Hornady LNL Issues ?

[Nathan]

Lot's of interesting comments here. They may represent personalities more than the press. I've had mine for ~12 years. I love it. I have the "bad" one without ezject...

Still, I load 7 calibers with minimal issues. For lots up to 1000, this style works pretty well. I have broken a couple of small items, but Hornady gets them replaced. I really enjoy the ease of which I can load 200 45, then load 300 40, then 100 300 WSM. It is very flexible.

The eject(old wire type) isn't too bad, but sometimes I assist with my fingers on my left hand so it doesn't eject too hard.

[pastortim]

i have a Dillon 550 and a Hornady LNL, i like both presses, i have ran 25,000+ rounds of 45acp thru the Hornady and have had no problems with the press, (the few problems i did have when i first got it were of my own doing) and all the orginal parts are still on the press, i also have the Hornady case feeder on the press it was very easy to set up and has given no trouble, as far as the divit under the primer seater it has not gotten any bigger than it was after about 1000 rounds

As for the Dillon 550, i have loaded well over 15,000 rounds on it and just like the Hornady i have had zero problems with it, i bought this press used and when i got it, i replaced a few parts that looked to be worn, but, other than that nothing has broken or given trouble, i also have a case feeder on this press, it too was very easy to install and works great, i think i like the simpler design on the Dillon case feeder a little better, the only knock on the Dillon case feeder on the 550 is that it does make it a little harder to put brass in the shell plate by hand, it is not a big problem, but it is a little in the way,

i know that every manufacturer can sell a lemon occasionally but i have heard nothing but good things about both Dillon and Hornady customer service so if you get one of these presses and have trouble, give them a call im sure they will make it right

i would recommend either of these presses, but, if i had to pick a favorite it would be the Hornady hands down, it is a great design and a precision piece of equipment that will really spit-out the ammo

[Eppie]

I'm new to reloading and I bought the Hornady LnL AP because I figured that I'd use it as a single stage until I got familiar with the whole process and then increase from single to dual, triple, etc...

Having said that, I've only reloaded a couple of hundred of .308 rounds, so I'm still at the very beginning of my learning curve.

I concur with what has been said about the priming system. It sucks and it is the weak link. I don't use it anymore preferring to prime by hand. Maybe after I get more experienced I will try it again.

Another thing I've noticed is that the powder measure is not very accurate. I've even bought the more precise drop measure and using Varget (stick) powder I get variations of +/- .4 grains from my target measure. I think that sucks, but I've seen guys here claim +/-.1 so maybe I've not used it enough. Or maybe there are a bunch of Hornady distributors/retailers spreading disinformation. That's just my limited experience.

[tobnpr]

Varget, and other large grain, extruded powders will meter like crap...it has nothing to do with the LNL, it's the nature of the powder...

Hornady has a reputation of being one of the most accurate powder drops on the market.

The biggest enemy here is press vibration/shaking.... because of the relatively large voids present between the "sticks", the powder doesn't pack as consistently. If the press gets vibrated or rocked at all when sizing a case, your next drop is gonna be heavy, guaranteed, every time...

How solid is your bench? I had huge problems 'till I doubled the thickness of my bench top to 1-1/2". I'm thinking of concrete...

[Eppie]

Thanks for the info. Maybe I'm just using the wrong powder and it is only a matter of finding the right powder to get accurate measures.

I will start another thread and sollicit advice on the lind of powder to use.

[rajbcpa]

My experience with Hornady customer service was poor.

First, they have bankers hours; 9am - 5pm Monday - Thursday. Second, the many replacement parts they sent me all arrived >6 days after the service call.

Third, the last time I called for an indexing pawl they gave me a hard time.

After three months, I was begining to know the customer service reps on a first name basis....

I just got fed up with a poor product design that refused to run consistently. I will never buy another Hornady product.

I don't know if many of the Hornady parts are made in communist China, but it would not surprise me a bit.

[hounddawg]

some wild stuff here. I have had a LnL for about a year, loaded about 5 K or so of pistol rounds through it. Only rifle stuff I have done is some .223 just for offhand plinking. Progressive presses and precision loading is a oxymoron in my opinion.

