I resolved the case feed screw up. Buy a 220/110 converter.

I changed the primer seat from the large to small. No problems.

I have the powder feed on station 3, haven't put any powder through it yet. The instructions say to screw it down until the roter pivots completely. That doesn't happen even with it screwed tight to the shell plate. Still some room to pivot up further. Is that normal?

I bought the Hornaday titanium pistol die 3 die set for the 9mm and the taper crimp die.

The decap is working in station 1. The expander is installed in station 2 and I'm fine tuning it.

The bullet seat is in station 4. Haven't started adjusting that yet. Haven't adjusted the taper crimp.

One problem is the bullet retaining spring. Just using empty casings they jam at the ejection spring. Advice would be appreciated.

I'm going to manufacture some bullets this weekend.

One problem is the bullet retaining spring. Just using empty casings they jam at the ejection spring. Advice would be appreciated.

I'm going to manufacture some bullets this weekend.

First of all, call Hornady and order some extra case retaining springs, they are quite fragile and do break after some use. I haven't done them any favors as I am continually kinking and over stretching them when I remove shell plates.

I have found that the spring doesn't act quite right until all 5 stations of the shellplate are filled. I sometimes have to "help" the first cases into the shell plate, but by number 5, they seem to load and eject OK (I've only loaded .357 so far, .44 soon).

Also, if you are moving the lever and it jams/locks up, DO NOT force it. I did, and ended up bending the primer feed cam. I was not able to bend it quite back to it's original position, and scratched some finish off my press in the process. I had to order a new one, and the only way to install that was to totally remove the press from the bench, not fun.

All that said, I think I've finally got it fine tuned and I am used to it and understand what is doing what and when, so my production is going to increase. I'm happy with the press, and am glad I bought it BEFORE Cabela's raised the price to $499 (I got mine for $469, plus the cost of shell plates and case feed plate).

Thanks for the help. My basic unit cost $299.99 at Graf's. Shell plate, dies and case feeder were extra. With extra bushings I'm at around $650. I'll need to shoot a lot to recoup my investment. BooHooHoo.

Thanks for the help. My basic unit cost $299.99 at Graf's. Shell plate, dies and case feeder were extra. With extra bushings I'm at around $650. I'll need to shoot a lot to recoup my investment. BooHooHoo.

Yeah, heck of a dilemma to be in, isn't it? :)

Reloading really lowers the per round costs, doesn't it?! :D

robctwo,

One modification to the press you can do if the brass retaining spring becomes a problem is to make a simple feed pawl guide to force the spring down a bit just before the brass reaches the ejection spring. I did this with a piece of thin aluminum bracket and then drilled and tapped a couple of mounting screws on the baseplate. Others have done it with a piece of sheetmetal attached around the front of the press (the side facing you).

This modification is not hard to do, just takes a bit of patience. Others have not had the problem with the springs. Some have been able to adjust the ejector spring to eliminate the problem. I wasn't able to and felt relucant to adjust it, so I made the simple feed pawl. This eliminated the one minor inconvenience I had with my press and it's ran like a top since.

Hope this helps,

Dave in Oakwood, GA

Thanks for the tip. I have a general idea about how that would look. Can you post a picture of that part? Or email me at robcorl@comcast.net?

My shooting buddy and I are going out to our club tomorrow to shoot a speed steel match. We're both novices. Our goal is to get a good light load for our 9mms.

He just picked up a new chrono yesterday. There is an old one at the club which is in bad repair and somewhat suspect. We are finding the reloading an expansion of the whole shooting experience.

robctwo,

I'm not sure you can see the mod well here, but if not, I'll try and post a better pic. It's in the middle picture of the three.

http://img11.photobucket.com/albums/v33/DaveinOakwoodGA/Reloading%20Bench/

Use password daxian.nospam, removing the dot and the nospam.

Dave in Oakwood, GA

robctwo,

I'm not sure you can see the mod well here, but if not, I'll try and post a better pic. It's in the middle picture of the three.

http://img11.photobucket.com/albums/v33/DaveinOakwoodGA/Reloading%20Bench/

Dave in Oakwood, GA


Location is password protected.

I can't get in either.

I have the powder feed on station 3, haven't put any powder through it yet. The instructions say to screw it down until the roter pivots completely. That doesn't happen even with it screwed tight to the shell plate. Still some room to pivot up further. Is that normal?

No. The rotor should pivot until the base of the metering unit (where it goes into the cylinder) touches the red housing. "Short stroking" the rotor WILL (eventually) cause the measure to bind, preventing it from resetting properly on the downstroke, potentially resulting in uncharged cases. The rotor will always return freely only if the the measure is properly adjusted. For 9mm, the linkage arm should be hooked to the powder die collar with the top hole on the linkage arm. Also make sure you're using the handgun powder bushing (goes inside the powder die). My properly adjusted powder die for 9mm has about 4 thread revolutions exposed above the lock nut. You are testing this with a case in the shellplate, right? ;) Also make sure that you install the powder guide arm on the powder die collar. I initially just set the guide arms that came with my powder dies aside as the directions really don't indicate what they're for, but I've found without them the powder measure can become improperly aligned with the powder die collar potentially resulting in a bindage of the linkage. The guide arm goes on the non-protruding side of the powder die collar, against which rides the plastic cap on the powder measure linkage collar. Good God this sounds tedious.

