Hornady LnL progressive question

[roysha]

I have been looking at the Hornady LnL progressive press. My question, is it possible to use dies without the quick change bushings or are you stuck with buying bushings for all your dies?

Thanks!

This is the original post.

Where in the post does it ask for advice about, or suggestions for purchasing, a dillon. It is because of people like the dillon nuts that I won't own dillon anything and badmouth them when asked about them even though they are probably somewhat acceptable. Yes I have experience with them and I'll take my Hornady presses every time without another thought.

As has been stated, yes, you can just leave the bushings in place and thread the dies in as though it were not a L-N-L press.

[LittleLebowski]

This is the original post.

Where in the post does it ask for advice about, or suggestions for purchasing, a dillon. It is because of people like the dillon nuts that I won't own dillon anything and badmouth them when asked about them even though they are probably somewhat acceptable. Yes I have experience with them and I'll take my Hornady presses every time without another thought.

As has been stated, yes, you can just leave the bushings in place and thread the dies in as though it were not a L-N-L press.

Yes, that is the original post. Do you need references to the other questions the guy that started the thread asked?

[DerekP Houston]

Yes, that is the original post. Do you need references to the other questions the guy that started the thread asked?

I'm curious what tinkering is needed after setting up the dies? With a locknut in place the plate doesn't come loose, at most I blast it with a bit of canned air every time I refill the primer tube just to clean any debris off. There was some initial smoothing out of the parts I did per the recommended youtube video but it's been running great for months now. I've been loading the same 45 acp 200gr HP lead bullets over WST without a hiccup.

[roysha]

Yes, that is the original post. Do you need references to the other questions the guy that started the thread asked?

No I do not.

Do you need references as who brought up the dillon brand in the first place?

[308Jeff]

I have two LNL AP's. One purchased as the raw unit which I added a case feeder to, and one that I purchased as an Ammo Plant. The raw unit performed nearly flawlessly from the get go, the Ammo Plant took some pawl adjustments to get the timing perfect.

For me, the biggest selling point was the bushings. They make it a snap (literally) to make a caliber change, and the dies never need readjustment once they're set if you leave them in the bushings.

I bought two small 6 drawer plastic organizers (one for rifle, one for pistol). I store the dies in their bushings inside zip-loc bags and then store the dies, along with their shellplate and case gauge in their own drawer. Drawers are labeled with Dymo tape for easy identification.

There is only one aspect of the presses that give me grief, and that is the case feeders. Sometimes the case drop "window" has to be set exactly right to prevent cases from feeding backwards or not falling fast enough to prevent the feed plate from binding due to a case that didn't make it into the funnel fast enough. Once that's dialed in, it's 99%. The other issue with the case feeder, and this will be an easy fix once I think about it a little more, is sometimes the case drops onto the base plate too close to the edge and will fall off of the base plate. I've seen at least two fixes for this on youtube, I just haven't implemented anything yet.

One more thing I like about the LNL AP press - in my experience, the powder measure will measure EVERYTHING pretty darn close to dead on. This includes all rifle and pistol ball powders, Unique and Longshot which are flake, and most extruded rifle powders. The only powder I've tried that gave me any trouble was VARGET, and while that was generally +/- .1gr, I didn't care for the force/binding that occasionally occurred when it needed to cut grains to throw the charge.

One more issue that I did have on one of the two presses, now that I think about it... After 15,000 rounds or so, I was having an issue with rounds not wanting to eject. They would ride over the ejector boss and bind the shellplate. I fixed this by carefully taking a file and resquaring the edge of the ejector which had smoothed over and was acting like a ramp for the cases.

I have no experience with Dillon presses, but I would have no qualms about owning one. A Super 1050 with a trimmer would be a dream come true for me considering how much military 308 and 203 brass I process. It would be sweeter than sweet to fully process the brass on once machine.

[ReloaderFred]

Keep this thread on track. The question was about the Hornady LnL, so let's keep it confined to that press.

Fred

[LittleLebowski]

Edit: saw the moderator’s comment.

[tranders]

Keep this thread on track. The question was about the Hornady LnL, so let's keep it confined to that press.

Fred

Thank you Fred.

[xrayfk05]

Once you have used those bushing once you will never want anything else. I have also converted my Rock Chucker to use the bushings, the conversion set is about $20,0 including some bushings if I remember correctly.
You do need to tighten the bushings in the press firmly, especially on the powder measure or they may work loose.

First thing I would check when you get a new LnL is to check the timing, does the shellplate advance properly on every movement of the handle.
Adjusting it is no big deal, just read the manual carefully and go slowly on the adjustment screw. (1/16 of a turn does a lot)

Fwiw. both colors of my progressives have their own quirks, and both are good.

[roysha]

Keep this thread on track. The question was about the Hornady LnL, so let's keep it confined to that press.

