[Mike Irwin]

Anyone have one of these?

What do you think?

[Steve Smith]

Oh, Mike, you know it's overbuilt. You should stick to using a plastic Lee press. ;)

[Adventurer_96]

I don't know how different it is from the Pro-7. I'm quite happy with my Hornady progressive, the fifth stage is a great idea.

[warddc]

Up until 2 yrs ago all my loading for 25 yrs was done on a single stage rcbs. I must say that having an AP press has helped wonderfully with keeping up with my pistol shooting needs. I have had my Hornday LnL AP for 2 yrs and have loaded about 4000 rounds of pistol and rifle ammo.

I bought it because of its ability to easily configure 1 or more of the die positions individually rather than have an entire tool head to contend with. I don't reload from deprime to crimp in a single session and the versatility of the LnL AP allows me to load in the manner I choose. I usually have only several hours of time to dedicate to the loading operation at a time so I have cleaned, resized and primed brass ready to go. I can resize and prime throughout the week whenever I have a few minutes. I find that it is much easier to interrupt the resize or hand prime operation without the same ill effects you would have interrupting a full load cycle complete with powder seating and crimping.

I clean and deprime all brass first and store for future loading. The unit allows me to easily insert just a resize die. I prime using a handprimer because I like to 'feel' the primer seat operation plus its just faster than loading tubes. I bell, throw powder, seat bullet and crimp in the same reloading session. I feel that powder charging, bullet seating and crimping are far too important to be overshadowed with depriming and priming thrown in the mix.

The dies are locked into the cast frame via a bushing and allow no flex at full ram pressure (unlike other systems that utilize a tool head set into a groove). The minute flex you see on those systems will result in bullet seating variance depending upon how much force you use on the stroke.

The cost of caliber changes was the least expensive of the ap home systems out there.

Just my .02
dave.

[David Wile]

Hey Mike,

I've had a Hornady L&L AP since it first came out almost ten years ago. It is a well made machine, and, while comparable to the Dillon 650 in functional features, it is a lot less expensive than the Dillon 650.

When I decided I wanted to get a progressive machine, I wanted the machine to have specific features such as auto indexing, the use of standard dies, five stations, and the strength to load big rifle calibers. These requirements effectively ruled out all of the Dillon machines under their 650, so my choice at the time was really between the Dillon 650 and the Hornady L&L AP. I had several friends with 650s, so I had first hand experience using it. I also had one friend with the first Hornady progressive that did not have the L&L feature at the time. I was not really thrilled with the idea of the Dillon tool head changes, so I was leaning toward the Hornady progressive without the L&L feature. Then Hornady came out with the L&L feature on its AP press, and I decided to get one right away.

As you are probably already aware, I am not one of those folks married to Blue, Red, Green, or Orange. In almost 40 years of reloading, I have owned quite a mixture of different equipment, and I still have a bunch of Lyman, RCBS, Hornady, and MEC equipment. I also would not encourage anyone to start out metallic reloading with any progressive press. In spite of my having a Hornady L&L AP, I still spend more time using my old RCBS Rockchucker, and I cannot imagine not having a single stage press for metallic use.

I have read that some folks have problems with the automatic primer feed mechanism on Hornady as well as Dillon presses. I suspect the problems are more with the patience and knowledge of the users than with the equipment itself. The auto prime function on my machine does require that I keep it cleaned and adjusted properly - it cannot work properly if there is any dirt or powder residue in it. As long as I keep it clean and adjust it when I change primer sizes, it will work flawlessly until I get down to the last one or two primers in the feed tube. I use a wood dowl in the primer tubes to insure the last two primers are also fed properly. I also paint a line at the appropriate point on the wood dowl so I can see when I am getting to the last primers.

Because of the massive size of the Hornady head, I have found the sizing dies in at least two of my older dies sets are not quite long enough to reach through the press far enough to touch the shell plate properly. In one of those two instances, I purchased a new Hornady die set which has longer dies. In reality, however, all the rest of my old dies do work properly in the press.

For the first few years I had it, I really did not use the L&L function very much. When you think about it, quick changing of die sets sounds a lot better than it really is. For virtually all of my reloading, the only die I really "set" on any kind of a permanent basis is the sizing die. If you change brass or bullets at all, you are going to be changing the neck expanding and bullet seating dies. So, unless you are never making any adjustments to the expanding and bullet seating dies, how much time do you really save with the quick change features on either Dillon or Hornady? In recent years, however, I have begun "permanently" attaching an L&L bushing on quite a few of my sizing dies, and I have even attached bushings to a few of the expanding and seating dies I use with the same brass and bullets. You can get an adaptation from Hornady that will allow you to use L&L bushings in the RCBS, but that just does not appeal to me.

Like Dillon, Hornady now offers an automatic case feeder for their AP, but that simply does not appeal to me either. The case feeders on both are big and cumbersome, and the whole idea of the case feeders turns me off.

So far, the only part I have had to replace on my L&L AP over the years has been the retaining spring for the shell plate. Actually, with a little bit of care when changing shell plates, there is no reason for the spring to get pinched or broken. Hornady did send me two of them for free, but that is the only thing that has gone bad in all these years. You constantly hear about folks getting parts replaced by Dillon for free, and, while free is good, you have to wonder why so many parts require replacing? Once again, I suspect it has more to do with the user than with the equipment. One of my friends with a Dillon has never had to replace a part on his machine, while another friend keeps breaking things and keeps getting parts free. If you knew these two fellows you would understand why one has problems with his Dillon and the other does not.

The Dillon 650 and the Hornady L&L AP machines are both good machines. I do like the Hornady L&L feature better than the Dillon tool head concept, and the price of the Hornady is a lot less, so I would still consider the Hornady over the Dillon.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[Mike Irwin]

Thanks for the info, guys.

I want to get a new press this coming year, but I really want something automatic.

The choices seem to be the Hornady AP or the Dillon, and I just can't justify the extra cost for the Dillon.

[Steve Smith]

Mike, hope I didn't upset you with that Lee joke. I reckon you're skin is thicker than that though.

If I were to do it over again I think I'd look HARD at the Hornady. I wish it had been an option when I bought my 550. I have ZERO problems with my Dillon, but I think the Hornady is a slightly better deal over the long run.

[Mike Irwin]

I'll just load these on my Hornady press, Steve.

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