Having case ejection problems with my LnL AP. Looking for a fix.

[jamesp81]

Often times, 223 cases will fall onto the shell plate when ejecting instead of falling into the cartridge bin. I've recorded a video to demonstrate what's happening. Apologies for the quality, it's a cell phone video and I didn't have a stand for the phone. Seen here: Video

What I have tried so far:

1) Thoroughly cleaned everything on the subplate and the shell plate. Relubricated bottom of shell plate lightly.
2) Replaced case retainer spring (the one I had was worn out anyway).
3) Paid special attention to the ejector itself when cleaning.
4) Ensured shell plate was tightened down (I've never found Hornady's instruction to finger tighten only to be wise).

I was having somewhat worse issues before replacing the case retention spring. The spring had a kink in it, and ejection from the slot where the spring's kink was was consistently worse. Replacing the spring hasn't fully solved the issue, but has reduced the rate of failure a little.

I would say ejection failure runs between 10 and 20 percent. Usually once per full shellplate, sometimes twice. I don't think there is necessarily one bad slot on the shell plate. I have noted that the slots one and two positions counter clockwise from the shell plate number imprinted on the plate seem to be slightly worse. However, these don't fail *every* time, and ejection failures can happen on any slot in the shell plate. It's just that those two seem every so slightly more likely to choke.

The press also generates a number of "near failures" where you can tell by the way the cartridge falls it almost fell the wrong way.

I do not have this problem with 9mm or 45 ACP. I do have ejection issues with 357 magnum, but they are of a different nature: sometimes the shell plate gets stuck trying to eject a finished 357 cartridge. It looks like the rim sometimes rides over the ejector instead of being pushed out, but I'll try to fix that later, I only care about getting ejection on my 223 cartridges working right now.

I checked my ejector for rounding off.  Sometimes on Hornady presses the ejector can round off and cause issues, but mine does not look rounded off.  Hard to get a photo that's in focus at that angle, this is just me getting down to eye level with the sub plate and eyeballing it.

[paul788]

It seems the round tips over backwards as the base is pushed.  Try using a small wire or bent metal strip to push the case similar to the older wire ejector.  If that works Hornady still sells the old ejector wire.

Paul Beck

[jamesp81]

I may do that. But first I'll call Hornady tech support. Apparently it's not unheard of for a warped shell plate to get out of the factory and cause this specific issue. 

 

If if I can get this press running smoothly it'll be incredible. As of now I miss my Lee 4 hole turret. That press ran without drama all day long. I figure an autoejector and rcbs tube bullet feeder and you could crank some ammo pretty fast....

[Jmoreno88]

Often times, 223 cases will fall onto the shell plate when ejecting instead of falling into the cartridge bin. I've recorded a video to demonstrate what's happening. Apologies for the quality, it's a cell phone video and I didn't have a stand for the phone. Seen here:

What I have tried so far:

1) Thoroughly cleaned everything on the subplate and the shell plate. Relubricated bottom of shell plate lightly.
2) Replaced case retainer spring (the one I had was worn out anyway).
3) Paid special attention to the ejector itself when cleaning.
4) Ensured shell plate was tightened down (I've never found Hornady's instruction to finger tighten only to be wise).

I was having somewhat worse issues before replacing the case retention spring. The spring had a kink in it, and ejection from the slot where the spring's kink was was consistently worse. Replacing the spring hasn't fully solved the issue, but has reduced the rate of failure a little.

I would say ejection failure runs between 10 and 20 percent. Usually once per full shellplate, sometimes twice. I don't think there is necessarily one bad slot on the shell plate. I have noted that the slots one and two positions counter clockwise from the shell plate number imprinted on the plate seem to be slightly worse. However, these don't fail *every* time, and ejection failures can happen on any slot in the shell plate. It's just that those two seem every so slightly more likely to choke.

The press also generates a number of "near failures" where you can tell by the way the cartridge falls it almost fell the wrong way.

I do not have this problem with 9mm or 45 ACP. I do have ejection issues with 357 magnum, but they are of a different nature: sometimes the shell plate gets stuck trying to eject a finished 357 cartridge. It looks like the rim sometimes rides over the ejector instead of being pushed out, but I'll try to fix that later, I only care about getting ejection on my 223 cartridges working right now.

I checked my ejector for rounding off.  Sometimes on Hornady presses the ejector can round off and cause issues, but mine does not look rounded off.  Hard to get a photo that's in focus at that angle, this is just me getting down to eye level with the sub plate and eyeballing it.

Tell them you want a new sub plate. Solved all my problems. The ejection nub is probably messed up

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[jamesp81]

On 1/7/2017 at 2:38 PM, Jmoreno88 said:

Tell them you want a new sub plate. Solved all my problems. The ejection nub is probably messed up

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk
 

Hornady is sending a new subplate.  Maybe this will fix the issue.

[Jmoreno88]

Hornady is sending a new subplate.  Maybe this will fix the issue.

I suspect it will. if you're shell plate is tight then the only thing affecting ejection is that nub. It sometimes wears at an angle and cause the case to ride up the "ramped" edge rather than hitting a flat edge and kicking out

Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk

[Yoder]

I've had a lot of issues with cases tipping with my 9mm shell plate.  Two things helped with this problem.  The first thing was keeping the shell plate tight.  Put a lock washer between the flat washer and the bolt and it won't loosen up as much.  Second thing I put a shim under the floor plate of the press.  This tightens up the space between the floor plate and the shell plate.  I don't remember the thickness.  Here is the shim kit I bought.  I didn't come up with these ideas, but they worked well for my press. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Steel-Arbor-Assortment-1008-1010-Chemistry/dp/B002C2GPJ4