Hornady Equipment

[DonMerlin]

I went to a 2 day reloading seminar sponsored by Hornady. I picked up a great deal of information and a new found respect for Hornady equipment. Not sure why I never considered them when shopping for equipment. Most of my stuff is Red.
Are there any Hornady fans here?

[fatnhappy]

yeah, I would say I like their equipment. I have a few minor complaints about the new dimension dies, mostly because they're engineered and executed for jacket bullets. all in all it's good stuff.

[Bohica793]

I love my Hornady LNL Progressive. I upgraded from a Lee Classic Cast Turret. Like going from a mule to a Maserati.

[Hardcast416taylor]

After all these years and untold thousands of loadings, I`m still trying to wear out my upgraded Pro-7.Robert

[VHoward]

I went to a Dillon Square Deal B from a Lee Classic Turret. Again a mule vs. Maseratti comparison. I then later sold the SDB and bought an XL650 which I should have gone to in the first place. Nothing wrong with the SDB, but it didn't suit my needs. I am happy with my choice, but I could have gone with the Hornady L-N-L AP and been just as happy. Also could have went with the RCBS Pro 2000 and been happy. All 3 companies make excellent quality equipment and provide exceptional customer after sale support. Still have a Lee Classic Cast single stage I am satisfied with.

[Maximumbob54]

I defied the blue kool-aid in buying my LNL-AP and I would still buy it again today. I do agree they heavily favor all things jacketed bullets. And their jacketed bullets are good things but it would be nice if they also pandered more to us cast bullet people.

[1911KY]

LCT to LNL AP for me as well! I absolutely love my LNL AP, it just flat out works. I run Redding Pro Series dies and a Lyman M die for opening up the case to accept cast boolits!

The only issue I ever have is with the priming system and that is the downfall of every progressive press.

[lightman]

I don't have much Hornady equipment, but my Son has a few of their dies and likes them. So does one of my buddies. Most of my equipment is either Green or Blue.

[pworley1]

I have an 07 from the 80's that is just getting broken in. Only it was Pacific back then. They make good equipment.

[bhn22]

yeah, I would say I like their equipment. I have a few minor complaints about the new dimension dies, mostly because they're engineered and executed for jacket bullets. all in all it's good stuff.

Hornady is now offering "Cowboy" dies, like almost everybody else.

[bhn22]

I have an 07 from the 80's that is just getting broken in. Only it was Pacific back then. They make good equipment.

I wore out a 007 press several years back. When I asked about warranty, I was told that that only applies to the life of the equipment. Hornady had changed paint colors from reddish brown to red, so my 007 no longer had a warranty. The lady on the phone was exceedingly rude, so I replaced it with a Redding Big Boss.

[firebrick43]

Every manufacture has some great products. Don't put on blinders and only look at one brand or you will pass by several great items!

[kfarm]

I'm into hornady as well. Got the lnl and a single stage along with dies, testing powder equipment. I think they have great customer service. That said nothing wrong with RCBS, Lee is a so so, with Lyman a no go. Dillon, all I have is a set of 40 cal dies. I think its like what you start with you stay with. Put me down for hornady's enovation, quality and customer service. Not gonna poo poo on Lee to much, I bet most of us started with Lee. I still use a lot of their stuff.

[troyboy]

The quality of the New Dimension dies are excellent. If choosing between RCBS or Lyman there is no contest. I am still on the fence about Lee. The ND dies just purchased were on sale and with the "free"bullets they came out cheaper then Lee. I have been trying different brands of dies and Hornandy has really impressed me.

[skeettx]

I have three Hornady Pro-Jectors and also some Hornady shotshell presses/
All do quite well.
Mike

[r1kk1]

The only Hornady press I owned was an Apex. Hornady d/c it and sold off remaining parts to Lock, Stock, and Barrel in Nebraska who went out of business. So I sold the press. I have Hornady dies from over the decades and to tell you the truth, they all seem to work fine for various wildcats I own. I've own Contenders and later when Encores came out, I'm a barrel junky. Not one barrel is a standard chamber or it's an obsolete or wildcat cartridge. So I have a mix set of dies from CH4D, RCBS, Hornady with a handful from Redding, and Lyman. Another action I use is a 110 and have a couple dozen barrels for that action too. My shotshell press is a P/W 375c model that is by far the most versatile single stage press I own. I have shellholders from every manufacturer and I generally use the same make as who made the case forming dies.

Not one manufacturer makes everything I need. When I want to try out a cartridge and have a barrel made, I look at Wilson, Forster and Redding. If I can't find it, I look to CH4D, RCBS, Hornady and Lyman in that order.

On a sad note, RCBS and Hornady will stock parts when the press is in production and sometimes you get lucky years later. Lyman stuff is a hit or miss with me lately, I wish they would get my order right for die bodies and the only stuff I buy from Lee is custom order side.

The most stuff I have for one press is for the 550. I have almost every shellplate and button made plus quite a few powder funnels. I don't have or ever any priming woes on this press.

