Bullet feed dies?

[Tilos]

This is a good point to bring up.

Does the feeder work OK with some number of bullets but not others?
I use a collator with mine so the number/column height always stays the same.

For me, It was the tweaking/adjusting of the A collet for a firm grip on a bullet, to hold the weight of the bullets stacked in the tube.
For 9mm and 38/357 I use 3ft. tubes and put 50 bullets in each.

How it works as I see it.
The collet lengths are arranged so that there's an unclamp bullet between the A and B collet pinch points.
When the case opens collet A (and closes collet B) the bullet pinched in A drops into the case and the unclamped/middle bullet follows it into the pinch area of collet A.
When the case is lowered collet A closes around the bullet in it, and collet B opens allowing the column of bullets in the tube to drop down until the new middle bullet stops against the bullet pinched in collet A.
The pinch pressure of collet A is what keeps the bullet column from pushing the bullet out of it, so adjusting collet A to hold a bullet tighter will allow the use of the tube with a long column of bullets.
Sorry for the long explanation...

Pic of tubes lb. of powder for scale:

Top support for tubes:


Works for me,

 

[kmw1954]

Highly disappointed and a bit aggravated at the same time. Was able to get back to it this afternoon with no joy. I took the die apart again as it stopped dropping bullets again right away. again it would not drop a bullet thru collet "B" so I was able to expand the fingers again with just the nose of a RN 45 bullet and my fingers. Even took a hand full of bullets and dropped them thru the collet into a dish to assure they would pass thru. Then I reassembled to the die and set the top back 1/2 turn per the directions and locked it down. Then reset the die into the press and adjusted it very carefully down onto an empty flared case, back off the ram and turned the die down 1/2 turn and locked it down. I then ran 8 bullets thru the die and every one dropped onto an empty case. Yeah!

Spoke too soon. Loaded up the press and the 1st bullet dropped, next indexed the next one into position, raised the ram and it did not raise completely smoothly into the dies, wiggled the handle and it raised some more only it also crushed the case under the bullet feeder and the bullet did not drop. So that is were it's at when I left the bench.

This shouldn't be that difficult!!! gggrrrrr

 

[tightgroup tiger]

If it were me I would buy a box of xtp bullets of the same weight that the plated bullets are your using and try to run them through that die.

That will tell you if it's the plated bullets or the die. I would have to do this for my own piece of mind.

If the jacketed bullets do the same, which I think they will, then call Hornady and tell the person your using jacketed and the die won't feed right.

Don't even mention plated bullets or what you have tried with them. If that die won't feed jacketed bullets then the die is jacked up, and it came that way from the factory.

Don't get ignorant with them, tell them your frustrated, you tried everything you can think of, and need some help. Don't tell them anything else about your experience and DON'T tell them you are putting this on a Lee press, It really has no bearing on the problem.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Highly disappointed and a bit aggravated at the same time. Was able to get back to it this afternoon with no joy. I took the die apart again as it stopped dropping bullets again right away. again it would not drop a bullet thru collet "B" so I was able to expand the fingers again with just the nose of a RN 45 bullet and my fingers. Even took a hand full of bullets and dropped them thru the collet into a dish to assure they would pass thru. Then I reassembled to the die and set the top back 1/2 turn per the directions and locked it down. Then reset the die into the press and adjusted it very carefully down onto an empty flared case, back off the ram and turned the die down 1/2 turn and locked it down. I then ran 8 bullets thru the die and every one dropped onto an empty case. Yeah!

Spoke too soon. Loaded up the press and the 1st bullet dropped, next indexed the next one into position, raised the ram and it did not raise completely smoothly into the dies, wiggled the handle and it raised some more only it also crushed the case under the bullet feeder and the bullet did not drop. So that is were it's at when I left the bench.

This shouldn't be that difficult!!! gggrrrrr

For the bullet feeder, the timing on your press needs to be as close to perfect as you can get it. I would check the timing. Crushing the case is an indicator that the press needs to be timed.

 

[kmw1954]

Thanks Tightgroup I'm not ready to give up yet. I may have to give your suggestion a try.

 

[kmw1954]

For the bullet feeder, the timing on your press needs to be as close to perfect as you can get it. I would check the timing. Crushing the case is an indicator that the press needs to be timed.

There is no timing to adjust on the Lee Breech Lock Pro.

 

[Tilos]

Sorry you're having continuing problems.

With no disrespect, it seems like you are doing the same thing, each attempt, and expecting different results.
Since you have given Hornady an excuse/reason not to help (using plated bullets), you are now on your own to try different fixes suggested here.

