Recently purchased a Hornady LnL AP press and wanted to give you guys my thoughts and opinions to maybe get some tips or tricks I am not thinking about.
This is my first progressive press. I have reloaded now for a couple years on a Lee single stage press. I deeply wanted something that could load mass ammo quicker. I still plan on using the Lee for accuracy loads, it takes longer, but I feel is more consistent.
Initial setup was easy, the video that came with it pretty much explained everything. Die setup with the Hornady dies was very easy for pistol, no experience yet with rifle. My main issue with this press was because it was not indexing correctly. The ram indexes ½ on the way up and ½ on the way down. On every movement, up and down, I had to tap the shellplate to get the ball detents to index correctly. If they were off just a bit the case would not engage the dies, or the primer would not be centered. I adjusted the pawls on the ram and now it indexes awesome, love it.
The next issue I had was with the powder measure. If you have it adjusted incorrectly, for rifle especially, it spills all over the place. A simple way I have prevented this now is to start the powder drop at a very low amount to work up to the desired powder amount. To measure the powder I currently zero my scale with a case on it, then place that case in the charge position and charge it, then weigh/ adjust until desired charge is achieved, this seems to be the only way to set the charge weight, any ideas?
I had great difficulty setting up my Lee .223 dies in this press. They did fit in the LnL bushings but adjusting them to get the cases right was a pain. I ended up breaking the decap pin, but luckily there is enough stations in the LnL for me to put universal decap die, I may just keep that there for all my cases.
IF some powder falls onto the shellplate it may get into the primer system, and not allow it to prime. If something does happen with the prime system it is almost impossible to work on it without taking the primer tube off, and there is no way to stop the flow of primers. This sucked as primers fell all over the floor when taking it off, or pressing them out one at a time. Does anyone know a trick to stop primers feeding for any reason?
All in all, once it is all set up and you get rolling it is pretty fast. I am sure I will run into other roadblocks, but I am happy with it as of now. I was not at first and at times, but once you get used to it and play with it I think it works fine. Thanks for reading or any input.
This is my first progressive press. I have reloaded now for a couple years on a Lee single stage press. I deeply wanted something that could load mass ammo quicker. I still plan on using the Lee for accuracy loads, it takes longer, but I feel is more consistent.
Initial setup was easy, the video that came with it pretty much explained everything. Die setup with the Hornady dies was very easy for pistol, no experience yet with rifle. My main issue with this press was because it was not indexing correctly. The ram indexes ½ on the way up and ½ on the way down. On every movement, up and down, I had to tap the shellplate to get the ball detents to index correctly. If they were off just a bit the case would not engage the dies, or the primer would not be centered. I adjusted the pawls on the ram and now it indexes awesome, love it.
The next issue I had was with the powder measure. If you have it adjusted incorrectly, for rifle especially, it spills all over the place. A simple way I have prevented this now is to start the powder drop at a very low amount to work up to the desired powder amount. To measure the powder I currently zero my scale with a case on it, then place that case in the charge position and charge it, then weigh/ adjust until desired charge is achieved, this seems to be the only way to set the charge weight, any ideas?
I had great difficulty setting up my Lee .223 dies in this press. They did fit in the LnL bushings but adjusting them to get the cases right was a pain. I ended up breaking the decap pin, but luckily there is enough stations in the LnL for me to put universal decap die, I may just keep that there for all my cases.
IF some powder falls onto the shellplate it may get into the primer system, and not allow it to prime. If something does happen with the prime system it is almost impossible to work on it without taking the primer tube off, and there is no way to stop the flow of primers. This sucked as primers fell all over the floor when taking it off, or pressing them out one at a time. Does anyone know a trick to stop primers feeding for any reason?
All in all, once it is all set up and you get rolling it is pretty fast. I am sure I will run into other roadblocks, but I am happy with it as of now. I was not at first and at times, but once you get used to it and play with it I think it works fine. Thanks for reading or any input.
