Hornady 9mm bullet feeder problem

[mjs408]

I am setting up my 9mm bullet feeding die, and it is driving me crazy, I cant get it to stop deforming case mouths. Its rolling the edge or completely tearing the case. I am running a powderfunnels.com PTX die. That expander has worked flawlessly with 40 and 45. When you bell the case mouth, do you use way more than you think is necessary, or am I missing something.

[Grumpy's Toy]

Maybe you are belling the case to much.Try around .385, thats what my book calls for.

[mjs408]

Maybe you are belling the case to much.Try around .385, thats what my book calls for.

I have it set currently at between .383 and .387 for the few I measured. I reset it up as I tore the powder measure/PTX and the bullet feed die apart and cleaned everything. Still not getting a bullet to feed. My bullets measure .355 with a high quality caliper They are plated, but that shouldnt matter the collets are stamped .355. I guess ill keep messing with it. Frustrating because of the ease 40 and 45 were set up.

Edited October 14, 2012 by mjs408

[Retread1911]

Check the bushings in your die. It soundalike the may be in upside down.

My 9mm was as easy as the 40.

[mjs408]

Not in upside down. The B die is tight and when I try and open it up,it contacts the feeder die on its ID. I can get them to fall through when the B collet is sitting on the bench, just cant get it to happen while in the die body. I plan on messing with it more tonight. Anybody want to measure the OD of the B collet at the top of it?

[Stan-O]

Not sure if it'd help, but when I've had the Hornady bullet drop die in 9mm there was a problem with one of the collets right out of the box (it was too tight). I called Hornady and they've sent me a replacement one. Maybe you have the same issue.

Anyways, I kept the PTX from Hornady but switched to the RCBS bullet drop die which I've been using for past 6k rounds.

[MstngLX50]

Anyways, I kept the PTX from Hornady but switched to the RCBS bullet drop die which I've been using for past 6k rounds.

Damn, we could have traded. I switched TO the Hornady bullet drop die on my RCBS feeder. The little plastic inserts in the die would only last me 5-10k rounds. RCBS sent me a pack for free when I called but it was a pain to have to pull it apart and swap them out since it only broke when I needed the ammo the next day.

As for the OPs problem I use very little flare on mine approx .382 and it works great. You might try giving the collets a little more room to move and adjusting the height of the feeding die as well.

[Stan-O]

Anyways, I kept the PTX from Hornady but switched to the RCBS bullet drop die which I've been using for past 6k rounds.

Damn, we could have traded. I switched TO the Hornady bullet drop die on my RCBS feeder. The little plastic inserts in the die would only last me 5-10k rounds. RCBS sent me a pack for free when I called but it was a pain to have to pull it apart and swap them out since it only broke when I needed the ammo the next day.

As for the OPs problem I use very little flare on mine approx .382 and it works great. You might try giving the collets a little more room to move and adjusting the height of the feeding die as well.

Uhm, yeah, I was concerned about the plastic collet longevity and I've just started having it hold last 5-6 bullets as opposed to 1-2 bullets so I should probably call RCBS as well.