This is the cats meow IMO.

[2wheelDuke]

I've had one about a month now. It's great for decapping, bullet sizing, and push thru sizing.

An automated feeder would really be amazing.

I also tried reloading some 10mm with it as a glorified single stage just to see how it'd work.

[gpidaho]

No, the four-way won't work for bullets with the 9/16" OD tubing it comes with......but nothing says you can't drop smaller OD tubing inside......then it works. Much of the Lee Thinwall tubing available (another Lee company) can telescope inside the next larger size. Use to be it all did, but their quality control has gone down hill.

That said, I have no problem sliding 1/2" OD tubing inside the 9/16" and the 7/16" inside the 1/2"....drilling a tiny hole through the outer tube allows you to drop super glue to glue them together if you so desire........of course that means you would buy extra 9/16 tubing and use the extra to cut shorter ones to go into the 4-way....then telescope to handle bullets.

For example: I cut one 9/16 into 4 short ones 3" long. The push one of them over a 3' long 1/2" tube to flush at the bottom....glue together....repeat 3 more times and you have a four-way that can feed .45 bullets just fine.

Or cut four 3" long 9/16" ones and four 3" long 1/2" ones and then slide a 7/16" one inside the other two to handle 30 caliber. etc.

Have you tried this tube inside a tube bullet feeding? After receiving my four way feeder and giving the whole process a little more thought, I have doubts that the plastic mounting system would stand up to the weight of four tubes full of bullets. How other than placing the bullets in the tubes one at a time would you make them enter the tubes in one orientation, nose up or down? How would you prevent nose damage to any style of bullet other than a wad cutter? Now, I'm not sorry I bought this little press and it has it's good points. It's just when they show you how fast this press runs, what they don't show is all the fiddling around it takes to get to yanking on that handle like a mad chimpanzee. It's best feature as to speed is the decapping process and that only if you buy the four tube feeder and collator. Now to the part I really like. This press is a great bottom drop bullet sizer and can be fed rather quickly by just dropping the bullets in the die one at a time. I'm not disappointed by the APP just not all that giddy over it. Gp

[GWS]

Giddy? Not descriptive of my use of this tool. Now I would be giddy if RCBS had John Lee's idea first and made this product from their Big Heavy Summit press! In fact, truth be known, I actually bought the deluxe to see if I could mod all these feature to work with my Summit. That said, I have to say that the APP has saved me serious time prepping cases, both rifle and pistol already! I even modded my Rock Chucker to both handle spent primers and "Kick" cases out and this beats that for deprimed 10 fold....it's the case feeder that's the gold.

Example: Two nights ago, I deprimed 240 9mm cases for a Grandson.....it took me 20 minutes including tool setup time......purpose? So I could wet tumble them in pins, yesterday. Now that was using the stock single feeder tube.....I don't normally load 9mm so my four-way wasn't tube in tube yet for 9mm. I bought the tubes just haven't had time to do the job.

As to the question, Have I done tube-in-tube before......not on the APP quite yet, but yes using Hornady's and RCBS's Pistol bullet feeder dies.

As for handling the weight, the heavier the bullet the shorter the tubes......Lee's tubes aren't 36" long for that reason.....too unwieldy full of heavy .45 bullets......I think Lee 4-way tubes are 9/16"OD x 18".

The following two pictures show what I did to use RCBS's Universal tube pistol bullet feeder.....since I didn't buy their expensive now defunct electric collator

Just used Super Glue to glue on the short anchor rings that keep them spaced right.


Been working on a bullet orientating idea for tube feeders....outside MBF patents.....working already for .223 and .308. and almost there for point down lead pistol.....I'll share when I get finished.....unless RCBS buys it from me......that was a joke.

[Gtrubicon]

My Dillon case feed is hooked up to my app, it’s incredible how many rounds you can de prime

[tomme boy]

I had the 4 hole bullet feeder hooked up to mine before i got my dedicated electric bullet collator. It works fine, you just have to use the 9mm tubes in the 45 tubes.

[BigAlofPa.]

My press came. I have it mounted. Just need to set up the feeding tube assy yet.

[abunaitoo]

"Cats meow"
Now that is showing some age.

[jmorris]

Feed it with a collator, auto drive it and have it sort 45 ACP by primer pocket diameter and it would be the bees knees.

[BigAlofPa.]

I been using it a lot the last few days. Really saves time. 4 tube set up is next. I have a 9mm tube in the 45 tube now.

[megasupermagnum]

Not for me.
With one of those, I'd get done too fast and have to go back in the house.

The APP press got me so far ahead of the game, I haven't had to take it out in a couple of moths. I had been looking at the 2000+ cases of 45 acp for a while, dreading the work. A few hours with the APP, and I forgot all about it.

