mjs408
03-24-2012, 11:53 PM
The Hornady bullet feeder is around 250 dollars plus bullet feeder die is is another 30.00ish bones. I would love to own one but I am kinda cheap and like making random **** in my dungeon reloading room.
In my case I started with a 45cal (.451-.452) Bullet feeder die. Currently the top section of the feeder die measures about .885 on the OD and .613 on the ID. This appears to be different from earlier designs of the feeder die.
The two internal collets are make for jacketed bullets and need to be opened up for cast bullets. You can see how to doing it by searching motorcycle sniper on Youtube, this is where I copied the idea from although it sounds as if the dies may have changed since that video was posted (internal collects are the same.
What I did was take 1/2 schedule 40 PVC pipe (.844od and .613ID)and cut it down to length. 34" in may case should hold about 50 .45 cal rounds.
After cut down to length. Chamfer/Deburr the OD/ID of the finished end. In my case I used a lathe because I had access to one. The second operation was to cut a sight window in the tube towards the finished end. I used a mill, but you could do it with a couple of drilled holes and a dremel tool. The final task for the tube is to drill a couple of hole through the tube so you can run a Hairpin cotter pin to capture the bullets in the tube.
Thats the basic tube, not very advanced I know. But it seems to work.
To get the bottom of the feeder tube to mate with the top of the feeder die is where things seems to vary. It looks as though Hornady has changed their design. Early dies had an ID of roughly the OD on a piece of Schedule 40 1/2 PVC which is .844.
At some point this has changed. The new new feeder die is .885OD and .625ID. the PVC has a .844OD which is only .040 thousands from the die OD. All I did was take a 1/2 PVC coupler and hog out .040 with my dremel. Only take about 30 seconds per coupler. the coupler then slips over the OD of the feeder die and hold the tube well. Although I plan on putting a broom handle clip on a rafter for some extra support.
Total cost in is around 40 dollars including the feeder dies. I currently have 6 feeder tubes. Which gives me the ability to 300 bullets ready to run. I plan on making a few more in the future.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh278/mjs_408/IMG_1941.jpg
In my case I started with a 45cal (.451-.452) Bullet feeder die. Currently the top section of the feeder die measures about .885 on the OD and .613 on the ID. This appears to be different from earlier designs of the feeder die.
The two internal collets are make for jacketed bullets and need to be opened up for cast bullets. You can see how to doing it by searching motorcycle sniper on Youtube, this is where I copied the idea from although it sounds as if the dies may have changed since that video was posted (internal collects are the same.
What I did was take 1/2 schedule 40 PVC pipe (.844od and .613ID)and cut it down to length. 34" in may case should hold about 50 .45 cal rounds.
After cut down to length. Chamfer/Deburr the OD/ID of the finished end. In my case I used a lathe because I had access to one. The second operation was to cut a sight window in the tube towards the finished end. I used a mill, but you could do it with a couple of drilled holes and a dremel tool. The final task for the tube is to drill a couple of hole through the tube so you can run a Hairpin cotter pin to capture the bullets in the tube.
Thats the basic tube, not very advanced I know. But it seems to work.
To get the bottom of the feeder tube to mate with the top of the feeder die is where things seems to vary. It looks as though Hornady has changed their design. Early dies had an ID of roughly the OD on a piece of Schedule 40 1/2 PVC which is .844.
At some point this has changed. The new new feeder die is .885OD and .625ID. the PVC has a .844OD which is only .040 thousands from the die OD. All I did was take a 1/2 PVC coupler and hog out .040 with my dremel. Only take about 30 seconds per coupler. the coupler then slips over the OD of the feeder die and hold the tube well. Although I plan on putting a broom handle clip on a rafter for some extra support.
Total cost in is around 40 dollars including the feeder dies. I currently have 6 feeder tubes. Which gives me the ability to 300 bullets ready to run. I plan on making a few more in the future.
http://i258.photobucket.com/albums/hh278/mjs_408/IMG_1941.jpg