Hornady Lock and Load up and running (finally)

Cocked&Locked

Cocked&Locked

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S. Ontario
Well, after many months of waiting, I'm finally up and running with a hornady lock and load progressive. Still working out the bugs, but overall it seems to be quite a nice package. I need to adjust the index pawls slightly (out of the box it dosen't quit index far enough) but otherwise I really like the set up. The press is one big casting, and the ram very rigid. My only complaint would be the absolute crap manual (if you can call it that, more of a pamphlet really) that it comes with. If you where less than mechanically inclined, initial set up might be tricky as the manuel is less than well illustrated. They (hornady) would do well to add a dvd or cassette tape to the box. Speaking of the box, nice solid packaging, well protected. It's really easy to change from large to small primers (less than 5 minutes, one spring, one screw) I can see where the case feeder to go with it would be very disirable. I like the case sensor on the powder drop, but don't like the way it it moves about a quarter stroke with short pistol cases (9mm) as it seems to pack the charge somewhat, causing the charged droped after a couple of cycles with no case to be a bit heavier. Further bullitens as events warrent.
 
Before you monkey with the pawls, make sure that the shell plate and the surface under it is clean, that the shellplate isn't too tight, and that you are not returning the lever too slowly. When you get them where you want them, make sure you lock them in place tightly. A light oil is nice, but don't go nuts or they will get clogged with dirt and not spring back properly.
 
Its completely clean under the plate, just a tiny amount of silicon grease that the manual called for, though I'm thinking of cleaning this out and putting on dry graphite.

I'll try easing off the shell plate bolt, thats a good idea, thanks for the suggestion!!:)

I don't think its travel speed (I experimented a bit with this) as it comes up short going up (to the dies) and down (to the prime station)
 
Big JD-From the hills said:
Would you say this is an ok setup when compared to say a Dillon 550? How easy is it to change Cal's, I would probably be doing mostly .40 smith, and maby some .30-06.
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If you buy a set of lock collars for you dies (about 25$) the die changeover is less than 1 minute! You have to reset powder weight, but you can buy a spindle that you preset and leave with the dies, that changes in less than 30 seconds. The primer changeover take about 3 minuets. With a little practice I can see a preset changeover in less than 10 minutes. Longer if you use one powder spindle and adjust each time. Oh, 2 minuets to swap the shell plate.:) I'm a happy camper. and it indexes itself rather than you doing it.
 
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