Unboxing Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro - User Review / Discussion < No Bashing >

For those that have been having issues with the case feeder you may need to slow down your upstroke from what your used to. If you go to fast it will knock over brass and fail to get it in the shell plate.

Rule3 said:

See, it says SOMEGUY

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IMHO, SomeGuy did a great job, and I don't think anyone meant to imply otherwise.

Perhaps he did 'too good of a job' in this thread, and set a mark of sorts in reporting/diagnosing/solving his issue that others have yet to match.

I do agree,,, It has been a bit quiet in here lately,,, While I didn't post in the 'Upcoming/soon to be released!' thread, and really don't see myself purchasing this specific press anytime soon, I am a bit of a 'gadget guy' who, ever since I was able to walk/grab a wrench in Dad's shop, has always wanted to know 'what makes it tick / what makes it different?'

I also assume some of the posters in the 'Upcoming' thread had no intentions of buying either, but would still like to keep abreast of the new offering.

Can only Imagine it should get a bit more lively in here as time goes by and more presses make it out to the masses,,,





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After my talk with Mr. Lee, I am being sent the following:
1) New primer arm
2) Updated safety primer..change has been made to the slider to prevent primers falling out. This has been tested by the person I spoke with.
3) Modified case slider.. the left "lip" has been modified to improve functionality with the 45 ACP and other large cases. Note.. best to anchor the spring to the forward hole. This modification will be incorporated in future components.
Parts should be here before the weekend. Feedback was requested.
Lee is aware there are problems and they are correcting them. Quickly.
Impressive customer service.

First, there is some great information in this thread. Second, This thread has convinced me to hold off for a while on purchasing this press. I will probably get one; but it will be next year.

Hasaf said:

First, there is some great information in this thread. Second, This thread has convinced me to hold off for a while on purchasing this press. I will probably get one; but it will be next year.

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Yep... same boat. I may not wait until *next* year, but certainly later this year.

While I haven't purchased one yet there is a spot cleared on my bench to put it.
Spent some time at Titan Reloading working the one they have on the showroom floor. If the only complaints are about the priming setup I'll be getting one.
Thanks someguy2800 for the video. Very helpful.

Mine arrived a few days ago, and I'm in the process of setting it up.

First lesson: The forward mounting hole on the base of the press is too close to the edge of the bench. I stuck mine down with 1 1/2" lag bolts, and about the third time I lifted the handle, it ripped loose and sloshed a bunch of TAC across my bench. Some wood glue and clamps, and the bench will be good as new.

The solution is to get the bench plate and base plate. That will secure the press without drilling next to the edge of the bench, and it makes it easy to swap out presses. This is my fourth press, and the presses were fencing off far too much of my bench space. So it solves two problems. I can simply hang up the ones I'm not using.

The lock ring eliminator can end up in a position where it's impossible to reach the set screw. You just have to be aware of that, and position it accordingly.

For each set of four dies, you'll want three breech bushings and one lock ring eliminator.

The new primer arm design is much better than the one on my Lee Classic Turret.

Video and more of a full report when the new bench plate and base plate get here.

Was going to try and post a picture , obviously I don't know how . Don't do what I did . Got a primer in the square hole at the bottom where the primer arm goes . Was wondering why the priming was not working right . I did not see it for a bit . Losing a primer once in a while . As was said steadying the primer arm with my finger seems to help .

Made a few cartridges on the new press tonight.
I'm doing 5.56, and I have no automatic case or bullet feeder, and I manually feed my primers. I have one of the older priming attachments, and its main function seemed to be to scatter primers across the floor, so I stopped using it a long time ago. I understand from the posts that the new ones are better, so one of those may be coming along.

The bench plate is almost a necessity. I formerly had two shotgun presses on the end of the bench, behind where the new press is mounted, and it made parts of my bench hard to reach. Now I can switch out a press in just a couple of minutes. That, plus the new mount is more secure.

I carefully checked the clearances with the lever arm up, and put my bench plate about 1/8" back from the edge of the bench. That was a mistake. When you bring the lever arm down, the dead primer disposal tube does not clear the front of the bench. Even if I had put the bench plate out flush, it would have been a problem. My bench is 3" thick, so it probably won't be a problem on some benches. Check your clearances with the lever arm down. If you have a problem, you can probably hang the bench plate over the edge 1/8" and be clear.

I've been loading on an LCT for quite a while, and the new press takes an entirely different rhythm. I was going very slowly, about 3-4 rounds per minute. That still beats the LCT. The time should improve a lot as my old brain accepts the new rhythm and as I smooth out the workflow.

This is the best setup procedure I have found so far: First set the sizing die so that it just touches the shellplate. This die will determine how close the shellplate will come to the die deck. Then put a case in the third slot, and position the seating die so that it just touches when the lever arm is fully down. Put on the charging die, and screw it in so that it just completes the powder dump as the lever arm is brought down. Finally, screw the crimp die just far enough that the collet closes as far as you want it to close. Then walk a single cartridge around from start to finish to see that everything works.

