Hornady LNL Case Feeder

When ever you have a question I will help. But since you don't have one yet. Lets get ready for it.
First make sure you have a sturdy bench.
Next mount your press level. Don't eyeball it. Use a damn level.
Now make sure your press is timed perfectly. Not close, not good enough, but perfect.
You should be able to put an empty .223 case on top of your press and make rounds with out tipping the case over.
Now when you have your feeder let me know and I will talk you through setting it up. I have both the new and old feeder so it won't be a problem.

Well lets get going. If you have a bullet feeder get a good coffee mug, because you are going to need something for your left hand!

9mmepiphany said:

It really is important that the bench be stable and the press mounted firmly and level.

I have helped a couple of folks set theirs up prior to getting mine and the one who had a problem over tightened the brackets to the support beam.

A couple of quirks I've noticed
1. The support beam has a "front" and a "dorsal" side
2. The plunger that activates the pivoting block is often screwed too high by users
3. It works much better with rimless (9mm/.40) cartridges than rimmed (.38Spl) ones
4. You'll have to call Hornady for additional parts if you are going to load .40

I set mine up with a bullet feeder (Bully/Lee) before finally adding a case feeder and thought it offered more speed enhancement (while loading 9mm)

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You are 100% correct on the .40 and also 10mm and 357. You need to ask them to send you the funnel tube drop part #398302. It will fix the Glock bulge problem.

My main use has been 223R, 9mm, 45acp and 357Mag. Like I said in a earlier post mine is one of the very early ones, ~10yrs old. Once you have it set it works good and smooth. They are a little noisy though but once the column is full it only runs for short pulses and cycles off. I have all the shell plates except Large Rifle. One of the things I did was to use a locking ring on the top for the lower part of the drop tube. This is the one that you set clearance for the feed. This keeps me from having to adj it every time I change size. You could just take a measurement and reset back to it every time. Nice addition but a little pricey once you have all the shell plates.

My 2 Cents. Get it! You will love it. I don't "speed load" I take my time and quite frankly enjoy it so I didn't necessarily get it for speed although It does speed things up some. It absolutely streamlines the process IMO. I have the new model by the way. The issues with the hopper being thin on the older feeders has been corrected with the newer version. It's very sturdy. All the things I was worried about like noise and whether or not case lube would gum up the works were completely unfounded.

A few things I noticed and called Hornady to express my thoughts. I didn't think the instructions were very clear as far as assembly and timing but that may be me. That said don't let that slow you down one bit, as you know you have Hornadys great CS to help you out. I load only 9mm with mine but I am confident that it will do 223 when i'm ready.

I did have an issue with mine jamming, and by jamming I mean cases would get a little crooked, bunch up and bind the shell plate. I called Hornady and they had a fix for it. They offered me a choice. They could send me a "kit" for self installation or I could send the hopper back and they would do it at no charge. The fix was two vertical "pins" that keep the cases from bunching up. Here is a link to the thread I made with some pics. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/hornady-case-feeder-issue-9mm.814563/ Not sure why the vids of the issue are unavailable but you'll see the fix. I think this issue was more common with 9mm than other calibers but I don't know that for sure.

Plan on tweaking the timing until you get it right. It won't take long at all but like the press timing is necessary.

Above all don't let any of this discourage you I am totally satisfied with mine and would buy it again.

I hope this helps and I will attempt to answer any question you have.
SCD

Reeferman said:

Thanks for that information Dave I will be talking to Seth at Hornady about this and other things mentioned.

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Good deal man. Let me know if i can help.
SCD

I only load 9mm and 223 so I can't speak to any of those calibers. The CS rep at Hornady that helped me with the hopper modification was Preston.

Here is the measurement you wanted. Let me know if I can help further bud.

I have a Horndady LNL Progressive and purchased the case feeder after a few months...it is awesome and highly recommended. It makes loading a lot faster and more convenient. I would not hesitate to purchase one.

The only caveat is, like anything mechanical, it does take some tweaking to make it work flawlessly. There are some bad videos on Youtube where people are adjusting the auto shell plate indexing to make it work, which is totally unnecessary, so best bet is to deal directly with Hornady if you run into any issues. Once set up properly it is flawless.

Let us know how it goes....

Reeferman said:

Thanks Dave that's what I'm looking for. How's that bullet feed working?

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It works flawlessly, rarely do I have a hiccup. I have six tubes so I can have a long loading session. I'm not sure it makes it faster considering I have to load the tubes but it is convenient and allows for one handed loading. I'm on the verge of pulling the trigger on a Hornady bullet feeder though.
SCD

Honestly if you are looking for minimal problems with a case feeder? Go with a Dillon. That being said, I do own a LnL with a case feeder. Mine is about 40k cycles between loading and processing brass.

