Adapting the Lee Load Master Case Feeder to Hornady LNL AP?

[Lucas McDennis]

Just sold one of my Lee Load Masters to help finance the acquisition of a Hornady LNL AP.

One of the things I really like about the Load Master is its simple, cheap, and very effective case feeder. I have found it easy to set-up and quite reliable for everything from .380 acp to .44 mag. Well, .380 acp tends to have a percentage of upside-down shells. Around 5%, I'd say, but I can accept that. 40 s&w works better, .45 acp ever better, .357 mag better still, and .44 mag probably never feeds upside down. The smaller cases are more difficult to set up for not tipping over with full tubes, but it can be done.

The fellow who came over to buy one of my Load Masters laughed when he saw how quickly and easily we could fill the four tubes full of .40 s&w brass. That was the caliber he wanted to buy the press in, so I walked him through set-up and operation with that.

Now my Hornady LNL AP should be here Monday or Tuesday, and I'm excited about having that new tool to explore. I'm not happy about having to fill primer tubes, but have resigned myself to it for the time being. What I'm really not looking forward to is either:

a) Feeding cases by hand
or
b) Spending a huge pile of cash on a bulky, noisy, complex contraption that requires electrical power to feed brass.

Has anybody developed a clean, elegant way to adapt the Lee case feeder to the Hornady, and have the brass automatically pushed into the shell plate? I saw the solution where the shell drops down, and the fellow pushes it into the plate by hand. That's better than nothing, but not a real solution.

If nothing's been developed, might there be anybody in the South San Francisco Bay Area that would be willing to work with me on developing one? I'm best at conception, analysis, and test. My fabrication skills and available equipment are more limited.

 

[Uniquedot]

Here's one that seems to work. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0ji09Nxl2A

 

[BeerSleeper]

That's a neat idea.

I wonder if it would be cost effective to buy the guts of the hornady case feeder, and supply it with the lee tubes, basically using the hornady feeder, but doing away with the need for the motorized collater, kind of the same way folks have been building their own bullet feeder using the hornady bullet feed die (search forum for "$28 bullet feeder")

 

[cfullgraf]

Interesting design. Nice solution.

Looks like he used a drawer slide for the case pusher.

I like the double cam track for pushing the case into the shell plate. More reliable and positive than a single track with a return spring. The down side is there is not safety relief if something jams. One would need to pay attention and not power through an unexpected resistance (aka jam).

 

[jmorris]

I have a friend that feeds a 650 with the Lee "bowl".

However, one reason the Dillon costs more is that the actual case feeder is standard from the factory. The part they call the case feed (optional) is actually a collator or case feed, feeder.

The Hornady LNL case feeder is both the contraption to feed cases into the shell plate as well as a collator (also why it costs more than the Dillon "case feed".


If you have "stuff" and the right equipment its not difficult to whip up something that will work.

Here is one I built for a SD using box tube and plastic for the "slide".




Click on this photo to play a short video of it in action.

 

[dbarnhart]

I have an LnL-AP and for me, I can't really see that the case feeder would speed things up appreciably. My right hand operates the handle. As I pull the handle, my left hand grabs a case. as soon as the ram his the bottom stop I slide the new case into the shellplate. There isn't any delay while I insert the case, I can do it as fast as I can pull the handle.

 

[AFK]

I have an LnL-AP and for me, I can't really see that the case feeder would speed things up appreciably. My right hand operates the handle. As I pull the handle, my left hand grabs a case. as soon as the ram his the bottom stop I slide the new case into the shellplate. There isn't any delay while I insert the case, I can do it as fast as I can pull the handle.

Trust me, the case feeder speeds things up a lot. I was reluctant to spend the money for one, and I am so glad I did. I was pretty efficient without it as well, but it is well worth the money.

 

[Walkalong]

I am with dbarnhart. I do not see the case feeder speeding things up much, and certainly not enough to put up the cash and listen to the noise.

I like feeding the cases by hand. Heck, I cut off the piece that would hold the case feeder on my LNL.

 

[Uniquedot]

Here is one I built for a SD using box tube and plastic for the "slide".

That's a neat contraption! how reliable is it?

 

[jmorris]

.
That's a neat contraption! how reliable is it?

That build came from a thread in another forum that concluded that a case feeder couldn't be built for the SD or Dillon would offer one. I use my SD's for working up loads at the rage or out in the shop so I never used it other than to illustrate that it could be done. It did work 100% when I was done but I wouldn't call it production ready.