If you're a medium volume loader like me, or new to the AP press, you may want to consider the Hornady Pistol Bullet Feeder Die.  

Under $30, and includes a PTX powder through expander.  

I recently picked one up, and could not be happier with the performance.  I will add the Hornady LNL Bullet Tube (under $30), and will be good to go.  

Not a major time saver, but getting into the groove with one less step seems to make a big difference being able to concentrate on the other variables.

For me, at this time, it is extremely hard to justify the cost of the bullet feeder.  In addition, I was worried that the noise of the collator would drive me mad through my reload therapies.

Question:  Since Hornady does not make this type of device for 223, without having to buy the whole bullet feeder system with collator, do any of you have an alternate suggestion?  

Mr.BulletFeeder seems to be close to what I am after, but a little hesitant, since there does not seem to be any information on real life experiences.  I was thinking of rigging up individual polycarbonate tubes to hold the bullets in.  They have a couple of systems (Lee, etc.) with more tubes; not very crazy about the added weight.  Anyone with real life experience with this setup for 223?

I was looking at buying just the Hornady 223 feeder part of the assembly.  Unfortunately Hornady does not sell it outside of the feeder system, and there are no known plans to make a rifle one similar to the pistol option as above.  This would be an attractive option even at a $100ish price point, since the setup would seat and crimp as well, saving space on stations.

My last thought was to just buy the case feeder for the 223 to lessen manual steps, then later add the collator for other calibers.  

1st world problems.

I have the case feeder. It works reasonably well with cases that it "likes". 223 is among those that it likes. God help you if you try to feed a case it doesn't like. These would basically include any long straight wall cases. Getting it to feed 357 will cause you to invent new curse words. 45 ACP is also somewhat difficult but doable.

A member here makes and sells plastic inserts for specific cartridges. I ordered the 45 and 357 insert. The 357 insert wouldn't line up with the drop tube. Not much help there obviously. The 45 insert worked pretty well. I don't think this is a problem with the 357 insert. I suspect my feeder is somehow slightly out of spec, which may explain some of the general aggravations.

I don't think the LnL case feeder is well designed. They tried to create a system with a few case handling components to handle any cartridge case. It results in a system that is difficult to adjust and get running well.

I use it for bottleneck rifle cases. For larger straight wall cases I don't usually bother; I'll be coming up with a bullet feeder solution for these.

This is one of the very few areas where I think Dillon is clearly superior to Hornady. My observation is that even the Lee Loadmaster's case feed system involves less aggravation adjusting it, though that might be false perception based on sanitized YouTube videos.

For a bullet feed solution, there is a guy who makes an adaptor to use Lee bullet feeder tubes with the Hornady pistol bullet feeder die. I'll post a link if I can find it.

As far as Mr Bullet Feeder, I have no direct experience. I've never yet heard anyone who has one speak ill of it.

I don't have a problem. Of course, I don't have any degree from any college. But I do have a Doctorate in common sense, from school of hard knocks. And my toolbox consists of more than a shoe box with 1 big rock and 1 small rock.
Take your time and work out your problems, and if you can't figure it out ask there are many that will help.

I have the bullet feeder dies and tubes for my LNL set up for 9mm and 45ACP.  I went this route instead of getting a case feeder (For me it was one or the other).  Saves a lot of time over placing a case and a bullet with each pull of the handle.
The bullets turn sideways sometimes regardless of how much flare I add and I find the PTX very difficult to set up (I ended up ditching mine).

Cmax Arms' video on the bullet feeder die really helped me with setting the die right.  


Short takeaway: set the top adjustment according to instruction then do not adjust.  From that point, only dial seating height (instructions were spot on for me on this step).


The PTX is another story, but can be figured out by observing more common sense than following directions.


After the correct flaring size is attained for the given caliber, (keeping the powder drop to clear full cycle), make sure to use this "flared" case to adjust the depth of how far you seat the bullet feeder die, versus an unflared case.  