The big thing I will tell you, make the timing on your press is perfect before you try to mount the feeder. Then make your adjustments on the feeder to get your timing on.

Also, put a 12g shell on the aluminum drop tube to keep the cases from bouncing off the press sub plate. Youll thank me later. 9mm cases are quite bouncy.

I have done a ton of work on my LnL case feeder to get it running as good as I can, but even then Ill have maybe 3-4 cases in a 100 that dont feed right because the feeder decided to melt down for (insert reason here).

Anything past that you can solve individual issues as they come up. Ive built a new flipper block, and have a block in the bowl to align cases.

Kaldor said:

Honestly if you are looking for minimal problems with a case feeder? Go with a Dillon. That being said, I do own a LnL with a case feeder. Mine is about 40k cycles between loading and processing brass.

The big thing I will tell you, make the timing on your press is perfect before you try to mount the feeder. Then make your adjustments on the feeder to get your timing on.

Also, put a 12g shell on the aluminum drop tube to keep the cases from bouncing off the press sub plate. Youll thank me later. 9mm cases are quite bouncy.

I have done a ton of work on my LnL case feeder to get it running as good as I can, but even then Ill have maybe 3-4 cases in a 100 that dont feed right because the feeder decided to melt down for (insert reason here).

Anything past that you can solve individual issues as they come up. Ive built a new flipper block, and have a block in the bowl to align cases.

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Kaldor is correct on the timing issue of the press. Which I'm sure your timing is good or you would have corrected it by now Reeferman. But, as he indicated if you start with a well timed press you aren't complicating your setup unnecessarily .

Concerning case bounce, I don't experience that so much. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but 9MM is so short it's out of the drop tube pretty quick so it is more prone to bounce I think. Maybe the reason I don't experience it much is because I don't run my press fast. I take it moderately slow just because I like to do it that way. I feel like I have more control I guess. Could be me just being me. I generally load 175 - 200 rounds in a session and I experience about 2 stoppages per session. It's usually when the number of cases get low in the hopper and it's quickly remedied.

The 12 ga shell is a good idea but I wonder if case bounce could be mitigated by adjusting the drop tube so it's closer to the shell plate????? Not sure if their is enough adjustment. I'll look when I get home.

All this said I have never even seen a Dillon case feeder. They could be the best thing since pants with pockets.
SCD

I'm not sure how this works, but Hornady has 2 different case feeders. ONe is shiny, thin, plastic, the other is a dull heavy duty composite looking plastic. You want the second one.

My theory is that the shiny one seems to be found with LnL ammo plant kits, and the nice one is when you buy it separately. I have one of each.

9mmepiphany said:

You should take a look at one...they really are the class of the field. I never realized that there could be much difference in case feeders...but there is. Much like the Mr. Bulletfeeder really is head and shoulders above the other bullet feeders

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Is this the class of the field?

SC_Dave said:

Kaldor is correct on the timing issue of the press. Which I'm sure your timing is good or you would have corrected it by now Reeferman. But, as he indicated if you start with a well timed press you aren't complicating your setup unnecessarily .

Concerning case bounce, I don't experience that so much. I'm not saying it doesn't happen but 9MM is so short it's out of the drop tube pretty quick so it is more prone to bounce I think. Maybe the reason I don't experience it much is because I don't run my press fast. I take it moderately slow just because I like to do it that way. I feel like I have more control I guess. Could be me just being me. I generally load 175 - 200 rounds in a session and I experience about 2 stoppages per session. It's usually when the number of cases get low in the hopper and it's quickly remedied.

The 12 ga shell is a good idea but I wonder if case bounce could be mitigated by adjusting the drop tube so it's closer to the shell plate????? Not sure if their is enough adjustment. I'll look when I get home.

All this said I have never even seen a Dillon case feeder. They could be the best thing since pants with pockets.
SCD

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Unfortunately you cant drop the dropper tube further to the plate. Thats why I just slip a 12g shell over the end with a cutout for the pusher.

Fricking 9mm cases bounce alot, lol. At least in my experience. I find 9mm cases all over my garage, under and behind stuff.

The Dillon case feeder works about the same in operation, in fact the feed plates are actually intechangeable. The real difference is how the case is presented to the shell plate.

I generally have 3-4 stoppages per 100, and my average session is about 500 depending on what Im loading.

When I get home tonite, Ill throw a few pics up of some some of the crap Ive tweaked and tuned on my case feeder.

I haven't ever heard of no such thing.