First session with brand new Hornady progressive, some glitches

[dr. mordo]

I have a HLnL. It's my first press, but so far has had exactly one issue with ~500 rounds made so far.

The issue is that the plastic bracket that holds the top of Primer Slide Cam Wire slowly bent upward until it wouldn't hold the Wire in place anymore. Hornady included an extra bracket, which tells me it is known problem that they haven't fixed by replacing the plastic part with a metal part.

I'm a bit disappointed by that failure to fix a known problem, but other wise the press has been running like a champ.

 

[Bullseye 2620]

Years ago, I bought a Hornady progressive press. After a week of tinkering and adjusting, I took the thing back to the gun shop where I bought it, plunked it down on the counter, and announced that I was returning it but did not want a refund -- I simply wanted to be rid of the cursed thing, and that anyone who thought they could do better was welcome to it.

Interesting thing was that despite this being a busy Saturday with 30 or so customers in the store, no one took me up on the offer.

I then bought a Dillon -- it worked first time, and works every time, with no exceptions and no apologies needed.

 

[SMSgt]

I wish I had tracked the number of "Just contact Dillon, they'll fix you right up!" posts.

 

[Carrier]

I have a HLnL. It's my first press, but so far has had exactly one issue with ~500 rounds made so far.

The issue is that the plastic bracket that holds the top of Primer Slide Cam Wire slowly bent upward until it wouldn't hold the Wire in place anymore. Hornady included an extra bracket, which tells me it is known problem that they haven't fixed by replacing the plastic part with a metal part.

I'm a bit disappointed by that failure to fix a known problem, but other wise the press has been running like a champ.

Contact Hornady they have a new updated bracket. But if you are bending the cam wire to the point of breaking the bracket something is not adjusted properly.
I had one break not long ago but it was my fault as I had the subplate off to grease and never got the brass spent primer tube in all the way and it came out while loading and bracket broke. The new one is slotted and if you do something stupid it will pop out instead of breaking now.

 

[dr. mordo]

I appreciate the tip. I knew Hornady would send another one, but I'm somewhat surprised that it's been updated since mine is only a few months old.

I really don't think mine is mis-adjusted. I think the tension of the spring pushing up on the rod combined with the heat in my garage (mid-90s most of the day) just helped the bracket gradually bend upward. It didn't break, it just bent enough that the rod wouldn't stay in place.

I'm about to load another 500-600 rounds this week, so I'll let y'all know how it goes!

Contact Hornady they have a new updated bracket. But if you are bending the cam wire to the point of breaking the bracket something is not adjusted properly.
I had one break not long ago but it was my fault as I had the subplate off to grease and never got the brass spent primer tube in all the way and it came out while loading and bracket broke. The new one is slotted and if you do something stupid it will pop out instead of breaking now.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

I have a HLnL. It's my first press, but so far has had exactly one issue with ~500 rounds made so far.

The issue is that the plastic bracket that holds the top of Primer Slide Cam Wire slowly bent upward until it wouldn't hold the Wire in place anymore. Hornady included an extra bracket, which tells me it is known problem that they haven't fixed by replacing the plastic part with a metal part.

I'm a bit disappointed by that failure to fix a known problem, but other wise the press has been running like a champ.

First, do you have the old type of cam wire (it is threaded) or the new type that has the breakaway cam plunger? If you have the old type it is designed to break the bracket to save more expensive parts. If the bracket did not break you would break the wheel off the side, the pawl, the punch, or even the index wheel. Now the only time it would break is if the primer slide does not slide smoothly. This normally happens if it gets dirty or the primer punch sticks or power in the slide track.

O.K. now Mr. sasu let"s get your prime situation fixed. First, we need to get the prime body attached to the press solid. Now with the spring off of the slide and the press handle pushed all the way up and try to slide the primer slid back and forth. It should slide smoothly without any hanging up. If it does hang up sand the bottom of the slide until it slides smoothly.

The next thing you need to do is adjust the bracket so it will pick up a primer every time. First hook the spring back up and with the handle on the press, all the way down look into the primer body. The hole in the slide should be just a hummingbird fart past dead center.

Now put the primer drop tube and primer tube housing back on and fill with primers and slowly cycle the handle. Remove the primers off the punch every time it comes up. After it cycles 5 primers every time now cycle the handle at loading speed. for about 25 primers removing the primers every time. Now after you get 25 without a miss cycle the handle faster than you would every load. If you get all 100 without a miss that is now perfect.

If it misses a primer loosen the bracket and push it forward to put it about a wrens fart past dead center. Once you have it perfect brush on a little graphite on the slide and the slide track.

 

[sasu]

If it does hang up sand the bottom of the slide until it slides smoothly.

...look into the primer body. The hole in the slide should be just a hummingbird fart past dead center.

...brush on a little graphite on the slide and the slide track.

Thank you for the advice. I have done all that and will see the results in the next reloading session.

