Hornady bullet feeder issue with 9mm .356Dia

[crg6300a]

I have the Hornady Lock-n-Load Ammo plant. I'm trying to load 9mm .356Dia jacketed bullets through the Hornady bullet feeder. I have followed the instructions that came with the bullet feeder die, and to no avail, I get one bullet through the feeder then nothing. I have completely disassembled the feeder twice, cleaned it, polished each part, and lubed with Hornady case lubricant. Why isn't it working? The crazy thing is it will work great with .355Dia Blue Bullets, but not with the .356Dia jacketed bullet. Do I have to get another bullet feeder for that diameter? Please help because this is becoming very frustrating.

 

[higgite]

It seems odd that .001" would make a difference. Is Hornady's customer service number not working?

Edit: Sorry. I thought you were having trouble with the bullet feeder. I wondered why you mentioned the feeder die instructions and then kept asking about the feeder. Apparently .001” does make a difference with the die.

 

[fxvr5]

It can be very sensitive to bullet diameter. Try screwing the die down a little more to help spread the collet a little more and see it that helps.

 

[Allen One1]

If screwing the die down a little bit doesn't work you may have to play with the collet fingers bending them ever so slight in or out until you find a sweet spot that makes it work. When you get it they will feed very well as you have seen with your other bullets.

 

[Skgreen]

How much flare on your case? I believe .385 is Hornady's 'general' recommendation.I can sometimes get by just under 380, but even that varies.
Disassemble die, Will the upper collet allow a bullet to drop through unimpeded? If so, good.
(Bottom collet should not).
Tell us more about the bullet you're attempting to use

 

[Dudedog]

HHmm, should work.
I have run a bunch of various RMR bullets thru mine, both plated and jacketed and they run .3555 or .356.
It can be a bit picky about the die height but then I was able to get it to work after playing with it a bit. so it can't be to hard

 

[Skgreen]

My die loves RMR 115 / 124 RMR MW's.
On the opposite end of the spectrum was some 'value orientated' coated 115's. (They were rather 'lumpy')
FWIW, like the OP, I seldom had any issues with the Blue Bullets. Might take a little tuning, but it wasn't hard to get there.
Never did get there with the lumpy's,,,

 

[kmw1954]

I have one of those sitting in a drawer on my bench. Never could get it to work.

 

[redham]

I was loading 185gr Hornady XTP (JHP) bullets and can to some conclusions. There can be variations in the diameter of bullets just enough to hand up the bullet feeder. The185 XTP bullets were so heavy that opening for the expanding collet had open up a little and kept dropping bullets. I basically pulled the collet out and squeezed it tighter. In your case, you might want to expand the collet just a little to ease the bullet dropping.

 

[jmorris]

If you have taken it apart and altered the parts, I'd suggest you go back and use it with some of the bullets that did work in the past. At the very least you'll know if your polishing of every part made things better or worse.

FWIW the instructions for my Hornady bullet feeder say to take it apart and "degrease every part of the die." So you might try removing the lubricant you applied.

https://press.hornady.com/assets/pcthumbs/tmp/1410991952-Instructions-Pistol-Bullet-Feeder.pdf

 

[Ghost In The Fog]

I exclusively run the RMR multipurpose 124 Gr JHP's and in the past I have found that I had to watch the slot in the bullet feeder tube to make sure the bullet drops when the ram is at the top of the stroke. When the bullet doesn't drop, I have to take a small screwdriver or other similar item and then put it slit in the side of the bullet tube and gently press down on a bullet to make the bullet drop, then it would work for a while and stop again. I watched a bazillion youtube videos and then just set it up per the factory instructions and began turning the seating die down in 1/16th turns.I found the sweet spot and in the last thousand or so has not failed to drop a bullet. If I had to guess, I am 1/2 to 5/8 turn down more than the instructions show. I don't know if it will work for you, but it sure did for me.

 

[Skgreen]

RE: The185 XTP bullets were so heavy that opening for the expanding collet had open up a little and kept dropping bullets.

There are so many variables its amazing, but, In general, when the lower collet moves upwards, it both drops a bullet and engages the upper collet enough to cause it to 'close/not let another bullet through'.

Once the lower collet starts to move downward, it releases the upper collet, letting another bullet down to the lower collet.

The tolerances required to make all this happen are so tight that I have yet to find a 'one size fits all' setting.

I (once) had some coated grooveless 115 RN that I never could get to feed right. The coated .38/.357 'old school' (?) 158 gr Semi wadcutter with lube groove, bought at the same time from the same Vendor, fed just fine! (Shot good too! )

Bullet length, shape, (both overall as well as consistency), and weight all play a part in you die 'tuning'
IMHO, the vids I've watched were 'a start', but not 'the answer'

(In all honesty, the times that I've been able to duplicate the 'in general' process I described above are very few.)

 

[crg6300a]

I want to thank everyone for their information. I ended up taking the bullet feeder die apart and spreading the collect fingers just enough to allow the .356 diam bullet to drop through. Thank you for all the help.

 

[9mmepiphany]

A perfect time to close this thread