New Hornady Reloading Gear
Hornady Manufacturing announced new reloading gear, including a new rifle bullet feeder, control panel for the company’s progressive press and a powder check die.
The rifle bullet feeder will feed .22 caliber bullets to nearly any progressive press including the company’s own Lock-N-Load press. The kit can also be converted to feed .30 caliber bullets. According to Hornady, the system should not be used with lead bullets. MSRP is $493.13.
An electronic control panel to monitor the Lock-N-Load progressive press is another new item from Hornady. The panel is designed to monitor the primer level, powder level, powder charge, number of strokes and more. The basic panel is $165.87 and requires the addition of other sensors to monitor some functions.
Hornady’s new powder safeguard die works with the control panel to check for double charge and no charge powder levels. The die can only be used on straightwall cartridges from 9mm to .45 caliber. MSRP is $82.85.
An advocate of gun proliferation zones, Richard is a long time shooter, former cop and internet entrepreneur. Among the many places he calls home is http://www.gunsholstersandgear.com/.
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The bullet feeder, although seemingly outrageously expensive, might actually be useful for certain people who expend very large amounts of ammo, but the control panel and $80 powder check die just seem silly. For most people, a reloading press is a tool to produce less expensive ammo, not a black hole in the basement that you throw bundles of money into.
If it's similar to how the pistol bullet feed dies work then it's no lead because of how the slip collets work. The fingers of the collets would dig at the lead bullet lube and you will have a mess in no time. I've found if you get them set just right you can use lead bullets that are coated with epoxy or powder coat and they feed and seat just fine. No telling if the same is true for the rifle set as I'm not so flush with cash to dish out $500 for what my fingers can do just fine. Also, it really helps to have the Lyman M die so the seated bullet stays seated as the shell plate rotates to the next station. I think the pattent on the M die is expired (may be wrong) and if so then Hornady could really help out and make the PTX inserts in the M die manner. That's the only way I can see the tiny little 55gr pills stay in place during the rotation again.