So I got my LNL last week and got to use it this weekend. For people who just want to cut through all the in's and out's. The Press WILL ROCK YOUR FREAKING SOCKS OFF!!
Now as with anyone looking to get into reloading. I highly recommend starting with a single stage press, simply because with a single stage you will develop the ability to be meticulous, careful, and patient. Those skills learned helped me be able to effectively use my press this weekend and not make any mistakes. With a progressive press there are about 5 things you need to do every pull of the press lever. IF you don't do those 5 things you will a minimum slow your bullet production at worst you'll double charge and blow yourself up
A progressive press is very nice to have for high production, but in my mind very dangerous for a newbie reloader. I even had a few double charges that I caught.
This press is very well built thick cast aluminum, thick lever arms, very cool automatic indexing system that is easy to calibrate, grease zerk's for the massive 2" piston, and the rotation points on the levers. The main piston even had a grease groove cut into it so that once filled, the main piston will have no need for greasing for a long time
Here is what the indexing system looks like and the grease zerks on the lever arm
Here is the die quick change system. Its very sturdy. The dies drop in and are locked in place with a small turn, kinda like a bolt action rifle. Once the dies are calibrated, you can change calibers in less than 30 seconds.
The powder drop system is even very unique on this system. You can buy adjustable inserts that once calibrated, you can change the amount of powder dropped in about 5 seconds without weighing charges to ensure accuracy(any responsible reloader will check his powder drops before using them, but this system is very accurate). So I could change my powder drop from 5 grains to 25 grains in 5 seconds. The powder drop inserts are only $6 I think and there is a powder assembly for pistol and rifle. I loaded up only 45 acp this weekend, but I used red dot which is a large flake powder so the pistol powder assembly didn't work well with this powder so I used the rifle powder drop die. This powder drop is very consistent. Its accurate to within +/- .15 grains. I checked powder drops at random intervals just to ensure the system was accurate.
In this picture you can see the shell plate. The shell place is held in place by a single hollow hex head cap screw. The shell plate itself has a keyway to keep it in place and the bottom if it has roller ball detents that positively "lock" the shell plate into the next station. The shells are held in by a round spring that goes around the shell plate and is "sandwiched" between the shellplate and shellplate mounting surface. If at any time you notice an issue with a shell at any station, it is very easy to remove and replace that shell. The press came with the hex key to tighten in the shellplate. However using the hex key to tighten down the plate is very unnecessary. When I tighten down with the key, the roller ball detents where sandwiched very tightly and rotating the shellplate was very very stiff. I loosen the bolt and hand tightened the bolt. This made for very easy lever arm use and buttery smooth shellplate indexing. Following my method and not the manual, will greatly improve your first impressions of this machine
The plastic ball handle on the lever fits the hand well, however is slightly textured and I feel that after an hour or two your hand would be very raw, even for me with my massive callouses. I'm going to have my machinist buddy make an aluminum ball handle on his lathe
Overall I'm super pleased with this press. Despite my injured shoulder, which makes my adding a new shell and bullet every pull painful, its fast. I did about 100 rounds in 15 minutes. If I threw the automatic case feed on this thing it would give me one less thing to worry about and up my bullet production by a lot, like probably up to 700/800 rounds an hour.
Also Hornady is still doing their "get loaded" program, so the purchase of this press came with a coupon for 1K free bullets(you pay shipping) I ordered 1K 45 caliber 185 grain hollow points ($290 value). The press costed me $390 after shipping so I pretty much made out like DB. Cooper and lived to tell about it. $700 worth of reloading supplies and equipment for $415 dollars
Now as with anyone looking to get into reloading. I highly recommend starting with a single stage press, simply because with a single stage you will develop the ability to be meticulous, careful, and patient. Those skills learned helped me be able to effectively use my press this weekend and not make any mistakes. With a progressive press there are about 5 things you need to do every pull of the press lever. IF you don't do those 5 things you will a minimum slow your bullet production at worst you'll double charge and blow yourself up
A progressive press is very nice to have for high production, but in my mind very dangerous for a newbie reloader. I even had a few double charges that I caught.
This press is very well built thick cast aluminum, thick lever arms, very cool automatic indexing system that is easy to calibrate, grease zerk's for the massive 2" piston, and the rotation points on the levers. The main piston even had a grease groove cut into it so that once filled, the main piston will have no need for greasing for a long time
Here is what the indexing system looks like and the grease zerks on the lever arm
Here is the die quick change system. Its very sturdy. The dies drop in and are locked in place with a small turn, kinda like a bolt action rifle. Once the dies are calibrated, you can change calibers in less than 30 seconds.
The powder drop system is even very unique on this system. You can buy adjustable inserts that once calibrated, you can change the amount of powder dropped in about 5 seconds without weighing charges to ensure accuracy(any responsible reloader will check his powder drops before using them, but this system is very accurate). So I could change my powder drop from 5 grains to 25 grains in 5 seconds. The powder drop inserts are only $6 I think and there is a powder assembly for pistol and rifle. I loaded up only 45 acp this weekend, but I used red dot which is a large flake powder so the pistol powder assembly didn't work well with this powder so I used the rifle powder drop die. This powder drop is very consistent. Its accurate to within +/- .15 grains. I checked powder drops at random intervals just to ensure the system was accurate.
In this picture you can see the shell plate. The shell place is held in place by a single hollow hex head cap screw. The shell plate itself has a keyway to keep it in place and the bottom if it has roller ball detents that positively "lock" the shell plate into the next station. The shells are held in by a round spring that goes around the shell plate and is "sandwiched" between the shellplate and shellplate mounting surface. If at any time you notice an issue with a shell at any station, it is very easy to remove and replace that shell. The press came with the hex key to tighten in the shellplate. However using the hex key to tighten down the plate is very unnecessary. When I tighten down with the key, the roller ball detents where sandwiched very tightly and rotating the shellplate was very very stiff. I loosen the bolt and hand tightened the bolt. This made for very easy lever arm use and buttery smooth shellplate indexing. Following my method and not the manual, will greatly improve your first impressions of this machine
The plastic ball handle on the lever fits the hand well, however is slightly textured and I feel that after an hour or two your hand would be very raw, even for me with my massive callouses. I'm going to have my machinist buddy make an aluminum ball handle on his lathe
Overall I'm super pleased with this press. Despite my injured shoulder, which makes my adding a new shell and bullet every pull painful, its fast. I did about 100 rounds in 15 minutes. If I threw the automatic case feed on this thing it would give me one less thing to worry about and up my bullet production by a lot, like probably up to 700/800 rounds an hour.
Also Hornady is still doing their "get loaded" program, so the purchase of this press came with a coupon for 1K free bullets(you pay shipping) I ordered 1K 45 caliber 185 grain hollow points ($290 value). The press costed me $390 after shipping so I pretty much made out like DB. Cooper and lived to tell about it. $700 worth of reloading supplies and equipment for $415 dollars