I missed this seemingly make sense step the first time around.  You may have not, but if so, this seemingly obvious small step could make or break the moving parts work in unison.


I mainly load 223 and 9, so am leaning more towards the case feeder route.  For just over $300, I could knock out 9mm at near to full automation, and only have to manually set the 223 bullets for now.  


223 bullet feeder may have to take a step back in priority.  It would be nice to be $60 into a rifle feeder die with tubes though, much like my new beloved pistol bullet feeder die setup.

My advice?  Just buy the case feeder.  It will help you for multiple operations, where as a bullet feeder really only helps for loading.  I use my case feeder on my LnL for both loading and processing brass.  They can be made to run reliably, but it might take some work.  Ive done a ton of work on mine, and have posted most of that work on a different forum.

If I was going bullet feeder, being that MBF is really the most flexible and simple design, I would go that that route.  For pistol with a MBF you do need to either use a PTX or seat and crimp in the same station.  Myself, Id seat and crimp in the same station, as I demand very consistent expansion for pistol which is really hard to get from a PTX.  For rifle I suggest something like an M-Die which puts a very small flare on the case, just enough to help the feeder run.

I have a 9mm bullet feeder die with the tubes, but I recently stopped using it.  I timed myself, and with the time required to fill the tubes, I'm actually faster without it.  

I seat and crimp separately, and I did not like using the PTX.  Also, with the powder drop at station 2 and the bullet feeder at 3, I found it more difficult to glance into the case to check the powder charge.

I would rather have the case feeder, but I hate that it costs about as much as I paid for the press itself.  I'll probably buy one if I catch a good enough deal, though.

I have Hornady's case feeder on my LnL AP.  It works fine, though it does take a bit of tweaking with caliber changes.  Once you get the hang of it, changes aren't much more than a minor chore.

I have Hornady bullet feeder dies in 9mm, .38/.357, .40 and .45, and they work great.  Top one with a chunk of the appropriate diameter tubing, and you have a (small capacity) bullet feeder.  Check out this thread for details on making it work for (most) any pistol cartridge within that 9mm-.45 caliber range.

I do NOT have Hornady's feeder machine.  Instead, I have the RCBS feeder with their "handles it all" feeder die.  I am unimpressed by the RCBS die; it doesn't seem very robust, and it is very "fiddly" in setting it up.  But interestingly, you can feed Hornady dies with the RCBS bullet feeder collator.  It works great.

I hope that's helpful.

Mr. Bullet Feeder uses something like ball bearings to hold the bullet?  This is very interesting, and makes me want to look into it.  Edited to add: What diameter is Mr. Bullet Feeder's feed spring/tube?  Hornady and RCBS use tubes close enough in diameter to each other that I can feed my Hornady dies with the RCBS collator; if Mr. Bullet Feeder uses a similar size, I might just invest in one of their dies to play around with.

You're right about Hornady's bullet feed dies having issues with lead bullets.  I managed to tweak my .45 die to drop 230 grain LRN bullets, but it was a real chore.  I'm not sure if it was more of a challenge because of the lead bullets' diameter, or because of lube on the bullets, or both, but it's something that has me looking hard at polymer coated bullets for feeding.

On the other hand, with plated and jacketed bullets in 9mm/.380 (.355/.356) I have had no issues whatsoever.  I have a strong impression that these feed dies were specifically designed around smooth, hard, and essentially round nose or truncated cone shaped bullets.  For this reason, I'm carefully planning out using the .38/.357 die, paying attention to bullet shape - in particular the nose, which is what allows Hornady's collets to drop one bullet and hold the next.  I cannot envision these dies feeding full wadcutter bullets, but I could be wrong.

All great points!  Thank your for your contributions.


The consensus is in favor of the case feeder, and will be my next $300 investment.  


In the meantime, since I am still fond of the 9mm bullet feeder die, I'm thinking of proceeding for my as follows:

Buy the Mr. BulletFeeder Die Assembly Only here or here.

