A REAL PRESS - on my own little work bench - Yeehahh!!! No more hammering those little suckers together on a Lee Loader. God only knows how many pistol rounds I hammered together in the '70s - but I've banged together several 100 .243 rounds with the Lee Loader since 2010. It does the job, but Lordy - what a racket
Just loaded my first 20 rounds on the press - sweeet.
I finally settled on the Hornady Lock-n-Load because of the quality, price and the ease of changing from one caliber to another.
Now that I've got the kinks worked out - its time to get my grand-kids up to speed on it too - they are dying to try it out too. A few weeks ago we loaded some .243 with 75 grain V-max over 38 grains of Varget with a "jump" of .010 to the lands and my grand son shot a killer group - 10 rounds into an area the size of a quarter.
Next on the list is a set of 7.62 X 54 R dies, a sonic cleaner, an electronic scale and a.......... (the list never stops growing does it :) Well, I will just be happy with a real press for now. I just had to post this somewhere where someone might understand my excitement. My wife just keeps looking at me and saying 'so what' :)
YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
Moderators: carlson1, Charles L. Cotton
Re: YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
YOUR wife must have been talking to my wiferthillusa wrote:A REAL PRESS - on my own little work bench - Yeehahh!!! No more hammering those little suckers together on a Lee Loader. God only knows how many pistol rounds I hammered together in the '70s - but I've banged together several 100 .243 rounds with the Lee Loader since 2010. It does the job, but Lordy - what a racket
Just loaded my first 20 rounds on the press - sweeet.
I finally settled on the Hornady Lock-n-Load because of the quality, price and the ease of changing from one caliber to another.
Now that I've got the kinks worked out - its time to get my grand-kids up to speed on it too - they are dying to try it out too. A few weeks ago we loaded some .243 with 75 grain V-max over 38 grains of Varget with a "jump" of .010 to the lands and my grand son shot a killer group - 10 rounds into an area the size of a quarter.
Next on the list is a set of 7.62 X 54 R dies, a sonic cleaner, an electronic scale and a.......... (the list never stops growing does it :) Well, I will just be happy with a real press for now. I just had to post this somewhere where someone might understand my excitement. My wife just keeps looking at me and saying 'so what' :)
She just about thinks anything out of the house is " Messing Around"..!!!! Mostly includes my shop.
But she does like to pull a trigger every now and then
Congrads on your new super cool progressive press, I assume you are talking about the LnL AP ?
It IS a sweet press...Several here have that press....I use to have a "Blue" progressive press, but sold it a while back.
Thinking about getting a LnL AP press next....I just don't shoot that many bullets these dayz, been doing ok with my Redding T7 press....But it would be nice to be in the progressive metallic press club again..!!
I can't wait to get my GrandSon loading with me...But its gonna be a while until he is able....He's just 22 days old now
Good luck and have fun and PLEASE be safe....!
Safety glasses for everyone
Don2
Re: YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
Nice! What is your setup on dies? Do you deprime/trim prior to running the cartridges through the press?rthillusa wrote: Now that I've got the kinks worked out - its time to get my grand-kids up to speed on it too - they are dying to try it out too. A few weeks ago we loaded some .243 with 75 grain V-max over 38 grains of Varget with a "jump" of .010 to the lands and my grand son shot a killer group - 10 rounds into an area the size of a quarter.
I don't fear guns; I fear voters and politicians that fear guns.
Re: YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
Its just the single stage Hornady Lock-n-Load Classic. I got the Lee dies because (a) my Cabella's doesn't stock Hornady Dies in the store and (b) Lee includes a neck sizing die which is what I wanted to do since I only have one gun in each caliber I am reloading for, so no need to full length resize. So far, I have not needed to trim the length, but most of the cases are on their 3rd or 4th reload and are right at max length - so I am probably going to have to deal with that on the next go-round
Since its a single stage, I decap and size a batch, then prime a batch off the press with a hand held priming tool from Lee, then charge and seat bullets for a batch.
I had to experiment a little with where to set the sizing die and the bullet seating die to get the right depth - so now I need a bullet pulling collet too - since I have about 1/2 dozen rounds that don't quite measure up. But now that I have the dies set to the right depth, it is very quick to change from the decap/sizing dies to the bullet seating die due to the die bushings - just twist one out and twist the other in.
There is a conflict between the way Lee says to set up their sizing dies and the way Hornady says to set it up. Hornady's press "cams over" at the end of the stroke, in other words, the ram reaches the top of its travel, then goes back down a fraction of an inch as the handle reaches the bottom of its stroke. I think this is to allow you to set the die and then get a consistent pressure and positive tactile feed back on each pull of the handle. Lee says "forget all that" _ Lee says seat the die so deep it will not cam over and apply at least 25 lbs of pressure on the handle. Well fine, but how do I know what 25 lbs of pressure is - do I just imagine what lifting a 25 lb weight would feel like and try to emulate that. I tried that approach on about 20 rounds but I could feel the neck start to crush, so I then reset the die higher in the bushing so that I could get the "cam over" effect and end up with the appropriate neck size to hold the bullet firmly. This approach seems to work better and produce a more consistent neck size.
For setting the bullet seating die to the proper depth, I initially set it way too high and just sneaked up on the right depth using the adjusting screw on top of the die. It is extremely sensitive and you can get it to the exact .001 of an inch you want with about 1/32 of a turn. Of course, in learning how to use it and how sensitive it was, I went too deep a couple of times and had to back up and start over.
