New ABLP on the way!

[drband]

So… I found a deal on a Lee ABLP (reconditioned) for $100 on eBay and couldn’t resist the urge. Press only, other parts on the way from Titan Reloading. I already have dies, AutoDrum powder measure, and Safely Prime. Ordered case feeder & collator, shell plate, and bin.

I will post more when everything arrives and I set it up.

Going to load 9mm initially.

 

[kcofohio]

I like mine. Got it when they 1st came out. I have only loaded 380s and 9s on it.
It takes a little bit for me to get the rythm, so I wait until I have several 100 to do.

These are better breech lock bushings, easier to get a hold of.
https://www.titanreloading.com/product/lee-spline-drive-breech-lock-bushing-4-pk/

 

[LiveLife]

case ... collator ... 9mm

Don't forget the drilled penny and spent 22LR casing mod to hold it in the center hole of the collator ... No more upside down cases in the feed tube.

380s and 9s on it

Penny mod works for .380Auto cases too.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Don't forget the drilled penny and spent 22LR casing mod to hold it in the center hole of the collator ... No more upside down cases in the feed tube.


Penny mod works for .380Auto cases too.

love your mods and hacks!! you should do a youtube video on all of them!!!

 

[LiveLife]

love your mods and hacks!! you should do a youtube video on all of them!!!

Wife won't let me ...

Besides, why monetize Google/Youtube to listen to boring "personalities" for half an hour when you can read/reference the exact/precise information you need/want at your convenience?

Online forum vs Youtube is like being forced to engage someone on the phone for a long time vs reading texts at your convenience ... You can actually pursue your life while checking texts/forum posts on "life breaks".

Besides, we already embarked on some sort of "THR shooting/reloading book" < From member requests > with "Advanced Reloading ... Pistol ... Rifle ... Concepts and Discussion" threads to be the worksheet and "myth busting" and "real life" threads as measurable/repeatable field trial verifications of "concepts" identified into eventual book chapters for easy access by members/guests at their convenience during "life breaks" - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ts-and-discussions.778197/page-2#post-9882053

This was before your time on THR (Going back to 2015) and my exchange with noted member rcmodel before his passing sparked a thought/challenge to compile a "shooting/reloading" library for the future generation of shooters/reloaders (As my work involved writing best practices guides of hundreds of pages/standards and compliance manuals/policies and procedures for departments that ultimately got adopted into statewide manuals ... to being recruited to team that was tasked to rewrite/update Title 22 for state of CA) and before he passed, I promised that I would give this project my focus during retirement and to distribute "special gifts" to THR members he sent for me to keep until the time was right - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?search/28760006/&page=112

These are initial topics that we started out with and since have expanded quite a bit to be "indexed" into chapters/subchapters (Yes, some of my expanded, detailed and comprehensive posts are chapter/subchapter drafts):

​

Sorry for the thread "drift" OK, back to OP.

 

[drband]

Don't forget the drilled penny and spent 22LR casing mod to hold it in the center hole of the collator ... No more upside down cases in the feed tube.


Penny mod works for .380Auto cases too.

Nice! is that glued in place or just dropped in the hole?

 

[LiveLife]

Nice! is that glued in place or just dropped in the hole?

Just dropped in for easy/fast removal for larger 40/45 cases.

 

[drband]

Just dropped in for easy/fast removal for larger 40/45 cases.

Great! Thanks

 

[drband]

Tracking reports a Monday delivery. Guess I better clean off my bench!

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I found I had to put a riser under mine. The handle is so long on them that I found them uncomfortable to use at bench height. I ended up cutting the handle off on mine to shorten the throw, I only load .357 magnums on it so no need for all that handle length.
Later I took the entire handle assy off my old Pro 1000 and put it on the ABLP because I also preferred the ball handle.


I like it much better now and I don't get as much side torqing on the handle at full extension.
I still ended up building a home made riser for mine out of quartersawn oak and I have it made to my most comfortable height.



Without priming on it, it is really fast and makes close to perfect ammo with the dies I use, including a Redding dual ring sizing die.


I also took an old Lyman seating die and put a Redding Mic seating assy in it, Midway sells them separately and they fit any die's seating stem that is 1/2" by 20 thread sizing.
Redding's stem profile that comes on the mic seems to work really well on every bullet type I've loaded on here so far. Haven't tried it on full wadcutters but have with plated double end wadcutters and it works good on it also. It's exceptional on SWCs.
So I have my custom dies, my custom riser, and my custom press, I guess you could say I really made this thing mine.

 

[LiveLife]

Without priming on it, it is really fast and makes close to perfect ammo with the dies I use, including a Redding dual ring sizing die.
View attachment 1104740

That's some beautiful looking finished rounds!

 

[drband]

I found I had to put a riser under mine. The handle is so long on them that I found them uncomfortable to use at bench height. I ended up cutting the handle off on mine to shorten the throw, I only load .357 magnums on it so no need for all that handle length.
Later I took the entire handle assy off my old Pro 1000 and put it on the ABLP because I also preferred the ball handle.
View attachment 1104738

I like it much better now and I don't get as much side torqing on the handle at full extension.
I still ended up building a home made riser for mine out of quartersawn oak and I have it made to my most comfortable height.
View attachment 1104739


Without priming on it, it is really fast and makes close to perfect ammo with the dies I use, including a Redding dual ring sizing die.
View attachment 1104740

I also took an old Lyman seating die and put a Redding Mic seating assy in it, Midway sells them separately and they fit any die's seating stem that is 1/2" by 20 thread sizing.
View attachment 1104741 Redding's stem profile that comes on the mic seems to work really well on every bullet type I've loaded on here so far. Haven't tried it on full wadcutters but have with plated double end wadcutters and it works good on it also. It's exceptional on SWCs.
So I have my custom dies, my custom riser, and my custom press, I guess you could say I really made this thing mine.

I expect to need a riser. I built one for my LCT so I’ll experiment with it before I build or buy another. InLine Fab makes such great risers I may just buy one! I have the ball-end handle from my LCT somewhere, so I can experiment with that, too. It would be simple to cut it off to fit if needed. I use an ergo handle on my LCT, but not sure I need one for the ABLP.

 

[tightgroup tiger]

I expect to need a riser. I built one for my LCT so I’ll experiment with it before I build or buy another. InLine Fab makes such great risers I may just buy one! I have the ball-end handle from my LCT somewhere, so I can experiment with that, too. It would be simple to cut it off to fit if needed. I use an ergo handle on my LCT, but not sure I need one for the ABLP.

Sometimes it is just so easy to just go buy something than it is to make it. Inline Fab makes good stuff.
I wouldn't cut the handle off if you think you may load .223/5.56 on it at some point in time. You may need the extra leverage when resizing.
Depends on what you bought it for.

Try yours the way it is before you change anything on it. I originally turned the roller handle to the left, after cutting it off, and ran it with my right hand while I stood to the left of the press, made seating bullets effortless. I still do that with the ball handle I later put on it.
I would advise getting an M-die for neck sizing what ever your going to load on this. Mine works for lead, plated, and jacketed bullets all three.
Push the bullet in the case and it stays there, no messing around with bullets falling over.
Point is the press is versatile and you have a lot of options as to how you want to set it up. Notice I have no priming system on this. I prime off the press for this machine, old habit left over from my Pro 1000 days when I was much younger.
So I never gave the priming system on the ABLP a fair chance. But I like my ABLP the way it is now.
I'm really hoping the Pro 6000 priming system works out. Time will tell on that one.
Good luck with your new press, I hope you like it.