Friend found a new way to break a progressive press

[Shmackey]

I was teaching a friend to load .45ACP today. He's seen me do it before, and he seemed to understand it all. I turned around for a moment, and when I turned back, he had managed to bend the primer-shuttle rod (this thing) almost like a pretzel. It was bending in toward the press instead of away, and it had curves where there were no curves before. It's almost as if the primer shuttle got stuck and would move only vertically, and it was trying to "iron out" the rod.

Anyway, I've loaded thousands of rounds and gone through my share of replacements parts here and there, but it never even occurred to me that this part would break. Guess I'll give Hornady a call on Monday....

 

[dbarnhart]

Oh My.

 

[GP100man]

Could`ve been from an incomplete stroke of the ram ?????

I`ve only handled a L-N-L at the GS but the vendor said to be sure & NOT short stroke it .

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Wow, I had my press for about a decade and never bent that rod. I woulda been shocked too. I've heard that some folks could wreck a tank and there's evidence of that right there.

 

[cfullgraf]

I will bet your friend grabbed the rod during some movement like primer seating.

Maybe got bent on the up stroke if the primer shuttle got jammed.

I could make some organizationally insensitive comment about breaking an anvil, but I won't.

Hope the repair parts come quickly.

 

[Sport45]

Can you bend it back into shape?

 

[Shmackey]

Chuck, I bet you're right about grabbing it.

I'm impressed. It's a steel rod.

Sport, I tried to bend it back into shape. I can bend it for sure, but not so it looks like a new one.

My biggest concern is that it doesn't seem to want to come straight out of the base of the press where it's mounted. If I have to take the whole press off my bench just to replace the rod, I'm gonna be ticked off....

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

I hate to tell you, but there's a nut under there you gotta take off......

 

[Shmackey]

I hate to tell you, but there's a nut under there you gotta take off......

Must ... kill ... friend ...

 

[loadedround]

Never happens to a Dillon 550 or 650.

 

[Shmackey]

I can't tell if you're being facetious. In the history of reloading, I don't think this one has ever happened.

That being said, Dave's observation made me revisit the idea of bending the rod back. I realized it doesn't need to be perfect all the way across; It just needs to stop at the right place up top so the shuttle hole is centered with the primer tube.

It took about 10 minutes with pliers (which makes me wonder again how my friend managed to bend it ...), and I'm back in business.

 

[cfullgraf]

...and I'm back in business.

Good deal!

A bit of topic but a number of years ago my daughter went to farrier school. The school was replacing their anvils so I bought one on a lark.

It is one of those tools that you cannot justify before you get it, but cannot live without after you get it. I use it all the time.

It is handy to have something around to pound on for shaping and reshaping stuff.

 

[Waldog]

Never happens to a Dillon 550 or 650.

Boy, this is useful information!!

 

[Fishslayer]

Never happens to a Dillon 550 or 650.

Nor on a Classic Turret, koolade drinker!

 

[rsrocket1]

It took about 10 minutes with pliers, and I'm back in business.

You're right:
^^ This would never happen with a Dillon 550 or 650

 

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Yep, you'd have to call Dillon and wait for several days while they mailed you some replacement parts.

 

[dbarnhart]

If we ever have an in-person meetup, I'm gonna get our name tags printed on appropriately-colored Koolaid packages ;-)

 

[loadedround]

Hey FloweryDave: Please make that FREE Dillon replacement parts!

 

[chrt396]

HHmmm.. I called Dillon and they told me to bend the primer rod to get more consistent primer feed. Darned if it didn't work! Flawless since I bent it a tad. It sure is a strong piece of metal! I like my Dillon. I'm sure all of the presses have their issues and little quirks...but in the end..they are all good.

 

[Shmackey]

For the rscore: Hornady shipped me a new primer cam rod for free even though (1) I didn't even need it anymore and (2) whatever my friend did certainly wasn't Hornady's fault.

Where's my red Kool-Aid? I'm thirsty!

 

[amlevin]

I believe there might be a message in the fact that Midway lists the replacement part for sale. And the fact they have it in stock also leads me to believe that this isn't the "First" time this has ever happened.

 

[CHALK22]

+1 for hornady CS! I called them after I broke one of the advancing pawls, and I TOLD her I pushed against a half decapped primer, and broke it. She says "we'll just call that a warranty issure, how many replacements do you need" and their outgoing phone messages are awesome.

 

[dbltaps]

Congrats for fixing the problem!

I was fortunate to have a friend lend me his LNL for about 2 years before I had to give it back, and when I first installed it on my bench, the primer feed would not work reliably. It turned out the primer cam rod was bent (my friend didn't have an explanation... ). I attempted to bend it back to a semblance of the original shape, but couldn't get it to feed primers with any reliability.

One call to Hornady and a free replacement was on it's way, even though I explained that I wasn't the owner of the press! I am so impressed with Hornady's products and customer service, when I buy my own press, it will, without question, be a LNL! Hopefully my wife will let me buy two so that I can dedicate one to .223, and one to .45 acp!

 

[Sport45]

A bit of topic but a number of years ago my daughter went to farrier school. The school was replacing their anvils so I bought one on a lark.

I was ready for you to say a friend came over and broke it.

 

[DCoke]

It happened to me on my LnL....had a primer somehow lodge sideways in the primer slide and lock the slide inplace as I pulled down on the handle.... the handle is a power magnifier and it didn't take a lot of downward pull to bend that rod. I tried re-bending but no luck. Hornady was quick with a free replacement rod in a couple of days, no problem.