RCBS Tube Pistol Bullet Feeder

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David Bachelder

New member
I might be mixed up, but I believe that is the older model. It's caliber specific and the new model will do several calibers. It will also do cast lead bullets. I spoke with Midway after posting this and they don't have it yet. Maybe in the near future but not yet.
 
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David Bachelder

New member
From the description:

"The RCBS Tube Pistol Bullet Feeder has been designed
to increase your progressive pistol load rate
by ~50% by reducing the manual operation of placing
a bullet onto the case mouth. All parts and adapters
are included for you to be able to feed .380, 9mm,
.38 Spl, .357 Mag, .40 S&W or .45 ACP pistol bullets.
The Bullet Feeder is designed to work with FMJ/TMJ,
JACKETED or SEMI JACKETED Hollow Point, Soft
Point, Round Nose, Truncated/Flat Nose and Semi
Wadcutter designed bullets ONLY. Cast or swaged
LEAD bullets can also be used. Wadcutter (HB, BB,
DE) bullets are NOT to be used. The lube from lead
bullets deposits on the moving parts and collects
dust and dirt, slowing down the function of the Bullet
Feeder. Periodic cleaning of parts is necessary when
using lubed bullets."

As you see it will cover many calibers.
 
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GWS

New member
RCBS is going to have to clear that one up for you. Email them.

At the shotshow in January Kent Sakamoto (product manager at RCBS) shows the "Tube Bullet Feeder" that he said was caliber-specific. RCBS, even today on their website, shows in their product listing, only the one caliber products.

Then going to their manual of the tube feeder (on the same site), it would seem to suggest that they are now putting the multiple-caliber feed die in it with all the fingers.

You know what? I'm beginning to suspect that they never even change dies, they only withheld the plastic fingers for other calibers. That probably got some angry complaints, since you can buy the die by itself (with all the caliber fingers) for $28 at Midway.

The Tube feeder is listed in Midway as single caliber, so we I just assumed RCBS made a different die.

You can always order THIS from Midway, and THIS from Linens & Things and have have the same thing only your tubes are way longer...36".........But...You have to make your own bushing to smaller caliber tubes to fit. The bushing I speak of is Part 9 in the tube loader manual. You can make one by gluing tubing together (telescoping it til it fits).

On the other hand, you can just get a caliber specific one from RCBS now, while their still available, for the caliber you reload the most. Then wait for the all-caliber one to come out and buy it. Why? Well you will not only end up with all the caliber fingers, you get the bushing, annnnd, you will have two bodies. Two bodies are way more convenient than one. Think about it.;)

One more thing.....once you know the diameter of 2 tubes RCBS uses you can buy additional long ones from Linen's and Things.....freight-free I might add.

Which progressive are you using?
 
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Arizona Smithshooter

New member
I ordered mine direct from RCBS...got it less than a week. I load .38's & 9mm and it works great. It came with two bullet tubes that hold 30 bullets each. The only problem I had was there was flashing on the plastic fingers that feed the bullets. Once I trimmed it off it worked perfectly. The case mouths first need to be expanded to the dimensions in the instructions. I loaded 100 rounds of 9mm in about 30 minutes on my Hornady LnL press. I paid about 35 bucks, plus shipping from RCBS.

Here is a link to the instructions:

http://www.rcbs.com/downloads/instructions/RC246_TubePistolBulletFeederInst.pdf
 
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GWS

New member
Would you guys who bought this tool mind posting good closeups of the feeder die you bought, taken apart and parts layed out. I'd like to verify that the design is indeed the same as the "universal" feeder die that I bought 6 months ago, with the extra bushing, but minus the extra caliber "fingers."

I plan to buy one in .9mm (to get the bushing and an extra die body) to go with my RCBS Universal Bullet Feeder Die. Having the Universal, I have all the caliber size parts.

Also would you mind getting out calipers and measuring your tubes? Inside and Outside diameters? Thanks!

BTW Dickttx, I posted in your THR thread. Name there, GWStaar. Thanks for sharing your experience with this.
 
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dickttx

New member
The post below was the first time I had heard of the RCBS Tube Pistol Bullet Feeder. From the discussion there it seemed that the multi-caliber feeder was first and was only recommended for jacketed bullets. The single caliber model was shown in the RCBS catalog under "New Products for 2012" and was supposed to be for lead bullets also.
I kept checking at Midway until they finally showed up. I notice now that they are on backorder already.

http://smith-wessonforum.com/reload...let-feeder-work-lee-classic-turret-press.html
 
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Arizona Smithshooter

New member
GWS...didn't you see the Instruction sheet I posted above your post?

http://www.rcbs.com/downloads/instructions/RC246_TubePistolBulletFeederInst.pdf

I comes with the adapters for all the popular handgun calibers. The diameter of the tubes is not important...they hold everything from 38's to 45's. This tool was designed for progressive presses and will work on the presses listed in the instructions. I am using it on a Hornady LnL press. I ordered mine direct from RCBS.
 
