Recommendations for a Starter Progressive Press

[Rollbar]

Got the timing set 99%. Still hangs up once in a while at the top, have to nudge it to the right. Will fine tune tomorrow.

 

[Maximumbob54]

Clean all that packing grease off as that's just for while it's in the box. You want to use the one shot cleaner and wipe everything after you use it. That should fix the shell plate issue.

 

[Rollbar]

Thanks Bob.

Look what the postman dropped off.




Sent from my iPhone 4S

 

[Rollbar]

Well, just sent back $200.00 ++ of Lee equipment, now the two week wait (they said) for the refund

I told Peach since that money was already spent I will need some other speciality items

P.S. Vendor-Midway USA

 

[Rollbar]

Two redheads on the same room.






Sent from my iPhone 4S

 

[Rollbar]

I'm going to make a primer buzzer for the Hornady LNL.

When the primer rod falls into the hole where the primers sits it will leave the feed arm open or extended out thus contacting the micro switch and sounding an alarm.




Sent from my iPhone 4S

 

[Twoboxer]

Things went a little slower today than yesterday lol. The "issues" were:

1) Using the .451 PTX and actually getting a bell on the 45ACP case.The instructions are sparse to say the least, and also confusing (for me) regarding the powder measure. The instructions on the PTX *specifically* say that once you use it, you can no longer adjust the bell. Well, I tried it both with and without the PTX Powder Measure Stop bar, and got (mostly) no bell.

Called Hornady . . . got a CS rep in less time than it takes to listen to the options message. He said screw the powder "die" down AND use the PM Stop Bar to adjust the bell.

That worked. Apparently it takes more than just ". . . screw the die in a few turns and make sure a case cycles the powder measure to the back stop."

2) How to empty the primer tube and assembly.

There's no good way lol. Removing the shield while retaining the primer rod in its postion is tricky at best. In my case there were 2 primers left in the primer tube . . . and both wound up inside the primer housing, canted sideways, and needing tweezers for removal.

After resolving these issues, did about 20 rounds, all are in spec, and am almost ready to go into "production".

 

[Rollbar]

Video of the PTX adjustment ?

 

[Twoboxer]

No video. Just screwed the "Case-Activated Lower Assembly" (alias, the "die") down until the body nearly contacted the shellplate. (The .451 PTX thingee protrudes and in this position is slightly pushed back into the die body by the subplate.)

Then put the PTX Powder Expander Stop Bar on with the top set screw showing two threads. The bottom set screw had to be screwed nearly all the way in to get something remotely resembling a bell.

Only the top few thousandths of the case is flared out and it's minimal so the bullet still must be set carefully. In comparison, the Lee dies I'm accustomed to opened them up deeper, allowing a bit more latitude dropping the bullet in by hand.

Tomorrow I'm gonna see how much more flare I get screwing the die down the last turn and adjusting the bottom set screw the last turn.

This is *much* different than the Lee Classic Turret stuff, where the operations are readily evident. On the Hornady, I'm really not sure (yet) what each part of the powder measure and PTX does. Glad I have that experience behind me going into this lol.

ETA: I still haven't figured the best way to push the 100th primer into the tube . . . it just sits there in the plastic thingee waiting for the next primer to shove it into the rod. There are a lot of things that people don't talk about with progressive presses . . . longer setup times, primer tube filling, acceptable reject rates from production . . . its gonna be interesting lol.

 

[smokindog]

Just returned from Cabelas where I picked up my LNL AP, a #8 and #10 plate, and my 9MM dies. I'm looking at the dies and these are what I got. The Cabelas website never specified the Hornady part number

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Reloading :: Metallic Reloading :: Dies & Die Accessories :: Handgun Reloading Dies :: 9mm Luger - 9X21 :: 9mm Luger-9 x 21 (.355) 3-Die Set

Looking at the Hornady site, it looks like I really wanted these.