One issue that required Hornady CS was when I did not torque the shell holder plate down correctly and it jammed and my ham handed self forced it and broke the driver hub. I had a call wait time of maybe 3 minutes then Hornady CS walked me through the troubleshooting and had a replacement mailed out that morning. The rep told me that is a designed in weak link for when people like me do dumb things like I did. They mailed me 2 out free of charge and I keep the spare in my loading bench drawer. Never had another problem and if I were to feel any resistance now I stop and find out why instead of forcing it. I might be dumb but not dumb enough to make the same mistake twice

As far as the priming goes any piece of equipment that has close tolerances and close tolerances and grit do not mix. Took me a while to warm up to the priming system becasue I did not feel like I had enough "feel " when seating" but once I learned to keep it clean and learned to trust it I love it. I do keep a eye on it just in case, been meaning to rig up a electronic tattle tell so that if the primer slide does not cycle all the way forward a warming light light would come on but eyeballing it between cycles just like I do my powder cop die seems to work. I will probably invest in a limit switch and a couple of other parts one day and work something up. I average 100 - 150 rounds a hour using that method and that is plenty for my shooting needs.

On the powder measure any flake or ball powder works great. Win 231 for pistols and TAC for my .223 measure like water. Stick powder won't work in this measure any better than it will in 90% of the measures out there. Some of the old timers here have said that some of the $300 plus measure will work with stick but I only do 50 or 100 rifle rounds at a time. Myself I measure all of my .204, .260, and .308 to the .1 grain with a dipper and a trickler. Pretty much have all my loads dialed in now so I can dip and trickle a load in a few seconds.

WhenI bought a progressive I could have bought any press on the market when I got mine, but in my opinion the LnL gave me the most bang for my buck and I took the money I saved by not buying the other brand and used it for bullets and primers. I looked at all of them and spent about two weeks talking to people in the club that owned various brands. So far I am tickled to death with mine

Just my 2 cents worth and the usual blather of free advice, this advice not valid in Hawaii, Alaska and upper Romania and I read it on the internet so it has to be true applies

[Eppie]

Tobnpr,
Judging from your comments I believe my problem may lie with the powder that I'm using. My bench is very sturdy and vibration free. The surface is made by 2x12 covered by hardboard to give me a smooth surface. I also added a 4x4 post by the press to eliminate all vibrations I was getting.

[tobnpr]

Eppie,

Only you can tell...if the powder drop doesn't shake at all while indexing, you're doing all you can.

Varget is one of our "go to" powders, for the .223, .308, and 7.62 x 54R.
Typically, I can get consistency within .2 of a grain. Not great, since we shoot long range, but because of the quantity I load it's a compromise.

We use 8208 XBR also, which is extruded, but smaller grain, and meters much better.

I've found that no matter what, I get some vibration of the drop due to the sizing station. If I drop charges without a case being sized, it's much more consistent. I still get some movement/vibration of the powder drop, despite stiffening the bench top. I've got to get it more "rock solid".

[Eppie]

At the club I belong to we have 100, 200, 300 and 1,000 yard ranges for rifles. So, I'm really gearing up for long range and your advice is really appreciated.

[hounddawg]

Eppie your loading area is entirely too neat

that being out of the way, if you are serious about long range get a single stage or use the LnL as a single stage and weigh each charge to the exact weight.

For hunting purposes + or - a couple of tenths is acceptable as long as you are not pushing the upper limits. For precision shooting each round should be an exact clone of every other round in the box. I can load 100 pistol rounds in 20 - 30 minutes easy on my LnL but 100 rifle rounds takes me about 4 to 5 hours because every parameter gets checked and double checked

here is a good article that every precision shooter should read

http://www.accurateshooter.com/shoot...es-from-bipod/

[tobnpr]

Good article above.
My "obstacle" is that I load for myself, and my two sons...
We each go through over 100 rounds each, usually around a total of 400 rounds for the range trip; most of which are for long range so load precision is more critical.
I may end up using a dispenser, and funneling the exact charges into the LNL instead of using the powder drop. The important thing to know is that small deviations in MV that wouldn't mean crap to someone shooting a couple of hundred yards, become exponentially more relevant as range increases. My younger son shoots his .308 long range as well, so let's take an example...

