Hornady LNL Issues ?

I don't know about the Dillon 550B, but I do know about the new LNL, I quit priming on mine, it got to be too much of a hassle, the hang ups, and trying to keep the priming system clean, a pain in the butt.
Some people have good luck with it tho.

LnL AP I have issues with priming large pistol only but then there's the timing issue too with the paw. The only issue I have with the 550b is when I load stick power I alway have some unwanted leftover drops. This only happens with rifle loads. I much prefer the 550.


"Real liberty is never found in despotism or in the extremes of democracy"- Alexander Hamilton

Just my opinion and what works for me.

I like my Hornady L-N-L. I have no timing issues, but then I never try to power through a jam either. If the press binds, I stop and correct the problem. Powering through a jam will eventually break something.

I like the flexibility of the L-N-L. I can put dies in different locations depending on what I want to do. this could be done on the Dillons but not as conveniently. For instance, if I want to load a small, test batch, I may charge off the press and seat the bullet in station one. I like to crimp separately from seating, so that die could be in any of the remaining stations. I do other "partial" steps from time to time as well.

I gave up on the priming system. One missed or improperly seated primer in 1000 was too many for me. But, it is the same with my Dillons SDBs. Besides, I prefer to clean the cases between resizing and loading, particularly where case lubricant is involved. So, priming off the press is a distinct option for me. I can prime 100 cases in the time it takes for me to fill a primer tube. The benefit is I get to inspect every primed case before powder is dropped in it.

I prime and clean cases shortly after shooting then store them away for a future loading session. I never build up a back log of fired yet unprepared cases.

Finally, the only rifle cartridge, besides 30 Carbine, that I load on the L-N-L is 223 Remington plinking ammunition. loading rifle on the L-N-L really does not ring my bell. I would rather take my time with rifle cartridges and use a single stage press.

Lot of other folks have made the priming system work and like loading rifle on the Hornady.

Priming is a issue with the 550b and LNL-AP.

I have not had the problems some are having. My press is over 4ys old and is going strong. ~25k 9mm, 3k 45acp, 357mag are the pistol caliber I load for. I added the Brass feeder 1 yr later, when I broke my left hand and wrist. I only use the brass feeder on the pistol ammo.

The problem with powder on the base impacts all progressives. I took a small file and rounded off the bottom front edge. This prevents small amount of powder and/or brass from stopping the sled from going forward. I keep a can of air to blow out any debree.

Normally there is a 0.040" design buffer when it comes to setting primers. So a small dimple on the press does not hurt. Mine had finally got to a depth where I no longer had a large margin, 0.005". So I elected to do a perminate fix. I drilled and taped where the dimple was and installed a 8-32thds SS set screw. The head fits the profile of the primer pin very well. Now I'm back to design height. You could also just drill a hold and drop a steel rod in with out D&T. Even setting a ball bearing in the dimple will work. Other things that impact the seating is the gap between the shell plate and base. Hornady spec is 0.010"max, mine run 0.003". This can be adjusted by trimming the drive hub base.

Hornady will also repair the press if the end user can not.

I have reloaded 308W and rem 7mm Mag without any problem. I used Imperial Sizing Wax and it was smooth as silk. These were the first rifle rounds I have done on the LNL. I used a universal deprimer first, trimmed brass, cleaned, then finished on the LNL. Wiped the brass off once finished.

Using tubular powder is a issue with all powder dispenser. So your using this type of powder be causes of dispense hangs.

I have never head of any primer detonation issues like Dillon. This is one of the reasons I went with the LNL. The very first thread on Brionenos site was a primer detonation when I researched Dillon issues.

The primer system: A primer rides in a shuttle that slides back and forth. If powder or dust fouls the shuttle track it CAN mess up primer feeding. It's an easy fix. Keep a can of compressed air, like that used by computer technicians, a quick "blow" clears the shuttle track and you in business again in less than 5 seconds. I have loaded 1000 rounds in one sitting without fouling the primer shuttle. I don't really believe it is a problem. As long as the primer system is properly adjusted and clean, it is 100% reliable. I have had my LNL for 5 or 6 years. I have used Winchester, Wolf, Federal, Remington and CCI primers and I have not had an issue with any of them.

