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Thread: Hornady LNL Grrrrrrr!

  1. #1
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    Angry Hornady LNL Grrrrrrr!

    I've had a couple of LNL presses now since 2000 or so. One had the case feeder. I gotta tell you, this is a tinkerer's press. The primer feed is really sensitive to dirt. Look at it sideways and it will fail. When you first set it up, you have to center the primer punch and pick up slide hole in the primer tube hole or...you will not have reliable primer feed. The trouble is, is that to do this you have to eye ball it and move the plastic actuator rod holder back and forth until you get it. Strictly trial and error. A true PITA. One grain of powder will jam this entire set up, one freak'n grain.

    Then there's the case feeder. O'l shaky tilt. You adjust it, tweak it and if you are lucky, it will drop cases most of the time. Today however was not one of those days. Today it was every third or fourth cased failed to properly drop. That's not counting the tipped cases that got crushed in the sizing die. Grrrrrrrrrr! Without the case feeder you can make some hay provided you keep things clean.

    Now the bullet feed dies, the ones that work with bullet tubes not the collator, those are a waste of time. Sometimes they drop a bullet, sometimes none and sometimes the entire column. Too frustrating to even contemplate.

    I took my press out of storage a week ago. It took over four hours of fiddling and tweaking to get it up and going.....but the case feeder still is an issue. I'm thinking I should have gone Blue. Now I'm too broke and out of work to do anything about it.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  2. #2
    Boolit Master

    dannyd's Avatar
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    Relax and take your time. It will work.

  3. #3
    Boolit Buddy
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    Have you watched Highboy76's videos on that press over on YouTube ?

  4. #4
    Boolit Master MyFlatline's Avatar
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    I also have the LNL. The priming system has been removed from mine. I hand prime now and the LNL works flawlessly ( most of the time ) Any little piece of trash from a spent primer was an instant lock up, then came spilt powder during the disassembly.

  5. #5
    Boolit Grand Master
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    I was going to post a smart *** comment, but decided not to.

    Some machines are lemons and sometimes it is the operator. I had a Green Machine and gave up on it. Others can make them work, but not this dummy.

    Hopefully you can sell it and add a few dollars to get a Dillon 550. It will not have the case feeder, or bullet drop but it works with a high degree of reliability. Sometimes an effortless 300-400 per hour is better than 700/hr with an added hour of fiddling.
    Don Verna


  6. #6
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    I have a 550B and it does work. I am patient and very skilled with machines. Hornady service and I are on a first name basis. I've seen every one's videos, done all the tweaks. It's just not a very stable design.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  7. #7
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by omgb View Post
    I have a 550B and it does work. I am patient and very skilled with machines. Hornady service and I are on a first name basis. I've seen every one's videos, done all the tweaks. It's just not a very stable design.
    I have to agree with you on the case feeder as it is sort of a hit and miss. But the priming system on mine has worked for 3 years now and the two issues I had were my fault.
    The one thing that has been a pain though is the case retention spring. Mine seems to kink them all the time.
    I’m slowly putting some cash away for a 650 to give it a try.

  8. #8
    Boolit Bub
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    I must have got lucky on mine because I prime on my press and have loaded 1000sss of 223 and 9mm with no primer issues. I havent used a case feeder on mine so no comment on that. The only problem I had was a depriming issue that was corrected with the die itself.

  9. #9
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    I loaded a couple of hundred rounds today NOT using the case feeder and all went well. I can see the problem with the case feeder but I'm not sure how to fix it
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  10. #10
    Boolit Master
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    Quote Originally Posted by omgb View Post
    I loaded a couple of hundred rounds today NOT using the case feeder and all went well. I can see the problem with the case feeder but I'm not sure how to fix it
    What is the issue with your case feeder?

  11. #11
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    I can help with all of these. First, grind two flats on the primer slide so you create small pockets where dirt can go without gumming up. Then toss the bullet feed dies into the garbage and replace them with mbf bullet feed dies. Then take the case feeder and sell it, replaced with bullet collator to feed the mbf dies.
    That’s how mine is set up and I like it a lot. I feed cases by hand which allows me to look them over quickly.

    A 550 is great but if you’re losing the primer, case feeder and bullet feed dies then I don’t see what the point was.

  12. #12
    Boolit Mold
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    pm sent

  13. #13
    Boolit Master

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    Quote Originally Posted by Drew P View Post
    I can help with all of these. First, grind two flats on the primer slide so you create small pockets where dirt can go without gumming up. Then toss the bullet feed dies into the garbage and replace them with mbf bullet feed dies. Then take the case feeder and sell it, replaced with bullet collator to feed the mbf dies.
    That’s how mine is set up and I like it a lot. I feed cases by hand which allows me to look them over quickly.