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Reloading :: Metallic Reloading :: Dies & Die Accessories :: Handgun Reloading Dies :: 9mm Luger - 9X21 :: 9mm Luger-9 x 21 (.355) Taper Crimp 3-Die Set

Anybody know? I'm about to go through the same thing with some .40 dies en route!!!!

OH, I also got these for free because I'm an NRA lifer!!

 

[Twoboxer]

Grats on the AP . . . and welcome to the world of Hornady descriptions/instructions lol. (To be fair, Hornady isn't alone in that lol) It's really bothersome when they do not make clear the difference between their die sets.

BOTH die sets claim to include a crimp function . . . no difference is mentioned ("a crimp" vs "taper crimp") . . . dunno why one would want anything but a taper crimp on 9mm . . . dunno.

 

[smokindog]

The description on the Cabelas site for both the 9 and the 40 I bought said "w/roll crimp". Given the inaccuracies in websites, especially these days, and given it did NOT specify the Hornady part number, I took my chance.

Does anyone use these dies? I guess I should have mentioned, I'm planning to load for M&P 9 Pro and M&P 40

Grats on the AP . . . and welcome to the world of Hornady descriptions/instructions lol. (To be fair, Hornady isn't alone in that lol) It's really bothersome when they do not make clear the difference between their die sets.

BOTH die sets claim to include a crimp function . . . no difference is mentioned ("a crimp" vs "taper crimp") . . . dunno why one would want anything but a taper crimp on 9mm . . . dunno.

Just returned from Cabelas where I picked up my LNL AP, a #8 and #10 plate, and my 9MM dies. I'm looking at the dies and these are what I got. The Cabelas website never specified the Hornady part number

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Reloading :: Metallic Reloading :: Dies & Die Accessories :: Handgun Reloading Dies :: 9mm Luger - 9X21 :: 9mm Luger-9 x 21 (.355) 3-Die Set

Looking at the Hornady site, it looks like I really wanted these.

Hornady Manufacturing Company :: Reloading :: Metallic Reloading :: Dies & Die Accessories :: Handgun Reloading Dies :: 9mm Luger - 9X21 :: 9mm Luger-9 x 21 (.355) Taper Crimp 3-Die Set

Anybody know? I'm about to go through the same thing with some .40 dies en route!!!!

OH, I also got these for free because I'm an NRA lifer!!

 

[Twoboxer]

Meanwhile, back at the AP Ranch . . . when we last saw our hero, he needed to get a little more bell in the case and remove the primer that remained after removing the primer tubes from the press. Let's tune in, and see what's goin' on . . .

Well, there wasn't one primer in there, the actual count was 4. Sideways. Primer slide wouldn't move. So was left with two choices: remove the primer baseplate, or tweeze them out. Since I have a long thin bendy tweezer, I left the base plate as it was. Took 10 minutes to get light down in ther, get my eye down in there, and use the tweezers to poke . . . er, root around and extract the 4 primers.

I guess you're supposed to use all the primers you put in there lol, and I think next time I'l just eject them one at a time off of the primer ram.

More bell turned out to be easy. Actually, it turned out not to be so easy. [Bad info deleted when the real problem was found. Info in another post.]
===========
ETA:

Next "issue" was the Powder Measure baffle. It is too small to completely bridge the PM's tube side to side . . . at least at the size and shape it was when delivered to me. No amount of twisting or shaking would get it to sit properly, so I bent it flatter (larger), and force-fit it into the bottom of the PM.

Stay tuned . . .

 

[Twoboxer]

OK, I think I found the real reason for my problem getting enough "bell" on 45ACP cases using the .451 PTX expander.

As delivered from the factory, the "Upper Bracket Assembly" was positioned too low on the powder measure. The expander used the extra height, never came to a stop, never created the bell.

Moved the Upper Bracket Assembly up so that it was aligned as shown on Page 11 - "center the rotor and align the pivot across from the rotor centerline".

