Lee APP press

[Hays47]

Got this thing a few months back. Basic set up was fast and easy. Decided I was going to set it up for sizing 9 mm 124 grain cast and powder coated bullets. Watched several on-line videos to get general idea.

Sizer itself works fine BUT soon as I attach the feed apparatus. Problems galore. Regardless of how I adjust the arm that holds the tube. The spring becomes entangled eventually. Works fine for maybe two or three cycles then screech. When the spring becomes entangled it cannot function. At first I blamed myself. After several hundred attempts at " perfecting " the set up.

Of all the presses I have used over the decades of reloading. This APP has given me more trouble than all my other presses added together. This APP is not the time saver I envisioned. Going to search on internet for solutions to feed problems.

I wonder if the genius that designed this ever tried using it.

[poppy42]

I’ve got an app press and I’ve Processed well over 10,000 cases and boolets! This spring I believe you’re referencing can actually be installed 180° off if that’s the case what you’re describing will happen every time! I strongly suggest watching as many videos as you can as far as I’m concerned it’s a great little press! Especially for the money! Let’s face it it’s not a Dylan super 1050!

[Valley-Shooter]

I have one also and I use it decap 9mm brass and size my cast boolits. Proper adjustment and consistent speed is required. It can be fiddley.

[ddeck22]

I love it for swaging brass. It moves like a rocket.

I don't size boolits on it, though. Check out the work from TylerR on this thing, that may help. He has a whole set of modifications and 3d printable parts to make it work better.

[Ausglock]

I size Bullets and de-cap pistol cases...Get a length of Stainless TIG welding wire. put a small U bend on 1 end and feed the wire down inside the spring. Hook the U bent over the top of the spring where it attaches to the silver loop on the press.

Sized 6000 44 and 3000 45 bullet last weekend with it and no issues at all. I run a Mr. Bullet feeder to keep the bullets up to the press.

[Cryhavoc]

I have two LEE APP presses and they are set up for 2 most used calibers that I shoot. I found this "hack" in case anyone else has issues with the spring hanging up occasionally:

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/sw2iVFTNI7c

[JeffinTD]

Nice tip! I’ll have to try that.

[speedyr]

just picked up a Lee APP and can't wait to play with it but a friend did say to look at a bunch of videos as there are a lot of "tricks" to getting it set up right!

thanks for the video, this will help a lot. Mainly got it to deprime and swage primer pockets but will get around to sizing PC boolits soon enough!

[wv109323]

The spring ends must be aligned when installed without a 1/2 twist in the spring. You need to put a 1/2 twist on the spring while installing it, so that when installed it lies naturally.

[44magLeo]

When I got Mie I set it up followed the instructions that came with it. It works very well.
The spring when not installed right will bend and jam. No need for a wire in the spring, just mount the spring right as
wv109323 talked about.

[Hays47]

After watching more videos that I can count. Finally got it to where I can live with it. One of the problems was the spring as some have mentioned. It is much faster have used for sizing bullets. Sizing 9mm , 38 spec , 357 Max and 360 DW cases. There I removed holder spring as suggested by several videos. Now a case hangs up now and then. So am a little more satisfied with the purchase. I just wish it came with better instructions. Companies usually assign their most unproductive employees to instruction manuals. Unfortunately it shows.

[oley55]

Companies usually assign their most unproductive employees to instruction manuals. Unfortunately it shows.

Is that a known business practice? I was not aware of this.

I remember the days when you purchased a Craftsman tool or product the knowledge shared in the instructions were nearly as valuable as the product itself. Of course all that went away as companies went down Ralph Nader's litigation rat hole.

[GWS]

After watching more videos that I can count. Finally got it to where I can live with it. One of the problems was the spring as some have mentioned. It is much faster have used for sizing bullets. Sizing 9mm , 38 spec , 357 Max and 360 DW cases. There I removed holder spring as suggested by several videos. Now a case hangs up now and then. So am a little more satisfied with the purchase. I just wish it came with better instructions. Companies usually assign their most unproductive employees to instruction manuals. Unfortunately it shows.

