Hornady LNL issue

[sksman777]

Hi, I have a Hornady LnL I am having a issue with last stage during the bullet seating. Seems like the case retainer spring pushes up on the case and the case with the bullet is at a angle and I have to tilt it back with my hand to guide it into the bullet seating die. Anyone else with the issue or any suggestions would be appreciated

[9mmepiphany]

More info needed first.
Caliber
Brand of die
How long you've had the LNL
Which way is the case tilting

Just as a preliminary guess, it isn't the spring. The spring only applies lateral force on the casing.

I'd first suspect a loose shell plate

[BigBronco]

I am suspecting .45 ACP? Yes?

[lump]

I think you are referring to how the retainer spring drops down at station 5, so that the spring is clear and case can be ejected after station 5. I have my crimping die at this station, and I also have a problem with the cartridge wobbling and the bullet sometimes needing alignment to go into the crimp die.

I contacted Hornady about the issue, and shared pictures of the issue as well. I told tech support that I think it was a design flaw, as the spring should drop down a little later so as to hold the cartridge just a little bit longer during the station 5 stage. He said the design was a compromise to allow larger cartridges to eject properly.

I have not found an easy solution. Certainly a loose shell plate exacerbates the issue. Perhaps you could file down the chamfer lead in on your seating die so that it is more forgiving to misalignment, although that could cause other problems. If you know someone with a metal shop, you might try adding a little material to the ledge on the base plate, so that the retainer spring drops down just a little later in the cycle. I would very much like to try this solution myself. Maybe there is a novel way to accomplish this on the cheap.

[JagerDog]

More info needed first.
Caliber
Brand of die
How long you've had the LNL
Which way is the case tilting

Just as a preliminary guess, it isn't the spring. The spring only applies lateral force on the casing.

I'd first suspect a loose shell plate

In bold.

[David-K]

The case is unsupported at that station, at least not as well supported as in the other stations. Even though the cartidge may enter at a slight angle, the die will straighten it out upon entry. However, are you saying that without you guiding the cartridge, the round won't even make it into the die? If so, that is indeed a problem and I would call and ask Hornady to send you out a new sub-plate.

[DougMurray]

The only times I have had problems with the case not properly aligning with the die (at any of the 5 stations) is when I don't properly tighten down my shell plate and it gets loose.

I know what the posters are saying about Station #5 not being fully supported but that has never caused me an issue. Two things came to mind that might be worth a look if Station #5 is the issue. First, be sure your LnL is solidly tied down so normal strokes don't cause any undue motion in the press. I've mounted mine to a solid workbench so even a solid bump won't cause a freestanding case to move on the press. Secondly, make sure your primers are sitting at least flush with the case so the case sits flat on the press. If it wobbles even a little, it might cause issues at Station #5.

Let us know what you find for a fix.

[Vicious_138]

I had this same issue, only with tall cases tho (223 & 308)
There was a post about it on ar15.com a few years ago. A little down the thread a guy used a little bit of double stick foam to lift the spring on station 5. I did the same thing, and it has fixed all of my issues. simple and easy fix
here is the link to the thread:

https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=349419

[lump]

I had this same issue, only with tall cases tho (223 & 308)
There was a post about it on ar15.com a few years ago. A little down the thread a guy used a little bit of double stick foam to lift the spring on station 5. I did the same thing, and it has fixed all of my issues. simple and easy fix
here is the link to the thread:
https://www.ar15.com/archive/topic.h...&f=42&t=349419

Thanks for the link. That's exactly the solution I was suggesting in my post above, although I wouldn't have thought that double sided foam tape would be strong enough to hold up...but I will definitely give something like that a shot. Keep in mind that it might fix the issue with .223 cases, but it could cause some extraction issues with larger cases.

[Vicious_138]

I have had the double stick foam tape on mine for a couple years, and it has held up great.
I haven't had any ejection problems with it cut like the pics in that thread. I load 380/9/357/40/45/223/308 on my LNL

[lump]

I tried a semi-permanent fix as outlined above, to delay the point where the spring drops down. I used some adhesive putty from harbor freight. You can sand and file it, and it seems pretty strong.

I noticed that in the original state of my sub plate, the spring would drop down so early that a .223 case is totally unsupported, resulting in the wobbling I was seeing. So I added a little to the ledge. At that point, the case now was being tilted up and inward by spring, as mentioned by the OP. Extraction was unimpacted.

So then I added yet more material, so the spring dropoff was delayed even further. Now the case remains just barely supported by the spring at station 5, with no wobble, no case being pushed up, no tilt. However, I also notice that now extraction is inconsistent. Sometimes the case drops in the bucket, but sometimes it also just lays down on the shell plate. Perhaps I could file down the extraction lip on the sub plate to delay when extraction occurs in the cycle, but then that would be an irreversible fix.

I think that as designed, it's impossible to optimize this geometry for all case sizes. If I loaded 308 or larger, then I think my current mod would create even bigger extraction issues. Long term I just hope that Hornady comes up with a better design. For example, perhaps that area of the subplate could be an insert that is changed out for different case sizes.