Setting up a Hornady L-N-L progressive

[MarkDozier]

midway has parts for the Lock-N-Load press at less than Hornady.
Try polishing the primer slides with 600 grit paper and use hornady dry lube on them.
I have also found spray a dry lube on 45 cases to make it easier to load.

raj - you have a slight alignment issue. I suggest examining the spring that holds the cases in place.

[rajbcpa]

I took the die off the press and disassembled it and cleaned it. The torn cases only ocurr 20% of the time, so I think it is the press that is not indexing properly.

[tobnpr]

There are spring-loaded bearings in the shellplates that should be settling firmly into the detents in the base when indexed (Did you lightly grease them?)

If it's not indexing correctly, it should be easy for you to see that- the shellplate won't "drop" in place.

Indexing a new press can be testy, I called Hornady and they were VERY helpful. The guy I spoke with very patiently asked me what the press was doing, and step-by-step (1/4 turn here, 1/4 turn there...) adjusted the pawls until it was hitting just right. Once I got mine set up, it hasn't shifted in two years...

I'd save the potential frustration, and give Hornady a call. They'll either get you up and running, or if they determine you do have a problem with the press, they'll replace it for you. They have great CS.

[TheTinMan]

I had to tune the pawl adjustment after about 300 rounds. Seems like the machine just needed to settle in a bit.

If you are denting cases like that, you are working the press too hard. You will break things and not have fun. The instant you feel more resistance than usual STOP. Figure out what the hangup is. When mine started occasionally failing to fully index on the way up, I stopped and figured out what the problem was. A touch on the shellplate popped it into position so I finished that run paying extra attention, then tuned the pawls later after doing research out here on the www.

Hope that helps.

[dunerjeff]

If you move the ram slower, it(mine at least) won't always drop in the detents.You have to lower and raise( the first half of the sroke anyways) fairly fast and it will alway pop down. I also just keep my hand by the shelplate and sometimes wiggle it if I don't think it went. For the most part it is just learning how to move the ram to get it consistant, if you go slow one time, fast the next, it changes the timing a bit. But any time I've felt the case hitting something,I could easily feel it and stop without breaking anything. Force does nothing but break things.

[rajbcpa]

I've been on the phone with Hornady Customer Service many times now over the last 2 weeks.

What do the indexing pawls do; is there a video that shows how these are adjusted?

If the shellplate is engaged into the detent ball holes below the shell plate at the start of the upstroke, does that mean the press is indexing correctly and the pawls do not need further adjustment?

When I tear cases, or fail to get a primer fully seated, the shellplate moves from right to left or left to right as the ram is moved to the full up and full down positions and the case is engaged into the dies.

I'm only loading a single case at a time until I can get it to run correctly.

A new problem arose today. About 1/3 of the time, the fully completed case gets jammed into the ejection port and sometimes it gets tossed on top of the shellplate instead of going into the plastic holding tub.

One recurring theme is that in order to seat a primer, I need to rock the ram arm slightly at the top before I move the lever forward. Initially, I thought that this ocurred because the shellplate detent balls were not engaged into the holes under the shellplate (e.g., an indexing issue). However, I checked very carefully on many occasions and the shellplate detent balls are in the detent holes on each occasion and that is why I think my problem is NOT an indexing issue.

[dunerjeff]

When you put the ram in the up position(shellplate down),just at normal rest position, is the shellplate balls properly in the detents? If yes, it is good.
When your bring the ram down(raise shellplate) about 1/4 way the shellplate will advance. When it does this does the shellplate balls drop down into the detents? If yes, the pawls are good, then it is something else. If your shellplate doesn't do as described then the pawls aren't adjusted right.
One other thing is that you say it does this and that only once in a while.Usually that means it is something with how you are operating the handle(or changing the speed ect..) USUALLY, not always though.
If what your saying is that the shellplate is trying to move at the same time the case is going into the die or the primer is coming up? Did I understand that part right? It should not move at all when the ram is within an inch of full up or down.

[tobnpr]

The LNL press is unique (and- it's one thing that really sets them apart from Blue) in that it uses half-indexing.
One pawl adjusts indexing for the upstroke, the other for the downstroke.

If it's dropping into the detents, it's indexing properly.

The new EZ-ject system is supposed to work...but mine often hangs up as well.

That is the one "complaint" I have...but I really don't care. I just pop out the finished round, while I'm putting in the next empty brass and placing the bullet.

Do you have any other calibers that you load for?

I can't help but wonder if you might somehow have a defective shellplate that's not aligning the case correctly.

Your common theme- including the primers not seating- screams of misalignment, but from what you say, the press seems to be indexing correctly.

If you're self-indexing the press, and tearing up cases as you say, it would have to be the dies/shellplate- or the press itself, meaning the upper stations are somehow out of spec/alignment with the lower plate.

I took a look at mine...and have a "theory"...if it's not your dies or shellplate.
If the lower plate with the detents is not perfectly located, you can be indexing correctly- meaning the shellplate rotates and drops into the detents- but still be out of alignment with the upper stations.

If that were the case, you would have a manufacturing/alignment issue, NOT an indexing issue. You would be consistently "off" by the same amount, at every station.

Hate to say make another call to Hornady, but if that makes sense to you, run it by them and ask if they've had that happen before. If so, only solution is a replacement press.

[dunerjeff]

That one of my "theories" also^^. I thought the detent holes might be off, but it should happen always, every single time, not 1 in 10 or 1 in 20?????