Hi all,
I reload several different calibers on my LnL, both pistol and rifle, but these days I'm mostly using the large primer punch for the ammo that I've been making. Getting high primers has been an extremely frustrating problem for me and, frankly, I'm getting tired of it. For the record, I like my Hornady press and other Hornady products, and I would greatly prefer fixing my problem than switching to Dillon or some other brand. They all have problems too, and this is something I'd prefer to fix rather than replace.
I know high primers are a relatively common "red press" problem, as I have done searches on this board and several others, and many have had similar complaints. I've called Hornady twice about this issue, which has been extremely frustrating because, to hear it from them you'd think the problem was in my head, that it's impossible for their press not to work correctly, or that it's my components' fault (rather than the press). As far as I'm concerned, it's my press's job to work with my components, not the other way around. And, needless to say, the problem is not in my head.
My current band-aid for the high primer problem is putting a nickel under the primer punch. There are several variants of this "fix," such us putting a shim under the punch, etc. This definitely helps, but it's not enough. I still need to rotate the brass several times and press the punch in each time to get the primer just barely flush. This is totally unacceptable, although it may indicate that my primers are getting seated slightly crooked... anyone know why that might be?
Others seem to have sanded down the nut on the punch by a few thousandths, but there's a stop on my actual punch that prevents it from going any deeper than flush with the nut, so even if I grind the nut down, I don't think that will work unless I also drill the countersink in the bore of the nut a few thousandths as well, so the stop on the punch gets a few more thousandths of travel before contact.
Has anybody tried this with any success?
Has anybody tried other fixes with any success?
To be clear, the problem is not that my shellplates aren't on tight enough, which can also be a high primer culprit, but that's not the case here. My punch is also screwed in tight.
Another problem might be the timing, but the shellplate looks centered over the punch when it gets to the priming station (at least as best as I can tell). I've tried to adjust the timing, but I admit that I don't fully understand timing adjustments well enough to say that I've definitively exhausted the potential for a timing fix.
Anyone else have this high primer problem and get it fixed? If so, what worked for you? Thanks in advance for any input!
I reload several different calibers on my LnL, both pistol and rifle, but these days I'm mostly using the large primer punch for the ammo that I've been making. Getting high primers has been an extremely frustrating problem for me and, frankly, I'm getting tired of it. For the record, I like my Hornady press and other Hornady products, and I would greatly prefer fixing my problem than switching to Dillon or some other brand. They all have problems too, and this is something I'd prefer to fix rather than replace.
I know high primers are a relatively common "red press" problem, as I have done searches on this board and several others, and many have had similar complaints. I've called Hornady twice about this issue, which has been extremely frustrating because, to hear it from them you'd think the problem was in my head, that it's impossible for their press not to work correctly, or that it's my components' fault (rather than the press). As far as I'm concerned, it's my press's job to work with my components, not the other way around. And, needless to say, the problem is not in my head.
My current band-aid for the high primer problem is putting a nickel under the primer punch. There are several variants of this "fix," such us putting a shim under the punch, etc. This definitely helps, but it's not enough. I still need to rotate the brass several times and press the punch in each time to get the primer just barely flush. This is totally unacceptable, although it may indicate that my primers are getting seated slightly crooked... anyone know why that might be?
Others seem to have sanded down the nut on the punch by a few thousandths, but there's a stop on my actual punch that prevents it from going any deeper than flush with the nut, so even if I grind the nut down, I don't think that will work unless I also drill the countersink in the bore of the nut a few thousandths as well, so the stop on the punch gets a few more thousandths of travel before contact.
Has anybody tried this with any success?
Has anybody tried other fixes with any success?
To be clear, the problem is not that my shellplates aren't on tight enough, which can also be a high primer culprit, but that's not the case here. My punch is also screwed in tight.
Another problem might be the timing, but the shellplate looks centered over the punch when it gets to the priming station (at least as best as I can tell). I've tried to adjust the timing, but I admit that I don't fully understand timing adjustments well enough to say that I've definitively exhausted the potential for a timing fix.
Anyone else have this high primer problem and get it fixed? If so, what worked for you? Thanks in advance for any input!
Last edited:
