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Thread: Lee APP First Impressions

  1. #61
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    tomme boy's Avatar
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    44Magleo. If you have to spin the head to get the rim into the shell holder it is from case head expansion. That is one thing you should be looking for to pitch the case. It had a over pressure condition that made the head swell.

  2. #62
    Boolit Grand Master


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    Quote Originally Posted by tomme boy View Post
    44Magleo. If you have to spin the head to get the rim into the shell holder it is from case head expansion. That is one thing you should be looking for to pitch the case. It had a over pressure condition that made the head swell.
    Not always. Being fired from a semi auto can leave some dings in the rim of a case.

  3. #63
    Boolit Master GWS's Avatar
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    True enough, and if it's .223 LC brass, it may again be the stupid lettering. It makes the brass tilt ..... too dang often. Wiping those butts over a piece of 400 grit sandpaper does help, but it's a pain unfortunately. Another bad those bumpy uneven bases cause when processing them on the APP.
    Last edited by GWS; 07-10-2020 at 11:53 PM.

  4. #64
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    Well He is a further update for anyone is interested got my new app press Monday and after roughly 10,000 cases through it I’m extremely impressed. Outside of a few minor hiccups caused by operator error I don’t have one single issue with it. Now I’ve yet to size a bullet with it as I’m trying to get through this mountain of brass I have. It certainly beats the heck out of trying to De-cap brass on a single stage press! For the price I think it’s one of the best investments I’ve made! I can’t wait to size some powder coated bullets on it!
    Long, Wide, Deep, and Without Hesitation!

  5. #65
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    IIRC. EAGLE EYE in AZ? Makes some adaption adjustment things to make these much smoother.

    IIRC he has a thin shim and all those tipping issues disappear. Probably do same yourself with paper spacers. The rim JUST catches cause the SH is hi/lo.

    Then the "fingers" are not as well designed as they could be. (Its a LEE after all) there si also too many plastic prts.

    CW
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  6. #66
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    LabGuy's Avatar
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    Well, I just ordered one last night. Looking forward to fiddling with it.
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  7. #67
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    Quote Originally Posted by LabGuy View Post
    Well, I just ordered one last night. Looking forward to fiddling with it.
    It's a fun little press , I can stand there and decap a hundred hand gun cases running the press with my left hand and drinking coffee with my right. takes about 90 seconds

  8. #68
    Boolit Buddy Reverend Recoil's Avatar
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    I resized 2500 9mm Luger cases with my Lee APP. A thin coat of lanolin case lube was applied first. I did not have one case stuck in the Lee carbide sizing die.
    DRB #2276 President's Hundred 2021

  9. #69
    Boolit Bub Nodakjohns's Avatar
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    I have read most of the replys on this thread. I will chime in with my experiences. I preordered mine back in December so i have had it for awhile now. I use it strictly for pistol. I cast so i have used it extensively to size my .45 and 9mm. I have a couple small mods to ensure continuity. Namely the 4 tube feeder with collator and a 1 inch clear hose to the bottom where the bullet drops out down to a catch pan (repurposed coffee can). For sizing bullets i tape off 3 of the holes with painters tape on the collator. I have measured my bullets after nose down and nose up sizing an i can find no difference.
    I also set it up to deprime brass. It does this very well, after cleaning i size my pistol brass on it, then i bell the mouth. I hand prime with my franklin armory hand primer and load on my regular press. So yes the app does allot of work for me and it has added speed to my routine even when i have to fudge around with it a little bit. (Which i kind of like doing). I have to give it two thumbs up from me. I am a fan.

  10. #70
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    got mine in thursday and set it up friday.sized and belled 1250 9mm cases.used my 4 tube case feeder and collator off of my loadmaster.other than upside down cases every now and then and a few 380 cases i had no problems.i used lee carbide dies and a few shots of one shot in the box of brass before sizing,next will be 1500 357 mag cases.lol for sure a lot faster than my old hand press,it will only be used for processing hand gun brass from 9mm to 500 s&w

