1st question/problem setting up new LNL AP press

Status
Not open for further replies.
9mm seems a little bit harder to size. I suspect some might be fired in a glock and mixed in with mine at the range. If I have many to size I spray a little Dillon case lube in a gallon bag. Makes the job a whole lot easier.
 
thomas15 said:
I have 3 (three) 9mm sizing dies, Lee, RCBS and Dillon. All three run much better with a bit of case lube. While others have mentioned their method of lubing, mine is to place brass in a large zip-lock bag, spray the sides of the bag with Hornady one shot case lube, close the bag, mix up the brass, then remove brass from bag, allow to dry.

On your LNL, your doing multiple operations at once so anything you can do to reduce friction in one station will make everything run smoother.
Click to expand...

I lube with Hornady One Shot Case lube in a Ziploc bag too - but do it a little differently - I spray the inside of the empty bag with case lube then add the brass. Close the bag and shake and rub the sides of the bag a bit on the brass seems to work well. This method keeps the lube from getting inside the case - which causes powder to stick to the sides of the case and the powder cop die.
 
I use One Shot for all pistol brass on my LnL. Just makes everything run smoother. Needs just a quick spray. Lightly is the key here. No need to tumble it off. I also wet tumble, so my brass is spotless.

I tried without lube, but running 5 stations full, at full speed, just makes it easier. Saves my shoulder more than anything.

I spray a couple hundred cases in a cake pan with a pad in the bottom. Let them dry for 15 minutes. Dump in the case feeder. Spray a few more. By the time Im ready to add more cases, they are dry and ready to load. Rinse repeat.
 
I've been playing with it for a couple of hours now trying different things.
I put my Lee resizer in and it works MUCH better. There's resistance, but about what you'd expect. I'll just use that.
I played with the seat/crimp die. I backed it out of the press some and that helped a little. Then I played with the crimp part and lessened it and that helped a little more. It's not too bad now, but less hangup would be nice too.
Now I have something new I'd like to ask about. Maybe I just wasn't putting enough down force on the handle until now but all of a sudden when I push the handle all the way down (ram up), it feels like it falls over a hump or something. "ka-lumph" I hope that's an understandable description. Is this the way it's supposed to work and I just wasn't pushing down hard enough before, or is something wrong?
 
Its camming over center. Does it do this with all stations performing an operation or just when its empty? LNL is an aluminum press and it stretches .005 or so from dial gauge measurements ive made.
 
Yes it does it every time I push down the handle. At least if I push it "all" the way. That's it-I'm just not sure what "all" is. I don't want to be pushing too much and break or wear out something. Although I'd think that wouldn't be likely.
But I have torn up some steel balls before. :)
 
If you set the dies so that they just touch the shell plate with a case in the sizer, bullet in the seater, case in crimp, case in the expander etc then the press is under stress and it is a little stretched. When it has dies inserted but no cases, its a little shorter because its not under stress and the shell plate will contact one or more dies a bit more forcefully and the press will seem to cam over center or "pop" a little. That's pretty normal. If its popping under full load you probably have a die set too low.
 
Look at seating and crimping in separate operations. It makes adjusting dies and running the press so much simpler.

As noted above - make sure you are not setting your resize die too deeply. You don't want it to flex the shell plate.
 
I checked all the dies with a flashlight and the shell doesn't move under any of them when the ram is at the very top.
I think I have the seat/crimp die set ok now. It is a pita though. Later after I get used th running the press I may change it out for a separate system. Right now it's all I can do to remember the steps I have to do between each pull. I need to develop a routine.
 
I wish they Ti coated the powder though expander plugs. That would smooth things up I bet. I polished mine but it hey helped a little.
 
IMO, if you are having difficulty sizing 9mm using Hornady dies on a LNL press, then something else is happening. I have an older Hornady progressive press and my 9mm brass resizes with very minimal effort, regardless of headstamp. Been reloading for over 35 years and simply have never had an issue with 9mm when using quality carbide or nitride dies.
 
