Have a Progressive Press but Hand Prime

[floydster]

pcwirepro,
If you search my posts you will find all the problems I have had with the priming on my "new" LNL, I have had an open line to Hornady for two months to no avail, and don't tell me I don't know what I am doing. I have been reloading for 57 years.
I am glad you are having good luck with your press as far as the priming is concerned, however I think the system is a POS, period. It is impossible to keep clean, after tumbling I size and deprime and one little speck of media in the slider or anywhere else f==ks the whole rythem up. Hench, I prime off the press to keep my sanity.
Peace, Griswold

 

[pcwirepro]

Floydster that machine cost you good money, probably hard earned money. Why not take them up on thier no BS warranty and send it back. Compared to the Lee priming system, I think Hornady's system is brilliant. I have had powder and tumbling media in there without any issues.
But like I said, if you have no better use for your time then by all means carry on.

 

[Walkalong]

Okay, so admit it, you're OCD

My wife would agree whole heartedly, but she is pretty OCD herself.

you too Mr. Walkalong

Ah man........

 

[pcwirepro]

Almost forgot...

I voted for off-press just to help you old timers out.

I gotta stay in good graces around here as I learn the ropes. 20-30 years from now, when I have learned all there is to know about this fine hobby, I'll really tell you what I'm thinking.

 

[Walkalong]

Yea, you need to get over this shy thing.

 

[floydster]

pcw,
Oh, and I do have a wife, grandchildren, churchwork, lots of yardwork,tractor work, woodwork, gunwork, shopwork and volunteer work.
My next press is going to be the new Dillon 2050 Speedmaster Altra Max Quad Four.
Till then I prime off the press, I love 100's of primed cases ready to go.
Floydster a.k.a. Griswold

 

[pcwirepro]

Floydster a.k.a. Griswold

You da man!

 

[LiveLife]

For those of you without a Wife, Kids, Grandchildren, church, yardwork or other outlet that could use an hour or two of your time, that are still priming off press... carry on.

I have a wife, kids, do all the yard work, maintain a 10x20 garden, compost, have two dogs, keep the pool clean, attend church services, help with shopping for weekly groceries and do all of my maintenance work around the house and cars/truck/SUV/quads/trailer. And I also have a full-time job.

As I posted, I deprime/size and hand prime while watching TV on a portable bench on casters, so I am not spending extra time compared to those performing all the reloading steps on the progressive press. In fact, using sized and primed cases on the Progressive press speeds up the reloading rate because less effort is needed to work the ram lever. I do my case prep work during the week after work (sort, tumble, deprime/size, hand prime) which doesn't require the focus and concentration of reloading on the press. I usually get up around 5-6 AM and on weekends mornings, I can usually get 1000 rounds loaded before breakfast while things are quiet and I can focus/concentrate on reloading.

I am almost ready to pull the trigger on the Hornady LNL as the next press and look forward to the priming issue. I imagine it can't be any worse than the Pro 1000.

snuffy, I stand corrected regarding cleaning primer pocket between firing and will work not to generalize statements.

As to OCD issue ... All this time, I thought I was maintaining safe/consistent reloading practice. Dang, I guess I am one and should check myself into OCDs Anonymous. I wonder if my local range has a chapter?

 

[dwwright]

I'm still new to a progressive (and loading) for my .223s. I was having problems with powder dropping on the press and into the primer on my Lee Progressive. Though I've gone through several hoppers of powder, I'm still having issues with static making powder drop after the casing is lowered (will be trying the dryer sheet and/or soap method yet), but I found that by pulling back the station 3 case retainer and doing my loads in two steps I have none of the problems I had when trying to load the rounds all the way through since the powder doesn't cause problems with the primer.

