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LNL indexing snappy and high primer fix.


bessy

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Hey guys,

I'm not sure if this has been posted here before but I figure I might as well share an experiment.

Recently I've noticed that with 9mm, some powder was spilling out between stations. I've also been shooting some revo, and I've had to hand seat primers below flush to get reliable ignition. I came across this shim fix for the LNL. I tried it out and it solved my issues.

By shimming the the bearing surface between the drive hub, and subplate assembly i was able to get less snappy indexing, and my primers are now seating below flush.

Here is the fix in detail...

http://www.ar15.com/mobile/topic.html?b=6&f=42&t=414607&page=1

Let me know what you guys think..

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  • 2 weeks later...

Perhaps I got "lucky" or Hornady is aware of the issue, as I checked the clearance between the shell plate and base. I was already at .003 clearance. Tried a .0015 shim just to see if it'd help, and all it did was cause binding. I think .003 clearance is about as good as it gets. Another tip I read was to take some tension off the balls in the shell plates to reduce the "snap". I still had to tweak the v-blocks to get the cases pushed into the shell plates straight.

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i had a lot of powder spillage at indexing. some thick grease cured the problem totally. also the bullets feeding improved a lot and bullets didnt fall off the case at indexing.

but grease needs to be reapplied regularly and the back of the cases gets a little greased up

looks like thos shims might be a good solution. another would be to fit a sort of "brake", but that would require machining the press piston.

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Take a dremel tool and put a small bevel on the holes the ball bearings drop into. Only do it on the one side. The two bearings are across from each other so the will still locate properly. Kinda like how a revolver has chamfers on one side of the cylinder notches.

I will take a pic of mine when I get a chance.

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leas327,

If you tighten the lockwasher that way you risk cracking the shellplate.

Also you have not learned how to correctly install the spring.

Google for "HORNADY LNL-AP PRESS SET UP HINTS AND TRICKS".

A complete video series on the press by 76highboy

The complete series is available at thefirearmsforum also

in the reloading forum.

The viseo series is great to watch and learn.

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Dude, I was doing it with one hand holding my phone to make video to show a sub plate mod. I know how the spring goes on but am not going to dick around with it and waste a bunch of time for a video that was just supposed to show how the shell plate doesn't snap anymore.

Same goes for the shell plate tightening. I know how to do it, but just did the easiest and fastest way to do it one handed. If you tighten a shell plate down that way and crack it...you are doing it wrong. Use a lock washer on top and you can tighten it snug and not have to wrench it down.

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leas327,

If you tighten the lockwasher that way you risk cracking the shellplate.

Also you have not learned how to correctly install the spring.

Google for "HORNADY LNL-AP PRESS SET UP HINTS AND TRICKS".

A complete video series on the press by 76highboy

The complete series is available at thefirearmsforum also

in the reloading forum.

The viseo series is great to watch and learn.

You see him doing everything with one hand? He even went as far as just snug on the plate bolt....doing it with one hand while holding his camera.

Seems like an interesting tweak. I've read about people using a soft head hammer to press the balls into the plates to take out some of the spring tension. I've got about .003" clearance on the plate. The thinnest shim in the pack caused slight binding, so I removed it. Perhaps just polishing the detent holes on the plate to create a soft radius would reduce the snap effect.

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leas327,

If you tighten the lockwasher that way you risk cracking the shellplate.

Also you have not learned how to correctly install the spring.

Google for "HORNADY LNL-AP PRESS SET UP HINTS AND TRICKS".

A complete video series on the press by 76highboy

The complete series is available at thefirearmsforum also

in the reloading forum.

The viseo series is great to watch and learn.

You are not going crack the sellplate tightening it that way... Adding a lock washer doesn't change the way tighten the shell plate.

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I too have the spillage, especially when loading 9mm with more volumous case charges. After laborious measurement with calipers (its not easy to take the measurements one needs to get a baseline for the necessary shim stack) I ended up added .0035" of shims after some trial and error from .002 - .005" worth. It definitely needs to be spot on to make a difference as too little shim will do nothing and too much will bind up your press and risk snapping the drive pawls. For example for my press, .002 didnt help at all and .005 was way too tight. After shimming, its also necessary to fine tune your drive pawls to get the timing just right since they will no longer snap into the detents to auto center (a good thing actually).

Also, it seems there are 2 variations of Sub-Plate out there, one with a flat bottom and one with a stepped bottom. The whole ARfCom FAQ is based on the flat bottom subplate and the measurements needed to deal with the stepped bottom are going to be more difficult to take. You may need to remove the subplate entirely if you cannot get a good, accurate depth measurement. Further, you will need to TRIM your shims for a smaller OD measurement to fit under the stepped subplate--something they don't include in thier FAQ.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I did the shimming and it got be .003" below flush with my Federal primers.

I have just barely a bit of drag I will most likely reduce my shim by .0005 or maybe .001

For my testing/experimenting I wanted to remove the most slop.

I bought a S&W929 revo and plan on installing an Apex Tactical extended firing pin.

They state you need to seat Federal primers .007"-.010" below flush.

The next step I did was to take my primer seater out of the press and chuck it in a drill and use a hand file and trim off a few thousands of an inch so when I screw it in my press it just touches the primer sled.

Now my primers are .007-.008" below flush.

FWIW-Adding a dime to the base of the press does nothing basically. the limiting factor when you do that is once that piston travels up and bottoms out on that e-ring attached to the piston it will not go higher into the primer pocket.

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I did the shimming and it got be .003" below flush with my Federal primers.

I have just barely a bit of drag I will most likely reduce my shim by .0005 or maybe .001

For my testing/experimenting I wanted to remove the most slop.

I bought a S&W929 revo and plan on installing an Apex Tactical extended firing pin.

They state you need to seat Federal primers .007"-.010" below flush.

The next step I did was to take my primer seater out of the press and chuck it in a drill and use a hand file and trim off a few thousands of an inch so when I screw it in my press it just touches the primer sled.

Now my primers are .007-.008" below flush.

FWIW-Adding a dime to the base of the press does nothing basically. the limiting factor when you do that is once that piston travels up and bottoms out on that e-ring attached to the piston it will not go higher into the primer pocket.

Where are you removing material from the primer seater?

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I tried to upload a picture, I have done it way in the past but no luck tonight....sorry.

The flat part of the unit that is 90 degrees to the threads.

The part of the primer seated that bottoms out when you screw it in.

I had a HARD time getting this unit chucked up im a Dewalt drill but finally got it. Rad the drill on high and took a file and GENTLY trimmed off a few thousands of an inch. I bought a spare to do this to just incase. I got lucky my first try it was perfect for me.

If Hornady would offer this unit with an extended lenght piston for the Small and Large primer as an OPTION for people that need to seat primers deeper (some competion shooters that want to utilize extended firing pins) I think they could SELL MORE PRESSES.

(I know the Dillion 1050 has an adjustment for primer depth)

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Curious when these LnLs were produced, if anyone knows? My early 2012 model consistently seats all primers (Win Lg & Sm, Remington Sm, Fed Lg) between .003-.005 deep on pretty much any brass, and I'm not one for shoving the handle home too hard. I've never had a bit of trouble with primers not seating deep enough, so I wonder if a batch of parts was just out of spec (or they changed the spec)?

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