By mistake, I ordered a Hornady bullet dispensing die for 9mm. I simply didn't notice that the web page had Lee products next to Hornady. Duh. At $28, though, it seems like it ought to work when I get done with 5.56 and do some 9mm.

I'm using my old powder measure at the moment. I'll probably get to the Drum Measure in the next day or two.

I'll post video soon, after I get a couple of kinks out of the process.

I just received a Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro, set it up and loaded 50 cartridges. I had another recent thread where I was comparing my Lee Classic Cast Breech Lock single stage and my Lee Classic Turret. I used to reload about 25 years ago, but had sold all my equipment. Just in the last month I have bought the single stage, turret, and progressive to see what I liked best. I've used all three now.

Each of the presses have their various merits. I could not fault any of them from my experience. I had previously only used RCBS and Hornady, but I've now had good experience with Lee. I did have poor results with the Safety Prime, but as others have mentioned in this thread there may be solutions to that which I did not explore. It is only a cheap accessory and there are alternatives. I am happier with an RCBS Universal Hand Primer.

After I mounted the press, I pulled the indexer and shell ejector, installed the shell plate (which I ordered separately), and assembled the press with the indexer and the ejector, and dies. I am using the ABLP with an Auto Drum Powder Measure and the Riser accessory. I do not have a case feeder, primer, or bullet feeder on the press. I am using the Lock Ring Eliminators. The ABLP came with one, but I had bought several more to use with the Classic Cast SS press. They're not necessary, and the press comes with three standard Breech Lock adapters that can be used with the lock rings that come on the dies.

I adjusted the little black fingers that hold the shells in the shell holder as it goes around to the different stations. Once I had the dies in, I had to get used to the idea of going all the way around the mulberry bush everytime I wanted to do something. But with the Breech Lock system, it's easy to pull dies for operations you might want to skip. For example, I pull all four dies and just use a fifth universal decapping die on my dirty brass. Another example is if I want to check my powder charge on the scale, I've got to short-stroke it through the merry-go-round and catch it off the ejector. I can't easily pull it off the station mid-way around. It just takes some getting used to.

I was up and running in about 10 minutes from the time I opened the box until I was ready for a run. I ran 50 cartridges in 18 minutes, but the machine could go way faster than my brain, so a lot of those 18 minutes were just waiting for me to catch up.

I was dropping shells in the hole, and placing a bullet over a shell where I was sure I could see powder. I am going to get a 4-tube case feeder, but I plan on continuing to place bullets by hand. I like to look at the powder before I place a bullet.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Auto Breech Lock Pro. I liked the Classic Cast single stage press and enjoyed reloading with it. When I started using the LCT, I did not enjoy it at all. I dislike it. I did not have any problems with it I was not able to solve, I just didn't enjoy using it. Nevertheless, I couldn't ignore how much faster and more efficient it was than the single stage. I enjoy the ABLP almost as much as a single stage, and it's even faster and more efficient than the LCT for what I'm doing.

I haven't used it much yet, but I've had no problems whatsoever. The ABLP is working flawlessly for me. Once I get the case feeder or even if I just get more accustomed to the multitasking process, this thing is going to crank out quality ammo so fast it will seem like all my reloading time is spent cleaning brass. Obviously, it has various plastic parts that are critical to its function, and I do not expect this press to last 50 years like a single stage press can with ease. The press is amazing for the price.

I got a deal this morning on an unused loadmaster 223 kit I just couldn’t pass up so I guess I will see which I like better, or mabey I’ll keep both.

I've been using the Lee ABLP for a a few days now. I haven't loaded a high volume, but have been doing several hundred rounds for load development. I've been learning the little techniques needed to do things like repeat a powder measure check several times without progressing. Overall, I'm still pleased with how everything is working. The only issue I'm having is lack of consistency in bullet seating depth. I'm getting COAL's that vary by as much as ten thou. I can see the ram is centered under the resizing die, and I wonder if the shell plate and carrier are flexing so the bullet seating die, which is the least supported, doesn't have the consistency I expect.

Update: I tried adjusting die depths to see if I could realize an improvement. I think it's important the resizing die bottoms on the shell plate before the other dies (in my case the crimp die). I backed off my crimp die a few thousandths and I'm seeing less variation in seating depth. I still get +/- 0.003". In my experience, this doesn't make a significant difference in handgun ammo.

There are some tradeoffs with this press. You get wonderful features at a low cost. The quality seems to be very good, but one of the tradeoffs are size, stiffness, massiveness, robustness or whatever you want to call it, and as a result, it might come a little shorter on precision. That tradeoff probably should have been more obvious to me earlier. It certainly seems to fill its role in producing greater volume of handgun ammo though.

labnoti said:

I've been using the Lee ABLP for a a few days now. I haven't loaded a high volume, but have been doing several hundred rounds for load development. I've been learning the little techniques needed to do things like repeat a powder measure check several times without progressing. Overall, I'm still pleased with how everything is working. The only issue I'm having is lack of consistency in bullet seating depth. I'm getting COAL's that vary by as much as ten thou. I can see the ram is centered under the resizing die, and I wonder if the shell plate and carrier are flexing so the bullet seating die, which is the least supported, doesn't have the consistency I expect.

