Got my LNL AP running smooth again!

[Xfire68]

I have had a few issues with this press over the 2 years I owned it but, I all but gave up on it when 9mm, .40 S&W and 10mm cases where jamming at the ejection stage.

I packed up the press and let it sit for about a year in the corner of my reloading room.

I would look at it from time to time and say to myself "I wish I could get it running the way it should".

This past month I decided to clean it up and polish anything that looked rough. That did not help much if any but, I did find the issue with jamming at the ejection stage. The milled ejector on the sub-plate was slightly lower in the front of the ejector which allowed the case to ride up on top of the ejector and bind between the ejector and the shell plate.

I contacted Hornady and told them my issue and they sent out a new sub-plate. The jamming issues are all gone! Now if I could get the darn $300 case feeder to work as well!

I am happy to have this press back on the bench along with my Lee Single stage, Lee 4 hole Turret and Lee Load-All.

 

[rajbcpa]

I had problems at every station including the ez_eject issue you discussed. I know all hornady service reps on a first name basis. After three months of total and complete frustration i sold the pos.

I will never purchase another hornady product for any reason.

Their customer service is poor. They run bankers hour 9 to 5 monday to thursday. I hate this company.

 

[Xfire68]

I have to agree with some of that but, customer service for me was great.

1 Email and 1 Phone call and the part was sent out which I received in 3 days.

I have had issues with Lee, Hornday and RCBS products and all of them where taken care of with fast friendly customer service.

I do feel that Hornday's top of the line press should be more refine then it is.

 

[Waldog]

I have found Hornady CS to be superb!

The case feeder works well when it is adjusted properly. I did have a problem with the case feeder and 9mm cases. The cases are so small that when they dropped onto the shell plate, they sometimes bounced and ended up on the floor. It was an easy fix and works with ALL CASES. I purchased a piece of THIN wall PVC pipe. Not the thicker water pipe. I cut a short section and split it lengthwise. I cut a notch to fit over the case feed. With the PVC split, it will slip over the case drop tube. Works like a champ.

[/IMG]

[/IMG]

Next I found that the drop opening on the case feeder bucket is too big for small pistol cases. I had to block about 1/2" of the right side of the opening. With these two mods my case feeder runs perfectly.

[/IMG]

 

[rajbcpa]

Some of the serious issues I had with the Hornady L-N-L press include:

1. Ez-eject system locks up and often throws completed cases high to the right....
2. primer system is horrible, constantly jamming
3. Sliding primer bar fails to pick up primers
4. primer guide rod pulls out of the retaining cup at the bottom of press
5. the holes drilled in the press are mis-aligned....none of the 4 calipers I load aligned cases correctly in Station 1. You needed to use your hand to position the case under the sizing die. locking down the die with a case in the die in Station 1 is no help.
6. the indexing pawls cannot be adjusted to advace the shell plate correctly
7. there is no way to reliably replace broken indexing pawls; they don't come out of the press.
8. the lock-n-load bushings need vice grips to remove and replace dies
9. the L-N-L bushings release on their own during operation of the powder measure station
10 The case retaining spring tears up and breaks


This press will load 50 rounds or so and then, on a reliable basis, breaks down.

Hornady customer service is HORRIBLE...... I dont consider operating hours 9 to -5 monday through thursday very helpful All the parts they sent me were mailed USPS and arrived > 6 days after the call was made.

After the sixth pawl was broken and I explained that the press could not be indexed properly, they gave me a hard time about replacement parts.

HORNADY CAN GO TO HELL ...I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER HORNADY PRODUCT

 

[Xfire68]

rajbcpa, if I had as many issues with my press as you have I would have just sent the whole thing back to them for service rather then trying to fix it yourself.

Hornady will honor the lifetime warranty.

As to the business hours yes they are lacking but, email works for those that are at work during those hours.

Waldog, yes the case feeder issue is at the top and I have done the same thing as you but, it still gets log jammed with cases at the top.

These are things that hornady should be fixing not you or I. I have close to $1000 in this press with shell plates, case feeder and plates.

