LNL Progressive Initial Setup

[ar15barrels]

The positioning of the bullet in the case so there is no scraping of the surface is troubling. I had Lee dies which were a bit short for this press and I was getting a lot of scrapes that I detected and through into the scrap bin. I changed to Hornady dies which reduced this somewhat, but now I think I have the dies set so they start to crimp before the bullet is fully seated. Is that possible?

The immediate problems to be addressed are reliable priming so I am not pre-occupied with this and cause me to overlook other simultaneous problems, and to work on the bullet seating and crimping step, re-adjusting the die to ensure the bullet is seated before it is crimped. Any tricks there?

These problems are why it's better to seat and crimp in separate stations.
It will NEVER be possible to seat a bullet and then apply crimp after the seating stops if you are only using a single die to do both tasks.

[Fyathyrio]

Keep the faith Poway Bob!

My first batch of .45 (and 1st I've ever handloaded) had a bunch of misfires and stuff also. My next couple of batches have been pretty much smooth sailing as I learned from my mistakes also. Where do you go to shoot?

[EBR Works]

These problems are why it's better to seat and crimp in separate stations.
It will NEVER be possible to seat a bullet and then apply crimp after the seating stops if you are only using a single die to do both tasks.

+1 on this. I use the Lee FCD in station 5 and my loads have always functioned flawlessly. Additionally, do not use CCI primers in the LNL AP. Remington and Winchester work perfectly.

[Sailormilan2]

Having owned a Hornady for some time, here are some observations:

#1. Lee dies are too short for use. I got 3 sets for use in mine, and they are too short to work properly. If I screwed them into the LNL bushings for proper positioning, they would be in so far that the lock ring would not be able to funciton. I do not have this problem with Hornady(of course, to be expected) nor do I have this problem with my old RCBS dies. Note: my Hornady press and Lee dies are 10 years old,. Reportedly the newer Lee dies are made longer, to take care of this problem. But I have no personal knowledge of that.
#2. Make sure the primer punch "nut" is tight, that might also affect primer seating depth.
#3. Try lubing the primer shuttle with some dry lube graphite. It makes the primer shuttle run/slide smoother.
#4. Re Dillon dies. Disclaimer....I have not used them, so have no personal knowledge. Dillon dies are "funneled" to allow easier case entry into the dies. I have read reports that this funneling, on the sizing die, means that the case will not be sized properly all the way down. So, that could cause chambering issues. Again, no personal knowledge here.

I use a 32 oz mayonase jar for empty primers to fall into. I am working on my 4rd jar full of spent primers. The Hornady works okay, once you get used to it.

[powaybob]

AR15 barrels, impactco, fyathrio, Sailormilan2;
Thanks for all the suggestions and support. My Lee dies are over 20 years old so I am sure they were the shorter kind.

I will reset the seater/crimper as suggested.

I use the primers I have- mainly Wolf, though Cabela's finally shipped me some CCI after 6 months.

I will get a crimping die and put it into station 5 when I can, but I'll work with what I have until I can get one.

I'll have another go at the priming station. I suspect some positions are slightly wrong, throwing off the timing. I have some graphite so I'll try that on the slide. And I'll check the nut.

I use a 1 liter plastic water bottle for the spent primers. Works for me.

I want to get this all working well since my birthday is coming up in a few months and the automatic case feeder would be really nice!

Again, thanks. I hope there are lurkers out there learning as much as I am from you all.

Bob

[Hans Gruber]

I shot part of my first batch of 9mm loaded on my LnL this weekend.

My observations:

- Both Remington and CCI Small Pistol Primers worked just fine for me. Didn't notice a difference.
- Adding a bit o lube to the shuttle arm on the priming system did solve the occasional hangup by the shuttle.
- New Lee dies (6 months old) work just fine.
- A Bic pen cap jammed into the spent primer tube holds them up until I empty the tube into the garbage.
- I did have to adjust the auto-index timing some. Was getting a demi-index on the downstroke which was causing the priming station to be out of index.
- I didn't have any sort of chipped/flaked/damaged bullets. I crimp after seating.
- After putting a bit of lube on the priming shuttle arm and fixing the index timing, the priming system ran great.

All in all, I love it. Even without the case feeder. I ran out of materials unfortunately

I'm sending away for my 1000 bullets today. They need to receive the form by 2/10/10 I think so don't forget!

[ar15barrels]

#1. Lee dies are too short for use.

What some people do is just put the lock ring on the bottom of the shellplate.

[ar15barrels]

AR15 barrels, impactco, fyathrio, Sailormilan2;
Thanks for all the suggestions and support. My Lee dies are over 20 years old so I am sure they were the shorter kind.

I will reset the seater/crimper as suggested.

I use the primers I have- mainly Wolf, though Cabela's finally shipped me some CCI after 6 months.