Keep in mind my press has the stations setup in the following order:

* Station 1 - decap/size
* Station 2 - primer
* Station 3 - powder
* Station 4 - Bullet Seat
* Station 5 - Crimp:


Here is step one of the process:

1. Clean up the press, get all the loose powder off, also clean up the primer dispenser and made sure it was working properly.
2. Pull back the case retainer for Station 3 so you can remove the newly primed cases at this station.
3. Start with stations 1 and 2 and decapped/size and prime the casings, taking the newly primed casings off at station 3.

For the second part of the process, after all casings are primed:

1. Add powder to the powder dispenser (I usually keep mine empty).
2. Feed the primed cases in at station 3 instead of station 1.
3. Load the powder, press the bullet, and crimp (stations 3, 4, & 5) to complete the process for each round.

I had determined that the powder spillage causes 99 % of the problems with the primer/primer dispenser and holding up my loading, so by doing them this way I avoided all of those issues. Doing a round at a time, I got 150 done in an hour. If I get where I'm doing multiple cases at the same time for each process, I should be able to do double or triple that number of rounds per hour.

 

[GW Staar]

I prime on the RCBS 2000 progressive except when I loaded my old hard 1968 LC .308 brass. That stuff, even swaged, or reamed, was hard to prime without issues, and too often slowed down the progressive session with glitches. So in that instance I used my RCBS APS hand primer, first. (awesome tool by the way)

 

[Hey_Allen]

I'd be the third (missing) option.

I generally follow the listed procedure that DWWright just listed, and prime on the press.

The only time I'm not doing so is when doing a VERY small batch of something (likely on the single stage in the first place, at that point), or I'm troubleshooting an issue.

I had some problems with some failure to fires on one of my revolvers in .38 special.
During the testing, I switched primers, switched to hand priming (both types of primers) and eventually found that it was a headspacing issue on the weapon itself.

I did hand prime to ensure I had some completely seated primers, even though the ones on the press seemed to be seating fully. The maybe, maybe not ignition behavior could have been high primer influenced, so it was eliminated.


That all being said, I usually prime on the press.

 

[101VooDoo]

Once I figured out the LNL AP priming process and tweaked it a bit, I do everything on the AP press.

I can see why some prefer to break the process into a couple different chunks. The last few shells on the press are much easier once you're not sizing, expanding and seating all on the same stroke. Not a big enough difference to me to run a shell through twice though.

Jim

 

[jmorris]

My match caliber is 40S&W and it gets hand primed. I prime 45 ACP on the progressive press and perform all the reloading steps on the progressive press. If I were to shoot 45 ACP for match shooting again, I would hand prime the cases.

I shoot rifles, pistols and shotguns in 9mm, 40, 45, 223, 308 and 12ga in competition all done progressively on progressives. I post load tumble to remove lube if the primer is too loose you will know after this process also. On all of my progressives except the 1050 I can feel the primer seat.

I will have to admit to hand seating primers (well I went back over them after priming them on a progressive) on 300 rounds last year to get a little more crush on the 45 gap rounds I used for the IDPA nationals as my springs on the 625 I used were getting a bit weak but I didn’t want to change anything before that match.

 

[Walkalong]

I have no doubt priming on the various progressives is good enough, no doubt at all. I like to hand prime, and I like having the priming operation excluded from when I load the cases.

 

[floydster]

Walkalong--Amen!
Floydster

 

[Tallinar]

Have those who prime on progressive press ever experienced a high primer?

 

[Iron Sight]

"Have those who prime on progressive press ever experienced a high primer?"

YES! and its one of the reasons I hand prime separate from the progressive.

I have had high primers, crooked primers & upside down primers with a hand primer...........But at least I can be aware of that and then correct before inserting the powder and projectile into the case. Also any failure of the primer system on a progressive upsets my concentration possibly leading to other mishaps.

I also crimp separate from seating the bullet. (This is done on my progressive)

 

[Tallinar]

YES! and its one of the reasons I had prime separate from the progressive.

My point precisely. Hand primer is the way to go. I've never, ever, encountered a high primer, and that's why I will stick to my RCBS hand primer.