 

[rajbcpa]

i was given a hard time by more than one hornady customer service representative, so i finally gave up and bought a dillon.

i dont have the time to constantly fuss with a press. if i could have gotten it to run initially, perhaps i would have had some confidence in the machine.

i'm a cpa for 30 years now, but before that i was a professional auto machanic during the 1970s. i'm pretty good with all things mechanical, so i was surprised that i could not get the press to run. apparently, i got a real dog from their assembly line. maybe it was made on a monday or friday.

when i read the issue above on the ez-eject system, i realized that i am not the only one having serious issues with this press.

in my case, it never ran properly out of the box and constantly dealing with crankie customer service reps was more than i could tolerate. after the sixth serious breakage problem in three months and having continuous problems at every station, i just had enough.....

it is sorta. ...like owning a yugo car or fiat car.... you finally realize you bought a pos, and then you move on and learn a hard lesson.....

in three months time, i probably loaded less than 2,000 rounds. most of the time the press sat idle waiting for parts that were shipped last class u.s.p.s.

 

[Ole 5 hole group]

When I first got my LnL AP I cleaned and polished everything that needed it and it has worked perfectly loading several pistol/revolver calibers. I'm acquainted with several others who own and operate the LnL and all but one had no problems from the get go.

The one who experienced a problem got a replacement part in 3 days and hasn't had a problem since and we all load thousands of rounds per month.

The powder measure on all of our LnL's throw consistent charges time after time - I mean on the cat's arse.

The only time that machine comes to a quick halt is when you run into a small pistol primer pocket with the 45 ACP - otherwise its smooth sailing.

 

[Crashbox]

For the record, I started with an LnL AP three years ago. I also smoothed out some rough-ish edges and messed with the pawls until it ran smooth. The primer shuttle didn't behave very well at first so I did some tweaking to that, too.

The LnL AP can be finicky to make run properly. However, my experience taught me well and the press now runs very smooth even though I no longer prime on the press (doing so aggravates an archaic on-the-job injury).

I'm happy with mine.

 

[hounddawg]

I have had a LnL for right at a year now and have had great luck with it. Loaded about 300 9mm's this morning using it. Altogether I have loaded close to 5K rounds with it in the last 11 - 12 months. great for pistol rounds and plinking .223 stuff. Powder throw is great with ball and flake powder, does not do well with stick though.

Only had 1 problem that was a manufacturing issue when I first got it. The small primer button was a couple of thousandths too high which would sporadically stop the slide from coming all the way forward. I did not bother to call Hornady on that one, I just took a small piece of fine grit sandpaper and in about three swipes got rid of that burr. A little common sense goes a long way at times

The only issue I had to call Hornady about was one that I caused myself by allowing the shell plate to loosen and it jammed. I forced it and broke the hub which is a designed in weak link to keep idiots like myself from breaking a more expensive part. 5 minutes on the phone and a new part was in the mail that morning free of charge even though I had admitted to the CS I had forced the lever. They even threw a few retaining springs into the package with it

My LnL is great and I have no problem recommending one. I figure I saved at a couple of hundred dollars over the cost of a equivalent Dillon. Keep it clean, the shell plate screw tight and a occasional adjustment check and they are fantastic little machines.

 

[dickttx]

I have been a CPA for 49 years, come February, am a mechanical midget, fumble fingered, and coming 76 years old.
I bought my LnL AP a couple of months ago, and have e-mailed Hornady one time to request some spare primer springs. I knew I would soon have one shooting across the room when changing primer size. They were here in a couple of days.
Other than going through an early period of learning how to adjust the primer tube and shuttle, it has worked smooth as silk. The problems I had were me, not the equipment.

 

[LOUD]

Ive had a few problems with Hornady products, but in truth most was MY fault . On more than one occasion Ive had to call customer service and explain what a boneheaded thing I had done and how I was willing to pay for the parts . Not once did they charge me anything and my replacement parts were in my hands within a couple days . I have a very positive opinion of Hornady customer service!! they are the best going !!!!.................LOUD

 

[JimDandy]

I'm a Cabelas trip away from picking up an Ammo Plant myself. I was looking at it compared to the RCBS press, though I should check out the Dillon version as well since I've seen it getting menioned more and more. Hornady has a better warranty, is slightly cheaper, more so when you get more and more bells and whistles.. the only edge I saw for RCBS is they had a rifle bullet feeder that would be nice for my .223, though I assume if Hornady never does get around to eventually making a feeder and/or conversion kit for their pistol feeder, I could just buy an RCBS and mount the sucker, swapping it in and out.