With the LNL-AP you want to full stroke it every time. Short stroking will get you in trouble. Setup the dies individually before running it with all stations. This will give you an idea of the load required to operate the press. You should not have a heavy thump when it cams over. This is caused by a die set too low and adding undue stress to press.

9mm size very easy on my LNL-AP using Hornady's dies. No lube required.
 
All good advice. Here's my two cents:

I have a LNL, and found that a few things have caused heavy cam-over on it. Any die that is tight against the shell plate. Having the crimp die or seat/crimp die set lower than needed. The shell plate retaining bolt had worked loose (even just a little).

For pistol loading, I swear by One-shot case lube. I throw a bunch of brass into a beer flat, apply a light spray of one-shot, then shake the flat to make the cases roll around against each other. As stated above, that tiny bit of lube will reduce the drag by quite a lot. I have a set of dies with a titanium ring in the sizing die, and treat it more gently than my carbide dies. Probably just paranoia.

On that Hornady set, I decided that the belling cone needed to be smoothed out with some very fine wet-or-dry paper and polished. Makes releasing (ram going down) the belled case easier to extract. This also gives their weird belling profile just a little more taper.

THR rocks.
 
Thanks to everyone. There's a lot of good advice here. I will use it to fine tune my press and procedures.
I've got things going a little better using the advice here. The thing giving me a little trouble now is priming. I can't always feel when the primer goes in as it should and is deep enough. I pull a bunch out and look to see the primer. I imagine that is just a matter of getting used to the press though. But if there are any tips or tricks I'd be glad to hear them. This is a great forum.
 
I can't always feel when the primer goes in as it should and is deep enough. I pull a bunch out and look to see the primer. I imagine that is just a matter of getting used to the press though. But if there are any tips or tricks I'd be glad to hear them.
Click to expand...
A lot of it is just a matter of developing a feel for it. I feel every primer as it is pressed in and only check when a primer pocket is just a bit more loose.

It might help you develop the feel for it if you pause as your handle comes to the top of it's stroke and then press it forward to seat the primer
 
I sort of do that anyway because I'm still having to pause and think to push forward EVERY time now. On my Lee turret press it was only after the resize stroke.
It's hard teaching an old dog new tricks.
 
What is nice about the LNL is that the priming occurs between die stations...nothing else is happening to any of the cases while you are priming
 
egd said:
Thanks to everyone. There's a lot of good advice here. I will use it to fine tune my press and procedures.
I've got things going a little better using the advice here. The thing giving me a little trouble now is priming. I can't always feel when the primer goes in as it should and is deep enough. I pull a bunch out and look to see the primer. I imagine that is just a matter of getting used to the press though. But if there are any tips or tricks I'd be glad to hear them. This is a great forum.
Click to expand...
When I set primers it do one firm push till it stops. Remember the proper depth is when they bottom out in the pocket. There is no chance of setting one off, so don't be shy. I find trying to go slow makes it worst, so I just do a rapid firm push till it stops. The hard part is learning the feel when it's aligned properly before you attempt to seat. If you catch the edge of the pocket you will shave brass. This needs to be removed for it will cause problems with the sled.
 
Blue68f100 said:
When I set primers it do one firm push till it stops. Remember the proper depth is when they bottom out in the pocket. There is no chance of setting one off, so don't be shy. I find trying to go slow makes it worst, so I just do a rapid firm push till it stops. The hard part is learning the feel when it's aligned properly before you attempt to seat. If you catch the edge of the pocket you will shave brass. This needs to be removed for it will cause problems with the sled.
Click to expand...
I've run into going slow = trouble as well. I still struggle with keeping a smooth pace though. I just have not got to the point where I trust the primer feed to give me a primer. I really wish the primer feed was in front where you could keep an eye on it.

That little push back past neutral to seat a primer is something I really have to focus on remembering to do. You definitely can feel when you seat a primer - you just have to trust your feelings. For some reason though I still end up with one or two per 100 without a primer.
 
