Henry Rifle Forums

since the mid '60's our family has used a single stage RCBS press for all of our rifle and pistol ammo .... there is no way of knowing how many tens of thousands of rounds it has put together .... we still have and use that press but we decided the time had come to add a multistage press .... after considerable research we decided to go with a Hornady Lock-N-Load® AP™ Reloading Press ===> http://www.hornady.com/store/Lock-N-Load-AP-Press/ <=== at the time our oldest son who lived in St Louis took on the task of keeping our family well supplied with ammo .... the press worked well, the rifle and pistol ammo he loaded really did a good job .... in June he completed his Residency and moved his family back home to NC .... this past weekend the reloading equipment was finally unpacked and setup .... after loading 200 rounds for our grandson's Henry 357, we decided to switch to 44 practice ammo .... much to our surprise, when we went to change from the small to the large Primer Seater Punch (part 26), we found that it had broken off in the Sub Plate (part 24) ===> parts shown on pages 4 and 5 in this link http://www.hornady.com/assets/files/man ... LNL_AP.pdf <=== the info above is provided as background to the high quality of Hornady Customer Service that we have received in dealing with this issue .... the first very pleasant surprise was we were immediately informed that the repairs were covered under the press's lifetime warranty .... we were given the option of having them send us a pickup so we could send it back to them for repair or for them to send us the parts and we could fix it .... we went with that option .... the Rep we spoke with gave us his direct number and over the course of several phone calls worked us through the process .... we've come to appreciate just how solidly made it is .... tonight we finished the disassembly and were able to make an EZ out to unscrew the broken threaded section from the Sub Plate .... throughout the calls we were reassured that if we broke something, they would cover it under warranty .... talk about impressive, that got our attention .... tomorrow morning two screws and two new Primer Seater Punches are due to ship and we hope to have the press back in action within a few days .... to say the very least we are impressed would be a major understatement .... we will not hesitate to purchase their equipment in the future

Considering today's economic market and the internet, reloading equipment manufactures don't have a choose. If a customer is not happy, all they have to do is post it on the internet forum board and the manufacture just might lose future customers. Giving today's firearms market, it would be smart for the company to make all customers happy cause the company knows the customer will turn to the internet and post there gratitude toward the company. We've all done it, including me.

update :

as promised, the replacement parts arrived today by first class mail .... as noted in the first post, the small to the large Primer Seater Punch had broken off in the Sub Plate .... in an attempt to figure out what caused the problem, I tried to screw one of the replacement primer punches into the sub plate .... using only my fingers I could only get it to screw in about half way .... so, I placed another call to the same factory service tech .... he said I should be able to screw the punch all the way in with my fingers .... from that we pretty much decided that something went wrong when they cut the threads into the sub plate .... he informed me a replacement plate would be sent out in the morning .... I continue to be impressed with Hornday's commitment to service after the sale

My only complaint with the Hornady lock n load is the expense of the collars. I load for a number of rifles and calibers. So I easily have $200 in them. And your dies don't fit back in the boxes once they are installed. If I were to do it again I would go with RCBS.

adirondack wrote:My only complaint with the Hornady lock n load is the expense of the collars. I load for a number of rifles and calibers. So I easily have $200 in them. And your dies don't fit back in the boxes once they are installed. If I were to do it again I would go with RCBS.

well understood .... for us the collars have been a positive and a negative .... as noted, the expense being a negative .... we also load multiple calibers and as a positive, the collars make it quicker and easier to change .... in addition, while the ring on RCBS dies accomplishes the same purpose, we find that once set, the collars lock the die into the proper position and almost never need to be readjusted .... we bought the adapter that allows our RCBS press to handle dies equipped with the collars

adirondack wrote:My only complaint with the Hornady lock n load is the expense of the collars. I load for a number of rifles and calibers. So I easily have $200 in them. And your dies don't fit back in the boxes once they are installed. If I were to do it again I would go with RCBS.

