mmorris
Member
Hornady Bullet Feeder Die
Lately it seems the craze is to use a Hornady bullet feeder die without the expensive motorized bullet feeder assembly. I have drenched my hands in gasoline every day for thirty years, and my fingers work about as well as you might expect. As a result I look for any way to reduce the fine motor skill demand in repetitive operations, so I thought I might as well check it out.
Holy Toledo!
I’ve only set it up and loaded 30 or 40 rounds in a load workup process I’m doing, but it is really amazing to pull the lever and only have to observe for correct operation as the rounds drop into the catch box. I usually stand to reload, and I found that I absent-mindedly put my left hand in my pocket while I was loading a batch of ten rounds. Without having to coordinate bullet acquisition and placement, I suddenly realized how much of my concentration was focused on the handling of the bullet. It’s just a whole different ball game. Now, back when I could take a handful of 10-32 nuts and work them one-at-a-time into my thumb and finger to thread on with my left hand, upside-down behind a dashboard, I would have never thought that picking up one large hunk of lead would be a big deal. I got the case feeder sometime back for the same reason.
Getting old creates a vacuum; a really huge vacuum.
I don’t care at all about “rounds-per-hour.” I only care about making my reloading time pleasant and safe. It takes me less than 5 minutes to put 100 bullets into the feed tubes (I did 300 in 14 minutes). The rack will hold 300 bullets (360 if you fill the tubes to max), and right now that’s about all I would load in a session. I used a funnel to stabilize the tube in the die so I wouldn’t have to “thread the needle” of a smaller eyebolt. I don’t even have to look up to insert the top of the replacement tube when changing out empty tubes.
For me, this is great… for you I don’t know. I was actually happy to drop the bullets into the die directly because it was so much easier than placing the bullet on the case. I’m glad I went ahead and did the tube feeders as well.
This die idea is not mine, but I did come up with the multi-tube rack and “EZ-Stab” upper support.
Mike
Lately it seems the craze is to use a Hornady bullet feeder die without the expensive motorized bullet feeder assembly. I have drenched my hands in gasoline every day for thirty years, and my fingers work about as well as you might expect. As a result I look for any way to reduce the fine motor skill demand in repetitive operations, so I thought I might as well check it out.
Holy Toledo!
I’ve only set it up and loaded 30 or 40 rounds in a load workup process I’m doing, but it is really amazing to pull the lever and only have to observe for correct operation as the rounds drop into the catch box. I usually stand to reload, and I found that I absent-mindedly put my left hand in my pocket while I was loading a batch of ten rounds. Without having to coordinate bullet acquisition and placement, I suddenly realized how much of my concentration was focused on the handling of the bullet. It’s just a whole different ball game. Now, back when I could take a handful of 10-32 nuts and work them one-at-a-time into my thumb and finger to thread on with my left hand, upside-down behind a dashboard, I would have never thought that picking up one large hunk of lead would be a big deal. I got the case feeder sometime back for the same reason.
Getting old creates a vacuum; a really huge vacuum.
I don’t care at all about “rounds-per-hour.” I only care about making my reloading time pleasant and safe. It takes me less than 5 minutes to put 100 bullets into the feed tubes (I did 300 in 14 minutes). The rack will hold 300 bullets (360 if you fill the tubes to max), and right now that’s about all I would load in a session. I used a funnel to stabilize the tube in the die so I wouldn’t have to “thread the needle” of a smaller eyebolt. I don’t even have to look up to insert the top of the replacement tube when changing out empty tubes.
For me, this is great… for you I don’t know. I was actually happy to drop the bullets into the die directly because it was so much easier than placing the bullet on the case. I’m glad I went ahead and did the tube feeders as well.
This die idea is not mine, but I did come up with the multi-tube rack and “EZ-Stab” upper support.
Mike
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