GSI International XL 650 Bullet Feeder Questions

[warf73]

I've got a few question about the conversion kits and the feeder itself.

According to their web page the 38/357 set up comes with a choice of 158gr lead RN or 158gr jacketed.

Also there 9mm kit with your choice of 115gr thru 147gr with a section for plated bullets.

Now this is my question I'll be loading 125gr plated 38special (for now) and 100gr plated 380acp. Will there bullet feeders work for my two applications?
Guess my confusion being a machinist for over 20 years is the difference between 38/357(.357") plated and 380acp plated (.355") is only .002" difference. Are there tolerances that tight for these bullet feeders that .002" is that critical?

Or is it the overall length of the bullets that is the concern for the feeders/kits?

Just looking for some insight on the subject before I drop $500 for the feeder and another $300 for a conversion kit, that might not be needed at all or for the whole set up that might not work at all for my applications.

Thanks Robert

[LUBEDUDE]

It's the bullet shape and length that they are concerned with.

When they first came out a friend of mine had to send them his small 38 bullets for them to size the plate correctly.

[VHoward]

The collator kept jamming up on me. The feeder works fine. I sent the entire thing back to GSI for a refund and bought the Mr Bullet Feeder. No problems with the collator or feeder die.

[jmorris]

Never owned one of their collators but have many of their feeders/tool heads. Only ones I use for pistol rounds.

[warf73]

Thanks guys I'll look deeper into the Mr Bullet Feeder

[jmorris]

I have the KISS feeder too, what they called them before the name changed to MR bullet feeder. They work well also, they just take up an extra station that the GSI does not.

so with the MBF you either have to loose the powder check die and put it in #3 or combine seat and crimp at #5.

the GSI feeds and seats at #4 so everything stays the same. It also holds the bullets perfectly while being seated so you can get away with very little bell, even with cast and coated bullets without shaving. Like this.

http://i664.photobucket.com/albums/vv5/qvideo/IMG_20131009_114251_812_zps9121a3df.jpg

[warf73]

I was thinking..... very scary, how about take the tool head from the GSI and use the MR Bullet feeder. I was looking over the tool head of the GSI and it would need to be taped(opened up also maybe) to acecpt the MRB die set up. Other than that I'm not sure what other modes there would be if any to make it work.

153763

That would be the best of both worlds, only reason I say that is I'll recieve my XL650 Saturday and with my order I got a powder checker and like/want to keep it in the setup on the toolhead.

I like the MR Bullet feeder since the conversions are extremly cheap compaired to the GSI, but also want to maintain my powder checker.

Or would there be a better way to get to were I want to go?

Any thoughts?

[jmorris]

The MBF is a "dropper" that holds a column of bullets and let's one go if a case is pushed inside it and removed. The bullet is seated at the next station in the operation.

The GSI feeder takes a colum of bullets and places them one at a time into a rotating cylinder that is indexed under the seat die, placing a bullet over a case and as it comes up into the die seats the bullet to the proper depth.

The spot you marked is where the colum of bullets enter the feeder, if you put a MBF dropper there nothing would ever happen. That is where the collator puts the colum of bullets.

This is not their collator rather one I made from PVC (the collator is the most expensive part of their feeder).
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/reloading/bullet%20feeder/feeder1.jpg


The dropper style.
http://i121.photobucket.com/albums/o213/jmorrismetal/1050feeder.jpg

[VHoward]

http://www.gsiinternational.com/650-manual-9mm-38_8_4233_8589.html
I bought their manual version which is the tool head with the bullet feeder and drop tube. I bought one in 45 acp also. They do take a little adjusting from my experience to get it to work well with cast bullets.

That was after I had purchased a complete unit with the collator and then returned it.

[warf73]

Yes sir, I'm talking about removing the hold balls and removing the flar on the end(if it needs it)so it would thread up to the shell plate. So basicly make it a free fall like the GSI was ment to be.
The idea behind this was to make it cheaper to conver over from 100gr 380acp to 125gr or even 158gr 38/357 bullets. Well if this would work the only thing I have to do is adjust the nose tip and maybe the oritation plate on the Mr Bullet Feeder.

At over $300 per weight convertion it would pay for itselfs just setting up the 380acp and 38/357.

153997

[warf73]

After looking at there manual feeder, I may scrap the whole deal. It still asked for a weights, so IF the disk inside the tool head is diffent for each weight (hight wise?) maybe the seat stem can be adjusted for longer bullets?

If a guy can buy the 158gr RN set up and have enough adjust ment with the seating stem it should work for everything else.

Is there a hight diffence between the 115gr 9mm and the 158gr 38/357?

[jmorris]

The disk is the same for any height, just different for diameter. The plastic bushing (green) in the photo you posted in #7 is different for different heights and you adjust the seat die up or down as you normally would.

no reason to have a gutted bullet feeder feed it. All you need is a drop tube from a collator.

[warf73]

Jim,

When you get a chance send me a IM and lets see what we can come up with. I do want a feeder but a reliable one and maybe you can shoot me into the right direction.

Thanks Robert

[jmorris]

It boils down to what you expect and want from a feeder. There are more choices now that in the past but not all (or any) are perfect and have limitations.

If there was one "best" for everything I would have a lot less "stuff".

Feel free to PM me with your specific considerations (or put them here) and I can tell you what has and hasn't worked for me.

I can start by saying that the Lee feeder was the worst thing I have ever bought from Lee but some seem to be happy with it. I actually sent the one I had to another member here to play with. Haven't heard back from him with his experience with it yet though.

[warf73]

I'm even considering the Mr Bullet feeder mini that was talked about in an early post above. And get a few extra cartridges, it might work out pretty well. Load a 100 rounds add primers and new bullet cartridge and load another 100 rounds. Only thing is I'll still be loosing the PC that an obstical I would love to over come.

[jmorris]

Yes, unless you combine seat and crimp you loose the PN with the MBF, Hornady, RCBS or any other feeder except the Lee (that doesn't work).

Without a collator (mini kit) you won't see much of an advantage in speed.