Bullet Feed Dies

[Navahojoe]

Who makes the best bullet feed die for cast boolits? i picked up one of the new Lee Breech Lock Pro and would like to put a bullet feeder, along with case feeder on it. Already have the case feeder and colator on order, but cant make a decision about a bullet feed die. Anyone with experience? It seems that every company says their bullet feed die wont
feed cast boolits????
Thanks for your consideration and response.
NavahoJoe

[Tatume]

I've heard good things about Mr. Bullet Feeder at Dillon, but haven't tried one.

[jmorris]

The best one I have for cast bullets are no longer made and they were only made for Dillon presses?

If your coating, I would try the Hornady dropper. It’s the least expensive feed die I have bought that works. Not much more than the Lee bullet feeder, that’s not any good at all. It was actually the only Lee product I was unable to make work for more than just a few hundred rounds at a time before it started spitting bullets again.

[guywitha3006]

I am not sure if it is still there but there was a youtube video or two explaining how to polish the Hornady die to feed cast boolits well. I have a die in 40 and 44 but haven't had time to play with it yet.

[BlackRat]

I have 2 MrBulletfeeder dies, they are great! BUT unless you plan on coating your boolits with powder coat, Hi-Tek, or something similar just forget about it (at least with these dies).
Mine get gummed up and the ball bearings that release each bullet need to be cleaned so often that it's not practical anymore.

Trust me, I tried very hard to make this work but I couldn't so far. From adding mica powder to harder lubes but nothing works in a consistent way. It's a PITA for me as I have a very nice Star lube sizer with a PID controlled hot plate and air kit (all these accessories machined by myself) but I'm moving to coated bullets because of all this frustration.

[jcren]

For my powder coated bullets, the cheap rcbs work like a champ. Only used with 380 and 38 special so far but will order for 45 soon. Had to trim and sand the finger/collet piece due to mold flashing, but works great for the price. Use it on lct and seat and crimp in one step.

[Navahojoe]

Thanks for the response so quickly, fellows. For what it is worth, i lube my cast boolits with BLL or powder coat them with powder from "Smoke". I am reloading for the .45 ACP. I think that i am going with the Hornady bullet feeder, and polish it out enough to drop .452 cast. If that don't work, I will try something else.Again, Thanks for the replies.I am a long time lurker, just don't post much. I knew where to come for an answer. LOL

[Atakawow]

I, too, just bought a Lee Breechlock Pro. I have the case feeder plus collator and love everything about this press so far.

With that said, I also bought a Lee bullet feeder and quickly returned it. The thing was finicky to get right. Also, for the time it took me to fill the bullet tubes with one bullet at a time, I could be doing so with each handle crank during the seating station. This also allows me to visually check for powder in the case.

[Kenstone]

I have/use Hornady bullet feeders for 38/357 and 9mm.
I use them for coated bullets with no lube grooves, but I would expect bullets with lube grooves would be more problematic.
I hope I'm wrong, and maybe someone will come along and post about feeding grooved bullets successfully through Hornady bullet feeder dies.
I use long pre-loaded tubes that hold 50+ bullets each so I only need to change a tube once between adding/changing a pre-loaded primer tube.
I too had to polish the insides and chamfer all the edges to get them to run continuously, but know that I "tune" everything mechanical

[xrayfk05]

I have used both the Hornady and the MR bulletfeeder bulletfeeders, the Hornady feeder is finicky to setup and to keep working, the MR one just works.
I could only get the Hornady working properly with jacketed bullets, plated was a no-go but I have not tried powdercoated. The MR works with all bullet types just as well.
(Note, I do not take into account bullet lube I don't think any die will live through that)

Also note that you also need a proper expander for use with the feeder. If you only bell the bullet may/will tip over when you advance the press.
Both Hornady and MR make proper expanders which bell and expand the case so the bullet does not tip.

[Navahojoe]

Well, I stopped by local Cabelas and picked up the Hornady bullet feeder. After three days of screwing die in and out, adjusting tighter, less tight, I gave up! Die would either drop all the bulletbullets at one time, or not drop any! Sheesh! I will return to Cabelas and have already ordered the mini Mr Bulletfeeder! It is a shame to give more for the bullet feeder than I gave for the progressive Lee press.
Thanks for the quick response and good advice. I will let you know how my latest trials with a cast boolit, bullet feeder go, once I receive my package from Midway.