review of Hornady Lock-N-Load Automatic Progressive Press

Dick Stokes a very respected member of Nebraska reloaders and Omaha gun tech on Facebook, did a write up for us on his press. He has many years of experience in this field and his opinions and knowledge are greatly valued and appreciated.

Here is what he says. 

  

User Review of Hornady Lock-N-Load Automatic Progressive Press

Lock-N-Load® AP™

“The Lock-N-Load AP with NEW EZject system loads at a rate of up to 500 rounds per hour, and features the quickest change-over of any progressive press.

The Lock-N-Load AP is a professional-grade, auto-indexing, 5-station progressive press that features Our patented Lock-N-Load bushing system as well as a host of other features -- detailed below -- that make it much more attractive than other, more expensive presses, such as the Dillon XL650.”

That is Hornady’s description of the LNL AP from their website.  I think that is what they refer to as a “puff piece” in the advertising world.  Before I start picking at it, I want the reader to know I have the press and use it.  It is a great tool and wouldn’t be without!  I also have an older RCBS Piggy Back progressive that I still use.  Hornady did an excellent job of taking the best parts of all the progressives and put it in one package at a reasonable price.  The package comes with a cartridge activated powder that is amazingly accurate consistently for something mechanical.

The LNL bushing system accepts all standard dies.  Once a die is set in the bushing and the die lock ring (if it has one) is set, a simple twist of the bushing makes quick work of inserting and/or removing of the dies from the head.  The press head is thick, sturdy and has enough room to insert/remove individual bushing containing dies or the case activated powder drop.

The ram that raises the shell plate to the dies is quite large in diameter which makes the up and down strokes very smooth.

The shell plate attaches to the ram head with a healthy size allen screw and has 5 case slots.  The cases are held in place on the shell plate with a circular stainless steel coiled retaining spring that rides in a half grove on the bottom of the shell plate and the other half grove in the ram head for alignment.

A simple description of the operation; with the handle in the upright position the ram head is at the lowered position.  Insert a case in the first slot of the shell plate, pull the handle down indexing the case up into the sizing and depriming die (the spent primer falls down a tube into a container).  Raising the handle back up the plate indexes to the priming position and pushing back on the handle seats the primer.  Pull the handle down again, the plate indexes and runs the case up into the neck expander die (if one is being used). If a station does not have a die in it, the casing simply goes up/down in an empty hole not being touched.  Raising the handle back up indexes the case into position so the next down stroke raises the casing up into the case activated powder dispenser and the preset charge is dropped into the case.  Raise the handle and the plate indexes so a bullet can be sat on top of the case.  Lower the handle and the case goes up into the seating die and seats the bullet.  Raising the handle indexes the shell plate so the next time the handle is pulled down the the case go up into the station 5 hole and when lowered the completed round is ejected into a removable tray that is mounted to the side of the press.  The station 5 hole could be used for a stand alone factory crimp die.  Seem like a lot of pulls on the handle?  Not so much!  Each time you pull the handle you are placing a case on the first slot of the shell plate, so by now all the slots have a case in them and is at one of the stages of being reloaded.    Once filled, every time you pull the handle a completed cartridge is ejected into the completed round tray.  Happy, Happy, Happy!!!

Their puff piece says you can produce 500 rounds an hour.  That means every 8.3 seconds you have to be placing a piece of brass in the starting slot and placing a bullet on a case at the next to last position to be seated while watching all 5 stations to see that everything is working properly and don’t forget the visual inspection of the case you are placing the bullet on to be seated to make sure there is powder in the case.  At that speed you probably don’t have any regard for safety or quality of what you are loading.  If you do care about safety and quality you will still load a lot more rounds per hour than on a single stage simply because you are not taking a case in and out of a shell holder multiple times.  With 5 stations in the head there is adequate room to incorporate other dies such as the Powder Cop.

Sometimes I use it like a single stage press.  If I have a bunch of cases I want to deprime and size so I can measure, do case prep, etc on I’ll use the AP because of the auto eject feature, I don’t have to physically remove the case and place it in a tray.  I just put the one die in the head and start pulling the handle, placing another case in the starting slot each time I pull the handle.  Once the shell plate is full, a sized and deprimed case is ejected in the tray and when done I’m ready to move onto case prep.

IT IS VERY IMPORTANT that you learn the sound of the shell plate indexing properly, the feel of the handle as the ram raises and lowers properly, the feel of the primer seating when you push the handle to the rear to seat a primer and train your eyes to scan the primer shuttle and powder drop movement. It is imperative that the shell plate head is kept clean.  A small piece of powder or other debris falling into the primer shuttle slow will prevent the shuttle from coming fully forward into position to seat a primer.  That is why you need to learn to feel of primer seating.  It’s obvious if it doesn’t look right then stop but some things you can’t see happening so sound and especially feel are important.  If  it sounds or feels off even the slightest STOP and check it out!  The manufacture tolerances are very precise so there is no slop or wobble.  Day dream or let your mind wonder and you will have a problem.  Likely you won’t know you have a problem until you notice loose powder in the finished cartridge tray, which is usually the case, when a primer doesn’t get seated and powder starts falling out the primer pocket as the shell plate indexes.  Then you get to disassemble to clean up the shell plate and practice your bullet pulling skills!  Or even more fun, you get a case stuck in the die.  Murphy’s Law is always in play in reloading and I’ve had all these things happen to me.  Don’t take these things negative towards the press, it’s all operator error!  The LNL AP is an AWESOME piece of reloading equipment.  Spend some time reloading with it and you will quickly become familiar with all the parts and their function.

Out of the box the press and all the parts might look a little intimidating but Hornady has some good videos on their web site, take the time to watch them.  Initial setup and mounting will take a little time but don’t rush it.  Mount it on the sturdiest part of your bench, it will help your ability to feel what is happening.

I got mine the first year they came out and they have improved on a couple of little parts that were plastic replacing them with metal due to wear.  I’ve called them twice for a part, once I had messed up the spring and told them it was my error.  On both occasions they immediately mailed 2 of the replacements parts under warranty so I had a spare if it happened again at no cost.

I have as much green RCBS equipment and I do red Hornady.  They both are excellent!  If I were to purchase another progressive press it would be the Hornady LNL AP without question!!!

There are more things I could talk about regarding the LNL AP but I have to stop somewhere.  Feel free to contact me though Facebook if you have any questions, I’ll be glad to try and help.

Be safe and enjoy the craft!