Mr Bullet feeder for star

[VHoward]

Rick at mrbulletfeeder.biz told me today that he got the patent for the adaptor to feed bullets nose down and it will be soon when he starts selling them. He said probably the $80 to $90 range for price.

[HATCH]

Bet that's just the price for the adapters.

[VHoward]

Yes it is just for the adaptor.

[kayak1]

I can't wait for nose down!

[rodsvet]

It would be nice if some one would make $90 adapters for the Hornady. Half the cost of the Mr. Bulletfeeder and made of metal. Or if GSI in Arizona would get involved. Rod

[VHoward]

I just sent a GSI unit back that I only had for a day and a half. I could not get their collator to feed my bullets without jamming constantly. Plus you have to have a different feed ring for each bullet profile and weight. Also their bullet feeder will feed a bullet each time you pull the handle whether there is a case there to receive the bullet or not. If there is not a case to take the bullet, then you need to use a rod to push that bullet out of the feeder. Otherwise it jams too. After talking to them and they found out I was trying to feed cast bullets, they decided to tell me their collators don't work well with cast bullets. I asked for an RA# and sent it back.

I also have the Hornady bullet collator and it does not reliably feed the bullets base down no matter how I adjust it. About 1 in 20 was fed nose down. That was with lead bullets and I was feeding them into tubes to turn over to feed into my star bullet feeder.

[rodsvet]

Well------Then, maybe Mr.Bullet will be the only game in town. Too bad though, It would be nice if a reasonably priced unit would come along that actually worked as advertised. My Star with just a boolit feeder will easily produce 1000+ per hour and I guess that ain't bad considering that I only shoot 5000 a year. Rod

[VHoward]

Got the Mr Bullet feeder today. It works flawlessly with my 45 cal 230 grain lead round nose bullets. I powder coat so there is no sticky mess. I still size them with my star, but do not apply the lube with the star. Now to patiently wait for when they go into production with their conversion to make it drop bullets nose down. I will update this thread when I find out. Or I could have Lathesmith make me a nose punch to fit my star for the round nose.

You could probably get regular lead bullets lubed with a hard wax lube to feed through this without much problem. Especially if you dusted them with a fine non abrasive powder.

[ReloaderFred]

I'm thinking about one to feed a Magma Lube Master once they get the nose first feeding worked out. I've given up on ever getting the M-A Systems collator to work properly.

Fred

[jmorris]

Here is a link to a video he sent me of one of the beta units.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?230524-Nose-down-bullet-feeder


I have been building my own out of PVC pipe and 1/2" plastic.

These are the jigs I use for the feed plates.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/bullet%20feeder/DSC01472.jpg

Inside view.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/bullet%20feeder/DSC01537.jpg

Mounting and switch.

http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/bullet%20feeder/feeder1.jpg

[jmorris]

The way they work as a base down feeder, is that the base of the bullet is a larger OD than the tip. So it rides around the ledge with no interaction.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMAG0376-1.jpg

If the bullet is nose down, it falls into the slot and is pulled outward by the slot and then flipped back up by the ramp.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMAG0375-1.jpg

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMAG0373-1.jpg

If you watch the video Rick sent me above you can see that he put a hole in the flipper so a nose down bullet just falls out and a base down bullet rides past the hole and is flipped.

I use the exact same feeder on my reloader that I use for the sizer I built. So I don't have to change anything I built a nose down flipper into my sizer. This is a video of how it works.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/th_VID_20131008_114903_441_zpsdb21a12f.jpg (http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/VID_20131008_114903_441_zpsdb21a12f.mp4)

[JohnFreeman]

That is very interesting. Thanks for sharing it.

[kayak1]

Any updates on the nose down adapter?

[VHoward]

I sent him an email this morning. I will let you know his response.

[VHoward]

Here is his reply.

Hello Vance,

I actually worked on the adapters all last week and will be ready to start
shipping fairly soon.

I ended up having to do a re-design that will work more reliably when using
semi-wadcutters.
They have a tendency to not fall out of the collator plate and into the nose
guide as smoothly as I would like due to the area on the bullet where the
cone tip meets the body of the bullet and makes a shoulder or ledge. The
shoulder tends to catch on the nose guide slot and cause the bullet to jam.

I was hoping to make a universal type nose guide like is used for normal
operation, but when
set up for the nose down output, I've found that caliber specific nose
guides are the most
reliable way to go in order to eliminate that issue.

Sorry that it has taken so long, but the regular MrBulletfeeder business has
been brisk and allotting
time for the point down project is difficult.

The first caliber specific setup will be for 9mm-38cal

With any luck, I may be able to make the nose guide for 40 through 45... but
they are most likely
to be caliber specific as well.

Rick Koskela / RAK Systems, LLC / Mr.BulletfeederR / 480-235-8864


Hopefully he will get them done soon.

[VHoward]

After waiting for more than 2 years for Rick to make a nose down feeder adaptor, I decided to make my own. After spending the better part of 3 hours in the shop, I have got it to work (with 9mm at least). I will take pictures and a short video later. I saw a thread from another member here showing how he did his conversion and that inspired me and have been thinking about it since.

[VHoward]

Well. back to the drawing board. It worked last night, but not today. Maybe wood was not a stable substance? Could not find any poly cutting boards of the right thickness. I'll try again.

[wymanwinn]

Well. back to the drawing board. It worked last night, but not today. Maybe wood was not a stable substance? Could not find any poly cutting boards of the right thickness. I'll try again.

what exactly are you looking for size wise.....i have lots of .750 thick CPVC floating around....

[VHoward]

I need about a 3" x 4" 3/8" thick piece. I have gone and found a 1/8" thick cutting board and will just glue 3 pieces of that together.

[wymanwinn]

I need about a 3" x 4" 3/8" thick piece. I have gone and found a 1/8" thick cutting board and will just glue 3 pieces of that together.


ok....

[VHoward]

I went down and cut out another adaptor out of wood with a couple of changes in the design. It works with both 45 cal and 9mm, but round nose only. Flat point round nose and swc's are not reliably flipped and they don't reliably drop. As I am doing round nose only right now, this will work.

[pjh421]

This is an interesting project. I hope to see it resolved some day. I've found that letting others more suited to design and fab work out the bugs works best for me, lol. I've got a Star with air and feeders. Searching for something to feed the feeders hasn't produced much. Hi Tek polymer coating and the Star are a good combination to pair with a rotary bullet feeder. If we just had something to reliably orient the boolits that would work faster than my left hand...

[VHoward]

If you are Hi-Tek coating or powder coating, then the bullets could be fed base down just fine. Just have Lathesmith make a custom top punch for you so the bullets will be pushed through straight. Stars originally were base first sizers. I may just go that route myself.

[pjh421]

That makes sense. I've always sized nose first simply because that's accepted to yield best accuracy but the difference between the two probably wouldn't be discernable in my shooting.

[jmorris]

After waiting for more than 2 years for Rick to make a nose down feeder adaptor, I decided to make my own. After spending the better part of 3 hours in the shop, I have got it to work

Thats why I posted his video 2 years ago;)

Instead of building nose down collators for my sizing machines I just built flippers for my base down bullet feeders for my reloading machines.

There is also a video someone posted in the last few months of one of the new AA collators they converted to nose down.

[Mxrick55555]

It’s been a couple years since this thread was made any chance someone now makes and sells a nose down conversion for the newer style mr bullet feeder?

[Ausglock]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=co6h-iTHjP0