    A 550 is great but if you’re losing the primer, case feeder and bullet feed dies then I don’t see what the point was.
    If I was in the OP shoe I would send it down the road and by a 650. Tossing half the press in the garbage and buy ing more stuff doesn't add up to me.

  14. #14
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    OK, I really went over the press today. Priming works OK now. Lots of cleaning and a mild dusting of mica. Shell plate got cleaned too JIC. Replaced the retaining spring...it had a small kink that would sometimes prevent a case from sliding in easily. Now, the case feeder. Mine dates back to 2003 or so. There have been lots of changes since then. First, the Pivot Base now has a clamp to prevent it from flexing up or torqueing to one side. Mine doesn't have that clamp and the pivot plate is moving. This greatly affects the ability to smoothly drop a case dead center in the slide. I've included a couple of photos. Second, my base plate is bent, has been since I bought it all of those years ago. This has in turn caused the cam wire to scrape, bind and bend. This affects the movement of the pivot. So, I'm contacting Hornady to see if they will make good on the worn and upgraded parts. They should but who knows. RCBS and Dillon would for sure, no questions asked. Redding not so much and Lyman, eh, it depends. So, we will see.Click image for larger version. 

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    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  15. #15
    Boolit Master
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    If you talk to Hornady I’m pretty sure they will. I just got the clamp, pivot body and pivot from them no charge. I have issues with the case retainer spring kinking after loading anywhere’s from 20 to a hundred cases which sometimes causes the cases to not slide into shell plate properly.
    Now one guy from Hornady told me it was the primer shuttle causing this as the punch is catching on the shuttle hole. That is not happening on mine as I used machinist ink on the punch and not a mark on the shuttle or upwards moved when punch goes through the shuttle hole.
    I’m pretty sure my issue is the sub plate where the spring drops at station 5. I’ve seen some grind that angle of drop back a little ways and is supposed to stop that.
    Also not sure if anyone else has had issues with shell plates but I have one that wasn’t machined properly and the spring pops out of the sub plate grove in a couple rotations of the shell plate.
    The best guy I ever dealt with at Hornady has moved to a different position there and now I have to start all over with others there.
    Good luck with your issues.
    Last edited by Carrier; 02-22-2018 at 07:22 PM.

  16. #16
    Boolit Buddy Steve E's Avatar
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    I've had my LNL AP for about a year now, I don't have the case feeder or bullet collator. So far everything runs great with no problems other than the initial setup, after the first set of adjustments the only thing I have had to mess with one time was the case feed pawl, I think that is what you call the things at the bottom of the ram that you adjust with allen wrenches. All together I have loaded many thousands of 380 acp, 9mm, 10mm, 357 Mag and 45 acp but only a few hundred .223 on it so far. It is a giant step up from my old progressive, an RCBS Piggy Back II which was very good but required more attention.

    Steve.........
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  17. #17
    Boolit Master Drew P's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Plate plinker View Post
    If I was in the OP shoe I would send it down the road and by a 650. Tossing half the press in the garbage and buy ing more stuff doesn't add up to me.
    Except even with an 1100$ Blue koolade injection I’d still want to have a bullet collator and mbf dies. Which he could pay for with proceeds of selling the case feeder. Net zero.

  18. #18
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    I called Hornady Customer Service and they are shipping me all of the parts to fix my issue. Should be here next week. If the problem still persists, they want the unit to work with until it is fixed. I like that. My CF dates to 2003-4 and there have been numerous fixes since that early beginning. With the new changes I sould be good.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

  19. #19
    Boolit Buddy dogdoc's Avatar
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    Dillon 650 . Have 2 and almost never have a problem other than cleaning once in a while. I have had other progressives but the Dillons just work

  20. #20
    Boolit Master omgb's Avatar
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    My LNL is such an early one I think most of my issues are "teething" issues. Dillon had a jump on Hornady. They copied a lot of their ideas from Star and carried some over from their Gatling gun. Hornady was re-inventing the wheel. When I see all of the mods and upgrades in the new machines I am amazed. Once I have the case feeder fixed my machine will be pretty serviceable. No need to go Blue just to be with the "in" crowd. Here is one undeniable point: Dillon set the bar pretty high for customer service. No BS is just that. RCBS was quick to join in. Hornady was slower but then, their pockets aren't as deep either. Lee and Lyman are way back in the pack by comparison. Redding is a mystery to me. I have never had an issue with anything of theirs so I have no idea what their CS is like.
    R J Talley
    Teacher/James Madison Fellow

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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check