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Arizona Smithshooter

New member
Yes, I just called them and asked to place an order. Shipped it by mail, got it in less than a week.

RCBS Operations
605 Oro Dam Blvd
Oroville, CA 95965
1-800-533-5000
 
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GWS

New member
GWS...didn't you see the Instruction sheet I posted above your post?

http://www.rcbs.com/downloads/instru...FeederInst.pdf

I comes with the adapters for all the popular handgun calibers. The diameter of the tubes is not important...they hold everything from 38's to 45's. This tool was designed for progressive presses and will work on the presses listed in the instructions. I am using it on a Hornady LnL press. I ordered mine direct from RCBS.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the same one posted by the O.P. in his first post. The confusion is Here, and Here. In both cases it says "caliber specific" and Midway lists 3 separate products, 380/9mm/38/357, .45, and 40/10mm. Each supplied with different bushings (except .45) and of course different tubing to fit in the die body or bushings. Just trying to clarify all this for people.

Now I'm betting the only differences in the products is the bushings, and the tubing. I still would like tubing sizes, it does matter to me. Why? Because getting 3' long tubes cheaper is worthwhile to me and I'm betting many others. So how about sharing the tubing sizes....please?

BTW, Midway lists a 4th Tub Feeder Kit. In my experience with my bullet feeder, I've found that the small light calibers are more problematic. In other words where the heavier caliber bullets drop every time the light ones were iffy...especially as the stack gets low. RCBS addressed that problem by offering two kits for the small calibers, one for light bullets and one for heavier bullets.
 
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Arizona Smithshooter

New member
I don't know why Midway is showing it caliber specific. The kit I received contained the bushings for .38/.357, 10mm/.40 S&W, 9mm, & .45's. The die body & tubes work for all of those. It's the bullet "Fingers" that determine what caliber will be loaded. The two tubes measure 18" long, 0.497 OD and 0.387 ID.

The below info came from the RCBS instructions:

Bullet Fingers are coded on the bottom with a series
of marks (lines):
One = 45 ACP
Two = 10mm/40 S&W
Three = 380/9mm/38
Four = 38/357 Long, 170 gr and heavier

The RCBS label has the Part Number as 82355 and then says "Progressive"
 
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David Bachelder

New member
Even more confusion. RCBS claims there are two tubes sent with the kit, a small and a large. If I read correctly you are saying your two tubes were the same size?

If they are the same size, why would you need part #9 (the small tube bushing).

I did write RCBS, I haven't heard anything yet.

PS
Midway is more confused than we are.
 
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David Bachelder

New member
I called RCBS. They don't have any idea what I'm talking about and asked me to send them a link to the products instruction pdf. They kept wanting to sell me a case collator .... go figure.

So I sent them a link to their own manual, located on their own site, written by someone within their employment.

Does that make any sense?
 
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Arizona Smithshooter

New member
Both of my tubes are identical, both in length and diameter. Each holds about 33 bullets of 9mm. I have only used it to load 9mm & .38 SPL. The instructions say the Small Tube Bushing is only used for 38/.357/9mm, so I assume if you were loading a larger caliber you would not use that bushing.

This Feeder is so basically simple and easy to use that I am surprised it hasn't been thought of before. I bought mine when they first came out...before they were even shown on the Midway web site...and ordered from RCBS. Nothing was even mentioned about what caliber I was loading because it came with all calibers. Maybe they have changed the way they are distributed. The only thing different between calibers is the size of the bullet fingers, which is an inexpensive piece of small plastic...everything else is the same.
 
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GWS

New member
You see with my "Universal" (just the die and fingers for all the calibers) to get it to work ($28 Bullet Feeder Style) with the 36" tubing, I found I had to slip & glue two sizes of smaller tubing inside the 9/16" tubing and just so deep to make it fall straight into the fingers without interfering with them. RCBS does that with the 4 bullet guides that come with that kit.

But folks, don't expect this tool to load lead lubed with gummy stuff to work for a long time without cleaning it. Hard lead and swaged bullets they claim works fine, (as long as they are lubed with dry lube, I'll betcha.)

One more thing....RCBS gives you those shorty tubes with caps. Are the caps tight? In other words can you turn the tubes upside down and expect not to dump all the bullets???? If you don't have much faith in that consider what Allied Armory did with his 3' tubes....and what I did my my new homegrown Case Feeder tubes for my RCBS Pro 2000 (you know...the press that you can't get a case feeder for).
IMG_1294.jpg

Those hair pin clips make it so you can store ready filled tubes next to your press....whether they be bullet tubes or case tubes.
 
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