Hornady Bullet Feeder Problems

[RedlandsShooter]

Hello, I am using a Hornady LNL press and their bullet feeding die with tubes (manually load tubes with bullets) for both 9mm and .45acp.  I already know I should have bought a blue press so please no “You should have bought a Dillon”, that won’t help my current problem.  The problem I am having is the bullet feeding die is inconsistently dropping bullets on the shell.  So inconsistent that I am placing bullets by hand about 40% of the time.  I have followed Hornady’s directions for adjusting the die, I have cleaned the die frequently, I have tried dry lube, frequent adjustments and re-adjustments, rubbing chicken feet on the die, and exorcism and still have the issue.  I am using Extreme plated 124 gr. RN 9mm, Rock Mountain 124gr Jacketed 9mm RN, Blue Bullet 230 gr RN and Summers 230 gr RN.  It doesn’t matter which bullet I use, it’s inconsistent.  The problem is much worse with the .45acp die set-up.  It seems the bottom bullet gets seized up from the weight of the bullets on top of it.  I am wondering if it’s just me or if other people have experienced this issue and possibly have a solution.  Thank you in advance for any suggestions/ideas.

[DougM]

This isn't a red vs. blue issue so I'm not sure why you even brought that up.  You've already hit on the probable cause of the problem and that is the total weight of the bullets in the tube pushing into the die.  This makes the die setup very critical.  I'm using a similar setup except I'm using 10mm bullets rather than 9mm (I also load 45ACP).  I can run 50 165 gn 10mm bullets in a tube and rarely have the issue of double feeding.  It may happen more often if I go up to 180 gn but careful adjustment of the die reduces that.  For 230 gn 45ACP bullets, the weight is too much if I try 50 bullets so I have to drop down to 40 or so per tube and that works pretty well.   185 gn 45ACP work pretty well - especially if I limit the total to 40 per tube. 

 

You've got to recognize that the complete bullet feeding arrangement that Hornady uses has a flexible S-shaped tube just ahead of the feeder die.  That tends to substantially reduce the weight of the bullets that are pushing down into the die and helps to provide reliable feeding.  Our problem (I still experience it about once a tube) is that we don't have such an arrangement and we pay the price for it.  You should have noticed that the frequency of the double feeding is almost always at the start of a full tube.  If you are experiencing it with substantially less than a full tube, you have to re-examine your die setup.   As a thought, I'm wondering if I can buy that flexible feed tube from Hornady.  Might be worth the investment.

[RedlandsShooter]

DougM, what tubes are you running?  The ones that came with my Hornady bullet feeding dies hold 33 124 gr. 9mm and 29 230 gr. 45., far less than what you are running.  The die will operate better with as little as 8 - 10 bullets in it but that kind of defeats the purpose.  Please share your die adjustment technique, following the Hornady directions has not been successful for me.  Thanks

[Jmoreno88]

I had no issues with my feed dies. If you're setting up correctly then maybe need to adjust the fingers on the inside. Maybe they're too tight. Or you have a defective one. All mine ran 100%

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[DougM]

I use 3' lengths of rigid thinwall tubing to hold the bullets.  I got the 1/2" diameter tubes for the 10mm bullets and the 9/16" diameter tubes for 45ACP.  I got them both from Pet Mountain.  Here are the links to the products I bought.

https://www.petmountain.com/show_product/11442-507394

https://www.petmountain.com/show_product/11442-507395

 

Since I don't load 9mm, I'm not sure what size you would get for those but you can estimate the total tube thickness takes up less than 0.010".  For example, the 1/2" size holds my 0.401 bullets with just enough play to easily move within the tube.  The inside diameter of the 9/16" tube is pretty loose for 45ACP but they do work.  

 

I capped off one end of each tube and drilled a small hole at the other end to use for a retaining pin to hold the bullets until I have the tube in the feeder die.  One thing to watch for: when you release a full tube of bullets, the momentum and weight will likely drive some of them completely through the die.  I have a small dowel that I hold up inside the die to catch the bullets when I pull the retaining pin and then I gently lower the stack into the die.  Works great. 

 

I just follow Hornady's instructions for adjustment and everything is fine.  I did run into some trouble when I loaded some pulled plated bullets I bought on-line.  Seemed there was something like bullet lube or other sticky stuff on them that caused loading problems.  I ended up tumbling them in media and then everything was fine.

 

[techj]

I use the bullet feeder dies (and their collator) on my Hornady LNL press and they work fine...BUT...the dies are shipped setup for jacketed bullets.  I run Blue Bullets in 9 & 45 and to get them to work properly had to very slightly open up the top collet and also had to spread the fingers on the lower collet.

 

The dies do work fine but if you are going to mix and match between jacketed, plated and coated you will probably have issues with them.

 

Just my 2 cents.

[zzt]

You will have problems mixing and matching bullets.  You will have fewer problems if all the bullets you use are the same diameter.  The first thing to check is the diameter of the expanded case mouth.  That is critical.  There is a 'perfect' diameter that is in between the go no-go sizes.  For my dies, it is at or very close to what Hornady recommends for the caliber.

 

Assuming everything is set up correctly, here are a couple of fixes.  If you haven't bottomed out at the end of the stroke hard enough, sometimes a bullet doesn't drop.  When you put a new, filled tube on, make sure the dies is filled with bullets before pulling the pin on the tube.  If you don't, one of two things may happen.  First, a bullet may be forced out of the die due to the weight of the other bullets dropping down.  Second, a bullet may get stuck.  The easiest way to clear thing up if you get a misfeed or two it to push the long end of an Allen wrench up the die.  Lift all the bullets past the second collet and then gently let them back down.

 

The bullets you use have a lot to do with consistent feeding.  For instance, I load 40sw with Montana Gold 155 JHP, Rainier 155 Plated TC, and x-Treme 155 Plated RNFP.  I have no problems with the MGs, very few with the Rainiers and many more with the X-Tremes.  The X-Tremes are just not as consistent as the Rainiers.

[RedlandsShooter]

Thanks for everyone’s feedback and suggestions.  I just purchased an RCBS bullet feeder die and so far, so good.  However, the mechanism relies on a nylon part to drop the bullet on the shell and a rubber band to allow the nylon fingers to spread when the shell is inserted then contract to pull the fingers in to hold the next bullet in place.  I hope these parts hold up for a reasonable amount of time......

[darthdively]

Fwiw, i just recently bought the mr bullet feeder die from DAA. It is amazing and simple design. I paired it with a mr bullet feeder powder through expander and was even more blown away. I trashed my hornady die. If the rcbs fails on you, i hope it doesnt, get the mr bullet feeder drop assembly+die. You just place your spring tube right into it and go. You have the get the mr bullet feeder powder through expander for the hornady too to get the best benefit. Best bullet feed i've ever encountered so far

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