Well I was moving to be close (across the street) to my grandkids when I decided to start reloading again. The house I bought need significant “upgrades” so no place to set up the reloading equipment.
My son (& more importantly – his wife) agreed to let me set up a small, temporary space in their garage – so I have half my presses set up & am happily getting going again.
Since I could only have about 2’ of “dedicated” space on their 16’ bench and
knew I wanted to have at least two presses set up, I decided to mount a 2’ (actually 25”) wide x 50” long section of 2” oak countertop, which my son had “just waiting for a good project”. I got some 6061-T6 aluminum channel (3” x 0.258" x 1.5”) for bracing. I ran a length of channel the length of the top and one on the bottom, under each press from side to side. Bolted it to the top of the existing bench, through the bench from the top channel to the two bottom channels, & with angle brackets to studs in the wall. It is VERY stable. Heres what it looks like (you'll notice I took way more than 2' - but not "dedicated"):
Here’s the die setup, with the KISS bulletfeeder. Also, I have added the EGW “U” die in station 1, for resizing. This had the added benefit of allowing easier removal of the powder measure. The Hornady New Dimension sizing die that I used initially had a much longer depriming rod, which interferred with powder measure removal (because of the KISS). The dies are: EGW "U" sizing die, Hornady LnL powder measure w/KISS ptx, KISS bulletfeeder. Hornady New Dimensoin seating die with Microjust, Hornady New Dimension Taper Crimp Die. One benefit of the LnL AP is half station indexing. The shellplate indexes a half station on the upstroke and a half station on the downstroke. This makes it very easy to visually check the powder level between the powder measure/ptx station and the KISS bullet insertion. Don't think you can do this on a Dillon (to be fair though - the half station indexing is also the source of the "5th station" restrictions/problems).
Here’s how tight a fit the KISS makes the powder measure – between the KISS & the primer tube shield – no contact, but it’s sure close. You can also see the primer tube follower I added (currently 1/8” brass rod). The blue tape marks zero. I have marks for 5 & 10 remaining also. I’m planning to replace this brass rod with a brass tube. It’ll still be plenty of weight, but in case of a detonation – a tube should make a much less efficient missile.
I bought the $25 bracket from Roger (bulletfeeder.com), so I didn’t need the big PVC base tube. It was great (looks like an angle bracket with a toilet mount) – but mounting it to the case feeder column (which I did) requires ~1/4” shim between the mounting bracket & the column of the case feeder to avoid interference with the lower case feeder bracket. No biggie.
The only other thing I’ve done is to JBweld a stainless steel washer to the press frame under the primer ram. This makes it much easier to seat the primers (for me, anyway), & doesn’t bang on the cartridge catcher bracket. It does, however, mean you have to raise the ram slightly to manually cycle the primer slide. I have never had a primer pick up or primer slide issue – except for the last primer. If you’re going to reload another hundred – reload the primer tube when you get below 5 remaining. I thought I had a primer feed issue – but it turned out to be an indexing problem. Even if it seems ok on initial setup, watch it closely for the 1st few hundred rounds. Mine started slightly undershooting on the downstroke. The hole didn’t perfectly align with the primer ram, so when I pushed the handle up nothing happened & I spilled powder. A LITTLE counterclockwise on the left pawl adjustment – HEAVEN.
I have another LnL AP & a LnL classic single stage, which will have to wait for MY garage to be finished. I have 2 6’ benches for the presses & an 8’ bench for cleaning, repair, & projects. I have also designed & built (with emachineshop.com) strongmounts, which I got locally powdercoated, custom designed for my presses. OK, I know it’s stupid, but I’m not a mechanical engineer & I’d never designed anything in sheet metal by myself before. Just had to try. Their software is great (for a novice) – their pricing is pretty high (and it’s gone up since I did mine).
I know this is long – but I have to say I LOVE the LnL AP & the Redding UltraMag. Also – for the UltraMag, I use the Lee Autoprime II. This is a fantastic product. It feels cheesey – the 1st time I assembled it I almost broke it – you have to “help” the last ~20 primers down the chute (I use a small allen wrench), but you can adjust the primer depth precisely, never had an upside down primer - & in use it feels & works GREAT. Also, the RCBS Chargemaster is amazing. As someone who has spent a lot of time with a trickler – NEVER AGAIN! You gotta see it to believe it. The problem is – it’s so fun to watch. Using the auto setting, you can actually use a powder measure(set a few grains below your desired charge) to fill the pan & it will trickle the last few grains to a perfect charge. What a trip! I remember the painstaking process of charging precision rifle rounds by hand. A few – no big deal – but make a hundred, ouch! This thing is amazing (to me).