Hornady LNL AP blues.

[wallenba]

Yep, dropped a bundle on a new Hornady LNL AP press and case feeder from Midsouth a couple of weeks ago. Set it up, and the 'dry' run worked flawlessly the first time for 5.56's. Then came for real. Whoa! No matter what I do, and I've fiddled with everything, the primers will not fully seat. They are CCI #41's into LC brass (yes, I swaged the pockets with a Dillon). I called late on Friday, 6-26-15 for tech assistance. I was asked to put a nickel under the primer plunger. I had to hang up though. That failed, and I then searched the net for solutions. Best post was about the subplate being too thick. I removed mine to examine it. Yep, that's my issue too. The primer plunger assembly just cannot rise high enough to seat it properly. There is a machined annular surface around the bottom hub, and another machined faced surface over the threaded hole for the plunger. It's about .015" higher than the other. Just about what I'd need to seat below the primer pocket properly. All my primers are about .010" to .011" high. All the cases are 'weebles', they wobble but don't fall down. Yeah, that bad.
Had a power outage here from high winds over the weekend, so not much to do. I made another call to Hornady this morning and talked to the same tech. He listened and understands the issue. They are sending a new subplate and plunger, I've already got the e-mail work order number. Just hope it does not have the same problem.

Any other AP users have or had this problem.

Here's that other guy's post, with pictures. http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=125569&page=1

[Ranger 7]

Been using my present Hornady Lock & Load AP, upgraded to E-Z Ject with new primers system for seveal years, NO problems.

[wallenba]

Been using my present Hornady Lock & Load AP, upgraded to E-Z Ject with new primers system for seveal years, NO problems.

Yeah it seems to go that way, most people don't have any problems, but a few do, and they seem to be centered around this issue. I wonder if Hornady does this machining in house or farms it out? I worked as a quality analyst in the auto industry. With those suppliers it often boiled down to poor set up procedures or an employee who just doesn't care. Those faulty or out of spec parts get to assembly, then to the customer who blames the company. I don't blame Hornady, as I know their specifications a likely dead on. Achieving that 100% of the time is difficult.

[kfarm]

Before I updated to a ezeject I had that problem bur the upgrade fixed all my priming problem.

[dilly]

I had to change out the subplate on mine for different reasons. It's easy enough to do. I think there were two allen wrenches and a brass primer catch tube. That brass primer catch tube, for me, came out pretty easily when I smartened up and pulled with channel locks. I had to pull from the bottom because the ram was too close to the tube toward the top.

I've had enough trouble with mine that I'm practically a Dillon advocate and I've never even owned a Dillon machine.

[osteodoc08]

I've had several issues with the primer slides being out of spec (too thick) and binding. Quite irritating. Few other minor issues but those are mostly ironed out. Every press has its quirks especially progressives.

[omgb]

I've been very fortunate. I have two presses and the only time I had a primer seating problem came from not having the timing spot on. I upgraded to the new base plate and did have two problems in the beginning. First, the new plate dragged and did not cycle smoothly. That cleared up after about 100 cycles on the press handle. Second, I had trouble with the retaining spring blocking the #1 shell position. It took some finagling to get it to drop down into its little groove. No other issues though.

[Jtarm]

I haven't had that problem, but I seem to have trouble with the primer feed. The little carriage that feeds the primer gets stuck and I have to pull back & jiggle to get it to slide into place. The curved rod it rides on is adjusted all the way out.

The metal doesn't look very smooth, so I'm thinking about polishing the top & bottom on my lapping plate with some 1000 grit wet or dry.

[omgb]

