650 bullet feeder

[snokid]

I started my reloading career on a lee loadmaster and I had a bullet feeder and now I miss it even though the thing worked so so.

I was looking at the case feeder and it seems like a smaller version designed to feed bullets coupled with something like the lee bullet feeder would be the cat's butt...

so who sells my dream contraption?

sno

[Action Pistolero]

Snokid,

   I've heard that Roland Croes has been toying around with one. I was interested until I found out that it goes in place of the powder check die. I moved up from the Lee 1000 and had problems with no powder in some of my revolver loads. I like the idea of the powder check. Anyway, you can get a hold of Roland by calling the phone number for Nill grips. His girlfriend is Doris Siebert and she is the distributor for Nill in the US.

[jmorris]

I decided I needed a bullet feeder for my sizing machine . I looked at the MS Systems set up, and at almost $1000 I thought it was a little on the expensive side. After they sent me an instruction manual, I noticed they clam a failure rate (upside down bullet) of 1 in 1000 for .45 bullets, because they are short and fat. That may not sound too bad, but if it jams up your machine… It seems it works much better with long skinny bullets (.223, 1 in 10,000). Of course, if you load wadcutters (non-hollow base) you won’t ever have any problems. I needed it for .45 bullets, 230 RN mostly but also 200 SWC capable.

I took .125” aluminum and first cut a 12.5” circle then rolled a 4” wide piece to form the hopper. I made the collating wheel out of Tyvar (super slick and very tough). I added a few polypropylene and spring steel “sweeps” to knock out ill-placed bullets. A double split set collar was used as an inexpensive “clutch” if a jam were to occur. The collator is mounted using two set collars, so the operating angle may be adjusted if necessary. After a few different configurations I went with a 3 o’clock exit for the bullet. The 4-rpm gear motor allows between 2800-3200 bullets an hour to be collated. Like the MS Systems machine, a few inverted bullets would occur.

This set up ran for less than an hour on my sizing machine before I decided it would have to be hooked up to the 650. All I needed to come up with at that point, was a way to make sure the machine never inverted a bullet. If a bullet went into my sizing machine up side down it was forced through anyway. In loading ammunition the down time to fix the problem could outweigh all the convenience of automation.

It took a bit of thought; however, the solution was fairly simple. The collator feeds each bullet through a culling device. This failsafe system is made from a .75” thick piece of aluminum that mounts a solenoid, which operates a trap door. When a bullet drops into the wheel it is driven across a whisker switch, if the bullet is oriented correctly, small end up, it passes the (closed) trap door and continues on until being dropped into the bullet feed tube. If the bullet is inverted the larger diameter of the base triggers the switch. This activates the solenoid, opening the trap door that drops the bullet down an aluminum tube into a bin mounted on the side. This component has an 8-rpm gear motor, and can check 2400 bullets an hour, it works 100%.

A limit switch was placed into each feed tube to stop the respective gear motor when a tube becomes full, much like the Dillon case feeder. Another adapter had to be machined to mate the collator to a GSI bullet feeder. The only part of the 650 that I permanently modified was the post that holds the case feeder.

The wires coming out of the low primer warning system and the powder check system are for the next phase of the project. These will tie into a latching relay and shut off the main drive motor when either system is triggered. Two other limit switches, connected to a time delay relay, will stop the drive motor if the ram does not complete a full stroke, up or down, in the time allotted (saves the clutch if a jam occurs). The drive motor I chose runs at 20 rpm allowing 3 seconds per round to total 1200 in an hour, if you keep everything full. Not quite the 3500-7000 rounds an hour from most automated machines; however, also not the $15,000-$35,000 either.

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[f-pig]

That is a great add on. It looks like you have a ton of time into developing that. Did you document it so it can be reproduced by other forum members? I would love to make one. Do you plan to sell it?

[SKYWLKR]

Wow... I need one...

[Chills1994]

If you think that is something check out what he did for casting bullets

Wow is right.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=29567

Chills