Questions about the old Hornady Pro-Jector Press!

[seagiant]

Hi,
I've been looking at these Hornady Pro-Jector presses for sale and it seems like a lot of them are missing the primer feed?

Was the primer feed on these a problem? Looking for guys that are still keeping these old presses going? Thanks!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

The problem with them being missing is Hornady doesn't sell them any more to my knowledge and used ones are scarce and hard to come by. Also, the Projector has bugs they worked out in later presses, though I think they still have a bug or two to get out of the newest LnL version.

[seagiant]

The problem with them being missing is Hornady doesn't sell them any more to my knowledge and used ones are scarce and hard to come by. Also, the Projector has bugs they worked out in later presses, though I think they still have a bug or two to get out of the newest LnL version.

Hi,
BOLD WORDS... for a man that owns an RCBS 2000!

[kevmc]

I've been using mine for 25 years.....love it!
I just bought another on Ebay...should have it in a day or two.
I got my first from a friend who wouldn't use it for a boat anchor.....he thought it was terrible.
I convinced him to let me try it, it was way out of time, after tuning it up I got him to sell it to me.
I don't have any issues with the primer feed or any other bugs.....only part that has broken in 25 years was the case retainer spring.
I have 5 spare springs now, but have only broken the original, and that was my fault.
When adjusted properly, I think they are a very fine, smooooth press with great feel as to what's happening.
I don't know for sure, but think the new LNL is the same frame with an updated primer feed.
I use the lock rings on all my dies, so the LNL (quick turn) feature isn't a big deal.

Lately I've upped the number of rounds/week I'm shooting, so bought a 2nd so I can leave one set for .44 magnum and the other will be primarily .357 magnum. I considered other presses, Dillion mostly, a friend has a 550 I tried, my preference was the Pro-jector.
D 650 was way more money and hard to convince me it's any better than what I've got, so I bought another Pro-jector!

[fstreed]

Hello I own one of these presses, problem is it's in storage in West Virginia and I am in Oregon. It has been stored for over 10 years, I need to go back to WV and get it sometime.

I loaded a lot of ammo on it when I lived in WV. The only presses I had with me during most of my 11 years there was the Hornady PJ and a little Lee c frame I used for depriming. I bought the Hornady new when I first got there.

I liked it, mostly, but it did have a couple of small problems, irritations mostly. It used a plastic bin for the loaded cartridges and there was a big gap between the cartridge bin and the press. A lot of the ammo would drop into that gap, especially pistol calibers. I contacted Hornady and they denied there was a problem but sent me some new parts anyway. That didn't fix it, of course, it was a design flaw. It was an easy enough fix, I made a slide out of aluminum that covered the gap and it caught 100% after that.

The other irritating little problem was that it didn't always eject the loaded cartridge cleanly. A lot of that was technique, I learned to use just the right speed to crank the handle and also to keep an eye on it and just flick the round out with a finger if it hung up, it didn't slow me down hardly at all, I could still maintain a good pace with it. I liked the press overall.

I deprimed with the little Lee press and primed with a couple of Lee hand held priming tools so can't really remember much about how the priming mechanism worked.

[cheese1566]

I used one for over 20 years. It is now in storage with another. I don't use them anymore as I upgraded a Pro7 to a new LNL in their exchange program.

Never really had an issue with the primer set up other than the scarcity of primer tubes. The biggest problem I encountered was the ejector arm getting hung up on a case and bending. I typically go slow as I am not for quantity, but every now and then, one round would hang up and not eject and the arm would bend out of whack. I bought extra parts from Hornady when they were available as I figured I'd keep them going for years. Just couldn't get primer tubes. If I had the bench space, they would still be in service dedicated to a specific caliber/ primer size.

i think they are good old presses that just need some attention by those who have read up on manuals and have mechanical skills. They aren't for those that just want to mount a press and go without adjustments at 110% top speed.

i think if you can service and run those RCBS Green Machines, the ProJector won't be an issue.

[seagiant]

I used one for over 20 years. It is now in storage with another. I don't use them anymore as I upgraded a Pro7 to a new LNL in their exchange program.

Never really had an issue with the primer set up other than the scarcity of primer tubes. The biggest problem I encountered was the ejector arm getting hung up on a case and bending. I typically go slow as I am not for quantity, but every now and then, one round would hang up and not eject and the arm would bend out of whack. I bought extra parts from Hornady when they were available as I figured I'd keep them going for years. Just couldn't get primer tubes. If I had the bench space, they would still be in service dedicated to a specific caliber/ primer size.

i think they are good old presses that just need some attention by those who have read up on manuals and have mechanical skills. They aren't for those that just want to mount a press and go without adjustments at 110% top speed.

i think if you can service and run those RCBS Green Machines, the ProJector won't be an issue.

Hi Cheese,
I sent you a PM!

Yea, those Green Machines are not for the faint of heart or the mechanicaly challenged individual,but when everything comes together it is a sight to behold and will drown you in reloaded ammo!