It's nice to know I'm not alone then.
Yeah, I too wish the primer was in a more visible place. You really do have to learn to trust your feel for it. I even thought a station with a die would be a nice thing. Don't know how you get that done being on the opposite side of the case from everything else, but....
 
What is nice about the LNL is that the priming occurs between die stations...nothing else is happening to any of the cases while you are priming.
Click to expand...

Except for the 1050 and Loadmaster I don't know of other manually operated presses, you can buy new now, where primer seating occurs at the same time anything else is going on and those two do nothing except seat the primer to a preset depth at the priming station. Although the Lee works better of you have a die in the station to locate (center) the case, with some calibers, as they use the same shell plate where a specific shell plate would be a better idea.

The Lee is ok if you don't have a problem pocket (assuming a primer is above the arbor to be seated) and the 1050 swages them all to ensure you don't.
 
Last edited:
John3921 said:
I've run into going slow = trouble as well. I still struggle with keeping a smooth pace though. I just have not got to the point where I trust the primer feed to give me a primer. I really wish the primer feed was in front where you could keep an eye on it.

That little push back past neutral to seat a primer is something I really have to focus on remembering to do. You definitely can feel when you seat a primer - you just have to trust your feelings. For some reason though I still end up with one or two per 100 without a primer.
Click to expand...
If your having problems dispensing primers from the feed, here is how to adjust it so it will work flawlessly no matter what speed you go. I have the older design so I don't know if this will work on the newer ones.

Remember the primer is only picked up when the ram is full up. The feed rod/guide has a vertical run in that area. What you need to do is run the rod down as low as it will go into the base. This increases the dwell time for the primer to drop at the top. This area on the rod must be in perfect alignment to full vertical run when the sled and tube are aligned. This is where the tuning has to be done. You may have to slightly bend the rod to get this. Once you get this right it does not matter which size primers your using. The key is the dwell time. When out of alignment his window is very narrow. When right you do not even need a push rod on the primers. I've had my press before they started supplying the rod. I made one using 1/8" brass and spent primers (SM, L) on each end. Just like another primers setting on the stack. I very seldom use it any more, if I do it's only to give me count on how may I have left. I have a mark when I'm down to 10.

As far as the sled spring, tie a piece of thread to it (spring) to pull it back when changing sleds. Takes all a 5 sec to change using this trick. I run the ram all the way up to make easy access.
 
Yes and No. If you have a full stack with the weight yes. But when it get low it can hang if not true. With the LNL-AP the pickup are is less than 1/4" rod travel. So it may or may not fall completely if at a angle. It happens the reason people have issues feeding primers.
 
Yes and No. If you have a full stack with the weight yes. But when it get low it can hang if not true. With the LNL-AP the pickup are is less than 1/4" rod travel. So it may or may not fall completely if at a angle. It happens the reason people have issues feeding primers.
Click to expand...

I do have to admit that I used the Dillon low primer alarm/rod on my LNL's and never did operate them at those rates but "issues" would have been the problem with primers "falling" .120" in the dwell time. Been awhile since physics class but "stuff" falls around 32ft per second per second. That's not long for under an 1/8 of an inch drop but my beer is getting warm so I won't be doing the calculation right now.

However, you can look at manufacturing machines and see how fast they drop, they don't have much pause at all. This is one doing it all without weights, you can see the primer collator in the center in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5W1UxgVoRZY
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

S
  • Locked
Redding body die in Hornady LNL AP press
Replies
18
Views
2K
45ACPUSER
4
J
  • Locked
Questions on setting up my new Hornady LNL AP
Replies
12
Views
1K
TxBobS
T
Crazy Horse
  • Locked
Lee Expander die vs Cop die on Hornady LnL AP
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
greyling22
greyling22
P
  • Locked
Messed up my Hornady LNL AP
Replies
10
Views
1K
Roccobro
R
R
  • Locked
Hornady LnL AP questions
Replies
23
Views
774
jbrown13
J
Back
Top