I have over a hundred thousand through mine and I have primed everything I load on there while I was loading. Every couple hundred I would blow out in front of the primer sled to keep debris out from in front of it.
I ground the edge off of the front of mine and that helped a lot. But eventually tumbling media and powder will find it's way in there.
The priming system on mine has been fantastic with all brands of primers except the new black SPP Winchester primers. I got some from the first batch they put out and they would jam the priming system up in short order, they also wouldn't drop into the sled from the tube. I think they were out of round.
When that priming system is right it works really well. Mine was over a 100k before I had to replace any primer parts on it.
Grease: I apply white lithium grease to the ram with my finger.
Don't grease it with a grease gun with any automotive type grease, Hornady says not to because it dries out in the press and makes it stiff to operate and hampers it's movements.
While Hornady had my press, they cleaned out all the old gun grease I had put in it, and caught up all the upgrades. Talk about run smoother when I got it back.
I would discourage using the grease fittings on it.
Timing isn't hard to deal with. Just make sure the shell plate makes it to the detent balls while running it slow and the detent balls will do the rest. That's on the up and down stroke both.
Case feeder: Biggest problem I've found with my case feeder is the timing between the case pusher and the shell plate. It has to be spot on or the cases can fly out of there now and then.
So later on, if you look at getting a case feeder vs a bullet feeder dilemma, there is no timing on a bullet feeder to worry about, it dumps into the top of a die and mounts remotely. The case feeder upright
The case feeder pivot block started to gald right after I got the case feeder so I put some lithium grease where it contacts the other pot metal piece and that stopped that immediately. I have a new one but mine still has the original on it from 2012-13, I don't remember.
My case feeder has been really good, It jams sometimes and brass comes raining down on my but it does really well, I bought it three years after buying the press. I used the case feeder for processing brass also, depriming it all before cleaning and loading it, so it has a lot of run time on it.
It could definitely be better but it does pretty good the way it is.
I tend to agree...it takes up less room...and is simpler in execution. This from someone who has the Hornady case feeder which works almost perfectly.
Part of the problem with the factory case feeder is it tries to be everything for every cartridge. I love the little subtle changes I can make to it to make it run smoother, but the multiple case slider/pusher pieces is irritating..
I didn't have a problem with assembling mine , but I kept hearing about folks having issues with the Pivot Block (that transfers cases from the tube from the collator to the tube feeding the case slider. After helping a couple of folks solve their issues, I found that it was usually a matter of owners believing that "Tighter is Better":
1. Support for the pivot block assembly twists and tilts, affecting feed. That happens when you over tighten the bolt and distort the main support post
2. Pivot block doesn't pivot far enough to drop cases into the final tube. The pusher rod, with the nylon tip, isn't pushing the inclined plane far enough. That's because the rod is adjusted too high (because obviously, more is better)
3. Feeder drops more than one case at a time. This was a design flaw. The opening in the pivot block is too generous to catch the rim of the following case. It is cured with 3D printed insert which are caliber specific.
Just curious: There are several iterations of the 3D printed case feeder. Is the one you have the version with the roller bearing incorporated?
I agree, that could definitely be better designed.
