Like the title says, I have a 1050 and have been toying with the idea of a bullet feeder.
I started looking at the thread of building a bullet collator but was not prepared to read over 150 pages on a thread that is almost two year old....looks like it is not simple to do. I did not want to post this on that thread. So here goes:
I do not mind building my own, as I have a small shop and a lathe, but I will not purchase a 3D printer for the project. Willing to buy bits and pieces.
I want something that works without a lot of tuning and not some Rube Goldberg contraption. I will be loading cast bullets in two calibers 9mm and .38 so hopefully that makes it "simple". Bullets will be cast and weights are 122 to 170 gr. Most likely 122 gr in the 9mm and 158 in the .38.
The Mr. Bullet Feeder is $500 and I cannot see the value in it. Something closer to $300 makes sense...but on the other hand it works!...there is value in that. Watching the videos it am not impressed with having to fine tune the ramp and nose guide for each bullet type. How easy is it to do this, and can I use two ramps and just slip in the right one for each bullet? I would likely have a separate drop tube on each head to eliminate that adjustment.
This video shows using a Hornady Bullet feeding die on a 1050:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9Bn4N7_kW8
It seems like the simplest way to go and would give as much speed as using a collator without taking 10-15 minutes to adjust. It is cheap too...under $40 But it is not recommended for cast bullets. So that led to the thought....
Why not just purchase the Double Alpha Lower Drop assembly for $50 and hand feed it? No finger pinching and maybe a 50% speed increase over manually placing bullets on cases. KISS.
I looked at the DA 'Mini" with tubes, but filling tubes would be slower than hand feeding the die.
But, regardless of which way I go, I will lose the Powder Check die and that to me is a deal killer. Safety trumps speed every time. The only solution will be to seat and crimp on the same station. I did that with the Star progressives but it is a bit more of a PITA to set up.
Thoughts?