Hornady LNL issue...

[Oni7734]

I just got my Hornady LNL AP and started to set it up and came across a few issues while running 9mm (hornady dies). Also, I'm only using 2 dies, de-capping/resize and expander, on opposite sides of the press to (help) balance the ram.

De-capping/Resize - Felt small amount of pressure on the upstroke while de-capping and when lowering the ram felt a fair amount of resistance. I fair purely based on watching countless amounts of video's online and not noticing the same resistance. I called Hornady and was told that that is normal (which I'm beginning to doubt).

Case expander - After running a few cases I noticed that burs were forming on the case when they came out of the expander die. Sure enough, brass shavings are in the die as well. It's not a lot but enough to notice and I don't want to screw anything up.

Taking it slow I noticed that the case was having to line itself up with both dies while resting in the shell plate and the shell plate not moving at all. This leads me to believe that there is an indexing issue. The sub plate and shell plate seem to be indexing correctly but I think the prawls on the under side of the unit or index wheel may need to be adjusted counter clock-wise (or clockwise so the shell plate moves CCW)... I've read that they're very sensitive when adjusting them and wanted to know if anyone has any experience or can offer advice to fix the issue...

Or am I over reacting? I just don't want to screw anything up.

Hopefully I explained this well enough... I'll try to get a video made and post it this evening to show exactly what is happening.

Also, I should note that all of my brass and dies have been cleaned.

 

[gopurdue02]

indexing problems who show up with cases not aligning correctly. Personally I had to adjust the paws out of the box to get it running right and I got my LNL in Jan. That being said what kind of dies are you using?

 

[Oni7734]

indexing problems who show up with cases not aligning correctly. Personally I had to adjust the paws out of the box to get it running right and I got my LNL in Jan. That being said what kind of dies are you using?

They are hornady dies...

 

[WhitleyStu]

The shell plate should pop into place when the cycling handle is all the way up or down. If not the paw needs a very minor adjustment. Also, if you are moving the cycling handle very slow the plate might not index all the way into proper place. If you move the handle faster the shell plate is more likely to snap all the way into place.

 

[Whip_McCord]

The pressure sounds normal. The tapered case of the 9mm seems to take a little more pressure for sizing than straight wall pistol cases. I always lube 9mm cases when I reload them. I use a LNL with 9mm Hornady dies, too. Hornady One-Shot case lube works great for that. I know a couple of guys that lube all pistols case, even with carbide dies, but I have not found that necessary. Why are you only using two dies? Did not see a reason for that listed.

BYW, I have been loading for over 32 years and I load 24 cartridges on my LNL. Hope this helps.

 

[Oni7734]

The pressure sounds normal. The tapered case of the 9mm seems to take a little more pressure for sizing than straight wall pistol cases. I always lube 9mm cases when I reload them. I use a LNL with 9mm Hornady dies, too. Hornady One-Shot case lube works great for that. I know a couple of guys that lube all pistols case, even with carbide dies, but I have not found that necessary. Why are you only using two dies? Did not see a reason for that listed.

BYW, I have been loading for over 32 years and I load 24 cartridges on my LNL. Hope this helps.

I'm only using the two because I have no powder... Kind of limited on what I can do. Just getting to learn the machine one step at a time...

 

[rem788]

I had to adjust the pawls on mine too. Indexing was a little off and once adjusted it worked fine. A little adjustment goes a long way, just go slow and check carefully. Since adjusting I have had no issues with case shavings or abnormal ram pressures.

 

[DustyDawg48]

Everything sounds normal to me with the resizing. Some brass fired out of some guns expand further than others. I will occasionally run across some brass that I simply cannot get to size properly and it goes into a scrap bin.

Moving the handle too slowly could easily result in that not-indexing issue you are seeing. It is designed to be used with a bit of authority so don't feel like you have to use kid's gloves on it.

The only issue I've really ran into with mine is the socket cap screw holding the shell plate will occasionally come loose. I could cure it by putting some medium strength Loctite on there but I just check it's condition periodically and tighten when necessary.

 

[looney2ns]

Make sure screw holding shell plate is tight.

You have greased all the grease fittings on the press, correct?
And you greased it with the ram in the UP position?