I bought the Hornaday titanium pistol die 3 die set for the 9mm and the taper crimp die.

This is the same setup I use. For larger cases I add a Powder Cop die into the mix, but with 9mm it's easy to visually verify there's powder in the case.

One problem is the bullet retaining spring. Just using empty casings they jam at the ejection spring. Advice would be appreciated.

I've found that empty cases typically bind up against the ejector (not sure if you're talking about the actual ejector or the spring cartridge retainer here). Loaded cartridges eject properly -- this seems to be because they're top heavy.

If your problem is that the retainer spring prevents the case from ejecting, this is because the retainer spring has popped out of place. As the shellplate turns, you can see that at station 5 the retainer spring should divert downard into a channel that goes around stations 5 and 1. Occasionally when the shellplate is empty it can come out of place -- just push it down in from of station 1 while you're cycling the press. This problem does not happen when you're reloading normally and the shellplate is full.

Thanks for the help. My basic unit cost $299.99 at Graf's. Shell plate, dies and case feeder were extra. With extra bushings I'm at around $650.

With dies, shellplates, casefeeder and plates, bushings, &c. Hornady's gotten about $1500 out of me so far -- most of which I raised selling all my old Dillon stuff :D

My LnL AP also "forced" me to get a Lee Classic Cast single stage press (which is really, really nice by the way). With the LnL conversion bushing in the Lee, the distance from shellplate/shellholder to die is the same on both presses. This lets you move your LnL bushinged dies from the LnL AP to a single-stage w/o readjustment. Pretty neat.

Gentlemen:

I put the password in the original post.

Cortland:

You got your Lee to match by screwing it all the way down? I'm going to have to measure mine and see if it'll fit or if I have to shim it.

Dave in Oakwood, GA

quote:
I put the password in the original post.

Not reading carefully seems to be one of my many faults. Nice pictures. I didn't see the bracket very clearly, but i understand the concept.

quote:

No. The rotor should pivot until the base of the metering unit (where it goes into the cylinder) touches the red housing. "Short stroking" the rotor WILL (eventually) cause the measure to bind, preventing it from resetting properly on the downstroke, potentially resulting in uncharged cases. The rotor will always return freely only if the the measure is properly adjusted. For 9mm, the linkage arm should be hooked to the powder die collar with the top hole on the linkage arm.

I took a picture of what I did after reading your post. It's here:
http://homepage.mac.com/robcorl/locknload/PhotoAlbum63.html

This is slightly different than the instructions in the book, but it does pivot the rotor all the way up to the housing and does deliver the powder charge to the casing. I need to take things apart and clean up powder.

Oh, in keeping with the concept of promptly admitting my mistakes I have broken my decapping pin off the spindle. Where it says if you run into resistance, stop, I went ahead and completed the stroke. I have no idea how I screwed up the adjustment on the depth of the decpper. I had measured it and thought it was locked in. Good news is I over bought on my original order and have a complete set of Lyman 9mm dies as well. I have no idea why I ordered them. I was probably confused when ordering the lyman expander die and the 220 volt European motor for my case feeder.

Before the decap tragedy i had deaped 10 cases. I ran them through the stations to adjust the powder, bullet set and crimp. I have 10 bullets. 124 gr. Berry flat point over 4.2 gr. AA #2, OAL 1.06.

Today will see if i can get the retaining spring to work, and see about loading some rounds with the full stations.

Thanks to all your help. It's running into good people like you guys who are willing to help a newcomer that makes this sport so much more fun.

My friend was over last night to look at the new press. He has Hornaday envy.

Oh, in keeping with the concept of promptly admitting my mistakes I have broken my decapping pin off the spindle. Where it says if you run into resistance, stop, I went ahead and completed the stroke. I have no idea how I screwed up the adjustment on the depth of the decpper.

Huh? You really have to cinch the decapping rod retaining collet down hard to be able to break the pin. On all the Hornady die sets I get, the collet comes pretty loose -- that is, the decap rod gets pushed up in the die easily. The idea is to tighten the collet only enough so that the rod stays in place for normal decapping, but no tighter. In case of misalignment, crimped primers, Berdan primers, etc. this lets the decapping rod slide up under extreme force instead of breaking.

Midway sells a replacement "Hornady Handgun Spindle Assembly" for about $5. You might want to get one or two of these, along with spare cartridge retainer springs.

I fooled around all day. It was working real good after a couple hundred. I'm not trying to meet any speed records. Made just under 600 rounds. I'm feeling pretty good about this deal.

http://homepage.mac.com/robcorl/locknload/PhotoAlbum63.html

If you're to the point you've made six hundred rounds, I think you've "gotten there" and anything else is just fine tuning.

Good job,

Dave in Oakwood, GA