PDA

View Full Version : Hornady Lock-N-Load AP notes



omgb
07-08-2005, 03:06 AM
A couple of weeks ago I crossed over to the dark side and bought my second progressive press. !8 years ago, in a moment I regretted almost immediately, I bought a Lee Progressive 1000 and set about to make a mountain of .357 reloads. Well, it never worked out. That was the most finicky *** I've ever owned and it soured me on progressives ever since. Recently, more flush with cash and wanting to shoot a whole lot more, I once again lusted after a progressive. I considered a Star but decided it was too pricey and too hard to get parts for. Next I thought about the Lee progressive again and decided that was just too painful to ever want to repeat. I was left looking at the Hornady and the Dillon. I read several reviews including one in my Gun Reviews newsletter. Every one liked the Dillon but hated the antiquated powder measure and remarked that changing between loads was a real PITA. The Hornady got very high marks, was far easier to reset the measure and was cheaper plus it had five stations as opposed to Dillon's four. The one caveot was that the primer feed could cause trouble and if it was forced, would break. i figured that I was slicker than the guy testing it and that there was no way I'd force something until it broke. So, I bought the Hornady.

Right off I saw that this was no Lee nightmare. It looked, felt and functioned like a very high quality machine...something along the lines of the very effecient Hornady/Pacific 366 shotshell press. I studied the weak ChiCom instructions, adjusted everything and started to make ammo. Well, the primer seater was very touchy about what brand of case it liked in small pistol. Some cases were just not lining up smoothly and as a result, an occasional primer did not get seated. A small can of compressed air cleared any spilled powder so I pressed on. A quick check with my scale showed that the powder drop was very very consistant So far, so good. After about 500 rounds, I really got the hang of it and picked up the pace. Then it happened, I missed a primer, felt some drag and pushed just a little harder. Pop, the primer slide broke and the feed rail bent. hornady sent me the parts free, no questions asked but dang, this is going to be something I'm going to have to watch very carefully. I decided to buy a spare set JIC from Midway. In sum, I like this press better than the Dillon I tried but, the primer feed is a point of contention and this IS the New design. Oh well.

NVcurmudgeon
07-08-2005, 05:38 AM
My only progressive experience is with Dillon machines. I have a Square deal in .45 ACP and .44 Magnum. Also have looked over a friends's shoulder when he was using his Dillon 550. My Square Deal is one of the first, and has been overhauled and upgraded twice. It has reached the point where I feel a little guilty over the amount of free stuff I have gotten from Dillon over the years. One thing to try out is the brand of primers that you are using. Dillon advises using Winchester or Federal primers only in their machines. They especially warn against CCI, though I still use CCI in single stage loaders with no trouble. It seems that Winchester and Federal primers are rounder and slightly smaller in diameter than CCI, according to Dillon. Dunno about Remington. HTH.

BruceB
07-08-2005, 07:09 AM
I reckon I've been lucky, on this CCI/Dillon combination. My 550B has been chugging along just about forever (15 years?) on mainly CCI primers, mostly large rifle and large pistol, but many thousands in small pistol size for my .38-.357-9mm ammunition as well. The vast majority of my loads have used CCI primers, starting off in Canada where they were about the easiest to obtain, and where I got the 550B.

Since moving to Nevada, additional primer brands are much more common, but I still find myself using a lot of CCIs. Usually I'm among the first to confront problems, if a problem is in the area at all, but in this case I've been blessed. Oh...I don't find the powder measure any problem at all, either in accuracy or in ease of adjustment.

The 550B is a perfect fit for me. I don't want the bigger/faster 650, and I don't want anything smaller. This machine was an inspired choice. Dittos on the superb service and support by the manufacturer.

omgb
07-08-2005, 12:13 PM
I am in the process of switching to Winchester primers as I write this. It ocured to me that different primers are slightly different in dimention...CCI have been very reliable but, and this is a big but, I do find that their manufacturing process permits a greater degree of variation in dimention than either Win or Fed.

Johnch
07-08-2005, 01:02 PM
I have a Dillon 550 .
I leave the Dillon powder mesure in the drawer and use a Lee powder mesure or a Uniflow.
I have loaded many thou of rounds with it .

