Who is using the Lee APP press?

[sksshooter]

Ive had this little press since they came out. It seems like i paid very little maybe $40-50 and then bought the 4 tube case feeder and collator. I havent needed to replenish any of my pistol ammo so i really hadnt used it much more than to deprime a couple hundred pieces of 9mm just to try it out.

In 2016 we had a prety significant flood. I had quite a bit of brass that got wet. A lot of it was just left to dry and sat for some time while we dealt with bigger issues. Fast forward 2ish years and we are in a new house and i finally have a chance to set my stuff up. I started tumbling brass with less than satisfactory results. The brass wasnt corroded but had decent tarnish on it. I moved to a rotary tumbler with stainless pins and went at it with great results. I didnt work through all of it but made a dent.

Fast forward i need to start processing some brass last year and i had a few what i now know as ringers but didnt know why. I later found out the wet and letting them sit is a no no. So i took to working through all of my brass stockpile. I did all of my larger rifle sruff on my rock chucker but when it came time to start on the pistol calibers i pulled the app alout and started putting it to work.

Im currently sitting at 10-11k pieces of brass either deprimed with a universal decapper or sized and deprimed with a sizing die. After the first 4 or so k i decided it needed a roller handle and was pleased to find lee offers one for a whopping $22. Installed it and put it to work. Great improvment. Ive just been putting a little oil on the slide bar and 2 uprights every 1k or so rounds and keep on going. I just wrapped up 3k yesterday evening and another 1500ish this evening and its getting a bit sticky at this point so i shut it down. Ill take it out tomorrpw and clean the layer of crudd off of it add a couple drops of oil and knockout the last 2-3k pieces i have left.

Im all into this thing just under or right at $100 and it has turned out to be an excellent investment. If i somehow manage to break this thing at some point it will absolutely be replaced.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

Ive had this little press since they came out. It seems like i paid very little maybe $40-50 and then bought the 4 tube case feeder and collator. I havent needed to replenish any of my pistol ammo so i really hadnt used it much more than to deprime a couple hundred pieces of 9mm just to try it out.

In 2016 we had a prety significant flood. I had quite a bit of brass that got wet. A lot of it was just left to dry and sat for some time while we dealt with bigger issues. Fast forward 2ish years and we are in a new house and i finally have a chance to set my stuff up. I started tumbling brass with less than satisfactory results. The brass wasnt corroded but had decent tarnish on it. I moved to a rotary tumbler with stainless pins and went at it with great results. I didnt work through all of it but made a dent.

Fast forward i need to start processing some brass last year and i had a few what i now know as ringers but didnt know why. I later found out the wet and letting them sit is a no no. So i took to working through all of my brass stockpile. I did all of my larger rifle sruff on my rock chucker but when it came time to start on the pistol calibers i pulled the app alout and started putting it to work.

Im currently sitting at 10-11k pieces of brass either deprimed with a universal decapper or sized and deprimed with a sizing die. After the first 4 or so k i decided it needed a roller handle and was pleased to find lee offers one for a whopping $22. Installed it and put it to work. Great improvment. Ive just been putting a little oil on the slide bar and 2 uprights every 1k or so rounds and keep on going. I just wrapped up 3k yesterday evening and another 1500ish this evening and its getting a bit sticky at this point so i shut it down. Ill take it out tomorrpw and clean the layer of crudd off of it add a couple drops of oil and knockout the last 2-3k pieces i have left.

Im all into this thing just under or right at $100 and it has turned out to be an excellent investment. If i somehow manage to break this thing at some point it will absolutely be replaced.

Yeah me and dad have been using the APP since August 2020 and it has its drawbacks but the redeeming feature it the spline quick change bushings you can use with it. I have since found out that LEE makes a adaptor to use them with other brands presses so we will probably upgrade to one of those and just keep using the quick change bushings as they are super easy and very simple to just twist the die on and off the press in seconds.

