It's official; Lee will be releasing an "upside down" bullet sizing press.

[RogerDat]

I have a single stage Lee with the bushing. I use it for sizing cast bullets. I have no problem threading a different sizing die into the press. I'm used to it, I've been doing it with a Rock Chucker for 25 years. Others may find the bushings useful, I don't have a need for them.

The regular Lee Classic O press the threaded portion for the die is a bushing. Threaded on the outside to screw into press, inside to match dies. The Hornady locking die collars that are the Breech Lock equivalent use a bushing with the same outside threads as the Lee press has.

In short one can unscrew the steel die bushing from a regular Lee O press and screw in the Hornady bushing sleeve. The reason I mention this is I wonder if the Breech Lock challenger sleeve is screwed into the same threads as the classic O press. Manufacturing process would be simpler which makes me think that maybe the difference between a Lee Breech Lock and Lee Classic Cast O press is which bushing gets screwed in. One threaded for dies or one with twist lock for the Breech Lock version.

If the two die seating bushings are able to be swapped that would potentially allow one to use the regular threaded bushing in this new press. Avoiding the cost of twist lock collars for dies. I use a turret press and store my dies installed in a turret disk so my dies remain set up. Have done some research on adding the Lee Classic cast and possibly using the Hornady quick release system. I like the solid nature of fully threaded dies. The convenience of twist lock could be useful. So having both as an option appeals to me.
Whomever gets one it would be interesting to find out if the breach lock sleeve unscrews and a regular Lee press die bushing fits in it's place.

[Dimner]

... I use a turret press and store my dies installed in a turret disk so my dies remain set up.

I do the exact same thing. Infact it's the only reason I switched to the turret press. I use it as a single stage, no indexer, and rotate as needed. Even more, I store my Push through sizer, decapper, and mouth flaring die in a turret, and another turret has a 2nd mouth flare for a different caliber and RCBS pullet puller.

As a re-loader who is constantly doing ladder testing or some sort of other testing, having all these dies setup all the time is a huge time saver.

[megasupermagnum]

Oh boy, and they are coming out with a primer pocket swagging tool? If it will do 308 winchester, my RCBS primer pocket swaging dies, along with all my Lee bullet sizing dies are going up for sale. Now I just need to figure out a bullet feeder to supply the drop tube. I'm excited for this new press.

[kevin c]

So it seems that there is a shuttle system from the tube to the dies, or you can feed by hand.

As far as loading those tubes being a rate limiting step, I can say that I have a CasePro with a similar tube, designed to fit a Dillon case feeder. I just feed the cases a couple to three at a time into the top of the mechanism, foregoing the tube all together, and I can size cases just about as fast as I can pull the handle. I think I might be able to do the same with Lee's setup, either directly (one boolit at a time) or with the shuttle mechanism (maybe a couple or more at a time placed into a cut off tube).

I don't know if this would be faster than the upside down Lee setup I use for sizing now, but I think it'd be at least easier sizing on the downstroke rather than the upstroke as I do now. Since I size thousands of casts regularly to feed my action pistol habit, and as the guy staring back at me in the mirror doesn't look like he's found the fountain of youth, I'm all for anything easier.

ETA: And if I get this, the sized boolits are going to drop into a container on a stool just underneath the press, like they do now - I'm not going to mess with detaching the bottle just to dump into another larger container and then reattaching the bottle. Lee's catch containers are fine for small runs, but not for high volume.

[Moonie]

Oh boy, and they are coming out with a primer pocket swagging tool? If it will do 308 winchester, my RCBS primer pocket swaging dies, along with all my Lee bullet sizing dies are going up for sale. Now I just need to figure out a bullet feeder to supply the drop tube. I'm excited for this new press.

https://leeprecision.com/primer-pocket-swager/

[Moonie]

I'm in for one that's for sure.

[tankgunner59]

I'm saving up for it starting now. That sounds like a great press kit, I'm after the Deluxe.

[lign]

If the casefeed tubes are the same as the ones on their Loadmaster press, I can say from experimenting that it will be much faster than feeding them one at a time by hand. It is surprisingly quick to fill up those tubes. I just wish it could handle 4 tubes at a time like the Loadmaster, so you can use the ten dollar collator and then just manually rotate to the next full tube. Those tubes do handle quite a few different sizes and calibers with a single tube size...

