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Posted: 5/18/2013 2:56:37 PM EDT
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Howdy everyone. Does anyone have a hard time keeping their case retainer spring in good shape for long? It seems like everytime I install a new one it is in good shape for a while and then I smash it. It gets caught on something or pinched somewhere and gets goofed up. And of course after its been damaged, it will cause me problems while loading.
Any solutions to this or anything you can use instead of the spring? |
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I've been running with my original spring for almost 3 years, still going strong. I bought extras with the press but haven't needed them yet (knock on wood). In a pinch, I'll bet a skinny rubber band could be used, or a girl's hair band, the kind that look like a small bungee cord. How are yours getting damaged?
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I've been running with my original spring for almost 3 years, still going strong. I bought extras with the press but haven't needed them yet (knock on wood). In a pinch, I'll bet a skinny rubber band could be used, or a girl's hair band, the kind that look like a small bungee cord. How are yours getting damaged? Good idea on the hair band. I'll steal one from the wife and try that. They get pinched in numerous ways. I have seen it pop up on top of the shell plate and get smashed when I run the ram up. I have also smashed one when inserting a new case into the first spot. It caught the spring and bent it. Its stupid random stuff like that. |
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If it makes you feel better, mine does the same thing. If you call Hornady, they will send you free replacements. Yeah I know but I hate calling them and getting free stuff like that. I would rather try and find something that I could substitute that can take my abuse. |
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Wow. I'm in the category of folks who've been using the same spring for years. I've had to re-connect the ends a couple of times, but that's a simple matter of "screwing" them together.
I guess the question is not the spring but, rather, what are you exactly doing that's buggering things up? I've never bent, or smashed, or broken a springs. Ever. I've just had mine come unscrewed occasionally (once every two years, or so). And, yes, I use my press a lot. I've worn out other components, but never the spring. |
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Wow. I'm in the category of folks who've been using the same spring for years. I've had to re-connect the ends a couple of times, but that's a simple matter of "screwing" them together. I guess the question is not the spring but, rather, what are you exactly doing that's buggering things up? I've never bent, or smashed, or broken a springs. Ever. I've just had mine come unscrewed occasionally (once every two years, or so). And, yes, I use my press a lot. I've worn out other components, but never the spring. I have no idea. I just reload and the next thing I know its smashed. |
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O.K. I'll go out on a limb here and guess your shell plate is loosening up as your loading and the spring is getting trapped underneath it.
One thing I do on my LnL is check the shell plate bolt every twenty rounds or so. It usually is tight, but sometimes comes loose in some calibers. I keep the allen wrench for that bolt close at hand while loading. The bolt should really be a left hand thread to be fool proof in this application. But, that would cause more warranty woes for Hornady, I'm sure. So, we have a shell plate bolt that naturally loosens up as the press is operated. Check that periodically. The shell plate is about the only thing that can smash the spring -- assuming you get it running down into the tunnel at station five in the first place. |
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O.K. I'll go out on a limb here and guess your shell plate is loosening up as your loading and the spring is getting trapped underneath it. One thing I do on my LnL is check the shell plate bolt every twenty rounds or so. It usually is tight, but sometimes comes loose in some calibers. I keep the allen wrench for that bolt close at hand while loading. The bolt should really be a left hand thread to be fool proof in this application. But, that would cause more warranty woes for Hornady, I'm sure. So, we have a shell plate bolt that naturally loosens up as the press is operated. Check that periodically. The shell plate is about the only thing that can smash the spring -- assuming you get it running down into the tunnel at station five in the first place. You got it in one. My shell plate does come lose. Too tight and it binds. Guess only answer is to tighten every twenty rounds as you suggest. |
| I've had my LNL for about 2.5 years and I've chewed up 3 or so springs. I always keep extras and if I'm ordering something from someone who carries them I'll just throw one or two in with my order. Stuff like that, that is somewhat consumable I like to keep at least 2 extra on hand. |
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Quoted:
Howdy everyone. Does anyone have a hard time keeping their case retainer spring in good shape for long? It seems like everytime I install a new one it is in good shape for a while and then I smash it. It gets caught on something or pinched somewhere and gets goofed up. And of course after its been damaged, it will cause me problems while loading. Any solutions to this or anything you can use instead of the spring? I can tell you how I fixed mine. There's a channel in the sub-plate (the infamous ez-ject channel) , and where the spring enters the channel I took some 1200 grit Emory cloth and lightly smoothed out that area. Voila, no more trashed springs. I've had the same one in the press for the last 500 or so rounds without any kinks. YMMV but give it shot. |
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My press used to eat retainer springs also, they would all the sudden be bent or twisted for no reason and I would replace it every 3-6 months depending on use.
For some reason it quite eating them, I don't know if it's the new shell plates I'm using now or if the press just broke-in after lots of use, but I've been using the same spring for about a year now and it still looks new. FWIW, I tighten my shell plate down as tight as I can get it by hand with the supplied allen wrench and it doesn't bind and doesn't come loose with use. EWP |
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Quoted:
Howdy everyone. Does anyone have a hard time keeping their case retainer spring in good shape for long? It seems like everytime I install a new one it is in good shape for a while and then I smash it. It gets caught on something or pinched somewhere and gets goofed up. And of course after its been damaged, it will cause me problems while loading. Any solutions to this or anything you can use instead of the spring? I can tell you how I fixed mine. There's a channel in the sub-plate (the infamous ez-ject channel) , and where the spring enters the channel I took some 1200 grit Emory cloth and lightly smoothed out that area. Voila, no more trashed springs. I've had the same one in the press for the last 500 or so rounds without any kinks. YMMV but give it shot. I'll look into this. Thanks |
| Well today I took a file and made a slight feed ramp for the spring where it exits the channel during the transition from stage 1 to 2. I watched the spring ride out of that channel and it seemed to get caught from time to time. Once I filed in the feed ramp it made that transition much smoother. Hopefully this helps. |
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