 

[sksshooter]

Yeah me and dad have been using the APP since August 2020 and it has its drawbacks but the redeeming feature it the spline quick change bushings you can use with it. I have since found out that LEE makes a adaptor to use them with other brands presses so we will probably upgrade to one of those and just keep using the quick change bushings as they are super easy and very simple to just twist the die on and off the press in seconds.

Are you using it for everything? I could see it having some limitations for that. My only use for it is single processing of large volumes of brass. Havent tried any rifle through it but am planning to try to size and deprime some bulk 223. It wont see anything more than that though. I have several other presses better suited for all other tasks.

 

[45/30-06OKIE]

Are you using it for everything? I could see it having some limitations for that. My only use for it is single processing of large volumes of brass. Havent tried any rifle through it but am planning to try to size and deprime some bulk 223. It wont see anything more than that though. I have several other presses better suited for all other tasks.

Yes, we use it for everything, from sizing brass, to seating bullets, to swaging the crimps out of lake city 5.56 and 7.62 brass. We use a RCBS Chargemaster and a funnel on each case one at a time for powder dispensing though.
Slow, but methodical.

 

[dcloco]

Don't oil the slide.

Scrub with a very minimal pinch of soap/water/tooth brush. Lube with graphite powder.

Wet lube will continue to collect anything and everything on the slide.

 

[GW Staar]

Other presses brought us the quickchange bushings. The APP's greatness is creating a single stage press with a case/bullet feeder.....with its pass-through shell holders.

I use mine for case processing:

Depriming enmass so I can use a wet tumbler.
Swaging military brass ... especially 7.62 LC, but also some .223. Some do military 9mm pistol.
I also have smoothed a good deal of .40S&W slightly "glocked" in Glock's early unsupported case years.

Others like to prime on them using the ACP version....don't have that one.

But even for those who size brass on an APP, the main plus is the case feeder that just flat makes single stage loading faster. I stole the Lee idea and added their case feeder to my RCBS Summit......if I could... I'd add one to my RockChucker too.

For those with access to a 3D printer, there's a most awesome quick change system to change calibers on an APP really fast....which I also use on my Summit AND my Lee 6 Pack Progressive.

 

[Kaldor]

I have one. Its my decapper workhorse for me with my Hornady case feeder and 3d printed quick change parts.

I just keep it mostly cleanish and lube it with Hornady OneShot which dries completely.

 

[Varminterror]

Dillon collator on top of a Lee APP for universal decapping here. My son also uses it to swage crimps on his range pick up brass.

 

[BBarn]

I use mine for de-priming 45 Auto only. Works well for that. Might be OK for lead bullet sizing and priming. Too much work to change the case feeding for different calibers, and too flimsy for heavier work.

 

[Mark_Mark]

Who uses a Lee App?!?!?!

who has 2 thumbs and eats meat ? <<< this guy! I use my APP for everything

 

[GW Staar]

I use mine for de-priming 45 Auto only. Works well for that. Might be OK for lead bullet sizing and priming. Too much work to change the case feeding for different calibers, and too flimsy for heavier work.

I also use mine to deprime .223, .308, .270 rifle cases and change out is really easy with the 3d printed parts available at CastBoolits.

A little video to demonstrate how easy.....using Lee's clear tubes or spring tubes....either way, works great.

 

[BBarn]

Useless video without the sound.

 

[Obturation]

I love the app , easy to process tons of brass quick.
Finicky to setup and I dread cartridge changes because it's going to be fiddly but once it's set it just rolls.
I size bullets on mine too, I was surprised at how much leverage I could get put of it if set correctly . I managed to shove some .458" bullets through .452" die without breaking anything and have used mine for some primitive / amature swaging.

I don't lube mine. If it starts getting sluggish I'll use some brake clean on it and that's about it . mines mounted on a chair for mobile use, I typically weigh it down with boxes of lead & bullets.

 

[sksshooter]

Don't oil the slide.

Scrub with a very minimal pinch of soap/water/tooth brush. Lube with graphite powder.