But now I have all those cases, and didn't have enough bullets to fill them. Off to the casting pot.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

So far I am o.k. with putting cases in the tube manually. I have been decapping and neck sizing my .308 brass with Lee's mandrel type die. Then I'll run them through again to expand the case mouths. Same with pistol brass. And bullet sizing is a breeze once you learn how to adjust the feeding mechanism properly. So far I have processed .308, .44 Sp., .357 and 9mm ( both brass and boolits ). I finish the loading process with a hand primer, powder measure and my single stage.

[GWS]

Feed it with a collator, auto drive it and have it sort 45 ACP by primer pocket diameter and it would be the bees knees.

Your bar is set way too high for a simple guy like me .....I'm so backward, I've never seen a .45 case with small primer pockets.....the .45 ACP brass I have (all large pockets) will outlive me.

Autodrive? Not for me. Electric collator....I used to think so, but I don't even need that anymore.....just don't need that kind of volume.

For me it would be the bees knees if it was as heavy and strong and smooth as a Summit Press or a Forster.

But I do want a "bullet" shaker to fill the tubes faster than one at a time.....

Not as flashy as electric collators, but it works it's faster than by hand and it's a hell of a lot cheaper than DAA's.....perfect for my low volume loading.

.223 Preliminary trial before telescoping the outlet tube:



.308 Preliminary trial shows the mechanics a little better. (yes I had to build one for each.)



For Pistol bullets I modded a Hornady pistol bullet feeder/collator.....the only electric collator I own.

For cases I use shakers....both pistol and rifle....using Lee's tools but with improvements. Like the following for both .223 & .308.....and I already got to use both on the APP using a four-way feeder.


Perfect for filling tubes full for my use. After my health problems in November, I'm under no pretense to think I will ever need anything higher in volume than this. That's just the way it is in the slow lane.

[gpidaho]

After just a bit of use the spring that operates the slide on my APP has started buckling in half instead of moving the side back and forth or just jumps off the hook on the slide. Yes, I have thoroughly cleaned the slide area and brushed on a lite coat of graphite. I still think this is a great press for push through sizing when fed by hand but, the tube feed, be it one tube or four is just too unreliable in my opinion. Gp

[BigAlofPa.]

Im having a tough time doing 223/556. Sometimes it drops a few at a time. Usually the last ones in the tube.

[onelight]

After just a bit of use the spring that operates the slide on my APP has started buckling in half instead of moving the side back and forth or just jumps off the hook on the slide. Yes, I have thoroughly cleaned the slide area and brushed on a lite coat of graphite. I still think this is a great press for push through sizing when fed by hand but, the tube feed, be it one tube or four is just too unreliable in my opinion. Gp

If the piece that slides rubs against anything like the nut that holds the case feeder it will malfunction and mine works better with the end of the spring that mounts on the upper die holder with the open side of the spring down mount that end first then mount the end on the slider without twisting the spring. I saw that same issue and mounting my spring like this completely stoped it.
You may have it like this already but if not then mounting it like this might cure your problem.
I have run 8 to 10K cases through mine at about 99%% trouble free other than when I was learning how to set it up.
I hope you find the problem.

[tomme boy]

It is all about set up to get this to run. I can run mine as fast as I can pull the handle. Try to insert one of those plastic straws that come on a wd40 can inside the spring. I have not tried it yet but I thought I seen someone insert a piece of wire to do the same thing. I just took a rubber band and tied it the the press side loop so the spring could not twist off the left side of the loop. I just stuck it through the hole and tied a knot. The pushed it over to the left to hold the spring to the far left.

I might try the straw if it works. Probably tomorrow. I have about 500 9mm to swage

[gpidaho]

Tried today to get the four tube feeder to work. As near as I can tell, the problem was the slide rail that's mounted to the press had become scuffed by grit. This would explain why it had been working before and then stopped working. I rubbed the rail with some paraffin and installed the plastic tube in the spring as Tomme suggested and with limited testing seems to be working again. As a caution you might do a quick clean of your range brass before using the feeder as I believe this was my problem. Our local range has very fine sand that is composed in part of lava cinders and this is where the problem arose. Thanks Tomme for the hint, I had tried a paper clip wire before but believe the extra diameter of the tube is what kept the spring from buckling. Gp

[BigAlofPa.]

I do a preclean tumble before decapping.

[Cosmic_Charlie]

Been thinking about a progressive press lately. But a Lee turret press might just be the way to go since I have been using the AAP press. I can prime, charge and expand, seat and crimp on the turret. For the volume of shooting I do it would be a nice fit. The APP press has been working great for case and boolit sizing. Being able to prime, charge, seat and crimp with only inserting a case once would be a big improvement.

[gpidaho]

Charlie: I have several presses and the Lee four hole Classic turret is the most used. Well worth the cost. Gp