I managed to grind out 53 more rounds of .45 ammunition. It took me an hour and a half longer than it should have, because I was learning all about new things that can go wrong with a Hornady Lock-N-Load progressive press. I should go ahead and exhaust my supply of components while I have the press set up. I ran out of clean cases, so I stopped. But I guess I don’t really need to clean them.

I’ll give a short list of the problems I had. These were not things that reflect badly on the product. Well, maybe a little. But mostly, I caused them myself.

First, it turns out flying powder gums up the primer feed in at least two ways. It obstructs the movement of the slide. It will also go down inside the punch after a while. I had to use spray dry lubricant to blast it out.

Second, the bent rod that guides the slide likes to adjust itself, so you really have to tighten the hex screw well, when you get the rod where you want it.

Third, never ever try to install a tube full of primers when the ram is in the up position. Because it will come down, and the primers will go everywhere. I left the primers in the tube while I was fixing something, and I paid the price.

The crimp problem that made my ammunition too big to like going into the chamber proved a little harder to fix than I thought. I figured the crimper wasn’t going down far enough onto the case, but it turned out the belling was too extreme. If you bell a case too much and then crimp it a little, you’ll get a swollen band at the mouth of the case, and it will be worse than not crimping at all. So I had to bell less and crimp a little more. Naturally, I figured this out after adjusting everything the wrong way.

Here’s a design problem Hornady needs to fix. The press is anchored to my bench by two bolts at the rear. The front can bounce up and down a lot. That can make powder fly around. Hornady needs to work it out so you can attach two more bolts somewhere.

I tried Hornady’s One Shot cleaner/lube on my SW1911 today. It’s expensive as hell, but I give them credit. It works like a dream, and it leaves your weapon lubricated with a dry film which seems to be perfect for firearms. Frankly, I think it’s smarter to use Hoppe’s No. 9 and then spray with dry lube. There is no way I’ll pay the insanely high price for One Shot again, if I can help it. Best cleaner/lube I’ve seen, but not worth the money.

My RCBS primer tray stopped working. I can’t figure that out. It worked great the first time I used it. Now it turns over about 85% of the primers.

I moved an old stereo to the garage. That really helps. I dug out my Mahalia Jackson CD’s. Suddenly I have a much better understanding of why Christians hated rock and roll in the Fifties. The similarities between her music and American-Graffiti-era rock are so obvious you can’t miss them.

When I run out of .45 stuff, it will be time to conquer the mighty .38 Super.