His 175 SMK at 2600 fps will have 103.4 inches of drop at 600 yards...

If the MV were 2630, drop is reduced to 100.7 inches- nearly a three inch difference. And, that's just elevation- we're not even addressing wind drift...So, we have nearly a half-minute of deviation at 600 yards, from 30 fps of muzzle velocity.

Now, I'm a wuss, and am still shooting at the ten inch plates at 600 yards ...but three inches is still often the difference between hitting, and not... If I were shooting at the five inch plates, I'd sure as heck miss them.

Precision of the load is only one factor...neck tension, concentricity...makes your head spin. But, the amount of powder in the case is perhaps the easiest variable to get precise, so do the best you can.

Fortunately, the LNL is the easiest progressive press to take the cases out of and check, so I weigh usually every third or fourth case before it gets to the drop, and check the weight after dropping the charge. If it's off more than .2, I dump the powder back in the drop, put the case back in the shellholder and drop the charge again (until it's right).

If you're just loading for yourself, time isn't as much a factor and you should spend whatever time is necessary to get it "right"...you'll be glad you did.

[hounddawg]

Apologies for going offtopic but @ tobnpr as long as it works for you that is what counts. The weak link in my long range right now is the guy pulling the trigger. I let one of the top shots at the club use my rifle and loads one day to see if it was the rifle or the shooter causing the horizontal stringing and he put 10 shots at 600 in a .5 MOA group. I am still struggling to get below 1 MOA consistently. Guess I need to spend more time at the range

[tobnpr]

Yup, it's all about trigger time.

We were supposed to go yesterday, but the hurricane was whipping it up 20-30 mph way over on the FL west coast...

We need the experience in doping wind, but that would've been an exercise in frustration, and a lot of wasted $$ ammo.

Oh well...hopefully free time and the weather will cooperate togegther soon.

[Eppie]

That was a very good article, did a quick 1st read and already learned few things and confirmed a few more. More re-reads to follow.

Thanks for sharing the wealth.

[Unclenick]

Tobnr,

As the fellow who was the subject of the article you linked to suggested, a lot of .22 trigger time helps. So does precision air rifle time, and if you have ten meters (32 feet, 10") in your basement you can practice with one at home. The secret is both kinds of gun have relatively long barrel times and don't tend to suffer greatly from recoil moments or barrel vibration with the relatively light forces involved. That means any lateral deviation or vibration (your horizontal stringing, for example) has more time to act on the projectile before it clears the muzzle. That quickly exposes hold and trigger errors and the long barrel time forces you to maintain good hold follow-through in order to group tightly. It seems to me it is the lack of follow-through (really hold-through the shot) that is the most common source of error for the vast majority of shooters trying to improve either with rifles or handguns. The air rifle has the advantage that you can watch the sight position for any movement before during and after the shot, giving you visual feedback about your hold-through.

[TheTinMan]

My Hornady LNL has not been perfect. Honestly, I'm a bit disappointed. The timing pawls required adjustment after 200-300 cartridges. OK, just didn't expect that. Getting the priming system to work required a couple of tweaks. The nut through the sub-plate holding the priming plunger stood proud of the sub-plate on top, causing binding with the primer shuttle. I ended up chamfering the edges of the nut and shaping a slight rounded angle on the leading edge of the primer shuttle. REM DriLube is great for lubricating the primer shuttle btw. The small primer tube was longer than the large primer tube. Long enough that the small primer tube didn't sit inside the little plastic cage at the top. 5 minutes with a file fixed that, but I didn't expect that lack of consistency.

That said, when I read about broken pawls and a grossly flawed design I'm inclined to think that the operator may be a significant part of the problem. When I encountered a problem or any unusual resistance, I stopped immediately, figured it out, and fixed it.

Hornady's customer service has been great every time I've ever called them.

The powder measure works very well for me. I've been using a Hornady measure for several years before getting the LNL press. You need to use the baffle, and you need to get the powder settled before starting to throw charges. Nothing unique to Hornady - all powder settles in any measure. Either attach a small, vibrating motor to the measure or fill a third, rap 20 times with screwdriver, fill another third, rap more, fill up and rap some more. With powders like Win 231 or Hodgdon 4895, the Hornady measure stays +/- 0.1 for me.