Lock N load.....primer feed AAAAgh

My second L'n'L had the same problem .... notice that the top of that bent "rail" that the primer slide wheel runs up is affixed to the top of the press with a hex nut. Loosen the nut and you'll find that the bracket has about a 1/4" (per my memory) slot in it - this allows you to push the arm out a little further and then snug it back down.

Be aware ... you don't want it out so far that it causes the primer slide to get beyond it's track ... if the lip on the back of the slide gets off the lower track, it'll hang up there rather than sliding forward smoothly. To get mine adjusted I had to file the back of the LP primer slide and round off the lip of the base so they didn't snag each other. Annoying but took longer to describe than to do. Actually, hooking the damn return spring back up takes the longest!

Works fine now ... just as well as the 2003 model with over 65k through it.
/Bryan

ETA: The serial number is on a silver sticker on the front of the press upright - in line with station 2 - pretty hard to miss.

After trying to use the L-N-L priming system, i bagged it. Since I really prefer to clean cases between resizing and priming no big deal for me. I prime cases off line with a hand priming tool.

The L-N-L is nice because you can install only the dies that you need at that time.

I resize cases shortly after shooting, 100-150 cases or so for me, and then store them for future loading. About 10 minutes or less on the L-N-L.

I had similar problems with the priming system on the Dillon SDB.

I know that I am in the minority. Most others seem to not have problems. But, even correcting one problem primer in a reloading session wastes any benefit in production that the progressive provides so I do not use the press mounted priming system. Maybe a little fewer rounds per hour but I have no stoppages due to priming problems.

Hope you solve your problem.

A trick for the spring is to use a piece of fishing line or thread to loop the hook. This will allow you to pull the spring back and hook it on the sled. The rod is easy to bend if it's bent just straighten it out.

The priming system is very touchy to get set right. You do not want to over stroke as mentioned. If you do you will have problems picking up primers. It needs the dwell time for the primers to gravity feed. I use a brass rod with a SP cap on one end and LP on the other. This extra weight make the primers feed flawlessly.

Blue68f100 said:

A trick for the spring is to use a piece of fishing line or thread to loop the hook. This will allow you to pull the spring back and hook it on the sled. The rod is easy to bend if it's bent just straighten it out.

The priming system is very touchy to get set right. You do not want to over stroke as mentioned. If you do you will have problems picking up primers. It needs the dwell time for the primers to gravity feed. I use a brass rod with a SP cap on one end and LP on the other. This extra weight make the primers feed flawlessly.

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Hey, thanks for the tip with the thread or fishing line, I always have a hard time trying to pull that spring back over the primer slide.

I also had a lot of problems with the priming system but after a few tweaks here and there and getting in broke in, it is running real good now

my guide rod came that way as well, i just bent it back, slowly checking, and now its perfect, and i have had no more problems priming on my LNL, did 900 230g MBC 45ACP last night

If you are having problems with the primer sled moving up under the shell plate all the way or hanging up resulting in some missing primers, or primers not quite being seated, check the nut under the ram /shell plate base that holds the seating rod /primer punch in.If its screwed in too far that will cause hangups and missing primers, it may need to be backed out a little. Also check to make sure its screwed in far enough if not that could result in seating being not deep enough. Its a touchy balance.

Pay attention to primer issues in these progressives. This guy was using Federals in his Hornady lock and load and had a primer go off.

I have two lnlAPs. The one that I bought brand new has priming issues no matter what I try. It is just a pain in the butt. The other one is a used one that was converted to the new ezject system and has been working flawlessly. Between yesterday and the day before it has loaded about 600 rounds and not one time did I get a bad primer feed. Here is what I have discovered about my LNL AP presses. I have used winchester, pmc, wolf, and CCI primers in both presses. So far, the only ones that have given me no problems at all were the CCI primers. Every now and then the other brands will catch inside the tube and flip sideways. That always ends up binding the system and requires a messy cleanup in order to get the primers flowing again. I think this is probably a problem with any press that uses stacked primers in a tube. So, I have decided to only use CCI primers. They seem to be most consistent for me anyway so that is a good thing.

The mention of the hexnut at the top of the bent rod by Canuck was the same solution I had to make with my LnL. If you remove the tube, loosen the hexnut and look down into the primer feed hole the tube goes into and then cycle the handle all the way down, you can see the primer slide primer drop hole. Adjust the bent rod until the primer slide drop hole aligns with the tube drop hole and then tighten the hexnut. The issue is that the hexnut tightens onto a plastic piece and tries to slide as you tighten and you have to hold it in place securely until it is tightened down properly. IMHO I think that plastic piece needs to be a metal brace with a screw adjustment to be a better design, but then that adds to costs etc. and I'm sure Hornady doesn't want to increase cost.

I adjusted mine by taking out the primer tube and guard, then looking down in the hole to make sure the shuttle was coming back far enough when the lever was down. I used a long screwdriver to pry the guide rod back enough to make sure the primer hole in the shuttle was centered in the hole where the primer tube seats....Works perfect.

If you are having problems with the primer sled moving up under the shell plate all the way or hanging up resulting in some missing primers, or primers not quite being seated, check the nut under the ram /shell plate base that holds the seating rod /primer punch in.If its screwed in too far that will cause hangups and missing primers, it may need to be backed out a little.

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I disagree with that suggestion ... it has to be screwed in all the way and the only way that could be an issue is if the punch itself was too tall. That would have two effects:
1. prevent the slide from sliding back as the primer punch would hang in the empty primer hole instead of letting it pass over. You'd feel the resistance as the plate tried to turn without the slide backing out.
2. When the slide returns to the punch hole, it would stick against the "too tall" punch. You'd be looking at a slide with a primer in the carrier that couldn't reach the punch position.

The only way to have those issues is if there's a grain of powder down in the punch body or the punch itself is physically oversized (pretty unlikely but I guess not impossible). Anyway, it's easy to check when installing the punch - the slide should move on and off the punch position within a few degrees of plate rotation. If the punch frequently grazes the slide (ie. the punch is high enough to feel) the more the underside of the front lip will wear down - - I replaced the LP slide around 30k rounds as the front lip was down to about a hair of metal left...still worked but wouldn't have lasted too much longer. If too tall is a persistent issue, use a thin paper or cardboard shim between the underside nut and the plate - don't simply loosen it as it will loosen further with press vibration and you'll get ...

primers standing proud of the case primer pockets and, when a primer is sticking out enough, it'll arrest the plate rotation completely.

Geez, kind of wordy ... anyway main OP issue is the slide picking up a primer - nothing to do with the punch end of the set-up or the underside bolt.
The high primers when they do feed could be junk in the underside bolt case that keeps the punch from fully extending upward, or a loose nut securing the punch.

/B

Tula and Wolff are just slightly tight ... same thing in their rifle primers. They'll fit but its a shove to get them in - not very practical with S&B which tend to have tight pockets. Win & Rem should work as well as CCI.
/B

I disagree with that suggestion ... it has to be screwed in all the way and the only way that could be an issue is if the punch itself was too tall. That would have two effects:
1. prevent the slide from sliding back as the primer punch would hang in the empty primer hole instead of letting it pass over. You'd feel the resistance as the plate tried to turn without the slide backing out.
2. When the slide returns to the punch hole, it would stick against the "too tall" punch. You'd be looking at a slide with a primer in the carrier that couldn't reach the punch position.

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You are amazing you can see my press through The www.com.

Actually I need to take the whole thing out and file it a touch but the metal around the punch was standing up proud of the hole in the subplate, the nut on my press was overtorqued at the factory apparently.

You are amazing you can see my press through The www.com.

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Presume that to be sarcasm ... what's the matter? Not used to someone disagreeing with you?

the metal around the punch was standing up proud of the hole in the subplate, the nut on my press was overtorqued at the factory apparently

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So, my points (1) and (2) still apply...metal proud of the hole is going to act like a "too tall" punch ... still not going to affect the OP's concern at the BACK of the slide's travel. If it were tall enough, it would keep the slide from coming back into punch position - and would be REALLY obvious.

'...Overtorqued at the factory' - - so you're asserting that overtorquing the bolt on the bottom of the plate displaced metal on the top of the plate?? Really!? You couldn't get that to happen even with aluminum.

More likely scenario ... when they through-drilled the hole at the factory they left a burr ... should have been pretty obvious if you looked.
/B

I had a total fix for my priming system on my LNL E-Zject--I stripped it from the press and put it back in the box where it will stay!!!

I use my awesome Lee cast turret for all my priming, no headaches.

DCoke said:

The mention of the hexnut at the top of the bent rod by Canuck was the same solution I had to make with my LnL. If you remove the tube, loosen the hexnut and look down into the primer feed hole the tube goes into and then cycle the handle all the way down, you can see the primer slide primer drop hole. Adjust the bent rod until the primer slide drop hole aligns with the tube drop hole and then tighten the hexnut. The issue is that the hexnut tightens onto a plastic piece and tries to slide as you tighten and you have to hold it in place securely until it is tightened down properly. IMHO I think that plastic piece needs to be a metal brace with a screw adjustment to be a better design, but then that adds to costs etc. and I'm sure Hornady doesn't want to increase cost.

Click to expand...

Above is the exact solution that worked for me. Also deburring the shuttle and lubing with graphite keeps it operating smoothly.

For folks who may be having this problem and are unable to see my press via the www, the large primer punch assembly removed from the press. Note the metal ring surrounding the punch this is part of the threaded nut. The outer ring was protruding through the subplate slightly causing the shuttle to hang up. Out of spec part. Unscrewing a bit worked for quite some time for me. I supplied this info as I suspect its caused others a problem as well, and they may have blamed the punch itself.

You may want to get that looked at. Something looks like it may be growing on your finger.

LOL those are gremlins very small ones.

Your pictures are out of focus to see any detail. But from your description I know what your referring too.

A weak ram spring will show the same symptom. By not allowing the ram to proper height the primer seater is raised. This can also happen it your ridding the handle and not letting it go to proper height.

We all make mistakes , I bought one also
Gave Up On It After Approx 5 Months
Replaced It With a 650 Dillon , back 4 Years ago.
My Reload Number on the Machine is at 24319 Pieces of Smokeless and Black Sub With very minor Issues.
My Old 2 Cents
Hagen

I don't consider my LNL a mistake. It's been pretty smoothly for 3 years. Sure, I've broken a couple of parts, but 5 minutes on the phone and 3 days later I had a replacement part...free of charge.