Hornady Press

[dzrtram]

Have any of you ever owned, now own, or had hands-on experience loading with Hornady's Lock-N-Load Auto Progressive? I would really appreciate some advice, recommendations, warnings, or whatever, from your hands-on experience on this reloader.
http://www.shootingtimes.com/ammunition/lock_1105/
Thank you very much!

[Graybeard]

Nope not with the progressive version. I do use the single stage. Only real complaint I have and have voiced to them is with the Lock-N-Load feature. That's a lot of money for the minor convenience of quicker die changes. On my single stage presses I batch process cases and usually do anywhere from 50 to several hundred at a time. I size and deprime all then change dies and bell them if handgun or seat primers if rifle and then finish loading. I only change each die out once for the full loading operation that is usually from 50 to hundreds of rounds. How can I save any real time when it takes at most 10 seconds to remove or replace a standard die compared to half that for the Lock-N-Load? Cost is $3-$4 a pop for the inserts. If you don't have one for each and every die then why have them at all?

Sorry I can't help more on the specific press.

GB

[Dand]

I've wondered the same thing about the Lock and load GB.

Another thing I've thought with regards to various progressives is the direction of rotation of the shell plate and which one would be most suitable for me.  I like to use my right hand to pull the press handle and would want to do all the other duties with my left - being a lefty.  I've wondered if the Hornady would be more amenable to me than the Dillon.

Lack of $ and modest annual loading helped me decide to go with a Lyman Turret.

[williamlayton]

can i dig this up from the bone pile and ask a question as I give an openion?
To me, just my unlearned, obviously unskilled way of thinking-BTW-this is why I'm leaning very hard to the lnl. For me it is the assumed assurance that when I put a die in the machine I will not need to worry about reasdjusting the settings. Seems like a safty assurance, to me, that things were as i left them.
blessings

[coltfan]

Haven't had enough time to fine tune it, but the initial set up was pretty easy. I am impressed with the simplicity of the Hornady design as compared to the Dillon. I'm also impressed with the size of the ram, I'm guessing its 2" in diameter. Kind of reminds me of a Mack truck. I'll try to get more feedback in a day or two, after we get a chance to run it through its paces.

[Watt]

Well, I switched to Dillon after over a year of fighting with my LNL.  IMHO, the Dillon is head and shoulders above the Hornady.

On my Hornady, there were out of spec parts that loused up the primer feed.  I'm told it's fixed now in the second generation presses.  My shell plates needed grinding to facilitate completed round ejection and the spring that does that doesn't allow you to use a fifth station Lee factory crimp die.  One of the main reasons I got the press was the five stations and it was a disappointment to not be able to use station five.

The pistol inserts for the powder measure were out of round and I had to replace them.  The automatic case feeder kept jamming up top, and wouldn't reliably drop .40 S&W.  When I made some of the "fixes" for these problems I was told they had made some of those changes too!  Made me wonder why they didn't tell me so I didn't waste all that time.  Also made me wonder why I was spending my money to fix their problems.

It now sits gathering dust, though I do sometimes use it as a single stage for .45-70 loading or a batch processor for sizing/belling.  I prime off press.  

I originally bought the press because I thought they had a very good idea.  What I got prompted me to go ahead and buy a Dillon 650, which has been great.  Wish I'd have gotten the Dillon in the first place.