LEE APP is pretty dang slick when it comes to resizing/decapping brass! Upgrades????

[Stopsign32v]

Color me impressed on this one! It didn't take much tinkering with it to get it running the 9mm casings for universal decapping! Before I knew it I was going as fast as my arm would let me. I do need another 4 tube case feeder and a collator for sure to realize it's full potential. I decapped and had the wet tumbling container catch the brass, for a true lean setup.

Only downfall I would say is I noticed some cases would fail to go as far as they needed to resulting in a jam. This happened more frequently as it went on. I don't know if this was due to the pass through shell holder alignment (up/down) or what. But I do think that if this spring was just ever so slightly stronger/shorter it would be a fail proof process. Does anyone know of any good upgrades for the APP or if this spring is available in a stronger design?

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52299015785_aa5e97d3fe_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/gp/113193676@N08/88P52577U7)

https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/52298788734_a2277c44c9_b.jpg (https://www.flickr.com/gp/113193676@N08/y22vCvn968)

[Stopsign32v]

As soon as I posted this thread I found this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdfI9QXgBow

But I don't see anything about it on their website

[dverna]

See what GSW (IIRC) on this site is doing with a case feeder. There is a long thread on 3D case/bullet feeders.

I had tube type feeders on a Green Machine and on a Star and found them to be a pita. The time to fill the tubes did not save much time at all. With the Lee collator I would get the occasional case upside down. Ended up abandoning it. But it may have been my fault, or I am too picky and expect too much.

The case feeders on the Dillons work well but are not cheap. The ones on the thread mentioned above are working well but you need to make them.

I deprime military rifle cases on an RCBS Rock Chucker with a case kicker and it is reasonably fast without much drama. Sometimes KISS is good enough.

If you intend to wet tumble to clean primer pocket every time you reload, I can see wanting to find an effective way to that quickly.

IMO cleaning primer pockets on pistol cases is a waste of time. I used to shoot a lot and time was important. 9mm would be especially worthless to do...not like it is a target round. I have .38 cases with over 40 reloads and never cleaned the primer pockets. I may have been successful because neither the Star or Dillons were sensitive to a bit of dust caused by depriming on the press. IIRC you are using a Load Master so it may help to keep that operation off the press.

If I were you, I would run a couple of thousand cases through the press without depriming first and see how it goes. Why invest time doing an extra operation off the press if it is not needed? If you wind up with a jam-o-matic, then maybe clean primer pockets are a necessity.

[Stopsign32v]

See what GSW (IIRC) on this site is doing with a case feeder. There is a long thread on 3D case/bullet feeders.



I tried searching that name but nothing came up.

[GWS]

The problem is Lee's Shuttle's base piece....it has no support to push the bottom of a case. So on the way to the die station if it has a hitch, or any kind of resistance it tilts and jams.

For a while I just cleaned and lubed and it worked somewhat, but is was always a matter of time. You mentioned the spring being weak. Stronger may cause other problems....you can try a clear rigid tube over it to take away some of the flex. That was successful on my Summit/APP experiment, but the necessary fix is to provide support at the case's rim. I tried the following and it worked: (paperclip and a tiny drill)

https://i.postimg.cc/5trYqmHV/IMG-3266.jpg

But TylerR found a better way.....3Dprinting the whole bottom shuttle piece building-in the pusher at the bottom:

https://i.postimg.cc/VsFLS3RY/APP-slider.png

With that extra push at the base, the cases go right in every time.

Mr. Don.....you of course are right with pistol primer pockets.....but it don't matter with us bling crazies. ;) I used to ignore pockets in pistols, but I much prefer them clean.....I was taught there is no perfection in this life, but Murphy does his best to make it worse. Or in other words....if it is possible for something to go wrong....it will. So I strive to reduce his effect the best I can. ;)

I decided a while back to buy a 3D printer for the hobby. Why? Because I was never completely satisfied with what I could buy, or it was too expensive to justify it. Dillon addicts are proud to say Buy once, cry once. Well for me that was a 3D printer. Wow, was that the best hobby purchase for me. For the price of one DAA bullet feeder and caliber change, I have 4 with many caliber changes, a Lee APP that always works and with quick caliber change features other APP owners just dream about.... plus many other useful things for the hobby,and it keeps on giving. You can built a whole Collator and caliber disk for about $20 worth of PLA media. The part pictures about would cost about 50 cents.

