I really only have 3 problems with the Hornady LNL AP (yes I do own one
).
1.) The primer punches press directly on the cast aluminum frame. They have a tendency to put a wear spot in the frame. I worry about primer seating depths in the long run. From an engineering aspect this was a huge disappointment as the rest of the press is fantastic from an engineering standpoint. It wouldn't take much for them to make an insert that goes in this place made of a harder material to prevent this wear.
2.) The plastic handle it comes with is painful and wears the inside of your hand. I've shaved the plastic mold marks off, but it still isn't that helpful. I'm tempted to jack the wooden ball from my Lee Single Stage press and use it instead!
3.) I wish Hornady would have included two Arco bins and put one on front to store bullets a bit closer to where they are going. Eventually the bullet feeder and case feeder will come into use and this will be a non-issue.
You'll notice that 2 and 3 have fixes that can be found on Ultimate Reloader's webpage. It would be nice if it was included with the press. At a minimum finding a new handle should be a priority as the stock one is painful to operate for long periods of reloading!
I do love the caliber change overs even though I don't use it for multiple calibers yet. I've done SOME .308 reloading on it using the Lee Neck Sizer in Station 1 to deprime, using station 2 as a place to put powder in when ram is full up and station 3 bullet seating die and 4 and 5 empty. Thankfully it uses the "same" shell plate as .45 ACP that I normally reload for (NOTE: Shell Plate #1 is not technically for .45 ACP, but it does work. Some problems with ejecting brass may occur, just don't force anything and it'll be ok).
I am absolutely in love with the half stepping on the up and half on the down. No spilled powder here. Primer system is reliable and only had one in 1300 reloads come without a primer and it happened right as I ran out of primers so it was my fault for not catching it before the bullet got seated.
The powder measure is very consistent and the indexing is flawless. I did have to adjust it slightly to get it to index correctly but it took all of 5 seconds with an allen wrench to get er done.
Worth the 400$ I paid for it! Can't wait to get the case feeder and bullet feeder upgrades