FYI, The Lee Reloading system calls them "bushings"; they are not expensive and the dies do fit in their boxes with the bushings installed. I only load for one caliber, .357, but I have a single stage press, so it's one die installed at a time. The bushings allow me to pop each die in and out in just a few seconds. I love them.

when the dies are going to be used on a single press, I do like the collars/bushings .... for us they save time .... when used on more than one press, they still help a little but not near as much

I really like my LNL AP. I also have a Lee which I don't like and a Dillon which is nice. If I were to buy another, I would buy the Hornady over the Dillon.

adirondack wrote:My only complaint with the Hornady lock n load is the expense of the collars. I load for a number of rifles and calibers. So I easily have $200 in them. And your dies don't fit back in the boxes once they are installed. If I were to do it again I would go with RCBS.

Try buying everything necessary for the Dillon to switch calibers. And you are pretty much forced to get Dillon dies. You can buy Hornady bushings in the 10 pack. This will at least let you support 3 dies sets. My dies and bushings fit well in my boxes. However I keep them on the racks usually.

grizzly wrote:I really like my LNL AP. I also have a Lee which I don't like and a Dillon which is nice. If I were to buy another, I would buy the Hornady over the Dillon.

Try buying everything necessary for the Dillon to switch calibers. And you are pretty much forced to get Dillon dies. You can buy Hornady bushings in the 10 pack. This will at least let you support 3 dies sets. My dies and bushings fit well in my boxes. However I keep them on the racks usually.

You should have bought the Dillon RL550B instead of the Dillon Square Deal B. The RL550B will do both rifle and pistol cartridges....plus you can use any brand of dies you want. In an hour, I can do anywhere from 350 to 400 pieces of loaded finished ammo that's ready to go bang.

Rugerfanboy wrote:

grizzly wrote:I really like my LNL AP. I also have a Lee which I don't like and a Dillon which is nice. If I were to buy another, I would buy the Hornady over the Dillon.

Try buying everything necessary for the Dillon to switch calibers. And you are pretty much forced to get Dillon dies. You can buy Hornady bushings in the 10 pack. This will at least let you support 3 dies sets. My dies and bushings fit well in my boxes. However I keep them on the racks usually.

You should have bought the Dillon RL550B instead of the Dillon Square Deal B. The RL550B will do both rifle and pistol cartridges....plus you can use any brand of dies you want. In an hour, I can do anywhere from 350 to 400 pieces of loaded finished ammo that's ready to go bang.

I see what you are saying. I have the XL650 though. And yes, you can use other dies but the Dillon work slightly better in the Dillon machine. The conversion kits are pricey too.

Both are great machines. But for what I paid for the Dillon, the Hornady does just as well and loads nearly as fast. They both have their own quirks.

The problem that I have with my lock-n-load press is the primer feed system. It was such a pain that I took to depriming and repriming on a single stage press. I wish there was a way to make this function more reliable on my press.

Capt steve wrote:The problem that I have with my lock-n-load press is the primer feed system. It was such a pain that I took to depriming and repriming on a single stage press. I wish there was a way to make this function more reliable on my press.

the only issue I've ever had with depriming was caused by not getting the spring the holds the casings in the shell plate in the groove that allows a new casing to be inserted .... once I figured that out, it has worked flawlessly .... with repriming, once I get the correct part that presses the primer in place, operator error has been my only problem .... I get busy and forget to push the handle forward .... in short, when I do my part, our press works every time .... I'd suggest you call Hornady and speak with one of their service folks .... I've found them to be extremely helpful

I had a huge problem trying to get my press to prime the cases. It would not line up and I tried everything they suggest to make it work. I now decap aand recap on a single stage press and then finish on the hornady. Works fine but it would be a whole lot better if the darn primer seater would work. A number of these progressive reloaders from other manufacturers seem to have the priming problem as well.

Ive never used the Hornady but I have 3 Dillon Square deals. Not one of those has any issue with priming. I do all my rifle shells single stage. Ive thought about a Dillon 550b but just never have spent the cash for one. Al

As I understand it, priming is the fly in the ointment for most all progressives.

so long as I keep the track where the grove that the plate that moves a new primer is kept clean, our LNL press deprimes and reprimes as it should ... due to being cut to very fine tolerances, a few grains of power and/or metal shavings can keep it from moving smoothly