I bought a Hornady AP Lock-N-Load progressive reloading press and did the first loading session with it today. I had some glitches but managed to solve them, at least to some extent.

Lock-N-Load(R) AP™ - Hornady Manufacturing, Inc

The first problem was that cases did not want to enter the sizing die without some coaching. The next problem was that the shell plate did not lock into correct position for priming unless I helped it with my finger.

These turned out to be due to incorrectly adjusted indexing pawls. I few minutes of adjustment and now the shell plate indexes without hesitation and thus cases enter the dies and primers hit the primer pockets.

Another problem was that the primer slide did not come back to priming position without a lot of twisting of the slide. This problem I solved by loosening the primer (primerer?) housing body screw and twisting the body and tightening the screw again, thus aligning the parts better.

The next worry was that the primer slide did not want to pick a new primer and returned empty about four times out of five. I noticed that a vigorous movement of the press handle when the ram goes to the top helps the next primer to fall into the slide. After adding some "shake" to the end of the lever travel the primer slide reliability rose to 100%.

I tried to use Lee dies but two of them could not be locked down enough to work properly, there were not enough threads on the dies. RBCS dies can be adjusted with no worries. My Hornady dies for this caliber are still on back order.

Now I do not wonder anymore why Dillon is the king of reloading presses. I have not had any such teething problems with my RL550B.

To add some more excitement to the process I used a new set of Lee carbide dies, with the red box and carbide paperwork. The sizing die required A LOT of muscle to work and it scratched the cases badly. The inside of the die was very dirty. Turns out a local gun shop had sold me a used die set as new, and some clever clown had replaced the carbide sizing die with a standard steel die. I bought the die set more than a year ago so will not go complaining. Live and learn.