If you want the bullet collator thread....and it isn't mine....I'm just a contributor and big PIA there. But here's a link to the last page. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?354324-Making-that-Bullet-Collator&p=5442483#post5442483

But I warn you....it's the longest dang thread on CastBoolits.... Also if you ever get into 3D printing, Look for any of TylerR's posts and click a "downloads" at the bottom. He is the source of most everything there.

[Stopsign32v]

Where can I buy one of those 3D printed ones? No luck from searching

[GWS]

Where can I buy one of those 3D printed ones? No luck from searching

If you don't have a printer find someone locally who does. Friends, Kid of friends, somebody. Download the print file and have them print it for you. You can't buy one. I wonder if the video you posted is a similar thing, but it was hard to see....looked like he just printed different jaws....but maybe they did the same thing.

Lee ought to improve their part.....wouldn't cost them much, but it'd make what they have work much better.

[Stopsign32v]

Well I just got done depriming about 200 more cases. It works flawlessly if at the very top of the stroke you use your finger to push the case pushing over that last 1/16".

I swear I think it just needs a stronger spring.

[GWS]

Or less friction. You might try fine graphite powder burnished into the plastic to make it slicker.

Sleeving the spring toughens it too....which is what I had to do with the Summit/APP project because the spring had to be lengthened by 1". Found a 4" spring at Ace Hardware that worked, but only after I sleeved it (the longer spring allowed it to flex). Pictures below: illustrated sleeving....

https://i.postimg.cc/HnLtLM9t/spring-sleeve-1.jpg
https://i.postimg.cc/GtSxTpMn/Spring-sleeved.jpg

The other possibility is stretching the spring a quarter inch....but I'd not do that unless I had a spare in the wings. Hard to undo that.

If nothing works.....send me a PM.

[GasGuzzler]

Mine started really getting frustrating around 10K pieces processed. The first temporary fix was to de-burr the bottom of the slider and apply graphite. I messed with the spring but that's not the answer. I found what they found...when the case hits any hiccup enough to tilt you get the jam. What I figured out on mine was the shuttle was binding due to wear against where it slides. I ordered a replacement from Lee for the cost of shipping and got a few other wear parts from them too. I haven't used my APP in a couple years but I seem to remember it was starting to happen again when I put it up. I have processed about 20K pieces of brass. Get the four tube feeder and base for large quantities of pistol brass or pistol bullet resizing.

[David2011]

Where can I buy one of those 3D printed ones? No luck from searching

Your local library might have a 3D printer. Ours does. We can e-mail a file to them and they’ll print it.

[GWS]

If you find a way to print them: Here's a zip containing TylerR's two APP base parts for the APP case shuttle. There's two lengths. If you print both you can feed just about any case without problems. In other words ... one of them will work with just about any case.

303479

[Stopsign32v]

Can anyone on here print GWS's file? I have no problem sending payment for it. I just have no access to a 3D printer. I called the library and the lady acted like I was crazy and said no.

[rockshooter]

I found that a bit of paste wax helped with the slider- clean, wax, buff with a shoe brush. That makes it work most of the time. Good idea, but wonky execution.
Loren

[Liberty1776]

You asked for upgrade ideas:

I built a needle-bearing handle for my APP. Or you can buy the Lee version. A bit easier on the hand.


https://smile.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1OY8NNN2U1IPN?ref=va_cr_lb

The other best use for the APP is primer pocket swaging.

[Sig]

Can anyone on here print GWS's file? I have no problem sending payment for it. I just have no access to a 3D printer. I called the library and the lady acted like I was crazy and said no.

There are a ton of 3D print services out there. https://www.google.com/search?q=3d+print+service&oq=3d+print+se&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0i131i433i512j0i457i512j0i512l7 .10363j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8