My Hornady progressive press has arrived, beauty

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BillBloggins

BillBloggins

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I got it set up for .45, just finished off my first hundred.

This thing pounds out the rounds, scary fast compared to my Lee Turret you can also see in the picture. One thing that is a trade off is that you do not have the feel that you do on the Lee turret- the Lee has a stationary shell holder and you pump the lever for every die. So for 1 round on the Lee you need to pull the lever 4 times. The Hornady completes a round every single throw of the handle. As you have 5 operations going on at once on the Hornady feel is diminished, you cannot feel every operation on the individual dies like you can on the Lee.

You also have to keep your eyes peeled for any issues as you have 5 concurrent operations going on. It took awhile to get in the groove, it will take some time to get totally comfortable on this press. Real easy to position a light on this press to illuminate and validate your case fill. Also, I used to hand prime off-press using a handheld tool but this takes a long time. I enjoyed it, but too slow. Priming on the press is going to take the most getting used to as the feel of the primer properly going home is subtle on this Lock-n-Load Hornady progressive. And a couple times in the hundred I missed a primer and the round ended up with a gaping blowhole and Bullseye powder was a-leaking all over the place. Time to pull out the bullet puller.

If you see yourselves shooting lots of pistol/ .223, 5.56 this press is your answer. And a big draw also is that you get 500 bullets for purchasing this press with a Hornady deal they have going on, and these are high quality Hornady jacketed bullets- equals about $150. And it is good in Canada too. HornadyLnl1.jpg
 
Congrats
How much are you shooting that you felt the need to go from the Turret to the progressive?

I'm curious as I have a Turret but I'm not using it to its max potential so it's always interesting to me to hear what users are doing and why.
 
I shoot around 500 rounds a week. Speed was a factor but not the only factor- I liked the mechanical aspect of the Hornady.
 
Congrats. I bought a LnL about 10 years ago. Best reloading money I ever spent. It has loaded tens of thousands of rounds with very few issues. Hornady customer support had been great.
 
Congrats BillBloggins & Welcome to the club. I have a Lee turret and upped the ante to a LNL AP as well. Well worth it.

Hokie_PhD, FWIW, for me, justifying the conversion was based on my time. I don't shoot as much as some, but if I put a value on my weekend time, the press has paid for itself. Not to mention, moving toward mastering another aspect of the hobby was also worthwhile. Oh, yeah, and whoever dies with the most toys and tools wins. :)
 
Bill Bloggins wrote:
I shoot around 500 rounds a week.
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It always surprises me to see a figure like 500 per week because in a good YEAR I might load 500.

EDIT: Okay, I just went and added it up. For all of 2016, I did 9mm: 369 rounds, 38 Spl; 60 rounds and 223: 243 rounds for a total of 662.
 
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Once you get used to it you will know right away if a primer doesn't seat. The only time this happened to me is when the large primer tube came out of the primer tube housing. It was my fault that I didn't get it in properly. But I phoned Seth at Hornady and they have a new parts coming no charge. The priming on my LNL has never given me an issue until this.
And above all if your LNL ever jams STOP and figure out why don't ever try to try to jam the handle through as you will break the pawls. Anytime mine did that it was always my fault. I have never broke one but it always turned out that I didn't insert the case into shell holder properly or bullet into a case.
Also you should contact Hornady and ask for shims for the powder measure as the LNL bushing may or may not turn and powder measure will come out of the press.
I tried an over sized o-ring but the shims work way better. Get a small o-ring to fit the shoulder of the thumb screw bolt that holds the powder linkage to the lower bracket and it will never come loose either.
 
hdwhit said:
It always surprises me to see a figure like 500 per week because in a good YEAR I might load 500.

EDIT: Okay, I just went and added it up. For all of 2016, I did 9mm: 369 rounds, 38 Spl; 60 rounds and 223: 243 rounds for a total of 662.
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Doesn't surprise me. I got to the range 3 to 5 days a week. I have a friend that goes every day.
 
