LNL Bullet Feed Die

[Rwskinner]

I installed a Hornady 9mm bullet feed die on my Dillon 650 a few days ago and I never have had any luck. I think something is wrong with it. I looking for ideas before I ditch it.

First, I followed the instructions to a T. Disassemble, degrease, assemble until die touches collet B and back out 1/2 turn. Belled case to 0.385" (plus a lot more in testing). Screw down until it touches the case and go another 1/2 turn.

I tried Berry's plated 124gr RN, Sierra 124gr FMJ RN, Rainer LeadSafe 124 plated RN bullets and none feed.

Pretty much what happens is, in order to drop a bullet at all, I have to almost take it the die all the way down to the shell plate. It will then drop a bullet about 50% of the time, BUT the flare is gone off the case and the bullet then falls off.

I've tried flaring the case so much that it's almost splitting to no avail. I have lightly polished the inside with no luck.

It acts like the Collet A is very stiff and doesn't expand well. So stiff again, that it takes the bell almost off the case. I get brass shavings on the shell plate where the collet shaves the case.

Any ideas?

Richard

 

[KansasSasquatch]

I've never been able to get mine to run worth a darn with .45 or .357 plated bullets. Lead either. They work just fine with jacketed bullets, but I rarely load jacketed bullets.

 

[Rwskinner]

I took collet A and bent the fingers out some and repeated until it started dropping as desired. Now I have to fix the tipping issue between stations. I'm using the Dillon powder funnel but I did try the PTX that came with it as well.

 

[Muddydogs]

How many bullets are you putting in the feed die? I find that if I just have a few bullets in the die then there is not enough weight to push the next one down. Check your collets to make sure your bullets feed through them. A bullet should fall through the top collet with no resistance. Some times the bottom collet can use some buffing / polishing. There is a Youtube video explaining how to buff the collets to get them to feed lead bullets and it helps smooth up jacketed feed issues.

I use my feed dies with just a piece of tubbing (google $28.00 bullet feeder) and the bullets feed into the cases tight enough that I have to pull and wiggle the bullet if I need to remove it.

I feed both jacketed and lead .40 and .357 bullets with no problems. Tumble lubed 105 grain .38's can be problimatic due to there light weight and even the 45/45/10 tumble lube mix is just a little tacky.