 

[Slamfire]

My 30-06, 308 and .223 has to function in my Garands, M1a's, and AR's as well match bolt rifles of the same calibers.

I don't want high primers. I don't want the small chance of a slamfire due to high primers. I have already had two slamfires in Garands, the last one blew the back of the receiver off in my face, due to sensitive Federal primers. I don't want to find out what happens with high primers.

So, I hand prime rifle cartridges to ensure that all primers are below the case head. I use my Dillion 550 to dump powder and seat bullets for my short range ammo. Long range, max charges, I use the Dillion to seat bullets.

Pistol ammo, I prime on the Dillion.

 

[alfack]

All pistol and some rifle gets primed on the Dillon 550.

Rifle mostly gets primed on the Forster co-ax. The Forster took some doing to get the feel for, but it does the best job I have seen. It is slower than the Dillon, though.

I don't see how anyone loads rifle progressively as there are too many steps involved in pre-processing your brass. I.e. lube, size/decap, trim, debur/chamfer etc.. The only way I can see how it would be possible is if you have a 5 holer and included a power trimmer in the second hole. Plus, it's hard to get a lot of rifle powders to meter accurately enough for my taste.

 

[jmorris]

Have those who prime on progressive press ever experienced a high primer?

I have with all but my 1050. However, I soon learned (or over time at least) to hook my finger around the primer feed tube of my SD’s when seating primers for the positive feel and when I went to the 650, I made a handle off the strong mount so I could “squeeze” the primer in (as I had learned from the SD) and now after hundreds of thousands of rounds I know what “just doesn’t feel right” when seating a primer. I had issues also with an LNL at one point but knew when to stop. In it’s defense I was loading crimped primers (on a new machine) and I didn’t have time to properly swage the pockets so I knew what I was in for. FWIW I have never had an AD of a primer (yet).

I guess it’s like torquing down bolts. Go by the books on what is really important and what you know works for everything else. I guess this might be a good time to point out that there is no torque for seating primers…

 

[jmorris]

don't see how anyone loads rifle progressively as there are too many steps involved in pre-processing your brass. I.e. lube, size/decap, trim, debur/chamfer etc.. The only way I can see how it would be possible is if you have a 5 holer and included a power trimmer in the second hole. Plus, it's hard to get a lot of rifle powders to meter accurately enough for my taste.

It’s pretty easy but expensive, lube with spray lube and size and trim on one, then load on another. A high speed trimmer and three size/expander dies eliminates the need to debur and chamfer. Also, ball powders are your friend if you run a progressive.

 

[snuffy]

I don't see how anyone loads rifle progressively as there are too many steps involved in pre-processing your brass. I.e. lube, size/decap, trim, debur/chamfer etc.. The only way I can see how it would be possible is if you have a 5 holer and included a power trimmer in the second hole. Plus, it's hard to get a lot of rifle powders to meter accurately enough for my taste.

Well then, take a gander at this;



.223 being loaded on my Dillon 650. Using the Hornady case activated measure, similar to what the LNL uses.





I check them for over all length before starting to load them. I've found that they just don't get too long after being FL resized. I too use a spray lube, and H-335 ball powder. Loads are very consistent, 1 inch or slightly under, which is all my bushy will do even with single stage loads. YMMV

 

[UltimateReloader]

I always prime on press if possible. That includes my progressives, turrets, and single stage presses. The Hornady Lock-N-Load system is great in my opinion because it's been reliable, easy to fill, easy to changeover (small/large), and is safe (spring operated insertion can't be forced, primer tube is well clear of the priming station. Mine works perfectly. I did have to align the system when it was new however (center tube over slider when all the way back). Since then it's just worked great.

I also really like the Redding slidebar priming system on my Redding T-7 Turret. Very solid and great functioning.

I used to clean primer pockets, but don't anymore. Haven't had accuracy or seating problems at all.

 

[chbrow10]

I prime on my 550. If I am having a hard time priming a case, I will remove it and hand prime it.