ColtPythonElite wrote:
Doesn't surprise me. I got to the range 3 to 5 days a week.
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What surprises me is the difference in the scale of the endeavor. BillBloggins is running up 26,000 rounds a year which is nearly 4000% more than me.

Unlike you, I get to the range 5 times a year (one day each, March, July, August, October and November) weather permitting.
 
JohnMc said:
Congrats BillBloggins & Welcome to the club. I have a Lee turret and upped the ante to a LNL AP as well. Well worth it.

Hokie_PhD, FWIW, for me, justifying the conversion was based on my time. I don't shoot as much as some, but if I put a value on my weekend time, the press has paid for itself. Not to mention, moving toward mastering another aspect of the hobby was also worthwhile. Oh, yeah, and whoever dies with the most toys and tools wins. :)
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I started with a single stage, but bought a LnL AP when I started loading for pistol. I don't regret the decision at all- the time savings is worth almost as much as the fun I had setting up and learning to run a new press. I guess I'm in the "toys and tools" contest, but I don't expect to win since I only have 7 presses...
 
I am delighted with my LnL partner to my Classic Single Stage but suggest to those taking the plunge that the provided written documentation, while accurate for assembly, is helped immensely by YouTube videos provided by Hornady and other reloaders.
 
sbwaters said:
I am delighted with my LnL partner to my Classic Single Stage but suggest to those taking the plunge that the provided written documentation, while accurate for assembly, is helped immensely by YouTube videos provided by Hornady and other reloaders.
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That is a true statement. The CD with the press is good, but all the other information on YouTube answers any possible questions you might have as you start the learning curve on this press. It is great having information sources like that, and this excellent The High Road discussion board. Some of the things learned here from other members is like that old saying "if I succeed it is on the shoulders of giants before me".
 
What reeferman has said is exactly my how I would put it. After a while you will get a feel for the machine and will know when something is out of adjustment. On youtube there is a series by a poster named 76highboy that goes into just about every aspect of the press and how to get it humming. He is a bit verbose but knows what he is talking about.

One thing that I have not been able to do is run my LNL using the hornady PTX on the powder drop with coated bullets. I'm trying to find a fix for this but in the meantime I'm using a separate belling die. This is just for coated bullets only, plated and jacketed are ok. The only negative with using a separate belling die is you lose a station.

Put a lock washer on the cap screw that holds the shell plate to the drive hub. Almost all of the problems you will have with the press are due to the shell plate getting lose. 76highboy has great videos on getting the primer feed and the timing prowls adjusted to perfection. DRAINSMITH on this forum has also posted his very good method of timing the prowls.

The LNL is a great press and really cranks out the ammo. The time will come when you will start saying to yourself that 400-500 rounds/hour is TOO SLOW but in the very near future you will wonder why you waited so long to get a progressive. Have fun and enjoy.
 
thomas15 said:
The time will come when you will start saying to yourself that 400-500 rounds/hour is TOO SLOW but in the very near future you will wonder why you waited so long to get a progressive
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This is very true.

Moving to a turret from a single stage seems like a huge improvement, but moving to a true progressive was several magnitudes greater. I seldom load more than a couple of hundred rounds at a sitting...but I can do that in 20 mins between doing other things
 
Congratulations on your LNL-AP. Some have problem keeping up with all the stations and some don't. I learned years ago if there is a problem it's easier clearing the station(s) and deal with them at the end. The main thing is get all the dies and adj correct before going full auto. I added the brass feeder out of necessity when I broke my left wrist and needed to still be shooting and hand loading. I asked myself as to why I waited so long, you will be surprised as to how much it speeds things up. It's a little more picky on adjustments but like with all things mechanical there are ways to tune them so they run smooth.
 
