Hornady LNL AP press bushings - broken & cracked, anyone else see this?

I have not not broken any lugs on my L-N-L.

How tight are you snugging up the dies with bushings when you are installing them? Or maybe they are getting over tightened when installing and setting dies. Short of flaws in the press inserts, that is the only situation that I could think of that could over stress the bushings.

Except for the sizer die, there is not much load on the dies when operating the press.

I usually set the dies to hand tight when installing them. Occasionally, I will lightly snug up the sizing die with a wrench. The operative word is "lightly".

Not saying this is you, but I have worked with pipe fitters who think a screwed joint is not tight enough unless they crack a few fittings once in a while.

I've only had mine for half a year, but no issues (just checked). I've loaded thousands of rounds thru it and no issues. I've just started FL sizing 5.56 NATO thru it, but it is pretty smooth using Imperial Sizing Wax.

Is the shell holder pressing up against the dies at the top of the stroke? That would be the only way I could imagine enough force to crack the bushing.

Something is definitely wrong in the way your dies are setup. I have had my press for 3+ years with not problems 15k+ rounds through it. If the dies are backing out of the bushings you need to add the shims under the die-bushing. This removes the excess side to side that cause them to back out. I have one on my powder dispenser with the PTX die. Works great. Another temp fix is just put a piece of paper with the bushing to tighten it up.

Call Hornady Monday and RMA it. They will more than likely be sending you a brand new press. FREE of course.

IMtheNRA said:

I don't think the wrench has much to do with breaking these lugs because station 5 has three bad lugs despite the fact that it has never had the wrench treatment.

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OK.

As others have suggested, are the dies hitting the shell plate on the upstroke?

Unless the inserts in the press were faulty, the only way they could break would be to have an excess load put on them some how. Review what your are doing and question any step that gets lots of force. I don't use a torque wrench to tighten anything on my L-N-L press, but nothing on the dies gets, or needs, to be excessive tightened.

Another question, how are you tightening the L-N-L bushing on the die against the lock ring on the die. Any chance the lugs are getting damaged on the bushing which would then affect the fit in the press? This may overload one or two of the lugs. Uneven loading of the lugs could cause them to break.

I will admit, I am shooting a bit in the dark but trying to figure suggestions of things to look for.

Also, as suggested, call Hornady customer service on Monday.

Hope this helps.

YES I have a cracked bushing! I found a crescent shapped piece of metal a while back and could not figure out where it came from. I just looked and found station one had a cracked bushing. Thanks for the post. Looks like I'll be calling Hornady as well. Let me know how it turns out.

In the reloading forum at AR15.com there were several documented cases of this happening last year. It was isolated to bad out-of-spec bushings from an outside source. The problem was rectified by Hornady, and I haven't heard anymore complaints online for months. You may have found bushings that weren't purged by the company. I would contact Hornady and I'm sure they will send you replacements that are up to spec.

On another forum a member posted a picture of his Hornady bushing that came without internal threads. Midway sent a new pack of bushings no charge.

IMthe NRA, good deal.

What did you use to unscrew the bushings? Just curious.

I have a couple bushings that I am constantly having to screw back in because they keep coming out. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why my dies were still tight in the locking bushing but for some reason things kept backing out. Then I realized the internal bushings were loose.

IMtheNRA, Thanks. Never know when i might need the info. No need to re-invent the wheel.

I hope this does not sound patronizing; I may be stating the obvious... but here's my 2 cents.

As others have suggested, maybe its the shell plate impacting the bottom of the dies, cracking the seating lugs. The setup instructions tell you to adjust die depth in the press until the shell plate touches the die and you have to "cam over" with the press' lever. I have never done this. I set up my press so that the shell plate just barely touches the bottom of the dies, with no additional effort to complete the down-stroke of the press handle. The entire case is pushed into the die(s) which fully resizes/expands/charges/seats/crimps at all five stations. The trick is to set up the shell plate to just barely touch the full length resizer die at the bottom of the handle's stroke, then adjust all the other dies to match it in depth. Of course, the expander die may not need to be seated as deeply - just adjust it to barely/gently flare the case mouth.

Of course, this won't help you until you repair your press, but I hope this is helpful.

I have less than 500 rounds of .40 though my press and barely touch my shell plate and my bushing is cracked as IMtheNRA described.

IMtheNRA said:

Specifically, Hornady had a batch of bushings that were too hard.

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Yes, that will do it. If the metal is too hard, it is usually brittle as well.

Good info to know.

I called Hornady today, great service, sending me replacements. Great tip on putting the die in upside down. Worked like a charm.

How much force is required to loosen these female bushings? I tried to take one out last night and I was using a 12 in long wrench and was torquing it down pretty firmly - so much so that I thought that I was going to sheer off the lugs. Havn't gotten any of them out yet.l

TIA

I screwed a lee die that I don't use, upside down and it took quite a bit of force. I messed up the lee locking ring in the process die was fine. I didn't think it was coming out it was in so tight but eventually got it.