I just see these Pro-Jectors in my wanderings and was wanting to hear from people that own them. I like the older stuff!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Hi,
BOLD WORDS... for a man that owns an RCBS 2000!

Having owned and used a Hornady LnL, I feel pretty comfortable talking about their stuff. I handled the Projector quite a number of years ago extensively, but never got to run it. The owner complained about the eject system, timing and the priming system. I think some of it was him, though there must have been some bugs, because Hornady upgraded the priming system not long after coming out with the LnL AP.

I had the AP and upgraded it to the EZject. But it still didn't have the case feeder bosses on it, took an upgrade kit from Hornady to run it. I got and added the case feeder stuff, but about that time, life took a turn and I shot a good bit less. Since I was kinda bored with it, I decided to sell it and get the press I'd always wanted, but didn't buy because it wasn't auto advance - the RCBS Pro 2000. But by then, they'd added auto advance to the Pro 2000.

While I was happy with my Hornady's performance, I like the Pro 2000 much better. It's boringly reliable though. Once adjusted, it stays adjusted until a part wears out after 75K rounds or so I'm told. You do have to clean, lube and adjust it properly out of the box and it likes tuning like any other progressive. Priming feed system is flawless for me in both large and small primers.

But it looks like a red, green and blue Christmas tree with the various dies and powder measures I throw on it.

[roysha]

Purchased my first one in 1987 or 1988. I have 7 of them, one for each centerfire handgun caliber I own. I hate adjusting dies and powder measures and such, so I just bought one when I bought a new handgun. My first ones didn't have auto powder drop so I rigged up a system using the pistol powder measure. Still using them today. Only problem I had was using CCI primers and still have that problem to this day. Have two setting in boxes waiting for a new handgun to be bought. When HOR changed to the L-N-L the Projectors were available quite cheap so I put in a couple extra, in anticipation of the day when....

[Hardcast416taylor]

I started out many years back the second year that the Pro7 was offered by Hornady. I up graded it to the Pro-Jector a few years later with new gadgets on the press to make it better. I`ll list the problems I had with it and what I did to correct them. Firstly, there was a timing problem when you cycled the op handle that I tried to set straight till I finally sent it back and they figured out the problem and it hasn`t missed a beat since. The auto prime was always making me wonder why it was even on the press? Primers would be seated upside down or jamb up and suddenly let a bunch of them loose. I finally after about 5 years got tired of this headache and removed the entire assembly from the press and have hand primed with 2 old style LEE hand primer units. I sold the priming unit with all tubes, swing arm and mount block to a site reader here as he needed parts. The auto powder drop, 1st model, was a so-so thing that would stick in a half position or at full drop or full up position. The nylon op rod bushing in the press center hole wore out and the replacement I made didn`t last much longer. I removed the unit actuator and operate the powder drop handle each cycle. The case eject is better known as the "case stick then fling across the room ***". That got removed after about a month of trying to make it work. So what I have now is a dedicated press to loading, with off press priming and manual powder dropping with hand removal of loaded rounds. Do I miss any of those "Gadgets" on the press? NO!!!!Robert

[seagiant]

Hi,'
Well... to me if a progressive won't prime it's not a progressive,it's a glorified single stage!

When I got bit by the RCBS Green Machine bug, that was the boog-a-boo to me was to get the machine to prime. There was no vids on u-tube showing a GM actually priming. Everyone was sizing and priming before running it through the machine. Also the timing of the machine had to be perfect and a little bit of tweeking made all the difference!

I was successful by converting the machine as others had done before me, (but not shown in a vid) by converting to a tube feed instead of the headache that the machine came standard with!

Just sayin if a progressive won't prime for me it is gone! From what I hear Hornady fixed the problems you site in the L-N-L Model!

[kevmc]

AS above, I just added a 2nd Pro-jector.
Before that, when I had a set of dies set, I'd lock down the lock collars on each die (collars with set screw). When changing calibers, the lock collars already had the dies set, no adjustment necessary except bullet seating depth if using a different boolit than last time....

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Just sayin if a progressive won't prime for me it is gone! From what I hear Hornady fixed the problems you site in the L-N-L Model!

Seagiant,

Knowing what I know and knowing from years of watching your posts your high mechanical ability, if I were you, I would buy the Hornady LnL AP (Make sure and get one with the case feeder bosses, they are generally more reliable.), then upgrade the auto eject by modifying it myself. The AP eject system leaves much to be desired. My understanding is the older models had a better eject system if adjusted properly, but not perfect.

But instead of trying to adapt the older models eject system, I would do this:

1. Remove Hornady's kludge eject heavy strangely folded spring wire.
2. Examine the LnL AP's mechanical rotational mechanism and figure out where an L-shaped piece of thin spring wire could be placed so it could be adjusted to provide proper ejection.
3. Drill a vertical hole in the press frame to locate/install one leg of the L-shaped piece of spring wire.
4. Drill a horizontal hole in press frame at 90 degrees to the vertical hole, tap the horizontal hole and install a hex head set screw to lock your spring wire in place.
5. Adjust new eject thin spring wire for smooth ejection at the proper mechanical pace for the press to be operated in, then lock the eject wire down with the set screw.
6. Done with ejection.

