Tell me the CONS of the Hornady LNL AP

[danbowkley]

Glitchy primer feeding with the large primer shuttle was the only problem I've had with it, barring my own stupid screwups. If you gently file the nose end of the primer shuttle, it'll go all the way forward and be happy. The primer shuttle slot does tend to get powder in it if you miss a primer, but so do just about all presses.

My only major screwup was when I removed the retaining nut for the shellplate, I didn't hold it and it bent one of the star arms...that's an easy fix too, and Hornady will send you a replacement even if you're clear that it was your own damn fault.

 

[joed]

I do not prime on mine, so I cannot speak to that.

What is the deal on this? I wouldn't own a progressive if I couldn't count on it to do all the steps it's supposed to. I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press, even have 2 friends that are the same way.

 

[Cherokee305]

I love my hornady, I've only had it a couple weeks but have loaded around 1000 rds with it. I did adjust the paws a hair, and ran a dremel on the plate the primer system slides on. Other than that its workin great.

I know plenty of people with dillion presses that have all the same adjustments that have to be made.
You might not hear about it from them, because I'm convinced that people who buy dillions, buy them because they are the most expensive, so they must be the best. I find its kind of a cult like following.

I showed my LNL press to a friend the other day who has a dillion 650, after running my press a bit, he wanted to know if I wanted to trade him.

 

[cfullgraf]

What is the deal on this? I wouldn't own a progressive if I couldn't count on it to do all the steps it's supposed to. I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press, even have 2 friends that are the same way.

I do not prime on my Hornady. I do not prime on my Dillons either. So, not a Hornady thing.

I can hand prime 100 cases as fast as filling a primer tube. No time lost there.

The press mounted primer systems are not reliable enough for me. I lose too much time fixing problems the primer system causes. One failure in 1000 is too many for me. If i could inspect the primer before filling with the case powder things might be different.

Finally, I prefer to resize and prep cases shortly after shooting. Small batches, a couple to a few hundred cases, go quick. Plus I get to tumble them after resizing and get another round of case inspection. I frequently find a cracked case after tumbling that I did not catch in previous inspections.

I hate re-work worse than trimming.

 

[joed]

I love my hornady, I've only had it a couple weeks but have loaded around 1000 rds with it. I did adjust the paws a hair, and ran a dremel on the plate the primer system slides on. Other than that its workin great.

I know plenty of people with dillion presses that have all the same adjustments that have to be made.
You might not hear about it from them, because I'm convinced that people who buy dillions, buy them because they are the most expensive, so they must be the best. I find its kind of a cult like following.

I showed my LNL press to a friend the other day who has a dillion 650, after running my press a bit, he wanted to know if I wanted to trade him.

I own Dillon and bought it because it got the best reviews. When I looked at progressives 11 years ago I asked all the different press owners what they thought of their presses.

To many of the Lee owners said buy Dillon or anything else. I passed on Hornady at the time because the powder drop took 2 stations to do what Dillon did in one. Also, when I asked how many cartridges their press loaded in an hour not one Honady owner had an answer. That seemed strange to me and bothered me. I was originally leaning towards RCBS but could only find 2 owners, one was an old friend. Both said if it were a do-over they'd buy Dillon.

I've had the 550, 650 and 1050 Dillons, all have worked great for me. I bought the last two because the first worked so well.

Would I buy a Hornady? I think so if I came across a deal. I'd still like an RCBS though, only because the 1050 in cast iron and I just like the feel better then aluminum.

 

[Walkalong]

What is the deal on this? I wouldn't own a progressive if I couldn't count on it to do all the steps it's supposed to. I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press, even have 2 friends that are the same way.

It is the way I like to do it. I hand prime, and would do so no matter what progressive press I was using. I could care less how you do it, or what you think of it.

The OP is asking LNL owners to give him Pros and Cons of the LNL, not Dillon owners to tell him how great Dillons are. I know Dillons are fine presses as well, but it has nothing to do with the OP's request..

 

[Striker Fired]

I also hand prime only. Just the way I prefer,I like to clean the primer pockets ,so I decap and size with lube,clean,and then hand prime a thou or two to load up later. Not everyone "has" to do things the same way.

 

[dbarnhart]

>>I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press<<

Yesterday I reloaded 1300 rounds, all primed on the press.

 

[joed]

>>I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press<<

Yesterday I reloaded 1300 rounds, all primed on the press.

