Ships With Questionable Powder Measure

Once again the reloading press is driving me insane.

The powder measure on the Hornady Lock-N-Load comes covered with grease, which you have to remove. They suggest you use their proprietary product, which they do not include in the package. Way down on page 9 of the powder measure manual (but not the press manual), they say brake cleaner will work. However, that isn’t true. It leaves a residue you have to rinse out with another solvent. The press manual says other solvents will work. Guess what happens when acetone–the cleanest solvent known to man, and the most logical choice–touches the powder measure? It softens the paint and melts the plastic.

I think I finally have all the grease out, and the acetone didn’t damage anything badly enough to keep it from working. But the measure still does not work. When I weigh charges in grains, I get 4.6, 4.6. 4.6, 4.3, 3.8, 5.4…I am ready to kill someone. I can’t get 5.0 to save my life.

I’ve found a lot of other angry Hornady owners on the Internet. Apparently, to make this thing work, you have to have a friend who already owns one, or you have to call their tech line and work on the press while holding the phone to your ear, or you have to spend your life on the Internet, asking other people how to do it. I chose Option 3.

One guy claims the powder measure is worthless for pistol ammunition, because there is some part or other in it that only works for rifles. Other people say to buff the parts. Still others say to run a pound of powder through it to “break it in,” or to run powdered graphite through it. You can probably imagine how much powdered graphite I have lying around, waiting to be run through powder measures.

I finally fixed the indexing problem, after learning that the manual is wrong. Don’t bother me with questions, because I already forgot what I did. Other people have noticed the error. If your press quits indexing right, just screw with the pawl adjustments, see what happens, and take notes.

Okay, I found the pistol part you’re supposed to get for the Hornady powder measure. Someone please explain why they don’t have a boldfaced disclaimer in the manual: “YOU CAN’T LOAD PISTOL ROUNDS WITH THIS PIECE OF CRAP. YOU HAVE TO BUY MORE OF OUR JUNK FIRST!” Some people say it’s okay down to 4 grains. I hope that is true, but I’m going to get the pistol rotor and meter anyway.

Here’s what you need: 1. part no. 50128 – pistol rotor and meter assembly, and 2. part no. 50129 – micrometer for pistol rotor and meter assembly. Am I crazy, or wouldn’t it be better to just tell you this stuff up front?

It’s really nice to get free bullets from Hornady, but so far, trying to get their machine to work has been like a sick torture the Japanese would have inflicted on prisoners of war. The manual is crap. The machine is full of parts you can destroy while trying to follow the instructions for the first time. And when you finally get it set up, you learn that if you really want to do it right, you have to wait another week for parts they didn’t tell you you had to have. And unless the Hornady operation is situated at the bottom of a mine shaft, they must be aware of the misery their new customers suffer.

Harley-Davidson does the same kind of thing. They sell you a bike that only satisfies you until you notice all the crap more experienced riders have put on their bikes, and then you have to go back to HD to buy pimp accessories. BUT a stock Harley runs fine and looks great while you’re waiting for your new stuff to arrive. The Hornady Lock-N-Load…not so much.

I don’t see any way I can use the press until next week. Maybe if I hose it out with spray silicone, it will throw consistent charges. I have a feeling it won’t.

Dillon owners, if your experiences were better than mine have been, feel free to express yourselves in my comments. I ought to sell this thing and buy a Dillon just on the off chance that the suffering would be reduced.