Which dies for a Hornady LNL AP

[Kittum]

Hello I'm new and I have what is probably another redundant question.

What brand or brands of dies would you recommend to use on a Hornady LNL AP for loading 9mm, 45 ACP, and 40 S&W.

For the time being, about all this ammo will be used for informal practice and plinking.

Lead hard cast bullets, HP-38 powder and Fiocchi or CCI primers depending on what is available is all I have been purchasing lately and most likely used in the new set up.

Guns used are CZ 75 P-01 and P-07, a Kimber 4" 1911 in .45, and one of the kids came home with a Sig P226 in .40 S&W.

As things stand, my reloading needs have outgrown my rate of production on an old RCBS Partner Press. My current dies are all RCBS "green box", One set is old enough to have the old RCBS mascot emblazoned over the entire lid. Obviously they are not the carbide or coated ones.

I have not bought a press yet, but the Dillion 650 is over my budget. I have some minor problems with my hands that makes auto-indexing very attractive and that is why I am leaning towards the LNL AP right now.

The kids have come of age to learn to shoot. I had no idea that they would take to it as well as they did! Nor did I expect their mother to discover that hand gunning was fun and participate in shooting with the kids as much as she does. They will go through 500 rounds a week easy, and more if they can get it.

I work shift work and play part-time farmer so I have only 4 or 5 hours a week to spend reloading.

Any advice on dies and a new press is needed here.

[tly999]

I have reloaded on a Hornady LNL AP for about 2 1/2 years. There were a few teething problems on my part, but it works well now that I understand how to set everything up properly. Is it as good as a Dillon 650? Probably not, but it works very well for the price you pay.

I highly recommend you buy a case feeder. It speeds up reloading and there is not as much hand work. While you are at it, get the RCBS lock out die, which stops the press if the charge is less or more than it should be. There is a lot going on at once on any progressive press, and a lock out die can save you if you mess up and double charge a case and miss it on visual inspection.

I use RCBS dies for 45, 9mm & 38. Some of the RCBS dies are screwed down almost all of the way into the Hornady quick change adaptor but they still lock down and work well. I use Hornady dies for 44 Magnum. I can tell no difference using RCBS or Hornady dies. Both work well. I do like the Hornady lock rings better and use them on all of my dies now.

Good luck with your decision.

Terry

[Real Gun]

I recommend getting the Hornady die set. You will need the powder through expander under the powder drop. As I recall, the set does not come with a shellholder, as it would with Lee, so order that separately.

You will want a Lock-n-Load adapter for each station. That will facilitate quicker caliber changeovers. I don't recall if they come with a caliber setup, so just check to make sure. Mine came bare bones, not a caliber kit. The adapter is married to the die, so you will need a set for each caliber.

[LE-28]

I have to recommend the RCBS gray box dies (carbide) pistol dies. I use them in my LNL-AP and have zero problems with them.

Hornady dies don't have a true taper crimp, they use a more gradual roll crimp for both dies (roll crimp and taper crimp) and they don't work as well as a true taper crimp die.

You suit yourself but I will always use RCBS and Redding for taper crimp die sets. By the way I do own Hornady pistol dies and they do work well for roll crimping, as well as anyone else's do, but taper crimping is what you will be dealing with for all three calibers you listed, so I believe you should buy dies tailored for what you are doing instead of a one die fits all.

[Crunchy Frog]

I have an LNL-AP; just about any brand of dies will probably work. I have dies from RCBS, Hornady and Dillon. I am a cowboy action shooter (and Wild Bunch Action Shooter with the 1911) so I load cast lead bullets almost exclusively.

I will echo the recommendation that you buy an RCBS Lockout Die. It's a little more expensive than the Hornady Powder Cop or the RCBS Powder Check dies. Forget those and buy the Lockout Die.

Most autopistols need a taper crimp. Some die sets will come with a roll crimp die even in autopistol calibers. My old RCBS .45 ACP dies were that way and I had to spring for a separate taper crimp die. Many people like to seat and crimp in separate steps; I agree when it comes to the autopistol ammo.