I also use every brand of primers .
I have never had a problem with CCI primers

Johnch

45 2.1
07-08-2005, 01:25 PM
I've had a Dillion 450 since they came out (25 years or more ago) that has broken 4 parts (primer dump, 3 bottom of ram blocks) that Dillion replaced free in record time. It has been a very good investment.

omgb
07-08-2005, 06:10 PM
The replacement parts just arrived from Hornady.....about 30 hours after I ordered them and no charge to me. not bad so far.

castalott
07-08-2005, 08:17 PM
Hi All!

I have the Dillon 450...but added a Lee 1000 'just ' for 38/357.... The case feed worked 'ok'...the bullet feed worked 'ok'...but it refused to feed primers... They were upside down ..or sideways. It got to the point that I was losing 50% of my components. So I bought another 450 used and set it up right as I should have done in the first place.
I was warned about the Lee 1000....but I had to try it. There are several things I consider substandard in design. You can't get your hands in there to fix anything. And it is actually slower than a single stage press when you add all the 'goofups' in.

There are some Lee products I like a lot....but that press isn't one of them...

Dale

utk
07-09-2005, 06:51 AM
A tip for Dillon-owners:

My friend Arne (in Sweden) solved the powder measure adjustment problem by attaching a vernier scale to his powder measure. The vernier scale came from a "Radio Shack" equivalent company in Sweden (Bejoken). Even if you don't understand the lingo, have a look at the pictures. The scale is a 15-turn Bourns unit. PM me if you need help with translation...

http://arne.nohlberg.com/dillon_modifiering.htm

Urban (in Sweden)

NVcurmudgeon
07-09-2005, 07:28 AM
Thanks to your excellent photography I can now understand Swedish, a language I have seen only occasionally! As my only progressive is a Square Deal, and I load only light target loads in two calibers, adjustment isn't very difficult. My trouble is remembering that turning the adjustment screw clockwise (in to me) INCREASES the charge weight. Seems backwards to me.

utk
07-09-2005, 01:31 PM
Send your thanks to Arne Nohlberg, who wrote the article! I tipped him of a simple graduated knob, but he went further and used this Bourns 15-turn unit that also keeps track of the number of complete revolutions.

Urban

carpetman
07-09-2005, 03:34 PM
NVCrumudgeon. How could you possibly not understand which way to turn the dial now that you have 100% grasp of Swedish. It is very clearly stated--"Klicka pa bilden for pa". Really that is all you have to remember but it goes on to fully explain and eliminate any possibility of forgetting--"alla som nagon gang agt en Dillonpress har(I think Jumptrap helped write the technical part)Kanske forvanat sig over den". I'm sure you must have overlooked that part or you would remember. Glad I could help.

Willbird
07-09-2005, 03:47 PM
I have had a Dillon 550 for a month or so now, I like it,

I have found with pistol powders that one flat on the hex head screw is a tiny amount to change the charge weight, I would however like to come up with a way to reset the measure later to a known setting. Unless I am looking at the vernier deal wrong it would not do that, unless you can open the measure up a known number of turns from clear shut.


Bill

utk
07-09-2005, 06:09 PM
Bill, that's just what the dial does! By noting the numbers on the dial, you can return to the exact setting later. The dial has 50 graduations for a full revolution, and a small counter window recording number of revolutions.
Close the slide (without the dial) and then turn the dial to 0.00 before attaching it onto the measure. Finally tighten the knob screw. Done.
Note: the dial doesn't show the actual weight of the powder, it only is a relative volume number, so you will have to make up a table for each powder you use (done the same thing for my RCBS powder measure with micrometer).
Arne added a spring inside the slide to take up the slack in the threads.
He extended the original screw by drilling (max 5 mm) the screw and tapping it. He then did the same thing to the short piece of axle and joined them with a cut-off screw. Loc-Tite, of course. This is the only thing holding everything tohether. To prevent the dial housing to rotate, there is a small index pin in the dial hosing that goes into a silver-painted and epoxied piece of wood glued to the underside.
Arne found that one revolution equaled approx half a grain of VV pistol powder.

Urban