Fred

I apologize for my snarky retort, both to LittleLewboski and the forum.

[ReloaderFred]

Thanks, guys.

Fred

[Carrier]

I have two LNL AP's. One purchased as the raw unit which I added a case feeder to, and one that I purchased as an Ammo Plant. The raw unit performed nearly flawlessly from the get go, the Ammo Plant took some pawl adjustments to get the timing perfect.

For me, the biggest selling point was the bushings. They make it a snap (literally) to make a caliber change, and the dies never need readjustment once they're set if you leave them in the bushings.

I bought two small 6 drawer plastic organizers (one for rifle, one for pistol). I store the dies in their bushings inside zip-loc bags and then store the dies, along with their shellplate and case gauge in their own drawer. Drawers are labeled with Dymo tape for easy identification.

There is only one aspect of the presses that give me grief, and that is the case feeders. Sometimes the case drop "window" has to be set exactly right to prevent cases from feeding backwards or not falling fast enough to prevent the feed plate from binding due to a case that didn't make it into the funnel fast enough. Once that's dialed in, it's 99%. The other issue with the case feeder, and this will be an easy fix once I think about it a little more, is sometimes the case drops onto the base plate too close to the edge and will fall off of the base plate. I've seen at least two fixes for this on youtube, I just haven't implemented anything yet.

One more thing I like about the LNL AP press - in my experience, the powder measure will measure EVERYTHING pretty darn close to dead on. This includes all rifle and pistol ball powders, Unique and Longshot which are flake, and most extruded rifle powders. The only powder I've tried that gave me any trouble was VARGET, and while that was generally +/- .1gr, I didn't care for the force/binding that occasionally occurred when it needed to cut grains to throw the charge.

One more issue that I did have on one of the two presses, now that I think about it... After 15,000 rounds or so, I was having an issue with rounds not wanting to eject. They would ride over the ejector boss and bind the shellplate. I fixed this by carefully taking a file and resquaring the edge of the ejector which had smoothed over and was acting like a ramp for the cases.

I have no experience with Dillon presses, but I would have no qualms about owning one. A Super 1050 with a trimmer would be a dream come true for me considering how much military 308 and 203 brass I process. It would be sweeter than sweet to fully process the brass on once machine.

If you phone Hornady they will send you the fix for that free or like others have down cut a 12 gauge shotgun hull to fit. I prefer the one from Hornady.
Can you post a picture on exactly where you filed the ejector as I sometimes have that same issue. Was going to phone Hornady and see what they say about it.
The guy I have always dealt with is Seth and he has been awesome.

[Three44s]

Speaking of the Lnl bushings I have some issues with them working loose.

Maybe a fatter O ring?

Many of my dies are Lee and they are short bodied. Between the bushing and the thick aluminum head of the press it makes for an interesting set up.

I take my Lee lock rings turn them over to get more threads on to the die body to lock them up better. A fellow member told me that you can run the lock ring on the underside of the press head and bottom of the die. I have not tried this yet however.

Three44s

[ReloaderFred]

If you call Hornady, they'll send you the shims for free. The only bushing I had a problem with working loose was the one that holds the powder measure. Once I received the shim from Hornady, that cured the problem.

Most of my dies for use on the LnL are RCBS or Lyman, and they work perfectly.

Hope this helps.

Fred

[Carrier]

Speaking of the Lnl bushings I have some issues with them working loose.

Maybe a fatter O ring?

Many of my dies are Lee and they are short bodied. Between the bushing and the thick aluminum head of the press it makes for an interesting set up.

I take my Lee lock rings turn them over to get more threads on to the die body to lock them up better. A fellow member told me that you can run the lock ring on the underside of the press head and bottom of the die. I have not tried this yet however.

Three44s

Only one that I had that may of started to come loose is the powder measure. Though it didn't the interweb naysayers said it would so contacted Hornady and they sent me some shims for free that stops that. You could try a larger o-ring which many say works.
Only Lee dies I have are a set of 44special/mag ones and I have no issue with using the lock nuts but they are only a year old and I've been told the older Lee dies are shorter.

[Three44s]

Thanks guys!

I think I only have one that works loose as well.

I have been gravitating to die brands with longer bodies as well as I add calibers just to allieviate the issue. Most of my Lee dies are from the ‘90’s

Three44’s

[Elkins45]

I could live without the bushings. I'm not in such a hurry to change dies that I can't just screw them in. However you could always just reuse the same ones over and over so it's not a big deal.

I bought my LnL two years ago and just love it. I wanted auto indexing and five die stations so I could run a 40 S&W sizing die before the 357 sizer when loading 357 Sig.

[Drew P]

For those that don't need or don't want to use the bushings you need to purchase this special "hornady lnl bushing setting tool". Hornady will probably send you one for free because they are that great but otherwise most hardware stores sell them.
People really want to make the bushings more complicated than they are.