Patent ID: 8707845

Claim:
A bullet feeding apparatus for sequentially placing bullets into mouths of cartridge cases, the apparatus comprising: a die body having an axis, a bullet receiving end, a cartridge case receiving end and a bore extending axially therethrough, the bullet receiving end configured for receiving a stack of bullets with each bullet having a base with a diameter, the cartridge case receiving end configured for receiving a cartridge case; an expandable collet positioned within the bore proximate the cartridge case receiving end, said collet comprising a collar portion with a plurality of flexibly resilient finger portions extending therefrom, the finger portions having bullet support surfaces extending inwardly and facing upwardly for retaining and selectively releasing a bullet, and the fingers portions further having cartridge case engagement surfaces below and spaced from the bullet support surfaces, wherein the finger portions each have a normal unflexed position whereby the bullet support surfaces are in a blocking position with respect to a bottommost bullet in the stack of bullets; wherein the cartridge case engagement surfaces of each finger portion have cam surfaces configured to engage a lip of the mouth of one of the cartridge cases received in the cartridge case receiving end such that the engagement causes a radially outward deflection of the finger portions that thereby extends the bullet support surfaces radially outward enlarging an opening at the cartridge case engagement surfaces to a diameter slightly larger than the diameter of the bullet base releasing a bullet retained by the bullet support surfaces whereby said bullet may pass through the finger portions and be received by the cartridge case.