Thank you dbarnhart, my 2 friends with LnL's haven't spent 10 minutes making adjustments to their priming systems but complain that they don't work well. So they prime off the press but haven't spent any time trying to correct the problem. All presses need adjustments from time to time.

Walkalong, wasn't trying to start an argument, just trying to get a feel for why anyone would want to prime off the press in a separate step.

 

[Blue68f100]

What is the deal on this? I wouldn't own a progressive if I couldn't count on it to do all the steps it's supposed to. I keep seeing more and more Hornady owners that won't prime on their press, even have 2 friends that are the same way.

There are a lot of Dillon users too that do this but want admit to it.

Those that don't in most cases have been using a hand priming tool with a SS press out of habit. Habits are hard to break....

In most cases I would say they did not take the time to set it up correctly. There are a few key adj that must be made for it to work reliability. Just like sizing, if it's not done right you will have problems. I ran close to 6k rounds through my LNL-AP last Jan all press primed. Those who say it want seat deep enough either not pressing forward firmly in one smooth motion or they have a bench that is not solid and moving on them. I took some measurements awhile back which indicated that the seating punch is capable of seating the primer 0.050"+ to deep and this is with the dimple in the press where it hits. My current setup (45acp) shows the primer seating punch height to be in the extractor grove. The brass and primer combo can impact how easy a primer seats. Some brass needs the primer pocket cleaned up from a crimp. Trying to prime these can be hard but can be done if the primer pocket is not to small for the primer to start.

Primer pickup is just a adj that is off. There is a dwell time that needs to be there for the primers to drop into the sled. If it's off the time is greatly shortened and you will have feed problems. The key is the rod MUST be Vertical for this dwell time. If not it's a moving target and you must move slow to give it time to drop into the sled.

I think the biggest complaint is not having a good feel.

I have never had a primer go off seating them. I have crushed/deformed them, but they have not gone off. In my 35+ yrs of reloading I have never had a primer go off during seating.

The LNL is one of simple design with very few moving parts. Once everything is dialed in they run smooth, trouble free. But like any thing else, if not setup right, it will not work right. It only has 1 part made of plastic, can't say that about a dillon. And it hold the top of the primer feed rod vertical. The shell retainer spring work great. It took me a couple of years to figure out what I was doing to kink them. Once I figured that out, the current one is over 2 yrs old with no kinks. It's nice to be able to easily remove a case form the shell plate when needed, check powder charge and easily put it back.

Take a look at Dillon. They have been making the press for 30+ yrs and they still have problems. They are very slow when it comes to correcting design flaws. Hornady listens to its end users and will make a part mod. If it works they change the part during production runs. Yes you may become a beta tester but atleast you are getting parts to correct problems either design flaws or improvements to press. Personally I don't mind in doing this. It just makes the press better in the long run.

 

[cfullgraf]

joed,

I am not trying to be argumentative either, and like Walkalong, priming off the press is my preferred method of reloading on a progressive.

I have put a couple of thousand primers through the press mounted primer systems and for me, it was more aggravation than it was worth. To streamline the presses and get the unsused stuff out of the way, I have removed the priming systems from both Dillons and the Hornady.

Splitting up the reloading process and priming off the press works for me. It does not have to work for you.

One last comment, while the progressive presses churn out lots of ammunition per unit time while stroking the handle, I find, in my process, there is a substantial amount of non-productive time. I load 12 different cartridges on the progressive presses. I spend time setting up going into a reloading session and then processing the reloaded ammunition and putting equipment away after the loading session. The few minutes per hour that I might save by priming on the press is very small when spread over the entire reloading session.

As i refine my process, I find I can load small batches of handgun ammunition, 100-200 cartridges, on the progressive very efficiently on a "lights-on to lights-off" basis.

If my ammunition needs increase, I might re-install the priming systems to eek out a few more rounds per hour.

 

[ImjinScout]

I also own the Hornady and think it is a great press, but I also had to iron out a couple of kinks, needed to adjust the cam pawls a little bit. I also do what some have stated, when I first started out I was using all the stations as the progressive press was intended from start to finish. Now I do things a little different and it works for me.

Now after I clean my brass I will use the press to deprime them and inspect the cases, and from there they go into a storage tray until I ready to prime them. When I am ready, I will then use the press to prime the cases and from here I put them in a ziplock bag until I am ready to actually load them. When I start to get low on some ammo, I just pull out the bag of primed cases and use the press to load away.