I will get a crimping die and put it into station 5 when I can, but I'll work with what I have until I can get one.

I'll have another go at the priming station. I suspect some positions are slightly wrong, throwing off the timing. I have some graphite so I'll try that on the slide. And I'll check the nut.

I use a 1 liter plastic water bottle for the spent primers. Works for me.

I want to get this all working well since my birthday is coming up in a few months and the automatic case feeder would be really nice!

Again, thanks. I hope there are lurkers out there learning as much as I am from you all.

Bob

I'm just gonna throw this out there, but Dillon presses don't have nearly this many problems, especially when the person has prior relloading experience...

[mstlaurent]

Couple of general observations:

I have used CCI and Federal primers in my LNL, and I haven't had any problems. I have a batch of Remingtons I will try when I gear up for 9mm this spring.

I also experimented with crimping and seating on the same die, and I also moved to a separate crimp die.

PowayBob, squibs are not a casual problem, they can kill you. I would pick up a powder check die and use it religiously. I have the RCBS die and I really like it, haven't tried any others. I may be wrong, but it sounds like you may want to slow down a bit. If you're ever unsure of the status of any round on your press, you should pull it off and check it.

[Waldog]

I'm just gonna throw this out there, but Dillon presses don't have nearly this many problems, especially when the person has prior relloading experience...

Very useful comment!

[EBR Works]

I'm just gonna throw this out there, but Dillon presses don't have nearly this many problems, especially when the person has prior relloading experience...

Perhaps Randall should use this as his own sig line

He loves Kool-Aid!

[freonr22]

I finally got to shoot my first efforts with the LNL and the results were not impressive. Total was probably 250 rounds. I had more than a dozen fail to feed due to the plating on the Rainier (copper plate) or Precision (moly plate) bullets being scraped and accumulating in a lump outside the case. I had several fail to fire either due to lack of a new primer or the primer not firing. A few of the fail to fire were due to the round not being fully seated in the chamber and the primer got a light hit. They fired after getting a good hit after being properly seated. I also had three squib loads resulting in bullets being stuck in the barrel. Fortunately they were positioned so subsequent rounds could not chamber. A 7/16 dowel came in handy. I was shooting most through a Springfield Armory XD.

I was pretty humbled by all the mistakes. After using a single stage press for years and never having a squib and few failures to feed, I was surprised at my error rate. I have a lot to learn in getting the press operating smoothly. I think the squibs probably came from my concern over the primer feed problems I was having and advancing the shell plate without raising it far enough to load powder.

The positioning of the bullet in the case so there is no scraping of the surface is troubling. I had Lee dies which were a bit short for this press and I was getting a lot of scrapes that I detected and through into the scrap bin. I changed to Hornady dies which reduced this somewhat, but now I think I have the dies set so they start to crimp before the bullet is fully seated. Is that possible?

The immediate problems to be addressed are reliable priming so I am not pre-occupied with this and cause me to overlook other simultaneous problems, and to work on the bullet seating and crimping step, re-adjusting the die to ensure the bullet is seated before it is crimped. Any tricks there?

At this point I am still inclined to blame the operator and not the equipment. I still have a lot to learn. For me, a hobby is as much about learning something new as it is doing something enjoyable. I think I will stick to 45 reloading until I get that process working reliably with the Hornady press before trying anything else, especially rifle.

With all the bad rounds I made, I broke my kinetic puller (actually the collet few apart and the pieces disappeared) so I ordered a new one from Midway and also the cam type that uses a press. I also ordered a primer flipper tray (why doesn't Hornady include that in the package- it is only a couple of bucks) and a couple more reloading books.

on my bullet puller, I put a shell holder instead of the collet in and seems to work fine

[ar15barrels]

He loves Kool-Aid!

I had a drink the other day in Vegas called an "LA Water" that was pretty blue like that.

[ar15barrels]

on my bullet puller, I put a shell holder instead of the collet in and seems to work fine

I do the same thing.
A proper shellholder works better than those "one size fits none" collets that the pullers come with.

[powaybob]

Here is the latest in my learning experience. I have the primers working pretty well now. I did tighten the nut on the ram as it had worked loose and adjusted the travel on the cam wire so the shuttle does not get hung up as often.

My first few rounds were characterized by scraped plating and or crushed cases. What I realized is that the press was not fully indexing every time. I checked it, and only 2 of the 5 positions consistently index. One does sometimes and two never do. However, I also noticed that the speed at which I pull the lever results in proper indexing more often.

Any suggestions on how to adjust this? Is this a symptom of a warped shell plate, or do the index pawls need adjustment?

If the pawls need adjustment, what is the procedure? The manual is not clear.

On a lighter note, I am down to 5K LPP and I am getting worried about running out!