As far as the "divot" in the frame. Yes, it will eventually put divot in the frame but, with about 50,000 rounds through my LNL the divot has not caused me seating problems. My divot is no deper/different now than it was 30,000 rounds ago. Many people use a dab of JB Weld epoxy to weld a dime or piece of hack saw blade over the divot. So far, I haven't found it necessary.

Ninety nine percent of my loading on my LNL is pistol. I rarely load more than 100 rounds of rifle at one time. On those occassions when I do load more rifle, like 223 or 308 practice ammo. I size and deprime on my single stage. I then tumble my brass for 30 mins. or so to remove the Imperial Sizing Wax that I use for case lube. I then prime, powder charge and, seat bullets on my LNL. I don't crimp rifle cases, even 223 and 308.

You are correct about the LNL powder measure being better suited to "stick" type powder. It is a rotary type powder measure. I have found that a rotary powder measure is more consistent with "stick" type powder than a sliding bar type measure. That is based on experience with both types of measures. I usually get +/- .2 gr or less with IMR 4895. Stick type powder is a problem for all powder measures however. Some less trouble than others though.

I love my LNL. Since you already own a 550, you know that progressive presses require a bit of "tweaking" to get them operating smoothly. The LNL is no different. The LNL is an outstanding loading platform and Hornady Customer Service is impeccable and equal to anything Dillon has to offer. Remember, though these are just my opinions based on my experience, others may differ.

I own both and load .45 acp on the LNL, I fixed the inconsistant pistol powder drops by adapting a dillon measure on my LNL, and selling the hornady on E-bay last week. The dillon measure works great and eliminated inconsistant and squibb loads common with the hornady measure over the 4 years I used it. The Dillon powder funnel/ measure does an excellent job of belling and powder drop in one station. The hornady measure does not like : Trailboss, Unique, Bullseye or 231. Since these are my primary pistol powders for .45 acp that was a big problem.
The primer feed needs polishing and tweeking. It is much more sensitive than the dillon primer system to a little dirt. The dillon priming system requires much less force to seat a primer, and has much better feel. I have owned my Dillon for 14 years.The down side of the Dillon primer feed is that it gets filthy from being under the falling decapping debris. As long as you clean the dillon every 200 primers with a solvent soaked q-tip it works flawlessly.

Note all my progressive reloading is for pistol. I load rifle on a rock chucker supreme, and use a redding or Lyman measure for rifle stick powders.

I have only had my lnl ap for a couple months but have put a couple thousands rounds of 223 and at least 500 204s. I guess I have no major complaints, my shell plate wouldn't stay tight, tried a star washer, still got lose. Finally used some temporary lock tight and that did the trick.
As for sizing and loading on the same pass, I'm like many others, I like my ammo nice and clean when I'm done. So, I size on one pass and then tumble and load. I have found that using one shot and sizing on the ap is twice as fast as doing it on a single stage. You only have to put a case on, don't have to remove it like you do on a single stage. Resized 500 223 in an hour the other day!
After buying the ap I just had to have hornadys single stage. I love the lock n load bushings. I even made shimes for the lock n load socket on my single stage to calibrate my two presses so dies can be swapped with a quarter turn of the lock n load bushing. No more resetting dies! It's absolutely the greatest thing ever. Added some hornady dies with the micro adjust seating heads you got everything you'll ever need!
Oh yeah, had to buy their powder dispenser also, once you get hooked on the big red H you can't get enough!

The hornady measure does not like : Trailboss, Unique, Bullseye or 231

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I've loaded over 60k 45ACP on the L'n'L - about 1/3 each of BE, 231 and Ba-10. No problems at all with the accuracy - stays +/- a tenth over 200 round sessions. I do disassemble and clean the throat every 5000 rounds or so as BE, more than any other powder I've used, leaves a nasty coating (it's also great at yellowing the plastic powder container if you leave it in there).

That's of course using a pistol rotor ... only significantly annoying powder I've used was regular Clays ... every now and then I'd get a complete bridging with not even a flake coming through. I believe Trailboss is similar to Clays flake composition.
/Bryan

The priming slide will foul with powder, but it is only an issue if you spill powder or miss a primer (user error). I don't have a divot in mine, but I have less than 10,000 rounds reloaded in mine. Might be a problem eventually.

I like my LnL and would recommend it to others.

+1 one on LNL primer issues
Got it fixed with a part replacement
NEVER power through or something breaks had to learn this the the hard way.

