Hornady LNL Press Question

I own one. It is cast aluminum but is fairly robust and thick. It is an O frame meaning the press encases the ram on 2 sides ( as a C frame only does one side ) so the press is very strong to be aluminum. I don't have any problem sizing magnum rifle cartridges or any other thick brassed cases

Nothing wrong with a properly designed aluminum press.

I've owned Hornady (aluminum), Dillon (aluminum) and RCBS (cast iron) presses.

I like the cast iron frame but is not necessary.

I never got the Hornady progressive press to run because it had many many many issues, but none of those issues were frame material related.

Fear not, made of aluminum, but I wouldn't want to get smacked with it. Heck the base has to be almost an inch thick and the top is even thicker. Its pretty well built in my eyes.

Bill.

Like others have said, its aluminum, but there are problems with the primer seating assembly wearing a divot into the aluminum base and subsequently failing to seat primers fully. I would call this a design flaw as they trust a relatively soft aluminum casting to withstand a hardened steel part pressing against it. Other than that, its plenty strong for what it needs to do.

I've been tempted to drill a hole where that divot formed and thread in a steel bolt. Will probably do that if it becomes bad enough.

MErl
That's a good idea, I will have to remember that when the time comes

iread where a guy glued a piece of hacksaw blade over the dimple. i cant say weather it works or not. hornady claims the dimple is a non issue, it'll never get deep enough to affect the primer ram.

I imagine threading a bolt in there would only be a temporary fix. Most small bolts aren't going to be hardened and the primer seating plug appears to be a tool steel which will eventually wear out softer steel. You should be able to replace it when that happens though, assuming you do it properly.

If your talking about the LNL-AP the primer dimple falls right on the edge of the riser of the ram. So you will not be able to drill all the way through, no need to. Nothing wrong with setting a solid steel pin where it hits. You need a stubby drill bit and 90 deg drill to get in there. I used the primer seater body as a guide. I put a SS set screw in so the dimple hits the center of the hex head. Does not even damage the set screw head since it contacts on the outer edge and the hex is recessed.

Blue68f100 said:

If your talking about the LNL-AP the primer dimple falls right on the edge of the riser of the ram. So you will not be able to drill all the way through, no need to. Nothing wrong with setting a solid steel pin where it hits. You need a stubby drill bit and 90 deg drill to get in there. I used the primer seater body as a guide. I put a SS set screw in so the dimple hits the center of the hex head. Does not even damage the set screw head since it contacts on the outer edge and the hex is recessed.

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Can you post a pic of that? I don't have the dimple but I'm only at 1k rounds so far

I just glued a dime to the press frame. It's been there for 20,000 rounds now.

I think this problem is being overstated.

Sure some people have problems with their frame developing a deep divot, but most others don't.

I have tens of thousands of rounds through my LNL AP and the divot has never gotten bigger than it was after about 100 rounds.

I would wait and confirm that it is causing a problem before drilling into your press frame.

Good luck!

Bob

Edited to add: The OP is asking about the LNL Classic, a single stage press, not the LNL AP.

DSling said:

Can you post a pic of that? I don't have the dimple but I'm only at 1k rounds so far

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I did not have a problem till I got into some Wolf primers that were out of spec and required 10x the force to seat. I had over 20k rounds loaded through it before I did the mod. Mine was still seating primers but since you had travel so much further I was thinking that the mechanical advantage was no longer there. That is why I did mine. And when you go over further you get some strange torquing of the ram. It's easier to seat a primer when the lever is near vertical. Once you go past you loose the mechanical advantage.

Here is a photo of it.

I have occasionally primed on the LNL SS, and depending on the shellholder it can seat them a little shallow. I pretty much always prime by hand, so not an issue.