If you use one station for the Lockout Die, and seat and crimp in separate stations, you won't have a separate station for an expansion die. No problem; you can expand with the powder measure die using a Hornady Powder Through Expander (PTX) (as I do) or you can try the aftermarket Powder Funnel (one size supposedly fits all there).

I'd recommend you take a hard look at the Dillon dies. It has a separate seating and crimp die and they are optimized for use on progressive presses. You can clean them from the top (very useful when loading lead bullets) without removing them from the press. Dillon does not include an expansion die (since the Dillon powder measure expands the case) but you won't have room for one anyway.

The only drawback on the Dillon dies in the LNL-AP is that Dillon don't include split locking rings which are super for use in the "lock n' load" bushings. You can buy a pack of Hornady rings if you like but I've not had a problem with the standard Dillon rings in the bushings; just be careful when you twist the bushings out of the press so that you don't loosen the dies and lose your settings.

By the way I use my old RCBS dies to load .45 ACP; they work fine but if I were starting from scratch I'd buy Dillon dies as my first choice. I also like the Hornady dies pretty well. I have a friend who owns a Dillon press but swears by the Lee dies. I don't have a full set of Lee dies but use some of their "special purpose" dies, specifically a Factory Crimp Die to deal with any out of spec loads and a Universal Decapping Die for special projects.

The Redding dies are not as well known to the general public but they are very good; I think Redding makes the Dillon branded dies.

[David Bachelder]

I have a LNL and I use RCBS dies almost exclusively. I also have a set of LEE die, both work fine.


The LNL is a pretty good press, it will teach you patients. Once you clear the learning curve you will find that it is a very good press.

[Kittum]

Back finally,

I think I will try the RCBS grey box then. They seem to be coming back in stock in various places. If I can't find them I will get a set of Lee dies. I can get the Lee's locally now.

Thanks that was a big help.

[Crashbox]

I'll throw in another +1 for the RCBS Lock-Out Die. Saved my bacon more than once, not too long ago had an incident where Herco actually bridged on me resulting in a serious under-charge...

[Kittum]

Does the RCBS Lock-Out Die stop the press?

I was looking on YouTube about how to set it but never seen it in action.

[GJSchulze]

I have the Hornady LnL and really like it. Whatever press you get, you should consider that if you ever have to call tech support, that having the press and dies (for the most part) being the same brand may prevent finger pointing, meaning "it's the other guy's fault."

I used the RCBS Lock-out die for a while. It does lock the press by stopping the ram from going up farther. At first it worked for me when I was using Power Pistol, but then I tried Tightgroup which uses less case volume, so the lockout die didn't work. I went back to Power Pistol and had several "no powder" squibs. Like maybe 5 or 6. I realized the lockout die wasn't working. I talked to some people about the problem and took the advice of one person which was to look in the case after every powder drop, so I no longer use the lockout die. I use an LED strip on the inside of the press to shine light into the case. I also changed my process so that when I have to pause because of a problem, I either finish up with what was still on the shell plate or remove the cases so that I wouldn't miss loading powder. I haven’t had a squib since then.

I took a different tack than tly999 did with the case feeder. Instead of a case feeder, I bought a bullet feeder die, but not the rest of the expensive apparatus. I found 7/16” (stiff) plastic tubes long enough to hold about 50 9mm 147gr bullets. I stick one end into the bullet feeder and the other end into a suspended PVC pipe on the ceiling of my basement to hold it straight. It works as well as any collator would work and is quiet! I have 12 tubes (from Linen ‘n’ Things on Amazon) that I periodically load up while watching sports on TV. I closed off one end and put a hitch pin clip through the other end to hold the bullets until I place the tube into the die. I place the cases by hand, but this way I have a hand free for the press handle.

Anyway, I would suggest that you take your time when loading. Avoid distractions. After you’ve done it for a while you will develop muscle memory for the things you have to do at each step: 1) load case, 2)pull handle, 3) push handle for primer, 4) make sure bullet drops (some cases are just short enough to not push up into the die enough), 5) look into the case for powder, 6) occasionally look at primer stick/flag to make sure there are primers left, 7) occasionally look at bullet tube to make sure it didn’t run out, and 8) make sure the bullet stayed on the case all the way into the seater. I’ve found that with certain headstamps the bullet can be loose and tip or fall off. I know it sounds like a lot of steps, but that’s why I said go slow and gain speed as you learn the process. There’s nothing like a squib or a double charge to remind you that you f’d up.