I bought the hornady tool to measure bullet jump to the lands so I could seat the bullets to the exact "jump" I wanted. (There is probably a better term for that). It is easy to use. It uses a dummy shell casing and you use whatever bullet you are going to be loading. Once you get the overall length needed to have 0 jump, then you back off .010, .020, .030 or whatever you want to try. They sell collets so you can measure off the bullet ogive instead of the tip which gives you a much more accurate and consistent measurement. I think they call it a "Bullet Comparator". From what I have read, getting the correct seating depth can have a big impact on accuracy and consistency and our first experiences are seeming to bear that out.
Anyway, its a heck of a lot of fun fiddling with all that stuff and the grand kids seem to get a kick out of it too. - BUT - today the weather is beautiful and they are all hollering to go fishing so I guess the press will have a chance to cool off while we go drown some worms.
Since its a single stage, I decap and size a batch, then prime a batch off the press with a hand held priming tool from Lee, then charge and seat bullets for a batch.
I had to experiment a little with where to set the sizing die and the bullet seating die to get the right depth - so now I need a bullet pulling collet too - since I have about 1/2 dozen rounds that don't quite measure up. But now that I have the dies set to the right depth, it is very quick to change from the decap/sizing dies to the bullet seating die due to the die bushings - just twist one out and twist the other in.
There is a conflict between the way Lee says to set up their sizing dies and the way Hornady says to set it up. Hornady's press "cams over" at the end of the stroke, in other words, the ram reaches the top of its travel, then goes back down a fraction of an inch as the handle reaches the bottom of its stroke. I think this is to allow you to set the die and then get a consistent pressure and positive tactile feed back on each pull of the handle. Lee says "forget all that" _ Lee says seat the die so deep it will not cam over and apply at least 25 lbs of pressure on the handle. Well fine, but how do I know what 25 lbs of pressure is - do I just imagine what lifting a 25 lb weight would feel like and try to emulate that. I tried that approach on about 20 rounds but I could feel the neck start to crush, so I then reset the die higher in the bushing so that I could get the "cam over" effect and end up with the appropriate neck size to hold the bullet firmly. This approach seems to work better and produce a more consistent neck size.
For setting the bullet seating die to the proper depth, I initially set it way too high and just sneaked up on the right depth using the adjusting screw on top of the die. It is extremely sensitive and you can get it to the exact .001 of an inch you want with about 1/32 of a turn. Of course, in learning how to use it and how sensitive it was, I went too deep a couple of times and had to back up and start over.
I bought the hornady tool to measure bullet jump to the lands so I could seat the bullets to the exact "jump" I wanted. (There is probably a better term for that). It is easy to use. It uses a dummy shell casing and you use whatever bullet you are going to be loading. Once you get the overall length needed to have 0 jump, then you back off .010, .020, .030 or whatever you want to try. They sell collets so you can measure off the bullet ogive instead of the tip which gives you a much more accurate and consistent measurement. I think they call it a "Bullet Comparator". From what I have read, getting the correct seating depth can have a big impact on accuracy and consistency and our first experiences are seeming to bear that out.
Anyway, its a heck of a lot of fun fiddling with all that stuff and the grand kids seem to get a kick out of it too. - BUT - today the weather is beautiful and they are all hollering to go fishing so I guess the press will have a chance to cool off while we go drown some worms.
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Last edited by rthillusa on Thu Apr 05, 2012 11:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
I think I am beginning to drift more into the camp of "Those who shoot so they can reload more."
Re: YES! - I am the proud new owner of a Hornady press
Loaded 3 boxes of .243 using the Lee scale and Lee's powder measure. After a little practice I'm finding it works really well. The powder measure is accurate to within about 5-7 kernals of Varget either side of 0 on the scale. Consistency in operation seems to be the trick it getting relatively consistent throws. I run it set a little light, put it on the scale then trickle up to 0. Actually works pretty fast once you get your routine going.
Some day maybe I'll get an electronic scale, a better powder measure, etc - but the Lee equipment seems fine for now with my volume of reloading. But I am glad I sprung for a few extra bucks and got the Hornady Lock-n-Load press instead of the Lee. It was only about $35 more than Lee's Classic Cast, but is 3X the press - I think it was money well spent. Next on the agenda is something to clean the cases with. They are starting to look a little sad.
Hopefully I'll get to try some of the loads out on the range Saturday to see how they do. Next Saturday for sure because my daughter-in-law has asked for a trip to the range for her birthday present. She definitely knows how to get on her pa-in-laws good side (as if she wasn't already). This is turning into a family sport.
Some day maybe I'll get an electronic scale, a better powder measure, etc - but the Lee equipment seems fine for now with my volume of reloading. But I am glad I sprung for a few extra bucks and got the Hornady Lock-n-Load press instead of the Lee. It was only about $35 more than Lee's Classic Cast, but is 3X the press - I think it was money well spent. Next on the agenda is something to clean the cases with. They are starting to look a little sad.
Hopefully I'll get to try some of the loads out on the range Saturday to see how they do. Next Saturday for sure because my daughter-in-law has asked for a trip to the range for her birthday present. She definitely knows how to get on her pa-in-laws good side (as if she wasn't already). This is turning into a family sport.