I have noticed depending on when production occurred, Hornady stamping of shellholders have changed, sometimes they are easy to read and some look cheesy.

take care

r1kk1

[fatnhappy]

The quality of the New Dimension dies are excellent. If choosing between RCBS or Lyman there is no contest. I am still on the fence about Lee. The ND dies just purchased were on sale and with the "free"bullets they came out cheaper then Lee. I have been trying different brands of dies and Hornandy has really impressed me.


A couple of problems you may want to keep an eye out for with cast revolve around the floating seater sleeve.

#1 the nose profiles rarely match cast so you may wish to grind one of your own.
#2 The sleeve may need to be honed out for cast. They're sized to keep jacketed bullet in tight alignment.
#3. If the sleeve is the least bit tight or becomes fouled with lube, undue force will be required to retract the rounds. The retention clip is designed to resist gravity, not downward force. They can wear out exceedingly quickly so you better have a spare dozen or so handy.

[jcw1970]

+1 on Hornady liking jacketed bullets. I've got 2 ammo plants for j-words and why I use my Star's for cast.

[Le Loup Solitaire]

I always thought that Hornady equipment was pretty pricey , but many people I knew reported that it was of good quality. I used their powder measure for a number of years and thought that it was well built and delivered good accuracy. LLS

[dudel]

Another fan of Hornady dies. Great stuff. First choice of dies if they are available. I have some Hornady die sets that have been in use for almost 30 years; they still perform like new. Service has been exceptional. Only thing that I've ever had to replace was a lost clip on the seater die. Hornady CS sent a couple right out at no charge. They now include a spare or two with the New Dimension die sets.

[Mauser48]

For equipment i mainly use rcbs. I am a fan of hornady bullets though.

[03fatboy]

Hornady has always been good for me ,press,dies,trimmer etc.
LGS carries alot of Hornady stuff.
Hornady is just a stones throw away from me,not to say I don't have other colors on my bench,but red is the main one.

[dilly]

There are a lot of things I like about Hornady. One of them is their customer service. They are very helpful and send out parts if necessary for free. I think the LNL bushings are a much better solution than Dillon's tool heads from the perspectives of cost, versatility, and performance. Their lock rings are what all lock rings should be (here is where I send an evil glare at Lee, who made at least half of my dies). Being a dope, I just recently realized you can have powder measure inserts to cheaply/quickly change the powder measure. What a great solution! I have always envied people with their Dillon tool heads all tricked out with a powder measure on each, but that is unnecessary and MUCH cheaper with this system. That's pretty awesome if I ever find enough of them to not have to fiddle each time.

I do have some reservations about the Lock N Load press. I wouldn't call them accusations, but I have had some trouble with mine. Hornady has always been helpful and maybe I was partially responsible. I am definitely not as mechanically inclined as some of you guys are. Long story short: I have had a lot of trouble with priming and some trouble with ejection. It is my only progressive press so I can't say it is better or worse than another, but I have at times thought I might have done better to go blue, or maybe even green. Hornady has plenty of patience with me though, so if I work at it long enough I'm sure to get it working smoothly.

[Doggonekid]

All of my rifle and pistol loading stuff is green but all of my shotgun loading stuff is red.

[220]

Have a mix of gear but cant fault any of the hornady stuff. Here in Aus at least they are about 50% the price of RCBS dies in less common calibres.

[Lead Fred]

Got no use for Hornady or Dillion. Im into super match grade rounds, not SAMMI spec rounds

[N4AUD]

I have a red 07 press that I love that I bought in the late 80's. I own several Hornady die sets, no complaints with them either.

[three50seven]

I purchased a set of Hornady dies and one of their priming tools, but quickly returned both and went back to Lee. I do have a Hornady digital scale that works quite well though.

I also like their XTP and V-Max bullets...does that count? :grin:

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

I have a bit of Hornady equipment and came across the first piece that I am really unhappy with. This is the concentricity/runout gage. This tool allows you to check runout on loaded rounds and adjust them to eliminate the runout. The problem I had was the spindle where the bullet nose sits in is really sloppy where it sits in the frame. There was .004" side to side wiggle with it. A quick call to Hornady and a short conversation with one of the guys in the shop revealed tat there should be no more than .002" play in that spindle. So they sent me return labels and I sent it back. About a week later I had it back. I was pretty impressed with the turn around. I opened the package and set it up to test it like I had done before. Sure enough, .004" slop side to side. Not really sure they did anything. I think the original casting was machined a bit sloppy and all they did was give me a new spindle. Quality control was lacking here. Did they not even test it after they "fixed" it? I am still deciding what I am going to do. It may just get boxed up and sent back to Hornady with a note telling them to just keep it and I am not happy with it.

To be fair though, my buddy I work with just bought one and claims that the side to side wiggle on his spindle is .002", right where it should be. BUT, the puzzling thing for me is there should be less wiggle than that if we are talking about eliminating runout completely. Maybe it is a poor design? Maybe it is a good design but the tolerances can't be held tight enough to make it a good product? I don't know LOL!


I will stick with my RCBS case master for measuring runout from now on. Much simpler design and basically foolproof.