New Lee Equipment

[Rcmaveric]

Here I am, deployed over seas. Itching to cast and reload. Well one of my pass times is perusing here and reloading equipment. Jumped on to Lee website to see whats new. I see they finnaly redesigned the lock rings. Hmmm, I like them and might buy. Well, they also redesigned their push through sizers. I was confused on how it worked so i clicked on. Reading the product guide.... i found a tease. The Lee App Press.... cant find squat on it, buy curiosity is peeked. Advertised as the fastest way to size cast bullets.

Now they need to come out with a WFN line of bullet molds. Starting with the .278 diameter and 6.5m. Because i need those.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20190903/8467722772ee462887036d2a1ccc41f8.jpg

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[jmort]

God Bless you Brother for your service
I spoke with Lee about 18 months ago
They said they had a dedicated sizer in the works
I will call them today and report back
Something like this is what was discussed
A bottom dump

247729

[mdi]

I looked today. The new press, Auto Breech Lock Pro, appears to be one of Lee's Pro style progressives with breech Lock die mounting system, but I didn't read the whole spiel. What I could see the "new" sizing kit, it is only a die with Breech Lock system, punches extra...

[Rcmaveric]

I like it. I would buy one. I have been wanting a dedicated sizing press for some time

This new press looks like an inverted press with a bullet feeder.

[shooter bob]

Jmort any info from lee on the boolit sizer?

[shooter bob]

I’m very interested in this it looks like there may be a boolit feeder on there that would be very nice

[hollywood63]

Sizing kit looks like a version of the NOE system

[RustyReel]

I don't understand how the "new" kit works. Says you need a Sizer and Punch to use it so I don't understand what it actually does.

I picked up one of their Breech Lock presses, don't like it. I'm 70 and probably don't have a lot of time left, but I have enough time to screw in a few reloading dies.

[onelight]

I don't understand how the "new" kit works. Says you need a Sizer and Punch to use it so I don't understand what it actually does.

I picked up one of their Breech Lock presses, don't like it. I'm 70 and probably don't have a lot of time left, but I have enough time to screw in a few reloading dies.


Here is a picture of one assembled at Titan , you can see a cast bullet setting on top of a post that mounts to your ram instead of a shell holder you set a bullet on it and push it thru the die and it is caught by the container on top of the die.
https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-precision-reloading-equipment/lee-lube-and-sizing-kits

[RustyReel]

Here is a picture of one assembled at Titan , you can see a cast bullet setting on top of a post that mounts to your ram instead of a shell holder you set a bullet on it and push it thru the die and it is caught by the container on top of the die.
https://www.titanreloading.com/lee-precision-reloading-equipment/lee-lube-and-sizing-kits

Yep, I know how that works as I use them all the time. Just don't understand what the new "kit" adds to the process. Seems you need the parts you reference with the new "kit" in order to use the "kit". What am I missing?????

[Rcmaveric]

New kit works like the NOE. It has a die body. A bushing goes inside and the bottle addapter screw in to secure the sizing bushing.

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[Rcmaveric]

Lee says the look to release the App Press in January 2020.

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[Idz]

Lee obviously watches this sight. Good to see they are incorporating some of our good ideas into products.

[Rcmaveric]

I got that same feeling when I saw their new lock ring design.

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[EDG]

I think that Lee's new lock ring design is not a good idea knowing how tight some people will tighten their dies. The nylon wrench will fail and the reloader will have to use a pipe wrench or similar to get a grip on the weird ring profile. Lee might have been better off with a pair of flats like the Hornady rings. That would permit the use of an ordinary wrench.

[mdi]

FWIW; and perhaps it's my lifelong machinist/mechanic's background, but I understand how Lee's lock rings work. In 30+ years of reloading, much on a single stage, I have never had to use a wrench on a lock ring. Actually, lock rings are fine when hand tight as their function is to "wedge" the threads of the ID threads and the OD threads together, lessening any turning. The O-ring acts like a "spring". The lock ring is tightened down on the O-ring against a flat surface, like the press frame or turret, and applies upward pressure and adding friction, "wedging" of the threads. For me, Lee lock rings have been doing their job since 1972, never having to "readjust" a loose die...

