Hornady LnL AP - Broken Pawl Won't Come Out

[Spammy_H]

My press jammed, and in trying to "delicately" unjam it, one of the drive pawls sheared off. Hornady was kind enough to send a couple or replacements quickly, but I can't seem to get the pawl to come loose.

I've removed the adjustment screw, and the pawl "pops" up and down by the force of the spring underneath it, but I'm guessing that when it sheared off, it must've "staked" itself in the channel.

I'm guessing that I need to file / debur the lip of the channel in which the pawl sits in order to get it to come loose.

Has anyone else experienced this with the LnL?

Should I try to drill into the pawl to pull it out? How hard are these guys?

I tend to be a little conservative when it comes to beating the life out of mechanical equipment, so I realize that I may be a little too tentative.

Thanks for your help.

 

[ReloaderFred]

I would call Hornady and ask for one of the techs, who can tell you how they do it. That would be the best course of action. I also hate to beat up on my equipment, so I figure the guys who built it are the best ones to ask how to fix it.

Hope this helps.

Fred

 

[Spammy_H]

I guess I should have said that I did talk to them, and they said to try to dig it out with a pick, or try a strong magnet.

If I can't get it out, I can send the linkage to them, and they'll repair it for me, which I'd hate to do.

 

[vtail]

I'd try to drill into it.

You've got nothing to lose, except maybe a drill bit.

 

[silicosys4]

This exact same thing happened to me. The broken bit was indeed "staked" into the pawl channel, and I ended up having to use a dremel to barely clean up the lip of the pawl channel before the broken pawl end would just slip down and out of the press, and I used a dental probe to help pull it out. I would also consider trying to epoxy or superglue something like a dowel onto the broken end of the pawl to pull it out like that. If you clean up the channel just a tad, remove burrs and such, it WILL fall out though.

 

[Spammy_H]

Thanks - I thought it was probably a burr or something. I'll try to carefully ream the channel.

-Spammy

 

[Spammy_H]

Update - After installing the new left pawl (lightly hand-reamed the channel with a 1/4" drill bit), I adjusted it per Hornady: bottom the adjustment screw out, then back out 1 1/2 turns, and make small adjustments (1/16 - 1/8 turn at a time). Initially about half of the time the shell plate wouldn't completely advance on the down stroke, so I adjusted the pawl up a couple times to where the shell plate would completely advance on each down stroke.

When I went to reload, everything worked pretty well for the most part. However, I think that I am getting closer to the source of my initial problem, causing the lockup:

Several times the primer cam wire came unseated. I also had a few instances of the press not allowing me to pull the handle (upstroke of the ram/shell plate) initially. When I tried a second time, the handle would operate fine.

I did polish, clean and lube the priming system (emery cloth to polish, brake cleaner to clean, and liquid wrench dry lube sprayed and wiped down to lube) before starting.

I'm wondering if when under load (full shell plate), the shell plate isn't fully advancing and I would need to adjust the left pawl for more advancement, because the sub plate isn't completely lined up with the primer punch hole, causing the punch to hang up coming down out of the sub plate after priming on the down stroke.

Could this also cause the primer cam wire to break away as well?
Any thoughts?

Thanks.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

'm wondering if when under load (full shell plate), the shell plate isn't fully advancing and I would need to adjust the left pawl for more advancement,

That's the way I set mine when I got it. I noticed that the shell plate seemed to be relying on the spring loaded ball detants to click it into place when I ran the lever really slow, so I advanced the left pawl so that it actually made the shell plate go past the point of the ball detants taking over. This guarentees the shell plate to make it to home when you run the lever really slow. I haven't had any problems since.
I had the thought when I got mine that Hornady sets the pawls to light and doesn't account for break in or a little wear or dirt.
As with any machine we own we have to learn adjust it as well as how to run it.

I think your on the right track.