  11. #71
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    One thing I learned the other day, kind of the hard way. I set my app press to size about 409 mm cases the other night. I have experienced, on occasion, when de- capping brass, I have had the occasional case slide through so that two cases drop instead of one. not really an issue when you’re just de- capping. You can always get the occasional case de-capped when sizing. Oh I almost forgot. When I am de-capping I have the cases drop in to a 2 gallon bucket. Sometimes it’s a little difficult when you have a lot of cases in the bucket to find the one that sneak through and still has a spent primer in it. Like I said no big deal when you just de-capping brass. By the way I have decamped well over 20,000 cases between 9 mm, 45 ACP, 380, and 38 special. All that in the three weeks since I first got my press. Now you can understand why I use a 2 gallon bucket to drop my cases into. Here’s were the problem arose. When I was sizing my brass I decided do use the same bucket that I use when de-capping. Well I got through about 395 of the 400 cases I was sizing, when I had a Little Misfeed and the press dropped an unsized case into the 2 gallon bucket with the rest of the sized ones! Needless to say I couldn’t tell which case was unsized by looking at it! So I had to size all the cases all over again! From now on when I’m sizing cases I’ll use a little bin to Collect the brass just in case of! I hope this made sense to anybody that’s reading it it certainly made sense to me as I was typing it. Anyway just a little bit out of app press humor! LOL
    Long, Wide, Deep, and Without Hesitation!

  12. #72
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    I do the same thing poppy42 I drop in a small bin when I get 25 or 30 I dump that in a bigger can . It's much simpler to find the occasional case that slips by.

  13. #73
    Boolit Mold
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    I've used my APP for a couple of weeks now. Purchased it manly to debulge my 40s.I like it so well that I ordered a second to use just for depriming brass before wet polishing. I'm looking at auto case feeders now, trying to reduce as much repetitive motion as possible. I'm good with the standard case feeder for depriming, anyone know of a case feeder that can be setup to feed case mouth down for debulging? I saw the thread on here to 3D print one but I don't want to make the monetary or time investment on 3D printing.

  14. #74
    Boolit Master GWS's Avatar
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    What I did is fill 4 36" long thinline tubes (9/16) using Lee's shaker collator (modified a little of course to make it 100% reliable, think inserts to make the inlets a little smaller). Once in tubes you just turn each tube upside down and insert them into the APP feeder....even better if you use the Lee Universal four tube feeder on the APP rather than the single tube feeder.

    I already had a Redding GrX that I mounted under the frame.....with the push rod above.

    As for the monetary/time investment on 3D printing.....I recently suckered right in there......

    I reasoned that the machine could be a monetary plus if I ever learn to use use well. For the price of a Mr. Bullet Feeder, I can make many feeders, bullet or case, and other tools as I come up with later. Win win........if I ever get comfortable....anything but at this point. If you are young......better still.
    Last edited by GWS; 08-03-2020 at 03:05 PM.

  15. #75
    Boolit Master 44magLeo's Avatar
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    I've been hoping I could find one of those 4 tube feeders and collators at a good price.
    It's not a thing I'm in a big hurry to get but it will be nice to have.
    Leo

  16. #76
    Boolit Master GWS's Avatar
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    https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-p...al-case-feeder $26.50

    https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-c...ase%20collator $12.00

    At Grafs & Sons the price is a little bit higher, but they have a $10 flat shipping rate. So the more you add to the order the more you save. I always do the math to see where I order from.

    I bought an extra $12 collator for rifle and did the following mod to make it 100% on filling tubes with either .223 or .308. (in the videos below, the Lee Universal 4-way is at the bottom, shown in the last frames, held together with tiny bungie cords.



    Last edited by GWS; 08-03-2020 at 07:41 PM.

  17. #77
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    Figured I would post an update since I recently purchased 2,000 LC 5.56 cases from Jeff Bartlett. I should have ordered 10,000 but that’s another story.

    I’ve decapped all of them. I did have issues w/ primers not being pushed out completely. I had one where it pushed just the face off, the sides started to push out and I had fun trying to remove that case form the shell holder. I am using the Lee swage kit decapping die for this operation. It’s set up properly and the pin is below flush on the collet. An extended pin seems like it would fix this issue.

    Even w/ clean cases I had to pull the shuttle apart to clean it and the press. At first this was every 500 cases or so. Towards the end of the run I was stopping every 100 cases. I know the press is going to become dirty from use. The issue is that the shuttle doesn’t push back and I’ve brought the press down on it and the top piece that you snap on has been knocked off. I can see this breaking since it’s plastic. This is my fault for not paying attention close enough but when you’re in a rhythm you’re moving along and the shuttle delay is really random. Cleaning fixes the issue but it comes back.