Buy the Lyman M Die to help seating.  I was worried about the indexing, that's why I was almost taking a pass on the MBF.  With the M die, I will have no issues.  For those who are considering this, or want to find out, review this page.  You owe it to yourself as a reloader.  I've read many good reviews in the past, and can finally accept the information my brain couldn't process up until this point.

Strongly considering rigging something up similar to the inexpensive 223 bullet feeder die info I found here.

The prettier way is to go with one of the Bully Mar-R 20's.  Great option to pair up with MBF.  There is also a 308 option that you can pair with a 308 MBF.  Solid looking products.


You may laugh, but I rigged up a couple of tubes for my 9mm bullet feeder die.  Beats spending $30 for the same exact thing and capacity from Hornady.  If you have an old golf bag like I did, consider using the stand legs as 100% fit for 9mm.  Assuming you no longer need the bag.


Mine were exactly 0.380" internal diameter, and 0.475 OD.  Perfect fit for the bullets I needed them for, are made of aluminum and fit to the exact dimensions of the bullet feeder mouth.  Each tube takes 43 bullets.  Loaded up a couple hundred, and they worked flawlessly.


I was going to insert pictures off of my hard drive, but just learned that I need to insert a URL.  I'll have to set up a public image share I guess...

For 9mm, the PTX with the Hornady seems to do a good job.


I'll be using the Lyman M die for 223, as MBF does not produce a powder through expander for this caliber.  For rifle, it may pose to be quite an undertaking.  Meaning, minor neck sizing with possible flare such as the M does right under the powder drop.


I'm doing visual powder check at the moment, and process my rifle brass ahead of time, so the M will go in station 1 for 223.


Not to derail, but powder check is something I'm giving more and more thought to as well.  


However, a bit afraid of the mess it makes according to some with fine powder, such as the CFE223 I use for 223, along with CFE Pistol for 9mm.

I haven't found this data on the MBF web site, so maybe it's in the instructions...  Both RCBS and Hornady call for flaring pistol cases 0.03" above bullet diameter.  What flare does MBF suggest?  

I ask because Hornady's PTXs can give you insanely large flares if you use the PTX linkage (which is absolutely critical to the PTX functioning properly).  

Here's the linkage from Midway USA for $7.99.  A great purchase, in my opinion.

Now I see the uniqueness of MBF's expander...  Very close to an M Die.  Very interesting.

May wish to read: http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/349969_-28-00-Bullet-feeder-for-Any-Progressive.html

There may have been another with pics and the math to calc what sizes you would need for almost any reloadable caliber.

Right now with Photobucket taking a dump on there user base its hard to tell without completely re-reading old threads.

This technique works well.  It took Hornady a couple of years to catch up and create their version, which uses aluminum tubes.  

Sadly, the links in the thread for buying the clear, thinwall tubing are no longer valid.  While you can still find these tubes (with some effort last time I looked), they cost a bunch more than they did when the thread was active.

The old thread referenced clear tubes that can still be found at Pet Mountain.


Again, if you have a junker golf bag, measure before you do surgery, the legs may be the ticket.  They must be pretty standard across the board, or I just got lucky with mine.  They were the exact dimensions needed for 9mm (with perfect tolerance), and seat 0.5" into the bullet feeder die without any additional adjustments.  I would take a wild guess to extrapolate that the Hornady tubes for the 9mm use the same exact aluminum tubes.  Still can not believe how well they fit.  My measurements as above.


One example of the legs I'm referencing:

Thanks for finding Pet Mountain.  My Google fu has been weak; I hadn't stumbled upon them.  Those tubes are great for a number of things, not just bullet tubes.

There was a tread, I can't seem to locate. Had lots of pictures which likely got snafu'd by the recent photobucket anti customer behavior but it showed how to make drop dies for 270, 223, 30 cal etc.

I have copies of the pics but since I am not the owner of said images I am hesitant to re-post them.

I will be making up some of these dies for the empty powder check station on my XL650 tool heads.

I can source plastic tubing when I get to the point that I need it. - I will likely build a bullet collator or buy and mod a Hornady or RCBS unit.