Lee bullet feeder on my CH Autochamp?

[Steve Steven]

I have a CH Autochamp MK IV that I bought used and have operating fine.

I am interested in putting a Lee bullet feeder on it
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I noticed in the Lee instructions that the seater die needs to be shortened and have a chamfered bottom on it to work with the feeder. I am loading .45ACP with CH dies, do you think I could cut the die on the lathe to work?
see page 2 of the instructions
http://leeprecision.com/cgi-data/instruct/BF3498.pdf

Thanks for your thoughts

Steve

[Norbrat]

I've had no luck with the Lee bullet feeder. I managed to get it working for one session on a Pro 1000 loading 9mm, but now it just will not co-operate. Basially, it tries to lift the bullet into position before it is fully under the die.

I've given up on using it.

The bullet feeder likely will not fit your CH Autochamp, although you may be able to tinker with it to make it work.

As for turning dies in a lathe, I have turned down a Lee 357 mag die to be able to use it for 38 special, and the material is pretty hard.

You may be able to turn you CH die down to give it a go with the Lee bullet feeder, but you could also just buy a seater die body (SKU SB2275), an adjuster (SKU SB2154) and a plug (SKU SB2284) from Lee's spare parts list for a gand total of about $15.50.

I would not bother with the Lee.

A better option might be a Mini MrBullet Feeder http://www.mrbulletfeeder.biz/

I've never seen one of these, but it seems to get good reviews, and for only an extra $100 as compared to the Lee system, seems a much better device.

[44Vaquero]

I agree with Norbrat just order the assembly from Lee. I run one on my Load Master, once up and running it's pretty slick. I do not use it if I am reloading less than 200 rounds at a time.

Lets see some pictures of the press too!

[Steve Steven]

Thanks, guys for your thoughts. You are right about just buying the Lee die, won't ruin my expensive CH dies either.

Doesn't sound much like a practical Idea, I probably won't do it.

44Vaquero, I will post some photos of my CH Autochamp later tonight, not many of them around. This is my second one, I sold my first one about 8 years ago when I quit shooting.

Steve

[Steve Steven]

Heres some photos of my CH Autochamp set up for .45ACP. The wood block is to keep it from accidently closing, which it will do if disturbed. The case feeder & tube is one I made from a cheap colander and a piece of wood, the tube is a piece of old, no longer made, water line. It works fine. I have fitted it up with a Lee powder feeder, I liked the "ON"-"OFF" feature it has.

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This is a photo of some of my cast boolits waiting to be loaded, the wood box was made by my dad about 1972, holds 722 bullets in two layers.
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Hope this is of interest.

Steve

[44Vaquero]

Very cool machine! I love seeing these things still in operation. Look back at some older posts by my friend Seagiant he has several of the green step-sister to the auto-champ the RCBS GREEN Machine's up and running with videos posted!

Do not give up on your idea so readily it may possible to make a lee bullet feeder work the Auto Champ. I like to tinker, what can I say?

[jmorris]

The Lee bullet feeder was a complete waste of money for me. I should have boxed it up and sent it back as soon as I read the instructions. Once it starts spitting bullets your supposed to be able to fix it by boiling it in water...

I haven't tried the Hornady or RCBS feeders but would start with them if I were trying to go low buck. I use the KISS/mrbulletfeeder for rifle and they work very well as do the GSI units (Dillon only).

Here is a thread of a homemade one.
http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?221573-A-Bullet-Feeder-My-Way

[44Vaquero]

Jmorris may be onto something with the Mr.bullet feeder! I just watched that video again, that is one slick operating machine. It would be much easier to integrate with the Auto-champ.

Hey Jmorris, what ever happened to that idea you were working on with the little lee C-frame as a base? Did it pan out?

[Frozone]

I've had no luck with the Lee bullet feeder. I managed to get it working for one session on a Pro 1000 loading 9mm, but now it just will not co-operate. Basially, it tries to lift the bullet into position before it is fully under the die.


I redesigned the thing to fix that. see HERE (http://forums.loadmastervideos.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=806&highlight=&sid=f3259c15b31a7eb83f82eaba0ce439d2).
LEE made a change recently, well, a year or 2 ago.
They added a spring that replaces the one I put in the body itself. (the bulletfeedmod1.jpg pix)

I think you can get just that spring from them.

[jmorris]

Hey Jmorris, what ever happened to that idea you were working on with the little lee C-frame as a base? Did it pan out?

It's back burner right now, might be able to get back to it in a few months.

[Norbrat]

I redesigned the thing to fix that. see HERE (http://forums.loadmastervideos.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=806&highlight=&sid=f3259c15b31a7eb83f82eaba0ce439d2).
LEE made a change recently, well, a year or 2 ago.
They added a spring that replaces the one I put in the body itself. (the bulletfeedmod1.jpg pix)

I think you can get just that spring from them.

Thanks, Frozone, that's great! :-)

I'm gonna give that a go.

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I haven't tried the Hornady or RCBS feeders but would start with them if I were trying to go low buck.

The RCBS bullet feeder dies have plastic internal parts and last I knew, it couldn't be bought without buying the feeder it comes with. The Hornady bullet feeder dies have steel internal parts and can be easily modified to feed cast boolits and Hornady sells them individually. I have three of them (9MM, .357/.38 and .45ACP) and they work well when modified (google to see how). But last I knew, Hornady only offered their bullet feeder dies for pistol bullets. That's been a while, so that may have changed by now.

[jmorris]

Almost everything on the Lee is plastic. The fingers that grab the bullet were the issue with mine more often than not. Scarch or maybe it was MA Systems offered a pneumatic bullet feeder for the RL 1050 that was likely what Lee copied but unlike the Lee it was made from steel and worked.