    I’m about halfway through swaging the primer pockets. The only real issue I’ve had is the backup rod assembly likes to loosen up. This is the black knurled fitting that the rod adjustment is in. Since it’s knurled you’re not supposed to put a tool on it. But it likes to work itself loose quite often. Flats so you can put a wrench on it or a set screw would be a welcome addition IMO.

    I have very few feeding issues anymore. I figured out the rhythm. Have to make sure the handle is brought all the way up so the shuttle pushes as far forward as possible. Bring the handle down slightly and stop. The fingers release the case, which can cause it to wobble but it eventually stops. Lower the handle the rest of the way and repeat. As long as the case is pushed completely forward by the shuttle and it has a brief pause after releasing the case it’s smooth sailing.

    Very happy w/ the press right now. Wish it was designed so you could put a Dillon Case trimmer on it. I’m sure I could redesign the handle to give it clearance. But at that point I will just put the case trimmer on a 550 and call it done. I can’t buy one right now anyway. And I’ve been through all the designs that are like the WFT, including the actual one, and had very poor results.

  18. #78
    Boolit Bub
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    I had the same issue with the shuttle sticking. Recommendations I found on another forum were to stiffen the spring and car wax. Loose piece of heat shrink around the spring works great. I use plain carnauba car wax to lube the track. It isn’t abrasive like a cleaner wax is. I have since de-primed a 5 gallon bucket of 9mm and part of a bucket of 5.56. The shuttle didn’t have any delay or stick at all. Only time I cleaned the shuttle was after the 9mm when I changed the spacer over for 5.56. Watch for jams the spring and shuttle aren’t as forgiving with the heat shrink over the spring.
    Last edited by Dsltech1; 10-04-2020 at 11:43 AM.

  19. #79
    Boolit Master
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    Some good ideas in here. I still need to go through all the APP threads for more.

    I’ve had mine a few weeks, only sized/swayed/deprimed .223 so far. Need to get casting so I can try sizing boolits.
    Bought collator and 4 way feed tube, works good enough for the price.

    I’ve had some of the same issues, biggest is feeding cases and swaging case alignment, sound familiar.
    Case feeding/flinging is the biggest issue due to the previously mentioned flinging of unsized case into the finished container. Currently using a small container taped to the bench , need to upgrade to an akro bin on a slide mount for easier emptying.
    Much nicer to only have at most 40 cases to resize vs a whole bucket.

    The handle is a torture device for me, doesn’t help that I tore and beat up my hand working on the van that week, but it needs to changed, it plain hurts, even with a glove and especially swaging.

    I need to use it more, play with adjustments and maybe some mods. But so far I am enjoying it.

    Is it worth the money?
    Well I plan on keeping the second one that I accidentally ordered, so for me the answer is yes.

    But I went into this thinking it would be a nice kit that needs finishing, not Dillon level perfection.

    Someday I will add a 1050 to my collection, but until then this is well worth the money and slight aggravation.


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  20. #80
    Boolit Master
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    I've really enjoyed my APP. Was having an issue with the jaws closing as the carrier came under the case feed tube. Mostly a problem when feeding .44 mag/ spl cases. The spring, as it approached horizontal was hitting that bump out on the carrier just ahead of the spring hook. I buzzed it down a bit with the dremel so the spring had clearance and now it functions perfectly.

    I no longer use the bullet feed opting instead to drop them in the sizing bushing by hand. I remove the carrier for that. So I deprime and flare cases on it and along with hand priming, it's just one trip through the Rock Chucker after I charge the cases with powder. Two trips for 9mm since I seat and taper crimp separately.
    Last edited by Cosmic_Charlie; 10-04-2020 at 02:45 PM.
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Abbreviations used in Reloading

BP Bronze Point IMR Improved Military Rifle PTD Pointed
BR Bench Rest M Magnum RN Round Nose
BT Boat Tail PL Power-Lokt SP Soft Point
C Compressed Charge PR Primer SPCL Soft Point "Core-Lokt"
HP Hollow Point PSPCL Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" C.O.L. Cartridge Overall Length
PSP Pointed Soft Point Spz Spitzer Point SBT Spitzer Boat Tail
LRN Lead Round Nose LWC Lead Wad Cutter LSWC Lead Semi Wad Cutter
GC Gas Check