My son and I load a lot of 9mm. Multiple thousands each week.
We've been hemming and hawing about getting a Mr. Bullet Feeder for years now, but dang, they're pricey.
We recently switched to a different style 9mm mold (we cast everything we load for 9mm), and the new bullet *really* likes to be seated on the case completely square before going into the seating die. Unfortunately, this particular bullet design isn't available in a bevel base, which helps in this regard quite a bit.
Some guys are probably asking "why not go back to your old bullet mold/design?" The new mold is 8 cavity, and when you're turning 20 to 40 pounds of alloy into bullets in one sitting, the extra cavities mean the difference between 200 casts per thousand bullets for a five cavity mold, and 125 casts per thousand for an eight cavity mold. That's a huge time savings. Plus, other than the fiddly-ness of loading the bullet straight, it is a fantastic bullet.
Aaaand, keeping this bullet gives me the perfect excuse to finally get a bullet feeder: The MBF bullet setting die is well known for how nice and square it sets the bullet on the case.
After watching my per-hour load count drop on my Dillon 1050 from 700 per hour with the old bullet to around 500 per hour with the new bullet, and the advantage of seating bullets squarely, I figured that I could finally justify the cost of a Mr. Bullet Feeder... well, the Mini Mr. Bullet Feeder, at least.
Yesterday it finally showed up. I now understand why guys are willing to part with significant quantities of cash for a good quality bullet feeder.
The Mini Mr. Bullet Feeder is actually everything they advertise it to be, which is pretty uncommon with today's products. It's dead reliable, sets the bullet perfectly square, and is easily installed and adjusted.
The Mini will hold 114 of my cast (and powder coated) 124gr 9mm bullets, but I only load 100 at a time to keep in synch with my primer tube. So every time I have to stop and load primers, I also load the bullet tubes. Having to load the bullet tubes is a bit of a time sink, so I'm still only back to my old load cadence of 700 rounds per hour. I imagine with a Mr. Bullet Feeder collator, it would definitely be possible to hit Dillon's advertised rate of 1,000 rounds per hour with the 1050.
The convenience of a bullet feeder is nice, but the best benefit of it, at least IMO, is the fact that it sets that bullet SQUARE and it sets that bullet square EVERY TIME. No more fiddling around trying to put a non-bevel base bullet square on the case!
I've been working on trying to get an OpenBulletFeeder collator made for quite a while, but after yesterday, I'm throwing in the towel on that project, and am just gonna go ahead and buy the MBF collator. I'm finally convinced that the time savings and, more importantly, bullet consistency justify the price.
My son and I have been shooting at this pace for a few years now, and when I look back on all the time we could've saved and the more consistent ammo we could've produced (although that wasn't really a factor with our old bullet), I'm really shaking my head that I was such a cheap skate for so long. There have been more than a few days that we spent reloading when we really wanted to be shooting.
So I'm pretty impressed with Double Alpha's bullet feeder. I'd be really impressed with it if it was about a hundred bucks cheaper.
For those guys out there that are producing a few thousand rounds per week, if you don't have a bullet feeder, stop punishing yourselves and get one.
The MBF collator is getting purchased today, along with a camera placed to view powder charges* and a Level 10 shell plate stabilizer.
*I always visually check the powder charge, and the new bullet feeder makes it so I have to jam my face too far forward to check the charge before the bullet is placed on the case. Since I no longer have to be in that awkward manual-bullet-setting position, might as well kick back, relax, and watch the powder charge on my phone (which will be mounted to the press).
I was going to use the money to buy a 350 Legend upper for the AR, along with brass and dies, but that gun is going to have to wait... the bullet feeder has waited long enough.
We've been hemming and hawing about getting a Mr. Bullet Feeder for years now, but dang, they're pricey.
We recently switched to a different style 9mm mold (we cast everything we load for 9mm), and the new bullet *really* likes to be seated on the case completely square before going into the seating die. Unfortunately, this particular bullet design isn't available in a bevel base, which helps in this regard quite a bit.
Some guys are probably asking "why not go back to your old bullet mold/design?" The new mold is 8 cavity, and when you're turning 20 to 40 pounds of alloy into bullets in one sitting, the extra cavities mean the difference between 200 casts per thousand bullets for a five cavity mold, and 125 casts per thousand for an eight cavity mold. That's a huge time savings. Plus, other than the fiddly-ness of loading the bullet straight, it is a fantastic bullet.
Aaaand, keeping this bullet gives me the perfect excuse to finally get a bullet feeder: The MBF bullet setting die is well known for how nice and square it sets the bullet on the case.
After watching my per-hour load count drop on my Dillon 1050 from 700 per hour with the old bullet to around 500 per hour with the new bullet, and the advantage of seating bullets squarely, I figured that I could finally justify the cost of a Mr. Bullet Feeder... well, the Mini Mr. Bullet Feeder, at least.
Yesterday it finally showed up. I now understand why guys are willing to part with significant quantities of cash for a good quality bullet feeder.
The Mini Mr. Bullet Feeder is actually everything they advertise it to be, which is pretty uncommon with today's products. It's dead reliable, sets the bullet perfectly square, and is easily installed and adjusted.
The Mini will hold 114 of my cast (and powder coated) 124gr 9mm bullets, but I only load 100 at a time to keep in synch with my primer tube. So every time I have to stop and load primers, I also load the bullet tubes. Having to load the bullet tubes is a bit of a time sink, so I'm still only back to my old load cadence of 700 rounds per hour. I imagine with a Mr. Bullet Feeder collator, it would definitely be possible to hit Dillon's advertised rate of 1,000 rounds per hour with the 1050.
The convenience of a bullet feeder is nice, but the best benefit of it, at least IMO, is the fact that it sets that bullet SQUARE and it sets that bullet square EVERY TIME. No more fiddling around trying to put a non-bevel base bullet square on the case!
I've been working on trying to get an OpenBulletFeeder collator made for quite a while, but after yesterday, I'm throwing in the towel on that project, and am just gonna go ahead and buy the MBF collator. I'm finally convinced that the time savings and, more importantly, bullet consistency justify the price.
My son and I have been shooting at this pace for a few years now, and when I look back on all the time we could've saved and the more consistent ammo we could've produced (although that wasn't really a factor with our old bullet), I'm really shaking my head that I was such a cheap skate for so long. There have been more than a few days that we spent reloading when we really wanted to be shooting.
So I'm pretty impressed with Double Alpha's bullet feeder. I'd be really impressed with it if it was about a hundred bucks cheaper.
For those guys out there that are producing a few thousand rounds per week, if you don't have a bullet feeder, stop punishing yourselves and get one.
The MBF collator is getting purchased today, along with a camera placed to view powder charges* and a Level 10 shell plate stabilizer.
*I always visually check the powder charge, and the new bullet feeder makes it so I have to jam my face too far forward to check the charge before the bullet is placed on the case. Since I no longer have to be in that awkward manual-bullet-setting position, might as well kick back, relax, and watch the powder charge on my phone (which will be mounted to the press).
I was going to use the money to buy a 350 Legend upper for the AR, along with brass and dies, but that gun is going to have to wait... the bullet feeder has waited long enough.