FeedNSeat in one...save a Station

[GW Staar]

Test subject is the Lee 6000 which already has 6 stations, but that's the one I'm playing with because it's not dedicated to anything yet. Besides, for people who move their powder drop to #3, they have in effect only a 5 station press.

Not perfected yet......getting closer....need to close the bottom tighter.....third bullet got sideways and didn't fall. Using RCBS feeder and RCBS Gold Medal Seater......it's what I have right now.

Here's a little short video to show the idea behind it all. I know, not a critical project.....or everyone's cup of tea, but it's interesting to me...gives me something to do. Such a thing would be great for 5 station presses. Six stations on a five....



Guess I should mention that I was too lazy to put on the .223 shell plate......in the video is my 9mm shell plate for the last pistol loading session.....the cases wobble for that reason....but good enough for the first test.

Now if Lee would start making PISTOL bullet seaters with a drop-in window.....we could use their new inline pistol bullet feedrs with such a 2 in 1 coupler....

 

[GW Staar]

That was made with 4 little 3D printed parts and five 6-32 machine screws and 2 6-32 nylocs.....wish I could say the first renditions was all it took....more like 3 revisions to get it this far.

Picture of the parts, that together took 8 hours to print, while I played somewhere else...

 

[GW Staar]

The not so perfect tries.....yip....4 of them.


The above is proof I'm not even close to perfect. But #5 ..........its all in the ramp design.....perfect for .223. Was hoping to do both .308 and .223 in one, but the ramp has to fit the bullet to prevent angled bullet presentation, which doesn't work every time. Straight presentation does work every time.



So for me this was to take advantage of RCBS's tube rifle bullet feeder which I have for the two calibers. RCBS supplied this product with two dies....and "M" die before the powder drop to make the bullets at the feeder station start straight and then go untilted on around the merry-go-round to the seating station....then the seater. (Gold Medal Seaters for me)......So.....on lee's little six pack it will go as follows: 1 size; 2 prime and powder drop; 3 "M" neck expand; 4 video powder level check; 5 feed AND seat; 6 taper crimp the "M" pocket back tight against the bullet.

Or for those spilling powder.....1 size; 2 prime and "M" expand; 3 powder drop; 4 powder check; 5 feed and seat; 6 taper crimp. A better order, period.

Picture of one of the RCBS Tube Rifle Bullet Feeders below:



One more print (I hope) to print a second FeedNSeat connector for .308.

 

[Blue68f100]

So.....on lee's little six pack it will go as follows: 1 size; 2 powder drop and prime; 3 "M" neck expand; 4 video powder level check; 5 feed AND seat; 6 taper crimp the "M" pocket back tight against the bullet.

You need to seat the primer before dumping powder.

 

[GW Staar]

You need to seat the primer before dumping powder.

I'm even less perfect writing posts.......surely you are used to that by now.....I usually have to edit my posts 5 times too. And no, I still haven't changed the case plate from 9mm to .223....and yes that causes the wobble of the cases.....close enough for the test.

RCBS ought to pay me for this......their Tube Rifle Feeders are now possibly useful for people without a Pro Chucker 7. I'll post the 3d print files here, if anyone asks. I plan to send them to RCBS, but I would be shocked if they will never develop anything like them, even if I freely give the idea to them.

 

[GW Staar]

It took longer than I thought but I finally finished the .308 version. This video is off the press so you can better see how it works.


It works on the Lee 6000, but the subplate pusher plate would have to be redesigned for other presses.

Feeder and seater used is RCBS's .308 rifle bullet tube feeder and the Gold Medal Die I have. Other inline feeders and window seaters probably would work too.

For 3D printers ..... see attached .stl files:

 

[GW Staar]

In the post above, I also added .stl files for the mods I made to the RCBS Rifle Bullet Feed dies, to keep me from losing ball bearings....which allows adding springs to keep them safe inside the dies. That's the "helmet" and springs shown in the last video and in the illustrations below. RCBS shoulda done that....maybe they will someday.....but I doubt it.




I know this is not a thread that interests many, but for the divergents like me among you........it's now documented.

 

[FROGO207]

I still load on a SS press and do not own a printer yet but enjoy watching you guys build and solve problems as you go. Who knows, one day I might go down the rabbit hole and buy a printer. I stopped at Autocad sadly. So until then thanks to all for letting me follow along in spirit and learn.