Curious how many people routinely use the Hornady Progressive. I load exclusively rifle ammo for Across The Course shooting, so a lot of 223 and 308. While I'm very happy with it now, I did have to overcome a few issues to make it as reliable as I wanted.
The biggest problem was the powder drop insert for 223. The early design was an inverted cone that centered the mouth. That taper angle would crimp the mouth of the case when a powder kernel would jam the rotation a little bit, especially with annealed cases. Problem was solved by a counterbored surface. I think Hornady is making the new ones like that.
The second big issue is the primer slide transfer shuttle. A single grain of spilled stick powder would prevent it from fully seating in position. The primer ram would then damage the slide if you didn't detect it quick enough. Managed to solve that with a new design that has a relief cut.
Seems like most progressive presses require some amount of aptitude to keep in top running order.
The biggest problem was the powder drop insert for 223. The early design was an inverted cone that centered the mouth. That taper angle would crimp the mouth of the case when a powder kernel would jam the rotation a little bit, especially with annealed cases. Problem was solved by a counterbored surface. I think Hornady is making the new ones like that.
The second big issue is the primer slide transfer shuttle. A single grain of spilled stick powder would prevent it from fully seating in position. The primer ram would then damage the slide if you didn't detect it quick enough. Managed to solve that with a new design that has a relief cut.
Seems like most progressive presses require some amount of aptitude to keep in top running order.