Other bugaboos:

Most are just taking your time, cleaning the press, adjusting the feed pawls (most important for operation and primer operation) and using a little blue loctite to keep adjustments permanet. Make sure the pawls are not worn out, get new ones from Hornady and replace if you see visual wear.

The LnL bushings were (and may still be) outsourced by Hornady. Some presses had problems with bushing unlocking/working loose. Replace the male (holds the dies) or female (part of the press) as needed to correct the problem. Kludges fixes are usually ill advised on this one from my observations of other folks doing them. I've had a bad male bushing or two I bought during high demand times. Simply had them replaced by Hornady.

Just my .02 know the LnL AP real well and having experienced the EZject. The EZject is a machined bump on the subplate and my read is it can be improperly machined or wear in a pattern it can't be repaired, so subplate replacement is necessitated. Lots of down time. Better to keep the AP subplate and fix the eject problem by designing and installed your own, as it's simple to do and cheap/quick to repair, if it ever fails.

BTW, the RCBS Pro 2000 I have has a L-shaped thing spring wire eject very much as I described. Easy to adjust after replacing shell plates and doesn't appear to have a problem with wear.

Dave

[257]

my friend has one serial number under 1000 priming setup was a night mare he finally took it off the press has the early type powder replaced it with the newer one that functions much better than the original angled one, then he bought a case feeder for it and had to change(buy) the big plate that the shell plates ride on then had to send all of his(17)shell plates in to them to have groove cot in them so they would work. 15.00 each x 17 255.00 plus shipping both ways to other guys in our gun club got rid of there's over the primer setup being trash I'm certain the new ones have had numerous engineering changes from the first ones to now

[smoked turkey]

I bought my Projector used in 1992. I have 7 or 8 shell plates with mine so I can load quite a few different calibers. I only use mine for handgun cartridge reloading as I enjoy rifle reloading on my single stage press much more than the "work" it takes to use the progressive. For me there is too many operations going on with each handle pull and I find that I need to go slow and really pay attention to what is going on. I have found that a person needs to really watch during the powder drop process to avoid powder "bridging" in the sliding bushing located within the powder drop tube. I use a powder check die in order to monitor the process as close as I can. I have found that by using the largest sliding bushing for the case I am loading will minimize the bridging problem. The old projector is fairly time consuming to set up in order to get everything going as it should. It takes someone who is willing to tinker with it until it is right. A few days ago I loaded a bunch of 44 mag on mine and it worked very well. I do like RCBS green and someday I would like to try one of the RCBS progressives but it will have to be at a good price for me to jump on it. I think if you can find a old used projector at a good price that they are very capable of putting out good reloads but they do take some work to do it.

[A pause for the COZ]

I had one and loved it. Hornady has quit supporting them though. Once the last part in stock is gone. it all done.
I took advantage of the trade in program and upgraded to the LNL AP.
Was ok since all my shell plates were the new style any way.
But if I run into one for a hundred or so. I will snag it up.

[kevmc]

As posted above, I just bought a second off ebay. Set it up and loaded 500 .357 yesterday.....
No problems with priming or ejection.
Just my experience......

[seagiant]

Hi,
Thanks Gentleman for the info! The Pro-Jector may not be the best reloader made but it seems that the owners are very proud of them!

I've talked to three people on the NET about buying their's and they were all more than I was willing to pay for a loader with known problems and zero repair parts!!!

Dave, thanks for the detailed information. I used to do the same little wire ejector to my STAR Progressives! Simply yet utterly reliable and you can't help but shake your head at what some desk Engineer at these companys, can come up with (monstrosity!) to do the same job!!!

[DaveInFloweryBranchGA]

Dave, thanks for the detailed information. I used to do the same little wire ejector to my STAR Progressives! Simply yet utterly reliable and you can't help but shake your head at what some desk Engineer at these companys, can come up with (monstrosity!) to do the same job!!!

I know, it's amazing to me. That's why I appreciate my RCBS Pro 2000 so much. It's mechanically very simple and because it's simple, it's extremely reliable. No need to over-engineer a product like this, just makes it less reliable and more expensive.

That said, I just watched a video for the new RCBS Pro 7 with seven stations. The auto-advance on it may be the best I've ever seen on a progressive. They have a bullet feeder for it and are designing a case feeder. The die plate appears to be designed somewhat like a cannon breech (insert and twist to lock) that's got a couple simple lock screws to set it in place. Bigger powder container Uniflow included. Investment-cast iron body like the Pro 2000.

If they hadn't decided to use a tube feeder, I'd be in lust. I HATE tube feeders! Potential to get your hand blown up! Aaaargh!

[r1kk1]

I've watched the same video on the 7. I wish they released more information on it. I'm curious of the tallest cartridge it can handle and if they will have shellplates for the 348 Winchester Wildcats as well as 405 Winchester stuff. I wonder what it weighs and other specs.

Time will tell.

sorry for the drift,

r1kk1