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Casefeeder For The 550


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Some years ago, I passed up the chance to buy a casefeeder for my 550. I still have the Denny's catalog with the Phelps (sp?) casefeeder. It got a good review in American Handgunner, too.

I don't want a 650, but I do want a casefeeder (I was spoiled by my first press, a Lee Progressive 1000 that I sold when my Dillon SDB arrived).

Anyone have one of these? If I could get the specs on it, I'd like to duplicate it, or something.

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I played with it a little and it seemed to work well. I have a couple 650s now so I took it apart from the 550 it was used on. It doesn't advance the shellplate so you still have to do that and seat the bullet manually. I took the pictures to make it easier to see how it all went back together. It's a neat setup, but it ain't a 650 by any means.

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Well, that's more than I hoped for! :)

lkytx:

That's the closest to the add in the Denny's catalog: Phelps Machine R&D. According to Google, that phone number's correct.

Sheldon:

I think that's the one, although the manufacture on one part, Phelps

Enterprises, is a name I hadn't heard of. The phone number doesn't check (on Google) either.

Sheldon's pictures "forced" me to check my sources, so I got out the Denny's catalog and confirmed the name Ikytx mentioned. Then I dug back into my American Handgunner "archives" and found the name, Phelps-Ramar, Inc. out of Tavares, FL (Jan/Feb 1990, p83). That isn't the writeup I remember, but it was a very favorable one. The common thread is the Phelps name, so they must be the same.

Sheldon, do you still have all the parts and manuals?

Mike

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I believe all the parts are there. I think I have the single sheet with the directions on how to use it. I'll take a look in the morning and get back with you.

I remember seeing one setup at a local shop gunshop in the early 90s and I recall it had a feed tube with a funnel at the top. This one was setup with a Dillon casefeeder and has a Dillon drop tube (not shown in the pics. I'm not sure if the sheet metal adapter on the unit I have is as from Phelps or a modification to accomodate the Dillon part. Can you post a pic of the factory setup?

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Sorry, I don't have a scanner. The only two pictures I've seen were the picture before me in the Denny's catalog, and the one from the test in a gun mag (I thought it was American Handgunner, but I haven't been able to find it). If memory serves, they were the same photo, but the catalog reproduction isn't a clear picture.

The AH review that I did find specifically mentioned a "Freeloader" (capitalized, as if that was a brand - Google wasn't a help!) funnel with a feed tube. The picture clearly shows a steep funnel full of cartridges that feeds into a tube. The tube appears to be connected directly to the feeding block(?). I think this is the block you show in several pictures; it has the company name sticker on it (like pic1.jpg). The article also mentions that there are two case tube adapters. With the shell plate fully lowered, the top of the tube looks like it connects to the bottom of the funnel at about the lower-middle of the powder measure, and the top of the funnel about 3" above the powder measure.

At a guess and from looking at your pictures, it appears that the funnel and feed tube, full of cases, rides up and down with the shell plate. Does the 650's casefeeder do this?

Mike

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SkyRock, Phelps Machine R&D, Clermont FL 34711    352-243-1234. Hope this helps, post info if you get any.                                Larry

Thanks, Larry, but that was a lesson in frustration. I called three times over three days and got an answering machine stating that no one was available to take my call. I assume that it's Phelps Machine, but the message didn't say. Each time I left my phone number and reason for calling. No joy!

I tend to stay away from that kind of customer support! :(

Thanks for the effort, though.

Mike

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I believe all the parts are there. I think I have the single sheet with the directions on how to use it. I'll take a look in the morning and get back with you.

I remember seeing one setup at a local shop gunshop in the early 90s and I recall it had a feed tube with a funnel at the top. This one was setup with a Dillon casefeeder and has a Dillon drop tube (not shown in the pics. I'm not sure if the sheet metal adapter on the unit I have is as from Phelps or a modification to accomodate the Dillon part. Can you post a pic of the factory setup?

Sheldon, were you able to check if all of the parts were there?

Since yours is setup for a Dillon casefeeder, is that included? :D

Anyway, I really appreciated the pictures. If I can't buy one, maybe I can build a "reasonable" facsimile. :P

Mike

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I haven't talked to Terry (Phelps) in a couple of years, but he said that he was not producing the case feeder any longer... I used one of his casefeeders from 87 until last year when I bought a S1050...with it I could load 100rounds in 11minutes, counting time to flip primers, and load the primer tube.... he originally designed the feeder to mount on the die cast metal feed tray on the right side of the machine, and included a couple of reinforcement parts.. this was the source of most problems and not with Terry's product... the die cast part wouldn't hold up... the actual casefeeder used a needle roller bearing that followed a cam to work the spring loaded plunger that inserted the case into the shell plate... the machined housing was hard anodized and mine did not show any wear after 14 years of USPSA loading....I made my own case collator with a stainless salad bowl and 3/4 to 1/2 copper reducing coupling... but used the "Freeloader" design... which was a "melmac" bowl hot glued to a funnel that sat on a 1/2 inch plastic tube... the hole in the center of the bowl was sized to only allow the brass to fall heavy (base) side down when the apparatus was shaken as the roller followed to the top of the cam.... I made a permanent mounting bracket out of some scrap 1/4 stock to mount the casefeeder and had a friend TIG the mount directly to the shell plate holder...it was still working when I decided to update (it was actually on a 450)....If you buy on e-bay make sure you get the cam plus the roller plunger.... the Freeloader was an option... there should still be a few around Fla.... .... regards Les

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I haven't talked to Terry (Phelps) in a couple of years, but he said that he was not producing the case feeder any longer... I used one of his casefeeders from 87 until last year when I bought a S1050...with it I could load 100rounds in 11minutes, counting time to flip primers, and load the primer tube.... he originally designed the feeder to mount on the die cast metal feed tray on the right side of the machine, and included a couple of reinforcement parts.. this was the source of most problems and not with Terry's product... the die cast part wouldn't hold up... the actual casefeeder used a needle roller bearing that followed a cam to work the spring loaded plunger that inserted the case into the shell plate... the machined housing was hard anodized and mine did not show any wear after 14 years of USPSA loading....I made my own case collator with a stainless salad bowl and 3/4 to 1/2 copper reducing coupling... but used the "Freeloader" design... which was a "melmac" bowl hot glued to a funnel that sat on a 1/2 inch plastic tube... the hole in the center of the bowl was sized to only allow the brass to fall heavy (base) side down when the apparatus was shaken as the roller followed to the top of the cam.... I made a permanent mounting bracket out of some scrap 1/4 stock to mount the casefeeder and had a friend TIG the mount directly to the shell plate holder...it was still working when I decided to update (it was actually on a 450)....If you buy on e-bay make sure you get the cam plus the roller plunger.... the Freeloader was an option... there should still be a few around Fla.... .... regards Les

Thanks, Les.

Too bad he's not making it anymore.

Did the complete assembly move up and down with the shell plate? :(

Mike

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