Hornady Lock and Load?

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RoscoeP

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Thinking about getting back into reloading. This Lock and load system from Hornady looks like a good idea. I know some other brands of presses will accept the adapter to accept the lock and load bushings. Setup, 1/8 turn, fast die changes, seems like a good system.
Anyone her use this system and if so what do you think, comments?
Cheers Ross
 
I love it personally and have been using Hornady presses for over 20 years. Prior to the LNL I had a Hornady Projector. Dealing with Hornady has also been very good as they stand by their products in my experience. There have been a couple instances where I've needed replacement parts and after a phone call to their customer service, I had the parts in hand within a couple days free of charge. My 2 cents :D
 
Got mine from Budget Shooter Supply in January. Loaded up about 4000 rounds since. Tiny hiccups with the primer feed, just have to keep it clean and no prob. Only other problem is that after about 2000 rounds, the powder measure gets a little loose, Hornady will send you shims to correct it or go my route, drill a hole through the body, tap it and stick a set screw in there.

I love mine and would highly recommend it
 
Same as Moosedude I got mine from budget shooter supply, same prob with loose powder measure but i love it, load 9mm, 45acp mostly, will do rifle as well but after using the lnl ap i would never go back to single stage press.
 
moosedude said:
Got mine from Budget Shooter Supply in January. Loaded up about 4000 rounds since. Tiny hiccups with the primer feed, just have to keep it clean and no prob. Only other problem is that after about 2000 rounds, the powder measure gets a little loose, Hornady will send you shims to correct it or go my route, drill a hole through the body, tap it and stick a set screw in there.

I love mine and would highly recommend it
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f55 said:
Same as Moosedude I got mine from budget shooter supply, same prob with loose powder measure but i love it, load 9mm, 45acp mostly, will do rifle as well but after using the lnl ap i would never go back to single stage press.
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What gets loose on the powder measure? it gets loose in the bushing? What?
 
The bushings are quite what I'd expect...a little loose, even when screwed in all the way.

BUt I am very happy with my press
 
Bart212 said:
What gets loose on the powder measure? it gets loose in the bushing? What?
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when you place the powder measure in and turn to lock, it unlocks after lot of use, so i emailed hornady about it, they said they know it happens and sent me set of shims, since installing the shim its not unlocked it self.
 
f55 said:
when you place the powder measure in and turn to lock, it unlocks after lot of use, so i emailed hornady about it, they said they know it happens and sent me set of shims, since installing the shim its not unlocked it self.
Click to expand...

Are they the same shims as the ones they send for people with the Dillon 1200b?
 
Bart212 said:
Are they the same shims as the ones they send for people with the Dillon 1200b?
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Does this help.

shim.jpg
 
I didnt feel like waiting for the mail, thats why I went the drill and tap method. That and I firgured, even with the shims, it will loosen again eventually. By putting a set screw that pushes against the measure, its locked and nothing to wear.

Basically, the powder measure turns to lock in place in the bushing. Over time it wiggles around in the bushing and tends to turn out until the point where its unlocked. At that point, it lifts up when the case pushes against it instead of dropping powder. A drill bit, tap, bolt, and five minutes and its goood forever. Makes powder changes easy too as the thing turns out really easily once the bolt is loosened.

I only load 9mm and I can turn out 300 - 400 an hour
 
RoscoeP said:
I know some other brands of presses will accept the adapter to accept the lock and load bushings.
Click to expand...

I assume from this that you are not looking at the progressive as everyone has commented about all ready. I have the lnl classic press and really like the speed of changing the dies. Some people don't like the spent primer tray but in my experience it catches 99%+ of them. This year Hornady came out with some different kits and one appears to include the case activated powder drop like the AP has. It would speed up the single stage process a bit.
 
acrashb said:
Weird. Never happens to me, and I have "many thousands" of rounds through. Perhaps if the o-ring is undersized and not providing enough friction?
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Maybe, doesnt matter at this point as the set screw solved my problem. Apparently its a well documented issue and Hornady is well aware of it. Its not a problem, more of an inconvienience.

On the spent primer drop, the spent primers fall into a small brass tube that is open on the bottom. The press comes with a clear vinyl tube that can be routed anywhere for collecting them. At first I just let them drop on the floor, bad idea lol. After cleaning tht mess up I took an old pop bottle and drilled a hole in the cap that the vinyl tube squeezes into. Unscrew it every 1000 rounds or so and dump in the garbage, easy breezy
 
moosedude said:
Maybe, doesnt matter at this point as the set screw solved my problem. Apparently its a well documented issue and Hornady is well aware of it. Its not a problem, more of an inconvienience.

On the spent primer drop, the spent primers fall into a small brass tube that is open on the bottom. The press comes with a clear vinyl tube that can be routed anywhere for collecting them. At first I just let them drop on the floor, bad idea lol. After cleaning tht mess up I took an old pop bottle and drilled a hole in the cap that the vinyl tube squeezes into. Unscrew it every 1000 rounds or so and dump in the garbage, easy breezy
Click to expand...

I just stick a 9mm projectile in the end of the tube and empty when needed
 
I haven't had the loose powder feed with my system, but if it does materialize, I would think that a shim of rubber (an eleastic even?) that would grip the bushing to the press would work just as good.
 
WestIslandRifle said:
does anyone have the bullet factory addition, i curious how well the bullet and case feeder works?
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Love my bullet feeder. With it, I went from just over 300 to 500/Hr. Works perfectly, but you do have to expand the brass more because of the bullet feeder die. Make sure you have a spare station for that die, too. I started with PTX expander, then went back to regular expander die - but had to seat&crimp in one station because of that. Overall very happy with the bullet feeder. Don't have a case feeder, I have plenty of time to pickup & inspect brass while cranking the handle.
 
I was hoping for really good things with my Hornady LnL Progressive. I'm pretty disappointed though. Maybe it's me but I never had so many hiccups constantly, while trying to reload on this press. I was using for rifle rounds, constantly have issues with primer seating, powder measure actuator rolling the case mouth, inconsistent powder charges, and if a grain of dust gets caught in the primer feed system, it throws it off and primers don't seat right. Too many issues. I now use it as a purely single stage press. I put the powder funnel in a separate stand and do everything slow. I'm just amortizing my right off until I can buy something else.
 
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