Blue68f100 said:
Congratulations on your LNL-AP. Some have problem keeping up with all the stations and some don't. I learned years ago if there is a problem it's easier clearing the station(s) and deal with them at the end. The main thing is get all the dies and adj correct before going full auto. I added the brass feeder out of necessity when I broke my left wrist and needed to still be shooting and hand loading. I asked myself as to why I waited so long, you will be surprised as to how much it speeds things up. It's a little more picky on adjustments but like with all things mechanical there are ways to tune them so they run smooth.
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I need a brass feeder.
Birthday next week...hint hint
 
Out of curiosity, what steered you towards the Hornady vice a Dillon? I ask because I'm looking to buy an AP press in the near future.
 
giggitygiggity said:
what steered you towards the Hornady
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That choice is perhaps the most difficult to make for someone considering reloading. In my case I leaned towards Hornady and the Classic Single Stage because the kit on sale was at a price I could hardly resist. It was better than the Dillon options and probably still is.

Reading review after review, Hornady had lots of satisfied customers which reinforced the good price. Once started, I was so happy I kept adding red. I have nothing at all against blue.
 
giggitygiggity said:
Out of curiosity, what steered you towards the Hornady vice a Dillon? I ask because I'm looking to buy an AP press in the near future.
Click to expand...

Budget was a big consideration- I load .45, .38/.357, .40 and 9 right now. I added up the accoutrements needed for convenient switch over and the Hornady bushing system came in more economically than the Dillon tool head scheme, amongst other additional sundries. Now to be sure my comparison was between the AP and the Dillon 550. I also liked the Hornady case activated powder system as I had experience with it on my Lee turret, and I liked the 5 holes v. the 4 holes on the Dillon 550. I also liked that the handle progressed the press on the AP whereas on the 550 you have to manually index- this is like a stick shift v. an automatic. As I do not have (yet) the case and bullet feeder I figured saving a manual index was preferable and saved another hand operation. Finally, there are some real good comparisons on YouTube and what I saw was that the actual quality of both presses was a coin flip, but the Hornady stretched a dollar further. And Natchez had a good deal going when I threw down and apparently Dillon never goes on sale.

Once I win the lotto and move to my compound I will surely pick up a Dillon 1050 to support all the shooting going on at my own range...
 
Blue68f100 said:
Congratulations on your LNL-AP. Some have problem keeping up with all the stations and some don't. I learned years ago if there is a problem it's easier clearing the station(s) and deal with them at the end. The main thing is get all the dies and adj correct before going full auto. I added the brass feeder out of necessity when I broke my left wrist and needed to still be shooting and hand loading. I asked myself as to why I waited so long, you will be surprised as to how much it speeds things up. It's a little more picky on adjustments but like with all things mechanical there are ways to tune them so they run smooth.
Click to expand...

So how many problems did you have with the Hornady case feeder? I'm really on the fence with this as I've heard so many issues and for me up here its over $600.00 for case feeder and both pistol case feeder plates.
 
bobotech has some good pointers also, that I have used. Will have to also look at Drainsmiths post, (seriously, you need to see his setup, the man really does have a clue to the LNL).
Heres bobotech's post, https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/pawl-adjutment-hornady-ap-press.463583/
I watched highboys videos, the only thing I will caution you on is, I think he has an older press on some of the tips. DONT sand down the edges on the ejection nub on your plate!!!! I mistakenly did that and had to refile the sharp edges, causes issues with my 40's ejecting properly. WIll give high points on his primer tuning video, works like a charm. Although my process is different and I dont prime on my press. I did try and it ran very smoothly. BTW I do have an LNL and run 9, 40 and 45. 223 gets done on the RockChucker because I don't reload a high volume.
 
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bbqreloader said:
ROC1 has some good pointers also, that have used. Will have to also look at Drainsmiths post, (seriously, you need to see his setup, the man really does have a clue to the LNL).
Heres ROC1's post, https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/pawl-adjutment-hornady-ap-press.463583/
I watched highboys videos, the only thing I will caution you on is, I think he has an older press on some of the tips. DONT sand down the ejection nub on your plate!!!! I mistakenly did that and had to refile the sharp edges, causes issues with my 40's ejecting properly. WIll give high points on his primer tuning video, works like a charm. Although my process is different and I dont prime on my press. I did try and it ran very smoothly. BTW I do have an LNL and run 9, 40 and 45. 223 gets done on the RockChucker because I don't reload a high volume.
Click to expand...

Good points but no pictures anymore in that post.
 
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