Will Lee dies fit in a Hornady LnL progressive?

coyote1911 · January 10, 2006, 05:56 AM

I had heard that they might be too short but does anybody know for sure?

HSMITH · January 10, 2006, 09:31 AM

New production Lee dies are a little longer than they were a few years ago. You can also put the locknuts on the bottom of the die plate on presses like a Dillon if you have the older dies. I didn't pay enough attention to the Hornady press to see if you can there, with the L&L inserts I am not sure if it would work or not. Your best bet will be to call Hornady and ask them if no L&L owners show up here with a definitive answer.

Poodleshooter · January 10, 2006, 12:59 PM

Old Lee dies are definitely short. Some of mine barely fit in some of their new presses,such as the Classic Cast. My older .38Special dies are threaded all the way to the top of their threads in my Classic Cast press,just to reach the shellholder. I wouldn't imagine it to be much better with the larger LnL progressive.

pinestraw · January 10, 2006, 04:41 PM

Just like Poodleshooter said, the Lee dies are short but I have lee 38spl,
40 s&w and 9mm dies that I use on my Hornady LnL Auto progressive. They
are bottomed out, but work. When I added 41mag and 45colt, I bought
hornady dies for better fit. I've loaded lots of the first three, and no problems.

too many to list
15 shotguns
37 handguns
favorite handgun: Ruger 9mm revolver

coyote1911 · January 10, 2006, 06:07 PM

Thank you for letting me know. I am very close to buying the Hornady progressive but I wanted to make sure that I could use Lee dies because as far as I can tell Hornady does not make 7.62x25 dies and Lee does. I think RCBS does too.

BigJakeJ1s · January 10, 2006, 10:06 PM

Lee makes the only readily available 7.62x25 dies. RCBS makes them, but they are special order. The 30 mauser is close enough for the seater to work, if not the sizer also, and it is more readily available (the Lee seater for 30 mauser and 7.62x25 are the same die). Also, the Hornady 30 lugar seater die works the best of all three! I don't reload that caliber yet, but I do use seating dies to straighten the bullets on s&b ammo, and the hornady works best.

Andy

robctwo · January 11, 2006, 09:49 AM

I use the Lee Factory Crimp dies for all my handguns and rifles on the Hornady LnL. I tried setting up the .270 loading dies and they were so short that I just went with the RCBS for all rifle loading, but Lee crimp for rifle as well. I just past the 12,000 round count and enjoy the machine. Positives for me are the primer feed, powder drop and case feeder for pistols. Con is the round ejector, I removed mine and do it by hand.

Guy B. Meredith · January 11, 2006, 12:20 PM

Just a suggestion while you are shopping.

Hornady has some great upgrades coming this spring per their web page: case expansion at powder drop giving you room for both separate crimp and seating dies as well as powder check, new location for return spring that should increase tolerance for "dirt" and an improved shell plate. I have not noted any need to improve the shell plate so I am not sure what that does.

You might want to make sure the press you purchase has these features. If you are buying an older used press (mine is one of the very earliest) upgrade to the current priming system--it is very slick.

January 10, 2006, 05:56 AM	#1
coyote1911 Junior Member Join Date: January 9, 2006 Posts: 7	Will Lee dies fit in a Hornady LnL progressive? I had heard that they might be too short but does anybody know for sure?

January 11, 2006, 12:20 PM	#8
Guy B. Meredith Senior Member Join Date: August 29, 1999 Location: Salem, Oregon Posts: 1,581	Just a suggestion while you are shopping. Hornady has some great upgrades coming this spring per their web page: case expansion at powder drop giving you room for both separate crimp and seating dies as well as powder check, new location for return spring that should increase tolerance for "dirt" and an improved shell plate. I have not noted any need to improve the shell plate so I am not sure what that does. You might want to make sure the press you purchase has these features. If you are buying an older used press (mine is one of the very earliest) upgrade to the current priming system--it is very slick. __________________ Smart Gun + 1 Battery + 3 Wires = Dumb Gun PC = Agenda driven groupthink filter on reality. Apostrophes denote ownership or missing letters NOT plurals!

January 10, 2006, 09:31 AM	#2
HSMITH Senior Member Join Date: June 21, 2002 Posts: 2,019	New production Lee dies are a little longer than they were a few years ago. You can also put the locknuts on the bottom of the die plate on presses like a Dillon if you have the older dies. I didn't pay enough attention to the Hornady press to see if you can there, with the L&L inserts I am not sure if it would work or not. Your best bet will be to call Hornady and ask them if no L&L owners show up here with a definitive answer.

January 10, 2006, 12:59 PM	#3
Poodleshooter Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2000 Location: Floating down the James River in VA Posts: 2,599	Old Lee dies are definitely short. Some of mine barely fit in some of their new presses,such as the Classic Cast. My older .38Special dies are threaded all the way to the top of their threads in my Classic Cast press,just to reach the shellholder. I wouldn't imagine it to be much better with the larger LnL progressive.

January 10, 2006, 04:41 PM	#4
pinestraw Member Join Date: October 24, 2005 Posts: 57	Just like Poodleshooter said, the Lee dies are short but I have lee 38spl, 40 s&w and 9mm dies that I use on my Hornady LnL Auto progressive. They are bottomed out, but work. When I added 41mag and 45colt, I bought hornady dies for better fit. I've loaded lots of the first three, and no problems. too many to list 15 shotguns 37 handguns favorite handgun: Ruger 9mm revolver

January 10, 2006, 06:07 PM	#5
coyote1911 Junior Member Join Date: January 9, 2006 Posts: 7	Thank you for letting me know. I am very close to buying the Hornady progressive but I wanted to make sure that I could use Lee dies because as far as I can tell Hornady does not make 7.62x25 dies and Lee does. I think RCBS does too.

January 10, 2006, 10:06 PM	#6
BigJakeJ1s Senior Member Join Date: August 8, 2005 Location: Arlington TX Posts: 663	Lee makes the only readily available 7.62x25 dies. RCBS makes them, but they are special order. The 30 mauser is close enough for the seater to work, if not the sizer also, and it is more readily available (the Lee seater for 30 mauser and 7.62x25 are the same die). Also, the Hornady 30 lugar seater die works the best of all three! I don't reload that caliber yet, but I do use seating dies to straighten the bullets on s&b ammo, and the hornady works best. Andy

January 11, 2006, 09:49 AM	#7
robctwo Senior Member Join Date: May 10, 2002 Location: Albany, Oregon Posts: 644	I use the Lee Factory Crimp dies for all my handguns and rifles on the Hornady LnL. I tried setting up the .270 loading dies and they were so short that I just went with the RCBS for all rifle loading, but Lee crimp for rifle as well. I just past the 12,000 round count and enjoy the machine. Positives for me are the primer feed, powder drop and case feeder for pistols. Con is the round ejector, I removed mine and do it by hand.