[popper]

Dual sided arbor press, IMHO Needs
a 3rd leg.

[Petander]

I just wish it could handle 4 tubes at a time like the Loadmaster, so you can use the ten dollar collator and then just manually rotate to the next full tube.

I was thinking the same.

I use Hornady LNL AP but I size and prime separately first. Mostly because of the primer tube thing, it will get empty in no time,causing you to spill powder from a primer hole,unnoticed. Soon you will notice because everything gets horribly wrong.

It takes forever to inspect and clean the mess and remove, re-fill and re-install the stupid single primer tube. So I prime first,this new Lee might fit the bill.

[odfairfaxsub]

[3006guns]

I too, would like to see a short video of this wonder in action. For one thing I'm having a bit of a hard time understanding how it works, since I was researching "upside down" presses at the time! If someone takes the plunge, PLEASE whip out a quick video showing the various functions........THEN I can get excited and buy "just one more" press.........

[phantom22]

Looks very interesting indeed. Might be worth it just to speed up the bullet sizing.

[dverna]

Feeding tubes is something I am not fond of. Did it with the Hulme feeder on the Star and the Star sizer feeder. A case feeder is not to difficult to make but bullet feeders are more complex. I wound up selling the bullet feeder for the Star and hand feeding bullets.

Little plastic bits shown in the pictures give me concern, but should be cheap enough to have spares for when they break.

I hope a few of the experienced people here do a review.

[6bg6ga]

Bigger pics of the accessories:







primer pocket swager:

Looks like a lot of plastic that will sooner or later break.

Sorry but I understand why some of you will settle for a cheap machine when Magma manufactures one that will last your lifetime and several others. If its the price point ask yourself how much the plastic pieces are going to cost once its out of warranty. It does have a warranty, right?

Sure the Magma/Star costs more but have you ever seen one that was broken due to normal usage? I have a Star and a Magma with bullet feeders and bullet turret tubes and they will probably size with higher accuracy than the Lee. Yup they cost more but show me another product you can use for 20 or 30 years and probably get your original purchase price back.

[megasupermagnum]

Yes my Star sizer broke (a steel part no less), and Magma is no help at all. Thankfully I bought it used, I would never buy new from them.

Lee on the other hand often sends out parts for free just from asking. If not, they have a lifetime warranty, you just have to pay shipping one way.

I'm not sure why people are so scared of plastic parts. I'm ham handed, and I rarely break things on my Lee products. My Lee Pro1000 has been working trouble free for a couple years now, zero broken parts. The case feeder looks a lot like the bullet feeder on this press.

I could buy hundreds of replacement parts and never come close to the cost of a Magma.

Honestly I'm equally excited about the Lee primer pocket swaging die. My RCBS set works ok, but I've always been less than thrilled with it. The separate cup can be a pain. If I could sit down in front of the TV and swage with either this new press, or the Lee hand press, that's a huge win in itself.

[megasupermagnum]

To add, here is the full description. https://leeprecision.com/app-automat...cessing-press/

You've got the basic press MSRP $75, and the deluxe which presumably comes with the case/bullet feeder MSRP $110. At that price point you can't go wrong. If the plastic bits scare you, just feed bullets and cases by hand. The rest of the press is metal.

[drac0nic]

Don't know that I would be too concerned about the plastic bits. I mean if they're flawed someone will 3D print some more that have improvements. I emailed FS Reloading about what their price will be and if they're going to do preorders. I'm looking to get the 5.56 Swage die as well as the deluxe press. I can probably get 100 bucks of value not having to swage cases. I wish they would have made a 2 stage press though tbh so you could decap and swage at once.

[45workhorse]

[Kenstone]

I'm hoping they offer more sizes of bushings. I. Don't mind honing lee sizing dies in the lathe, but it would be nice to have say .308,.309,.310,.311,.312
.355,.356,.357,.358 etc


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

I use split laps, barrel laps and my drill press to "open up" sizing dies.
The old style one piece sizing dies come in 0.356/0.357/0.0358 but not 0.355/0.359/0.360
Difficult to make a die smaller though