Lube your reloading machines & give 'em a hug

[shootist~]

Spare parts for your reloading equipment may be almost as hard to come by as AR parts.

The priming system on my (1990's era) Dillon 1050 went down yesterday. I identified the culprit - a ten cent little rubber tube called a "Slide Roll Pin Sleeve". This is the first part to ever crash on this machine.

Decided to call Dillon's tech dept and see if it's also time to replace the bigger assembly (push rod, etc). No Joy on getting through - their lines are absolutely jammed - but no surprise there.

Fortunately I found a spare sleeve in a small set of repair parts that came with the machine ~20 years ago.

[Pork Chop]

That brings up a good question I'd been wondering about. What do people lube the ram with? I took apart my Hornady press to lube it after a year of loading and just used some slipEWL, but was wondering if dry lube or some other wonder lube was more appropriate.

[shootist~]

30 wt motor oil (not gun oil) per my Dillon manual. Best to see what yours recommends. I actually use 5w30 Mobil One.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[Thump_rrr]

My Hornady LnL AP Progressive has 3 grease fittings on it.
I give them a shot of grease every couple of thousands of rounds.

This thread reminded me that my small primer slide was a litte bent and my case feeder pivot began to stick last time I sized some .223 cases.
I just called and ordered the replacement parts.
I was on the phone for a total of 3 minutes and I just received a confirmation email for the order.
Hornady has some great customer service.

[gimpy]

Use 1/4 vacuum hose. I used a silicon tube when I did mine. Literally a 2 minute fix.

[Pork Chop]

My Hornady LnL AP Progressive has 3 grease fittings on it.
I give them a shot of grease every couple of thousands of rounds.

This thread reminded me that my small primer slide was a litte bent and my case feeder pivot began to stick last time I sized some .223 cases.
I just called and ordered the replacement parts.
I was on the phone for a total of 3 minutes and I just received a confirmation email for the order.
Hornady has some great customer service.

Yes, they do.

And I'm loading on a single stage so my has no grease fittings. That would be nice though, maybe I'll make my own.

[StrikerFired]

I have a single stage press too, and I just clean the ram and bare metal surfaces with a good CLP once and a while. Seems to be working out ok

[markm]

Mobile 1 here too.

I literally killed a LNL Classic single stage... I used it so much. The ram shaft has so much play in it, it's nuts.

Replaced it with the BIG BOSS 2. Thicker ram and cast iron body.

[Pork Chop]

Mobile 1 here too.

I literally killed a LNL Classic single stage... I used it so much. The ram shaft has so much play in it, it's nuts.

Replaced it with the BIG BOSS 2. Thicker ram and cast iron body.

I'll probably upgrade to a progressive at some point, but the LNL Classic is working fine for now. The only problem I have had is that the ram seems to get dry after a few thousand strokes. I have Mobil 1 on hand, I'll try that.

Thanks guys.

[markm]

This happends on my BIG BOSS as well. I keep paper towels near by... wipe the ram clean and relube often.

The lube builds up a black nasty mess on the bottom of the ram and linkeage.

[shootist~]

I'll probably upgrade to a progressive at some point, but the LNL Classic is working fine for now. The only problem I have had is that the ram seems to get dry after a few thousand strokes. I have Mobil 1 on hand, I'll try that.

Thanks guys.

The little needle oiler bottles from Brownells work very well with the Mobil One used for my progressive and single stage rams. A Q-Tip around the bottom of the shaft works for cleaning off the excess. I lube fairly often - like anytime it appears to not be wet.

With reference to the main shaft (ram) - both my Dillon manuals (1050 & 650) specifically state DO NOT use penetrating oil such as WD-40 or Breakfree (again, 30 wt motor oil is recommended). All other lube points on the 1050 (there are 14) call for wheel bearing grease - the 650 is less specific.

[michael word]

I use bearing grease on the pivots once a year and either CLP or 10W oil on the main shaft, depending how dirty it is when I start a new session.

[theblackknight]

Grease is grease. All I have is tb25 LOL. I lube the ram shaft and and the advance paws often.

Hornady off course wants you to use their One Shoot on powder measures and stuff.

sent from mah gun,using my sights

[T2C]

I use anti-seize on the areas of my Dillon RL550 that do not touch powder or primers.

[Snake Plissken]

I use a general tube grease from the hardware store. The zerk fittings on the LNL AP make it easy. Fill 'er up and if there's too much just wipe down the grease ring. Otherwise the press will bind up from the fluid pressure. I believe there's around 10-15k actuation counts on my press. The priming system is what's shitting the bed already. Gonna move to a Dillon next.

[Thump_rrr]

I use a general tube grease from the hardware store. The zerk fittings on the LNL AP make it easy. Fill 'er up and if there's too much just wipe down the grease ring. Otherwise the press will bind up from the fluid pressure. I believe there's around 10-15k actuation counts on my press. The priming system is what's shitting the bed already. Gonna move to a Dillon next.

What's wrong with the priming system?
Maybe we can help figure it out?
Mine primes like a champ.

[shootist~]

Snake,

None recently, but in the past when I called Hornady about repair parts for an old Hornady-Pacific shot-shell reloader, they did me good. IIRC, my parts even came in at no charge. I suspect you can get you LNL priming system back to par easy enough.