cover and the micro switch made it virtually totally quiet, and suspending it made it invisible.

Nice looking install. Did you build the cover yourself?

[Intel6]

Here is the picture of my installation when I had that bullet feeder - the cover and the micro switch made it virtually totally quiet, and suspending it made it invisible.

I see at least two upside down bullets in the clear feed tube. Is that the accuracy you get from that thing? That sure would seem to slow you down?

Neal in AZ

Edited January 19, 2012 by Intel6

[steveaikens]

I see three. Not good. OTOH, it's really pretty easy to keep an eye on the bullets and pull the cartridge before it hits the seat die. My guess is the tilt of the feeder is too little on the installation shown.

I'm in the process of setting up an RCBS on my XL650 and hoping I don't see much of that problem. In case anyone was wondering - the RCBS Bullet Feeder Installation Instructions absolutely suck. Maybe I'm ignorant of RCBS but I expected better.

[Babaganoosh]

Here is the picture of my installation when I had that bullet feeder - the cover and the micro switch made it virtually totally quiet, and suspending it made it invisible.

I see at least two upside down bullets in the clear feed tube. Is that the accuracy you get from that thing? That sure would seem to slow you down?

Neal in AZ

I have run close to 3000 thru mine now. I haven't had an upside down bullet yet. The sweepers or plate probably need a little adjustment.

I was a little skeptical at first but I really like it at this point.

[steveaikens]

Regardless of the poor instructions, I have the RCBS Bullet Feeder setup on my XL650 now, on the 9mm toolhead. I ran 300 rounds yesterday - flawlessly - in under 20 minutes. Taking my time and watching everything, 15 round per minute is a breeze. So far, I'm satisfied with this setup. Note that I use the Strong Mount to get the press to the height I want it. To match that added height, I used a 4X4 bolted to the bench. Works just fine.