 

[Bugkiller99]

This guy has a series of you tube videos with helpful hints on setup and running your LNL. I found this a very useful series.

Hornady LNL AP Press Set Up Hints and Tricks, Part 1 - YouTube

 

[sasu]

After the primer feed tuning I reloaded 50 cartridges. The primer slide stuck in the open position for the second and third last primers but worked OK for the last one. Otherwise smooth sailing.

The primer slide works flawlessly when there are no primers, that is when cycling the press empty. But primers seem to still cause some stoppages.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

After the primer feed tuning I reloaded 50 cartridges. The primer slide stuck in the open position for the second and third last primers but worked OK for the last one. Otherwise smooth sailing.

The primer slide works flawlessly when there are no primers, that is when cycling the press empty. But primers seem to still cause some stoppages.

Are you using the white fiberglass rod? If you are put a .45 case on top of it. It will help on the last few primers.

 

[sasu]

Sure thing, I forgot to put an empty case on the rod. I usually do but left it out this time. This means more reloading to verify the primer feed again.

 

[DRAINSMITH]

We are going to get this. 48 out of 50 sucks, hell 999 out of 1000 is unacceptable.

 

[sasu]

The worst thing is I have to shoot all the ammo I make while tuning the press. Duh!

 

[DRAINSMITH]

Well, fellow bonehead pick up range brass. Another thing you might want to do to help. If you have a chamfering tool ream out the hole in the slide from the top down. It might have a sharp lip that just catches the primer.

 

[Bugkiller99]

Is your white fiberglass rod straight? I mean STRAIGHT. Roll it on a flat surface. If it is not, have Hornady send a new one under warranty. When I replaced my not straight rod with a straight one, it eliminated my primer problems. I’ve never needed to place a weight on it.

 

[bwxmas]

I will say it one more time, as you have not commented.
Did you look at your primer tube???
There is an up, and a down side, if you put it on upside down, it will cause stoppages.
Look at your tube, and look for the very end of it to be beveled..ON THE OUTSIDE, it is small but makes a huge difference. This end goes down into the feeder

Another way to know is the tube should be beneath the Black plastic holder, if not, or level, it is upside down.

 

[sasu]

Yes, the beveled end of the primer tube points downwards.

No, there are no burrs around the primer slide primer pocket.

No, I have not checked the plastic rod for straightness.

I am not overly concerned about this as it seems to be the last glitch with the press and it is easy to correct when it happens, and I believe I can eventually eliminate it altogether.

 

[stu1ritter]

I have a black ring marked around the primer plastic rod that shows the last primer when level with the tube. I try and keep an eye on it and usually reload the tube about 10 primers from the bottom so I can just keep my rhythm and not have to stop because I ran out of primers. Works well for me.

Stu

 

[sasu]

I made 50 pcs of 45 Colt cartridges. Put a 44 Mag case on the primer rod to act as a weight. There was one primer slide stoppage when there were around 5-10 primers left in the tube. I used RCBS dies and a few times I had to coach a case into the sizing die. Otherwise a problem free session.

In spite of the small hick ups I enjoy using this Hornady AP press.

 

[cds43016]

I too just got a Hornady LNL AP press and also had a few start-up issues.

The first is that when I opened the box the cam wire was loose. I repositioned it back into the cam wire plunger and tried to load primers. No go. The primers were not being picked up by the primer slide. 76Highboy on YouTube to the rescue. He showed how to adjust the cam wire and it started working just fine. I also smoothed out the priming parts with emery paper and a stone as he suggested and, knock on wood, no more primer problems.

The next issue was that the spring case retainer would frequently pop out of the relieved area of the sub-plate causing cases not to eject. I turned out that the shell plate kept on coming loose. 76Highboy to the rescue again. I installed a lock washer on the bolt holding the shell plate. That also seemed to have fixed the problem.

One problem I’m still unhappy with is the PTX case expander. The powder measure is nice and accurate. It throws very consistent charges. But again, so did my LEE Auto Drum and it was a lot easier to set up to expand the case mouth while throwing a charge. I haven’t yet got this thing to work right. Getting it to flair the case right (I use cast bullets) and fully cycle the powder measure is an exercise in frustration. The Lee approach is so simple. The Hornady instructions are simple in the manual and just as useless. Right know I’m expanding with a LEE die in a separate die position and debating whether to just replace the Hornady powder measure with the one from LEE and free a die position. It’s a shame the powder measure is high quality and very accurate. However, the PTX expander reminds me of something designed by Rube Goldberg.

Overall for the money I’m happy with the press and is working just fine except for the PTX expander. I’ve more than doubled my output. It a shame, however, you must work though quality control problems like this since they are simple to fix. Why doesn’t Hornady provide something as simple as a lock washer and polish the parts better? But problems like this are not, at least for me, unexpected - I loaded for years with a LEE 1000.