I like this way and it is very quick because I am only concern about one thing at a time. When I was doing all the steps at the same time from time to time I would run into a problem that would slow the whole process down, for example, when depriming some cases would get stuck on the pin and I would have to unload all the cases and fix this, then start all over again. Sometimes a primer might seat all the way and this caused an issue. This is just how I choose to do it and run my progressive but it is very quick for me on each stage that I reload. If I had another progressive I would be doing the same thing.

 

[Furncliff]

Cons on the Hornaday LNL AP. The shell retainer springs kink and break ala Murphy's Law. Get out ahead of Murphy and buy the three pack of springs (~$8.00). I had primer issues early on, I think I have it ironed out now. I have primer issues on my Dillon too, so...

It's just one mans opinion, but I believe these machines, regardless of who makes them, need running in to be at their best.

 

[Walkalong]

I rounded off and polished the sharp edge in the short trough that the springs runs in where it comes out at, as well as where it goes in at, and that substantially decreased kinks in the springs. I still keep extra though.

 

[Master Blaster]

The bottom line is be prepared to tinker and adjust the press.

 

[jmorris]

I showed my LNL press to a friend the other day who has a dillion 650, after running my press a bit, he wanted to know if I wanted to trade him.

Have him pm me. I have one new in the box EZ ject for trade for a 550 in the reloading section below but would also swap for a 650.

 

[Ledhore]

Over 30K rounds small pistol and large rifle, all primed on LNL AP with no issues at all other than minor adjustments. The key is to understand your machine and be capable of adjusting it. Ditto for several buddies who have them, as well.

 

[Striker Fired]

I am going to try and make a bunch of the primer seater pins for the LNL,but make them .03 longer,that should take care of any problems with them not seating deap enough. Anyone interested in them for a few bucks?

 

[zxcvbob]

I might be interested. I haven't pulled mine apart yet to see how easy it might be to modify the original pin.

 

[Striker Fired]

I looked mine over and it would be the only way to reliably get more travel to seat deeper or to make up for the dimple that forms over time.

 

[Ledhore]

A short length of old hacksaw blade and JB weld takes care of that dimple in a hurry.

 

[zxcvbob]

The dimple is not the problem. It's a symptom.

 

[Blue68f100]

If you want it deeper just drop some #6 or #8 shot or ball bearing into the dimple. It will ride there or a dab of sealant to hold it. If you have something on the surface it impacts the spring that hold the base up. If too high it will impact shell plate movement at the normal at rest height.

To preserver your retainer Spring, I find 1 thing that works 100% of the time. When your doing something with the shell plate just unload the spring and let it flop over to the brass feed ramp area. Mine is going on over 2 yrs now, and I have the brass feeder which can eat them.

 

[Bowfishrp]

I have been hand priming for the past 4 years simply because I started doing it that way before I got my LNL and never stopped. Lazy or maybe habit than anything else. Well since I was running low on Lee hand priming handles (yes, they ARE breakable Mr. Lee, thank you very much!) I decided to go back to the LNL and see if I could prime a bunch....especially since I got my case feeder.

Well I primed 500 .45 cases over the weekend with the LNL and didnt really have any problems. I got used to seating primers just slightly past flush and the majority of them are just flush....big deal? No. I did find that if I gave the handle an extra push then they would be inserted slightly below flush. I did occasionally have a problem with the last primer not feeding into the ramp. My press didnt come with the fiberglass dowel so got a small wooden one (couldnt find a fiberglass or plastic) and added the low primer flag with electrical tape and it fixed that perfectly...and tells me when I am low.

One issue I found was my computer desk/reloading table is now lacking as a reloading table. Pulling the handle only was never a problem before but now with the pushing the handle for the primer, now my desk wants to slide around on me. Already have plans to change to a wall mounted table. I wouldnt call this an issue with the press though.

The biggest problem I had was me! I got used to using my LNL with a downstroke only and occasionally would forget to push to load the primer. Only did that a couple times and you learn pretty fast when you kick yourself like I do.

Later I ran the press at full progressive on about 100 cases that had not been resized yet. It felt slower than my old routine but considering I am dropping one loaded round for each handle pull I KNOW I am faster than my old way. I know I personally wont be pumping out 1000 rounds in an hour but it is still faster than my old way. I still love this press

 

[Striker Fired]

I don't need one myself,as I posted earlier,I hand prime beforehand. I run a cnc so I can make some for anyone that wants to go that route, rather the gluing stuff to press.This would solve any issues some have due to tolerances that make theirs too short. I don't think all the problems with primers not seating deep enough is operator , I think some presses ,the stock pin is just too short, so I can makes some longer ones to fix it.