Hornady Small Rifle case feeder plate in a Dillon?

[hAkron]

I've been using my large pistol case feeder plate in my Dillon case feeder with much success...other than being made from different plastic,they are pretty much identical. When I was gathering up supplies to load .223 in my Dillon 650XL, I bought a Hornady Small Rifle Case Feeder plate just because it was available locally. I'm having a couple of issues and I want to know if just ordering the Dillon plate will resolve it, or if it's just not practical to feed 223 in a case feeder.

First problem - cases drag and stall the case feeder. If I swap the 'clutch' assembly with the Dillion clutch (I have a small pistol Dillon plate), then it lifts the plate up enough that it doesn't drag, but then I get the 2nd problem- if a case ends up in the slot pointed the wrong way, it is correctly kept from falling upside down into the chute (that's good), but it doesn't get knocked back out of the slot, so eventually, all of the slots get filled with cases that won't drop, so no new cases can enter the plate. Now that I'm typing this, I'm wondering if there is enough of a height difference that swapping the clutches out makes the Hornady plate high enough to not let the cases drag, but too high to kick out the wrong way cases. I'm thinking the Dillon plate would fix this, or lots of shimming and testing of the Hornady.

Anyway - anybody have experience with trying to use the Hornady SR plate in the Dillon case feeder, or anybody have good luck with the Dillon SR plate in the Dillon case feeder?

I typed this on my ipad, so please forgive any typos or any other kooky errors.

 

[KansasSasquatch]

I'm having a couple of issues and I want to know if just ordering the Dillon plate will resolve it, or if it's just not practical to feed 223 in a case feeder.

I don't own a case feeder, but there's plenty of people using them for .223. I'd say you're correct in thinking that the Dillon part would fix it, or modify the Hornady plate. The way I see it, if you have the time/knowledge/tools it'd be worth it to try modifying the Hornady plate that you already have. If you order the Dillon plate you'll be stuck with the Hornady until you find someone to take it off your hands.

 

[PkSpawn]

Sorry to revive the zombie thread.. I was impatient and didn't want to wait for a Dillon Small rifle plate to be ordered. So I went and picked up a Hornady Small Rifle.

It was extremely easy to modified and get to work.. Took about 10mins at most. If I was allowed to own a dremel, it would of been much faster and cleaner cuts. I used a pocket knife to trim the case feeder and the feed plate.

If the cases feed primer end first, all if fine and the cases drop like they should. If the case is fed bottle neck first, the side of the feeder hits the case and causes it to bind. If it doesn't bind, the case won't fall down the chute because there isn't enough room.. Removing a little bit of the plastic made enough room for the cases to fall. I then removed some material from the feed plate that prevented the binding.

The slight change to the feeder didn't affect the dillon large pistol feed plate or the feeding of those cases.

Here is a video showing it binding up and then working. I don't have pics/video of where I cut the case feeder itself..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzWIZ6tjfo0

 

[tightgroup tiger]

Sorry to revive the zombie thread.. I was impatient and didn't want to wait for a Dillon Small rifle plate to be ordered. So I went and picked up a Hornady Small Rifle.

What??

Are you posting from two different computers or did I just go nuts?

No matter who you are I think your in virgin territory on this one. Help may be a little scarce regarding your issue.

The only advise I could give on this is the same as what the Squatch said.

Good luck.

 

[PkSpawn]

Sorry for the confusion.. I am trying to show how to get the plate to work. Saved money over the Dillon plate, and also got the plate faster since it was available locally, vs having to order it.

It is working great for me now.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

What did you have to do to get it to work?

 

[PkSpawn]

I show what u need to do in the video link i put in my first reply.

On the Hornady Small Rifle plate, you need to trim a little bit of material from the left side of each slot. Just enough so that the case doesn't bind.

You also need to remove a little bit of plastic from the case feeder itself. Although not shown in the video, the cases won't drop when they are bottle neck forward. You will be able to see where you need to remove material, but again it is the top left portion of the exit chute. In the video you can see a small piece of plastic and a score line from where the razor slipped while I was trimming it.

I'm betting the dillon feed plate slots are possibly cut slightly deeper.

 

[hAkron]

PkSpawn, thanks for figuring this out! I've been too lazy to get the rifle plate, so I was still being plagued by this issue. I'm going to try the modifications this weekend. Thanks!!

 

[Reinz]

My blood runs Blue so I have to admit that I initially thought that this was a dumb idea and "why?"
But after thinking it over, I applaud you for thinking outside the box and making the H/LNL work.

Good job