Edit: OK went and checked out Dillon. Went through their interactive cart builder trying to get something as similar to the Ammo Plant as I could. And I fell like they should buy you dinner first. About the same price and missing one of the big three components, though that did include dies and case feeder plates... still not nearly as "Kit worthy" as the AP or even the RCBS pro 2000.

 

[hounddawg]

truth be told if I were to buy now I think the RCBS priming system would be tempting. At the time I purchased my LnL I was getting ready to pay for a wedding and the budget was a bit tight. I don't think you can go wrong withe either the Hornady, RCBS or a Dillon 650. Just a matter of personal preference and budget.


Like I said in my earlier post I am very happy with my Hornady, but that primer slide area needs to be kept perfectly clean and powder free or it will hang. I keep a small chip brush next to the press and when I reload the primer tube I brush everything off whether it needs it or not. Like someone else stated earlier 99% of the problems I have had with mine at first were due to my negligence.

 

[JimDandy]

My brother has the powder feed that would be on the RCBS, and he says it's too junky to trust from one round to the next(let alone several in a row) and has to use a trickle feeder and scale to fine tune his loads. If I have to, I can hand prime a batch then use the rest of the presumably better quality Hornady stuff? Of all the steps to be forced off the progressive, priming strikes me as the easiest/best. Certainly better than powder feeding.

 

[hounddawg]

have to agree Jim, when I first started using the LnL before I discovered the sping loaded pin was a tad high and stoned it I hand primed my cases for the first couple of weeks. Since I fixed that though the LnL primer system is reliable as it can be as long as I keep it clean, even the pick up stick method of leading it has grown on me LOL.

Now that Hornady powder throw is great as long as I use ball/stick powder. For .223 I use TAC and for my handguns I use Win 231 for everything. Both meter to the .1 gr. However for stick powder it is pretty worthless. If you really wanted to though you could probably mount that Hornady powder throw in a RCBS press I think. It uses a standard 7/8th thread. Just a idea

 

[JimDandy]

I'm hoping someone else is rural enough to get this, but I would never put that beautiful Case International Harvester Red on that ugly John Deere green. For you city folks, it's like sticking a Chevy engine on a Ford Truck.

 

[nyc71]

I just got off the phone requesting a sub-plate, everything else works fine.

 

[stev32k]

I've had a LNL for three weeks now and it has been kinda painful. Out of the box the plastic bracket that holds the primer slide cam rod was broken. Got that replaced but primers would not feed at all. Finally had to lengthen the adjustment slot on the bracket to allow the primer slide enough travel to pick up a primer.

Then went to put grease in the three zerks on the machine. Two of the three zerks pulled out when I was disconnecting the grease gun fitting. I'm not that strong they were just not inserted all the way from the factory.

By far the most serious problem has been and still is the shell holder plate adjustment or lack thereof. I'm on a first name basis with several of the Hornady CS reps because of this problem. The plate will not line up as it should with the dies or the primer feed station. I can adjust the pawls until the plate lines up correctly, but 5 or 10 strokes later it's out of adjustment again.

The result of the misalignment is primers do not get inserted - cases are nicked or crushed going into the sizing die or the expansion die, or both if I'm not careful (I only load 9mm and .40 S&W).

I loaded 50 - 9mm and 50 - .40 S&W yesterday (Wednesday) and it took almost 3 hours. I was constantly having to make one adjustment or the other to get a cartridge loaded.

The result is the machine is going back to Hornady on Monday.

 

[mumbo719]

After months of fussing, tinkering and polishing I got finally got the LNL with case feeder working smooth.

Hornady CS, I only call when I know which part I need, other than that they are worthless.

If I knew then how many problems there are and would have to fix on my own I would have gone Dillon.