Wet lube will continue to collect anything and everything on the slide.

gave that a shot after cleaning it. couldn't find my graphite but put some ptfe dry lube on it. that was a flop. by the 10th round the slide was hanging up going in and out. wiped it back down and put a little lucas gun oil on it and i cranked through another 2500 rounds of filthy 9mm last night. i'm ok with the oil grabbing crud. i went through 10-12k rounds before it needed cleaning and only real reason was because the last 1-2 k rounds were filthy.

 

[GW Staar]

Useless video without the sound.

If it's that worthless to you, you have my permission to ignore it......sorry you wasted your time.

I swore I wouldn't bore people with my voice-over. You haven't changed my mind....Youtube is full of them that go on and on and say very little worthwhile, but hey, they wave their hands a lot.

But if more agree with you, I will remove it.

 

[sksshooter]

If it's that worthless to you, you have my permission to ignore it......sorry you wasted your time.

I swore I wouldn't bore people with my voice-over. You haven't changed my mind....Youtube is full of them that go on and on and say very little worthwhile, but hey, they wave their hands a lot.

But if more agree with you, I will remove it.

I tend to agree with your assesment. There are so many videos that go on and on with sensless chatter irrelevent to the subject the video claims to pertain to. I was able to fully underatand the printed tools purpose and how to use them. Nothing wrong with the video at all dont let the naysayers cause you to pull it.

 

[CoalCrackerAl]

I think the APP is the cats meow for knocking primers out.

 

[BBarn]

I assumed (incorrectly) that the lack of sound was a mistake, and that the missing audio provided more details about the products. As it stands, there is no evidence that the product works well, nor does it show how multiple calibers/case lengths are effectively accommodated and fed thru the APP..

 

[GW Staar]

OK, here's the same system feeding .357 mag. Notice the Caliber insert holder above the shuttle. That's the black ring surrounding the red caliber specific insert....see first video in my first post for clarification.

Okay that's evidence it works for .357. Now...just pull up the .357 insert and replace it with the .223 insert and also change the shuttle slider to the taller one provided by Lee.

Okay....works for .223. Now, still using the highest shuttle slider of Lee's, replace the .223 insert and drop in the .270 insert......


Notice the cut-out in the side of the caliber specific insert that fits around the .270 case and makes sure the APP starts pushing it stably. Tall cases tend to fall over if they drop without such sideways support and often don't get a stable start.

The point of the first video in the first post was only to demonstrate 2 different ways to feed the APP...the clear tube Lee provides, or spring tube others provide, often used for feeding boolits to the APP for sizing, dropped from an electric collator.

I'm not a pro at reloading, shooting, and especially not at videos, but I do try to help the best I can.

 

[BBarn]

OK, here's the same system feeding .357 mag...

Thank you very much for posting the follow-up videos. That helped me see how the feeder works. I note that the upper piece on the shuttle also needs to be changed depending on the caliber being fed (which is also true with the standard case feeder).

This approach might enable me to easily switch between 45 Auto and revolver rounds, widening my current use of the APP. Where can I find details on making/obtaining those feeder parts?

 

[DukeConnor]

I know a lot of people love these but I wasn't a fan and only use it to size bullets.

 

[GW Staar]

Duke, I've said it often, but I feel the real revolution of the APP is the case/bullet feeder for a single station press. That's why I bought one.....I actually had plans when I saw it to add the bullet feeder to my RCBS Summit press.....then TylerR over at CsstBoolits created the quick-change system for it and that, combined with the shuttle system, gave me the imputes to finish that Summit, and that worked super. There's a post here on that project including 3d files somewhere.

Then when Lee added the Pro 6000 progressive to their products I bought one of those seeing that the quick-change would work there too....and six stations! Video in the links below:
https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...-the-lee-pro-6000.915349/page-2#post-12545892


BBarn, CastBoolits link below, you'll find the longest thread I know of on 3d printing for the hobby. TylerR posts there, and when he does, at the bottom of his posts, click "downloads" .....in that link is the APP section.....and in that section is the quick-change parts I download and use.

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sh...let-Collator&p=5387487&viewfull=1#post5387487

I did a few more APP videos on that page as well, hope they help.