The hornady measure does not like : Trailboss, Unique, Bullseye or 231.

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I have never used Trailboss. Using a PISTOL insert, I have used several pounds of Unique, Bullseye and 231. I always +/- .1gr. Using a RIFLE insert, with "stick" type powder like VARGET and !MR 4985 I always get +/- .2gr with the Hornady powder measure. However, stick type powder is problematic with just about any powder measure.

I use W231. I have loaded about 200,000 rounds of pistol ammo through that one press in about 2 years... I can honestly say that I would never use anything else.. Like others have said if the primer slide gets stuck it is because of USER ERROR. Not a design flaw. I also have not had a problem loading with W231.

I normally use Ball Powders, 231, WSF, WST. Large Flake powder like Unique did not work for me, way to much deviation. I had used unique in the past, with the SS you can do extra taps to get better results.

I've owned 2 Hornady L-N-L's, one with case feeder and one without. With both loaders I had priming problems which were eased with some careful buffing of the primer slide but only temporarily. I had to constantly blow out the debris that collected in the slide area. It was frustrating. I did have some problems with timing but finally learned to finesse the adjustment of the pawls. As much as I liked the potential of the L-N-L's, I think they lack just a bit of fit and finish and could use some design adjustments. Fortunately I never sold my 2 550's which are more my speed. I think that in the right hands the L-N-L is a wonderful loader. Unlike others, I never had metering issues with my L-N-L's and that included a fair amount of stick powder loading and a better amount of ball powder loading.

I have 2 LNL APs and have not had a problem with the primer system. I did get a dimple under my primer seater but simply put a thin steel shim over it and solved that issue (Hornday tech said dimple is normal and won't hamper primer seating but I put shim on anyway). I am completely satisfied with both presses. I do not use a case or bullet feeder so can't comment on them.

Hi tlen-

I posted some pics of my LNL AP primer system and some thoughts on why it works here:

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=647917

One thing that I noticed in this thread was all of the references to debris fouling up the primer system.

Where are all of this dirt and spilled powder coming from? This should be an unusual situation, not a normal part of operating the press.

If I ever get some dirt or spilled powder in the primer shuttle area (because I messed something up), a simple fix is to use an old toothbrush to sweep it out while holding the primer shuttle back.

I find that if there is dirt accumulating in the front of the primer shuttle slot, there will usually be feedback while priming before things get unworkable. This feedback is best described as a "crunchy" feeling when seating a primer, because the primer will be slightly off-center in the primer pocket.

Good luck!

Bob

You have to keep a progressive clean or you will have problems with the primer slide, any brand. I keep a can of compressed air by the press just for this reason. I also break the press down and clean the priming system and under the shell plate after every 500 to 1000 rounds, and this is on a Dillon.

If you get a LnL I want to hear about how it compares to your Dillon. I would value someone's opinion that owns both presses more then someone that just owns one press.

Someone said their shellplate was coming loose. I use teflon tape on the bolt and have not had any trouble.

Accidentally dropped some powder on my shell plate yesterday and some fell in the primer area....yes, it does foul up the primer system if this happens but it is not normal for me. The primer system works great, just dont dump powder everywhere like I did! Love the old toothbrush idea since canned air is $5 each and my compressor is all the way over there.

I use the end of an old spark plug to stick in the primer drop hole when tightening the shell plate bolt and never had it loosen up on me.

I don't see what the issue is with the primer shuttle. There is no load, it will not produce a spark of any kind. It is only moved in and out by a roller attached to it. The spring is what makes it return. Spilling powder on any progressive press will cause problems. Once you get it tracking right, it's trouble free, even when you switch primer size.

Dillon uses a lot more plastic than Hornady. Then they want you to buy a small parts kit to keep it running. Yes they will send you parts on request. I would take the cast Al over plastic. Dillon is a more complex design if you compare the two. You have more small parts that are loose so be careful if you run a vacuum over the press it will suck them out.

There's not a press made that is perfect that never fails. It's mechanical like any thing mechanical it will require service from time to time.

Hornady like Dillon will replace broken parts at no cost to you. If they had a "high" rate of breakage, they would go broke just covering postage costs on replacement parts. I would not worry over this issue. As I posted earlier, priming on the LNL has never been a problem.