Try this and see if it helps. Take the primer tube off the machine but leave the primer tube base mounted on the press. Cycle the ram to the top of its travel. Look down into the hole where the primer tube goes and note the position of the pick up. If it is exactly centered you are good. If not, loosen the plastic hold down on the top of the press and move the cam rod in/out as needed to center the pickup. Now lock everything down. That should do it. Now pull the seater assembly from the bottom of your base plate. Using compressed air, blow the seater clear of any powder or dirt. Cycle the little seater-plunger up and down several times to be sure. Take a tooth brush and some solvent and clean the hole into which the seater screws. Dry it well and blow it out with compressed air. Now re-install the primer seater assembly and snug it up. This procedure should eliminate most of your problems. Now, one last step. Check the shell plate timing. Using your calibrated eyeball, determine if the shell plate indexes with the primer seater in the center of the shell plates shell opening. If not, your adjustment is the left pawl only. Using an Allen wrench move it in 1/8 turn segments cycling the press with each adjustment until the plate lines up with the primer seater perfectly centered. Time, dirt, forced cycles all can throw this out of whack. The last thing is not really an adjustment but rather a tweak. You may have better luck priming if you purchase a roller handle from In-Line. The standard ball handle tends to force the press and priming assembly to the right while the in-line handle runs parallel to the press and tends to keep all of the forces moving in the same direction.

[omgb]

For the record, I don't consider these to be tweaks or mods but rather routine maintenance. Any tool, but especially complex tools built with very specific tolerances require frequent maintenance to continue to function as designed. All progressive reloaders are by nature much more complex than their single stage counter parts. Every time you add a function be it powder drop, case feeding, auto indexing etc you increase the need for maintenance and adjustment. Some designs are more mechanically stable than others. I would say for instance that the Dillon 550 is a rock of stability. Very little in the way of cleaning and adjusting is required to keep one going. Now I know this will rankle some folks but it's true non the less, the Lee 1000 is at the opposite end of the stability spectrum. They require a great deal of cleaning and adjusting to run as designed. The L-N-L without the case feeder is like the D550, steady like a rock. Add the case feeder and things begin to get a bit less reliable. Add the bullet feeder and once again, you have new potential for breakdown. Dillon suffers from the same issues. My point is that once you cross the threshold into automation, you have to be willing to accept less reliability. I used to race dirt bikes. Stock bikes make about 1/3 the HP of the same motor when race tuned. But, stock motors will run tens of thousands of miles without fail. A race motor isn't measure in miles used but in hours running. A 200 mile race can leave a top race motor in need of a complete rebuild. You run on the edge mechanically and experience an inverse relationship between power and reliability. The same is true of all machines including reloaders. Just say'n

[omgb]

One more thing. GI brass has different primer pocket dimensions than commercial brass and the Korean stuff is the worst. My L-N-L eats all commercial 3006 brass without so much as a hickup. Feed it GI brass though and about 1 in 50 times it won't seat a primer flush.

[Lloyd Smale]

ive got 3 of them two of the newer ez eject and one older wire eject. the wire press does the same thing but a coin under it takes care of it. All three about drive a guy nuts with contantly tweeking the timing. Just about every time I switch calibers and even sometimes they just wonder off. The case feeder system isn't a pimple on a dillons but. I don't think ive ever done a 1000 rounds without it needing adjustment or cases falling off ect. the lock and load feature is great until the powder measure comes loose and you don't see it for 20 or so rounds and have to weight them all to see which have powder. If I had to do it again id have gone 650s. I bought the two new ones when they gave away a 1000 bullets free and it made them a bargin. Bullets are gone and id rather have one 650 on the bench then the two lnls. the 650 is just a better engineered press. Only time I might take a lnl over a 650 is if I wasn't planning on using a case feeder. Take off the case feeder and you eliminate half the problems and a 650 is just more awkward to use without a feeder as it was designed right out of the box for one. Not just an add on option

[roysha]

Have you tried a different brand of primer? Many years ago when the press was called the Pro-Jector, late 80s, it would not, for all practical purposes, seat CCI primers. FED and WIN worked perfectly. In fact the only detonation of primers I have ever experienced while reloading was with CCIs and the Pro-Jector press. After about 3 months of hounding CCI for an answer as to why it just their primers, I finally got some story about the fact that the dry foil method, (which was the system they were using at that time and I assume they are still using) creates a primer that is more sensitive but harder to seat because the cup does not compress as easily. Because of their attitude I quit using CCIs in any quantity but whenever I do use any, even in a single station press, I can tell a definite difference in seating resistance.

[omgb]

Ditto my experience. Win, Fed, Fiocci all work well all of the time. CCI are a crapshoot. I find them a hair taller than the others

[cheese1566]

I have been using CCI for the most part in my prior ProJectors and now new LNL. No issues.

i dont recall call having any issues with any CCI, Winchester, or Federals.