Then put a case in the shellplate, pushed the ram to the top, and screwed the die down until the case could push the powder rotor almost to the top of its travel. Then the PTX Powder Measure Stop bar, lower screw almost all the way in, began to create the bell.

 

[blujax01]

...
I guess you're supposed to use all the primers you put in there lol, and I think next time I'l just eject them one at a time off of the primer ram.

That is a "best practice" for any press. One of my pet peeves with my Dillon (that's right - I said it!) is the deal with primer extraction. I try to calculate no more I'll use in the machine otherwise I'm repeatedly cycling the press and playing catch off the "ski jump".

 

[Nframecollector]

I don't think its a good idea to "start" with a progressive press. Start with a single stage to learn the basics, then move up to a turret. I have been handloading for 43 years and I have no desire or need for a progressive press. I don't do it for speed, I do it because I enjoy it. I currently use a 60's vintage Lyman All-American turret, an ancient Tru-Line junior, a Forster coax, a cheapo Lee single stage and a Lee hand held press. I have also been looking at the Redding 7 stage turret and will probably add one to the bench soon.

 

[Twoboxer]

I don't think its a good idea to "start" with a progressive press. Start with a single stage to learn the basics, then move up to a turret. I have been handloading for 43 years and I have no desire or need for a progressive press. I don't do it for speed, I do it because I enjoy it. I currently use a 60's vintage Lyman All-American turret, an ancient Tru-Line junior, a Forster coax, a cheapo Lee single stage and a Lee hand held press. I have also been looking at the Redding 7 stage turret and will probably add one to the bench soon.

I have a Hornady Classic and a Lee Classic Turret. When batch size reached 300 rounds, I got tired of 1,800 press pumps and primer squeezes.

The new AP won't change my rifle load procedures, but I stopped tumbling pistol after decapping and the AP will handle it.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I'm going to make a primer buzzer for the Hornady LNL.

When the primer rod falls into the hole where the primers sits it will leave the feed arm open or extended out thus contacting the micro switch and sounding an alarm.

(snip)

Sent from my iPhone 4S

I was going to just buy a Dillon primer alarm and modify it until I saw that I.F. already does this and they even paint it Horny Red...

Double & Single Bullet Tray Systems

 

[blujax01]

I don't think its a good idea to "start" with a progressive press. Start with a single stage to learn the basics, then move up to a turret. I have been handloading for 43 years and I have no desire or need for a progressive press. ...

Congratulations on your 43 years of experience. I'm a relative noob (less than 5 years) and can only image the knowledge you have accrued.
That being said, just because you have no need for a progressive press doesn't mean someone cannot excel starting out with one.

Me, for instance.

 

[Maximumbob54]

I started with a single stage and grew out of it so fast I was mad that I invested so much in it. But most people don't have the patience to start with a progressive press and not make a mess of things. Some guys can step right into a Yamaha R-1 and not make a hundred yard grease stain out of themselves but most guys would become a statistic in their first week. So while I get the standard advice of start with a single stage since the temptation to start cranking on a progressive is hard to resist I also understand that not everyone is a grease stain in the making.

The funny thing is I now have three single stage presses...

And I never bought that R1... (sigh)

 

[Rollbar]

I was going to just buy a Dillon primer alarm and modify it until I saw that I.F. already does this and they even paint it Horny Red...

Double & Single Bullet Tray Systems

Jim,

The Low primer alarms are a tough one, I get them from Dillon who is backed WAY up. I would guess 2-3 weeks.


Thanks!
Dan
InLine Fabrication

 

[Maximumbob54]

Jim,

The Low primer alarms are a tough one, I get them from Dillon who is backed WAY up. I would guess 2-3 weeks.


Thanks!
Dan
InLine Fabrication

It's worth the wait. That guy does good work and it actually looks like it was made for the LNL AP when he's done with it. I tip my hat to Dillon for not just making a good primer alarm but also one that can be modified to this degree.