While doing the mods I mentioned in several posts here, including a video, I was able to put a flared case up into the feeder die and just push it up by hand/no shell plate or press, to see if a bullet would drop, as a quick test.
This greatly sped up the testing, modify, and test again cycle.
I actually used a 357 flared case for this testing as it's longer/easier to push on/hold.
I eventually got it to feed/drop bullets consistently, over and over.
That's when I switched to using the press/shell plate/9mm flared case.

I have given you several suggestions of things to do or try in prior posts, nothing radical or nothing not reversible, but I don't see where you have tried any of them.
I started with the same problems you are having and now have two bullet feeding dies that feed coated bullets 100% reliably.

1st and foremost you need to get collet B spread open enough so bullets will pass thru it reliably during multiple cycles, and collet A to tightly hold the diameter bullets you are using.

I have thought to pm you my address to send me the die assembly to tune for you, but I think you have the skills needed to get this done, try it...

 

[jmorris]

For the bullet feeder, the timing on your press needs to be as close to perfect as you can get it.

Timing of the case going into or out of the feed die? Not sure what this means.

 

[kmw1954]

Tilos, thanks for the help but try not to get as aggravated as I am. I haven't done any polishing on the collets as at this time I do not have use of a Dremel. Again the feeder was dropping bullets very nicely until I loaded up the press and got to the final stage to seat the bullet. That is when it crushed the case in the feeder die. At this point I am ready to try this in the Pro1000 press just to see if I run into the same issues.

Not that it makes any difference but I am still getting schooled on the press. I have only had this press for a few months now and before this with the bullet feeder all I've loaded on it were 45acp and it worked beautifully for that. I received the 9mm shellplate and the bullet feeder at the same time so I haven't ran any 9mm previously on this press. But again I've run 9mm with both my Pro1000 and old 3 hole turret so it's nothing new.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Timing of the case going into or out of the feed die? Not sure what this means.

If the case is not going straight into the bullet feed die the bullet will catch the side of the case crushing it

There is no timing to adjust on the Lee Breech Lock Pro.

Now let's adjust your Lee Breech Lock Pro. First, let's fill the shell plate up with cases. With the handle in the up position make sure the case retention tabs are pushing the cases into the shell plate. Now, this will take care of the lower part of your press. So now, we need to adjust the upper part of the press. To do this lower the handle all the way down with all the cases in position. Now you will notice that the upper part of the press sits on three round post. The post are not a solid part of either the upper or the lower part of the press. Now just loosen the Allen bolts that go down into the post on all three With the brass up into the dies wiggle the upper part of the press. Then tighten the bolts down again and this should adjust the upper part of the press with the brass.
.

 

[Tilos]

Tilos, thanks for the help but try not to get as aggravated as I am. I haven't done any polishing on the collets as at this time I do not have use of a Dremel. Again the feeder was dropping bullets very nicely until I loaded up the press and got to the final stage to seat the bullet. That is when it crushed the case in the feeder die. At this point I am ready to try this in the Pro1000 press just to see if I run into the same issues.

Not that it makes any difference but I am still getting schooled on the press. I have only had this press for a few months now and before this with the bullet feeder all I've loaded on it were 45acp and it worked beautifully for that. I received the 9mm shellplate and the bullet feeder at the same time so I haven't ran any 9mm previously on this press. But again I've run 9mm with both my Pro1000 and old 3 hole turret so it's nothing new.

I don't think it's the press, put the other dies into the Pro 1000 and load anything you might need.

Wrap some sandpaper around a pencil (or something smaller) and polish inside of both collets with it, mostly the edges of the slots and holes at the end of the slots, and both angled ends/edges of Collet A.
Polish the beveled/slotted end of collet B too.
I often "polish" with a Q-tip chucked in a hand drill and some car polish...try it
You'll need to use the cheap/non-brand Q-tips with the wound paper shanks, not the one's with the plastic tube shanks, cut off one end. ( I use them in my dremmel too)

Size/flare a bunch of cases, remove all the other dies, even the index rod, that way you can concentrate and feel what's going on with the feed die.
jmo

 

[kmw1954]

Last night we had our 2 yo. grandson go into the hospital with pneumonia so I was with the other 2 while my wife went with our daughter. While I was up waiting I found a pcs. of 400 grit emery cloth and did spend a good amount of time polishing collet B until the wife returned. Next will do collet A.

Ahead of you as I already had 25 cases sized and flared to the recommended .385". Before doing all this I had removed all the dies with the exception of the feeder. Dropped 10 in a row before one got stuck again an I had to push it out. Measured that one and it was right at .355" so why it stuck I don't know yet. After that I took the feed die out and loaded up the 25 cases I had prepped. All ran smoothly

I remember thinking as I was loading these up that I don't have anywhere near this much trouble priming on the Pro1000 as I'm having with this die. As I said before I'm pretty well stocked up on 9mm so I have time to play with this and try and sort it out. Today I'm still babysitting so I'm going to take a break from this today.