Lee doesn't do good instructions verbally, they believe who ever said, "a picture is worth a thousand words." Dillon on the other hand went to the other extreme....not enough pictures and a literal "book" of written word to put everybody to sleep 5 minutes in.

I found with Lee, to go over each frame over and over. You pick a good tidbit up every time through. For example....at first I thought the App's primer pocket swager was junk.....then I went over the instruction pictures 2 more times and figured out that once you set it DEEP enough is does work....better than all the bench swagers......and that one has a case feeder to boot!

As for the feeding, it's not so much the spring as the shuttle rail. Look for flash in the plastic and smooth it. Burnish powdered graphite into it over and over til it shines. When it's that slick and smooth the spring works fine.

Also sometimes its the brass. The embossed lettering under the bases are sometimes less than smooth. I keep a sheet of 400 sandpaper close by glued to a block, and when I'm depriming cases that are rough, I swipe them across it before I drop them in the feed tube.

The other problem is Lee's pusher behind the wrap around claws. Its too far back and doesn't push the case from low enough. So I did this with a paper clip:




That worked, but then TylerR came along with his trusty 3d printer and made this.....does the same thing much simpler and better.



But what really makes the APP wonderful is TylerR's quick caliber change system using 3D printed parts.....just too bad Lee hasn't done it.

[iMigraine]

Appreciate this thread. My :ee APP is driving me crazy on how temperamental it becomes over a short time of use. Unfortunately, I don't have a 3D printer but I do have an empty red straw to try next time I am bulk depriming.

[Alferd Packer]

Never needed the tool being discussed.The other tools seemed to work OK.
Maybe stick with the regular tools .

[iMigraine]

Never needed the tool being discussed.The other tools seemed to work OK.
Maybe stick with the regular tools .

Well, I don't have access to "regular tools" like child labor.
When picking up my brass and range brass, I might have hundreds of 9mm and .223 brass. Using my single stage press was my goto to prep the brass for depriming for cleaning. But, the Lee App is significantly faster when you want to process large volumes of brass in a very short time. However, as you have read it's not without its problems.

Merry Christmas & Happy Hanukkah to all!

[cwlongshot]

I bought the shell holders and pieces parts when I bought mine. I also bought the NOE/LEE part to use the NOE sizers I already owned. Today I use it only for bullet sizing one at a time. Feeder is glitchy and annoying. I dont "need" the speed. Im very very happy with it as a stand alone bullet sizer.

I will get it running as a decapper for processing brass for wet tumbling. But havent yet.

CW

[Idz]

I had 2 problems with my Lee APP while processing 9mm. When feeding powder coated bullets (Lee 356-125-2R) nose first they would tilt sideways, push open the jaws, and dump the whole feed tube of bullets. Fix: glue a short piece of feed tube to the underside of the riser so the jaws are bypassed. With sizing and de-capping cases the cases would get ejected as the slider sprang forward. Fix: use the thinnest riser, thicker risers sometimes hang up and then spring forward.

[kevin c]

I occasionally decap pistol brass in my APP, but mainly use it to size home cast boolits. In either case, short of having a case or bullet feeder, I can hand feed cases into the shuttle (and bullets directly into the die bypassing the shuttle completely) as fast or faster than refilling the tubes by hand, and more reliably than the shuttle system.

With that adjustment, I am quite satisfied with the press’s performance.

[megasupermagnum]

I occasionally decap pistol brass in my APP, but mainly use it to size home cast boolits. In either case, short of having a case or bullet feeder, I can hand feed cases into the shuttle (and bullets directly into the die bypassing the shuttle completely) as fast or faster than refilling the tubes by hand, and more reliably than the shuttle system.

With that adjustment, I am quite satisfied with the press’s performance.

That was always my thinking with bullets. maybe it's just me, but I don't think it makes any sense to fill tubes for bullets (or primers) one by one. If anything using a tube is slower than hand feeding for me. If you had a bullet feeder then it would be different, but they are so expensive.

Cases are a different ballgame. The case collator from Lee is some kind of black magic. I can have all 4 tubes filled in 15 seconds, and somehow they almost always go base first. I might get 1 in 200 that go in backwards. There's just no way you can hand feed even remotely close to as fast as that.