Livin_cincy Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 I was told that a Hornady LNL is not designed to seat primers below flush. Since below flush and a range is typically given in loading manuals this seemed odd. I sent a message to Hornady and asked. They got back to me. The answer is, " The AP will seat primers to a flush fit position.". Is this a deal breaker problem with this press? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beef15 Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 The LnL AP's primer seating is pretty disappointing, but functional better than 99% of the time IME, more like 99.a whole lot of nines. In over 10k rounds I've had 3 failures that I attributed to high primers and possibly two others that got ejected and not retried or inspected. You must remember to push the handle forward until it stops not just a half hearted bump, they will not seat as deep as you can do with some other tools, they are just barely past flush, usually 1-2 out of a hundred looks high to me and get a trip through my RCBS bench mounted which always gets them further in. Things to minimize it, keep the shellplate tight, shim the subplate if it has too much play, put a washer/dime/etc where the primer spud contacts the frame. With the exception of the first these are all stupid things you shouldn't have to do, but life will go on. I'll make an extended spud or mod one, one of these days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
techj Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 +1 on Beef15's advice to push the handle all the way forward. Only time I ever have a problem with primer seating is if the shell plate has loosened up. I have loaded over 30k rounds of pistol and a few k of rifle on my LNL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregJ Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 True, they do not. I super glued a piece of washer on the frame where the primer punch hits, and that probably helped more than anything else in this regard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaldor Posted January 12, 2017 Share Posted January 12, 2017 As others said, give it a good push on seating. Make sure the shell plate is tight. And if that fails, put a dime under the primer punch. I have no issues going below flush on my LnL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jester121 Posted January 16, 2017 Share Posted January 16, 2017 On 1/12/2017 at 8:42 AM, Livin_cincy said: I was told that a Hornady LNL is not designed to seat primers below flush. Since below flush and a range is typically given in loading manuals this seemed odd. I sent a message to Hornady and asked. They got back to me. The answer is, " The AP will seat primers to a flush fit position.". This has not been my experience, My LnL (4 years old or so) seats primers well below flush, like 6-7 thou last time I measured with Federal SPPs. Maybe they changed the specs on the punch spring or something? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_cincy Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 1 hour ago, jester121 said: This has not been my experience, My LnL (4 years old or so) seats primers well below flush, like 6-7 thou last time I measured with Federal SPPs. Maybe they changed the specs on the punch spring or something? It seems to be hit and miss. Some people can and others cannot. Hornady says the press does not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Livin_cincy Posted January 17, 2017 Author Share Posted January 17, 2017 I was reading the SAAMI manual and they are only concerned with Flush or .008" Below. "PRIMERS TO BE SEATED FLUSH TO 0.008” (0.20) BELOW FACE OF CARTRIDGE CASE HEAD " on page 26,http://saami.org/specifications_and_information/publications/download/Z299-3_ANSI-SAAMI _CFPandR.pdf#page=10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamesp81 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 My LnL is notorious for this. Especially with 223. It's one of the LnL's two major flaws, the other being the persnickety case feeder. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DWFAN Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 If someone would comission a large order of longer seating punches for that nut Hornady uses, they'd sell every single one of them.Ballistic tools? You listening? (Sold my LnL long ago, but wished for this part every day I used the press) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bummy425 Posted January 17, 2017 Share Posted January 17, 2017 Its all about the shell plate being tight...if its loose you have no chanceSent from my SM-G925V using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmella Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 When I had a LNL I glued a spent primer to the bottom of the primer seat rod thing. It allowed the primers to seat slightly below flush. The thickness of the primer is how flush. Also there is a thread somewhere that shows what others have done which involved filing the primer punch where the nut meets the base of the press so it could thread ever so lightly more into the press. I saw someone take the primer punch and place it in a drill and locked the drill into a vice then took a file to the nut and turned the drill on so the filing was evenly spread. Hope that makes sense and gives you an idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shmella Posted January 19, 2017 Share Posted January 19, 2017 I'll add I had reliability issues with using the method of glueing a spent primer to the punch. It pushes the punch too far up and eventually gets stuck and doesnt reliably retract to the original position and the primer shuttle gets caught on the punch not allowing it to feed the next primer. I would recommend filling the base of the nut/primer punch mechanism to allow it to thread deeper into the press. A little more involved but a more reliable permanent fix instead of a bandaid. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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