mongoose33
Member
My Hornady LnL progressive has a tendency, as I think many such presses have, to flick the occasional granule of powder out of a case as it indexes from powder drop to lockout die to seating die.
I'd read of a possible solution http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=596542&postcount=6 which sounded like it might work for the LnL.
So I ordered up a couple thrust bearings and 4 thin washers (extras), and set out to see if it would smooth out the indexing. (Though I ordered a different size to fit the LnL center bolt).
I removed the center bolt and washer, and put down a thin washer, the thrust bearing, a second thin washer, then topped the arrangement with the washer and bolt I'd removed from the shellplate.
So far so good. It seemed to smooth things a bit, though not as much as I'd have liked.
To really test, though I had to reload some rounds, so I proceeded to set up to reload 9mm. All sorts of problems ensued. The case mouth expander wasn't working as well as it should, and the OAL wasn't right (It was long). Taper crimp wasn't working as well either.
It took me a while to figure it out (about 25 minutes, actually), but eventually I discovered that by adding the extra washers and thrust bearing, it increased the height of the center washer such that it would bump into the top of the press before reaching the end of the upstroke, where the hole exists for the bolt to enter on that upstroke.
That's why case mouth expansion and OAL were screwed up In fact, the press didn't feel right as I cycled it while producing rounds. I kept producing them, after adjusting the case mouth expansion and OAL.
What I should have done--here's the lesson--was stopped and figured out why both the OAL and case mouth expansion should have been screwed up, as well as why the press felt different (it was bottoming out too soon). I didn't change anything from the last time I ran 9mm through it. Same dies, same settings.
Lesson learned. If something is not right, or doesn't feel right, find out why.
I ended up removing one of the extra washers so that the thrust bearing would rest on the shellplate, and that reduced the height of the center washer/bearing/bolt assembly enough that the press returned to cycling normally.
The bearing seems to reduce a bit of the snap as shellplate rotates, though not as much as I'd hoped. It was an interesting exercise, and I'll probably try some variations on the theme, but in the end, the entertainment value was worth the money expended.
And I learned a lesson.
I'd read of a possible solution http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showpost.php?p=596542&postcount=6 which sounded like it might work for the LnL.
So I ordered up a couple thrust bearings and 4 thin washers (extras), and set out to see if it would smooth out the indexing. (Though I ordered a different size to fit the LnL center bolt).
I removed the center bolt and washer, and put down a thin washer, the thrust bearing, a second thin washer, then topped the arrangement with the washer and bolt I'd removed from the shellplate.
So far so good. It seemed to smooth things a bit, though not as much as I'd have liked.
To really test, though I had to reload some rounds, so I proceeded to set up to reload 9mm. All sorts of problems ensued. The case mouth expander wasn't working as well as it should, and the OAL wasn't right (It was long). Taper crimp wasn't working as well either.
It took me a while to figure it out (about 25 minutes, actually), but eventually I discovered that by adding the extra washers and thrust bearing, it increased the height of the center washer such that it would bump into the top of the press before reaching the end of the upstroke, where the hole exists for the bolt to enter on that upstroke.
That's why case mouth expansion and OAL were screwed up In fact, the press didn't feel right as I cycled it while producing rounds. I kept producing them, after adjusting the case mouth expansion and OAL.
What I should have done--here's the lesson--was stopped and figured out why both the OAL and case mouth expansion should have been screwed up, as well as why the press felt different (it was bottoming out too soon). I didn't change anything from the last time I ran 9mm through it. Same dies, same settings.
Lesson learned. If something is not right, or doesn't feel right, find out why.
I ended up removing one of the extra washers so that the thrust bearing would rest on the shellplate, and that reduced the height of the center washer/bearing/bolt assembly enough that the press returned to cycling normally.
The bearing seems to reduce a bit of the snap as shellplate rotates, though not as much as I'd hoped. It was an interesting exercise, and I'll probably try some variations on the theme, but in the end, the entertainment value was worth the money expended.
And I learned a lesson.