The last die set I bought sight unseen, was an RCBS pistol set that had been used by Tarzan't brother; a gorilla. The threads on the bodies had been distorted by tightening too tight (a 18" crescent wrench with a 36" extension?) and the lockrings had some rounded corners (channel locks or vise grips?). The allen socket set screws all had rounded sockets and had been tightened so tight the die body threads had crushed threads. Obviously owned by someone that thought lock rings and set screws needed to be torqued to the absolute max to make sure "they don't move". I was able to repair the threads on all the dies and lock rings were replaced, mainly because I had the tools to chase the threads and repair the ham fisted misuse of the previous owner.

In high school metal shop we often watched safety films (yep, films not videos) and there was always the feller that always used the "if it don't fit, get a bigger hammer" ideology and his name was "Primitive Pete". I won't ever buy anything Primitive Pete owned again.....

[EDG]

Your post only confirmed my concern. There are tens of thousands of reloaders out there that want their dies tight and they will get them tight regardless of what anyone else or Lee thinks about die and lock ring design. Each of those reloaders is a potential unhappy customer too.

My concern is based on my career as a machinist for 5 years and then as a manufacturing and producibility engineer for the next 35 years. If I count the years working my own firearms, cars and farm equipment you can add another 15 years.
In addition I began reloading before Lee ever manufactured a single 7/8-14 die. That is 50 years of using other lock rings to maintain exact die settings for bottle neck cartridges without the need for a single O ring on nearly 200 sets of dies. Most of these dies were purchased used. A few have light tool marks. Most were bought based on their perfect appearance so I have not been concerned with pipe wrench users. I have seen the handy work of many at gun shows and on the internet classifieds and auction sites.
Lee dies do not do what I want and that is return to an exact zero to the nearest .001" without concern for changing the setting of the FL die. Your comments are only theory in regard to repeatability of the location of the shoulder of a bottle neck case. Tightening any die with a lock ring against the top of the press wedges the threads upward against the thread flank. To insure the setting does not change the lock ring MUST be locked to the die body and Lee's current O rings do not lock to the die body. The O ring also creates the probability of variable setting due to variability of installation torque when screwing the die into the press. This is because the compressible O ring does not result in an exact depth stop. The system might be satisfactory for straight wall and straight taper cases since they are not sensitive to the depth the sizing die is set to. If you are a straight case pistol loader or casual rifle reloader, I can understand that you might find Lee's lock rings acceptable. For a bottle neck case I consider the non-locking O ring "lock rings" to be unacceptable. For bottleneck cases exact shoulder location insures longest possible case life and I can guarantee exact shoulder location with a real locking ring and NO O ring. My case shoulder location technique has been verified using the Stoney Point/Hornady case gage, several Wilson case gages and a 50" optical comparator at work. (When a 2" case is checked on 20X magnification the case is effectively 40" tall and .001 on the DRO is .020 on the screen making precise measurements very easy.)


FWIW; and perhaps it's my lifelong machinist/mechanic's background, but I understand how Lee's lock rings work. In 30+ years of reloading, much on a single stage, I have never had to use a wrench on a lock ring. Actually, lock rings are fine when hand tight as their function is to "wedge" the threads of the ID threads and the OD threads together, lessening any turning. The O-ring acts like a "spring". The lock ring is tightened down on the O-ring against a flat surface, like the press frame or turret, and applies upward pressure and adding friction, "wedging" of the threads. For me, Lee lock rings have been doing their job since 1972, never having to "readjust" a loose die...

The last die set I bought sight unseen, was an RCBS pistol set that had been used by Tarzan't brother; a gorilla. The threads on the bodies had been distorted by tightening too tight (a 18" crescent wrench with a 36" extension?) and the lockrings had some rounded corners (channel locks or vise grips?). The allen socket set screws all had rounded sockets and had been tightened so tight the die body threads had crushed threads. Obviously owned by someone that thought lock rings and set screws needed to be torqued to the absolute max to make sure "they don't move". I was able to repair the threads on all the dies and lock rings were replaced, mainly because I had the tools to chase the threads and repair the ham fisted misuse of the previous owner.

In high school metal shop we often watched safety films (yep, films not videos) and there was always the feller that always used the "if it don't fit, get a bigger hammer" ideology and his name was "Primitive Pete". I won't ever buy anything Primitive Pete owned again.....

[Mollyboy]

The new lee lock rings are a split bolt design plus they have the o ring so you don’t have to tighten like a gorilla to maintain a setting to your .0001 of an inch. The special wrench is nice on a turret application did you ever see how big a 1 1/8 wrench is and my craftsman set only goes to an inch.

[hollywood63]

Works like a charm
https://www.titanreloading.com/titan-reloading-products/titan-lock-nut-finger-wrench