550 Casefeeder - a couple of issues

[cpa5oh]

Recently got a case feeder for my 550 and I'm having a few issues with it.

- Cases feed upside down at a rate of about 5/100. I end up having to reach in there and dig the upside case out (which is a pain if you have bigger hands,) and I know a few people that do not have this issue at all - has anyone had this issue and corrected it?

- Primers don't all make it into the primer chute. Before the case feeder, they almost all went right into the primer shoot and then when the shell plate came to the bottom the shoot opens up and drops the spent primer into the little metal cup that holds the spent primers. It seems that with the case feeder, the shoot is farther down from the shell plate and about 1/3 of the spent primers end up on on the press, the floor, the bench...and sometimes they end up in the area where the new primer piece goes in and out (to grab a new primer and then pop it through the shell plate and into the de-primed case.) When that happens, the new primer doesn't get to the shell plate properly and I end up having to stop and clean off the area that the new primer piece rides on. Has anyone had this issue and corrected it?

- With 9mm the cases weren't staying in the shell plate and the result was that they weren't entering the sizing die properly...it was like every other round I was crushing brass. Then I angled the press so that it is higher in the front than the back, which causes a little bit of gravity to keep the case in the shell plate - with that adjustment, 9mm pretty much feeds fine 99% of the time. With .40, I haven't been able to find a solution. About 1/10 doesn't make it up into the sizing die and gets crushed. Sometimes the case is laying on the shell plate sideways and goes up and gets punctured by the decapping pin and I have to wrestle it off the pin. Anyone else have trouble with cases feeding into the shell plate and resolve it?

- Other misc issues are that the funnel up at the top of the case feed tube gets clogged by a sideways case (and if I don't catch it right away the case feeder keeps trying to feed cases into it and they end up all over the floor and I have a jam to clear,) and the plate inside the case feeder bucket gets stuck and I have to reach my hand in there to get it turning again.

If anyone has had any of these issues and has any advice I'd appreciate it.

At this point, the time saved from having this case feeder when it runs is about equal to the time spent resolving issues. I guess I'm okay with that because I do feel like I don't have to hustle as much when everything is running to get a decent number of rounds done in a sitting. And I think I worked through some issues with the 550 itself when I first got it and ended up with a press that (without the casefeeder) is near 100% reliable.

[98sr20ve]

I got rid of my casefeeder for the 550. The issue with the casefeeder and not feeding into the shellplate is just a adjustment issue. Problem is adjusting the bar that controls the amount the case is inserted is difficult to fine tune. If I had kept it I would have tapped the top of that bar and used a bolt to push the top out a little to give me some more delicate fine tuning. I used a shim up there and it did help. Might try that first. It's the part of the black bar that extends up to the toolhead area.

[cpa5oh]

Why did you get rid of your case feeder? Was it just too many small issues making it not worth the trouble?

I wonder if the 650 and 1050 have some means of holding the cases in the shell plate that the 550 doesn't have?

[hornetx40]

I had a few issues when I set up 650 at first but eventually you will work out the little problems and then it runs great. I do still get the occasional upside down case in the feed tube. Sucks if you don't catch it before it comes down into the shell plate.