Read up on reloading. The ABC's of Handloading and Reloading for Handgunners are both good. Since you're reloading for pistols be aware that some of what you read is for rifles and not usually used for pistol reloading, however, the writer often does not say that they mean "for rifles."

[schmellba99]

I have gotten to where I use Hornady dies - they are good quality (as good as RCBS) and have long enough threads that they work in the LnL AP the way everything is supposed to.

In all honesty, every die but Lee weill work well, and Lee will work - they just are not really long enough and don't have enough threads for me to be comfprtable with repeated use (I did use them for a while before I switched over).

I still use the Lee FCD die for my rifles though - right or wrong, I like a light crimp on my rifle loads, and the FCD works extremely well for this even in the LnL AP.

Hornady and RCBS both have incentive programs with their dies, which helps out a lot in my opinion.

Hornady seating dies for autos should now come with taper crimp capabilities. If not, they sell a separate taper crimp die that works extremely well.

I don't use a powder cop or lockout for short cased autos as I can easily see intothe case to visually verify charges, and with the small charge weights, either of the check dies can be finicky. On rifle and bottleneck cases, powder cop all the way for me.

[Kittum]

Hmm, OK, Now I'm wondering how well HP-38 / Win231 Plays with the RCBS lock-out in shallow cases.

A buddy has a Dillion 650 that has some problems, even though it took an hour on hold, I must admit that Dillion's CS people are very good. I think his press has a defect and they issued a cal tag on it without any fuss. To be fair, it is brand new and was made during the "rush". I can understand how a defect could have gotten out the door - but on the other hand, we may have missed a detail in the set-up. In any case Dillion's CS people volunteered to take it in irregardless of whose fault it was. That is very commendable in my opinion.

Anyway, after messing with the 650 for the last few days, I am quite convinced that the LNL AP is the better choice for me to buy because it is a bit simpler.

[Farmland]

Anyway, after messing with the 650 for the last few days, I am quite convinced that the LNL AP is the better choice for me to buy because it is a bit simpler.

As an owner and operator of both I don't even see how that is even a point one way or the other at all. If you have problems operating one then you will have problems operating the other.

The fact is they are both on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easy a 1. Now if you are new they may be closer to a 10 until you get the hang of either one.

Dies any will work and probably the ones you can find at this time will work the best.

[Crunchy Frog]

Most of my loading these days is using Clays (a fast burning pistol powder similar to 231 or Bullseye) in .38 Special and .45 ACP cases. The Lockout Die works like it should.

Google "Ultimate Reloader" for videos on how to set up the RCBS Lockout Die. Their video of the "bench method" is much easier to follow than the factory written instructions.

I have several friends who use Dillon 550s and 650s. They are very, very nice presses. The Hornady is less expensive than the 650 but if you price the press and a casefeeder the difference is not so great.

[Kittum]

The fact is they are both on a scale of 1-10 with 1 being easy a 1. Now if you are new they may be closer to a 10 until you get the hang of either one.

Well we are perty sure the ram was not tapped straight from the top. Something is causing shell plate to tilt 4.5 to 5.5 degrees off of level, rising the shell plate from a point between position 5 and 1 and dipping towards position 3.

The plate indexes ok and seats primers well most of the time but but case loading is "iffy" and does not line up with the sizer / de-primer very well.

The dip at position 3 messes with the GSI bullet feeder also at times which is a PIA to straighten out.

I think most of my issue was with having mess with the GSI and trying to stick my mashed up hands in there to stet the case straight for resizing. It was also frustrating that we couldn't actually "see" the problem causing these things until an old millwright came over and put some professional measuring instruments on it.

In any case, it is being boxed up and sent back tomorrow. It will be in good order when it comes back I am sure.

[Crashbox]

Does the RCBS Lock-Out Die stop the press?

Yes. The Lock-Out Die will prevent further action on the press if a significant undercharge or overcharge occurs.