Update: I tried adjusting die depths to see if I could realize an improvement. I think it's important the resizing die bottoms on the shell plate before the other dies (in my case the crimp die). I backed off my crimp die a few thousandths and I'm seeing less variation in seating depth. I still get +/- 0.003". In my experience, this doesn't make a significant difference in handgun ammo.

There are some tradeoffs with this press. You get wonderful features at a low cost. The quality seems to be very good, but one of the tradeoffs are size, stiffness, massiveness, robustness or whatever you want to call it, and as a result, it might come a little shorter on precision. That tradeoff probably should have been more obvious to me earlier. It certainly seems to fill its role in producing greater volume of handgun ammo though.

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I have noticed the same thing on the seating length. I get a bit of variation as well. I'm sure the carrier is flexing a good bit depending on the brass thickness when seating.

someguy2800 said:

I got a deal this morning on an unused loadmaster 223 kit I just couldn’t pass up so I guess I will see which I like better, or mabey I’ll keep both.

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I got the loadmaster kit a couple days ago. It has been about 4 years since I had touched one. I found the Primer mechanism, case feeder, and indexing mechanism to be cheesy and it brought flashbacks of all the primer feed problems we had the last time I used one. I had also forgot that you can't put a powder drop in the 2nd position unless you pre-prime the cases so for me its really only a 4 station press just like the ABLP. I decided I like the primer system, case feeder, and indexing of the ABLP better so I boxed it up and sent it back.

Since Lee has been redesigning most of its presses in the last year I hoping they come out with a replacement for the loadmaster that offers 5 stations to able to use a sizer, power through expander, power lockout die, seater, and factory crimp die, and hopefully have a more robust priming system, and retain the replaceable turrets from the current loadmaster. If I run accross a Hornady LNL AP for a good price I may try it out. Until then I will continue doing pistol calibers and 223 on the ABLP, and bottleneck rifle on the classic turret.

9mmepiphany said:

How would you compare the construction stiffness/robustness of the ABLP to the Classic Turret?

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It's smaller overall. The LCT ram is 1.125" diameter, the ABLP's ram is 0.810" diameter. The three steel pillars on the LCT are 0.625" and they're 0.565" on the ABLP. The handle on the ABLP is thinner too. The opening between the top of the shell plate and the bottom of the die holder is about 4.5" on the LCT, whereas it's less than 4" on the ABLP because of the thickness of the shell plate assembly. The height of the pillars is actually greater on the ABLP. So the press frame has longer, narrower pillars and a larger opening. It is not as stiff or robust as a LCT. However, I found the LCT lacked stiffness and robustness itself compared to a cast iron O-frame press. In other words, yes, the LCT is stiffer and stronger, but it's still not a very strong press. The ABLP is even more of a compromise in that area, but it has a practicality for its intended purpose which is a higher volume of small handgun cartridges.

9mmepiphany said:

How would you compare the construction stiffness/robustness of the ABLP to the Classic Turret?

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The LCT is much more robust and heavy. The ABLP is rather flimsy in comparison but I would say its plenty strong for small rifle and all pistol calibers.

The LCT does have quite a bit of flex to it when doing hard sizing operations. For example if you like to set the amount you bump the shoulders back on rifle brass, this cannot be reliably done by just screwing the die up and down as you would on cast iron O frame single stage. The press flexes too much so if you do not have the die set to bottom out on the shellholder you will get big variations in shoulder length depending on the amount of lube on the case and whatnot. You can still accomplish this on the turret but the best way is to put a shim between the shellplate and the die body so that it can still bottom out when sizing. I would expect this to be even worse on the ABLP. I think it would still be fine for like 6.8 spc or 30-30 sized brass and smaller, but I don't think you would want to do 30-06 accuracy loads on this press as I think you'll get alot of variation in headspace and seating depth.

labnoti said:

It's smaller overall. The LCT ram is 1.125" diameter, the ABLP's ram is 0.810" diameter. The three steel pillars on the LCT are 0.625" and they're 0.565" on the ABLP. The handle on the ABLP is thinner too. The opening between the top of the shell plate and the bottom of the die holder is about 4.5" on the LCT, whereas it's less than 4" on the ABLP because of the thickness of the shell plate assembly. The height of the pillars is actually greater on the ABLP. So the press frame has longer, narrower pillars and a larger opening. It is not as stiff or robust as a LCT. However, I found the LCT lacked stiffness and robustness itself compared to a cast iron O-frame press. In other words, yes, the LCT is stiffer and stronger, but it's still not a very strong press. The ABLP is even more of a compromise in that area, but it has a practicality for its intended purpose which is a higher volume of small handgun cartridges.

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Dito

9mmepiphany said:

Thanks guys. I'm looking at one as a supplemental progressive for .45ACP or .40...my LNL is all set up for .38spl and 9mm

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I would have no reservations about recommending the ABLP for that purpose if your going to load any volume. If find pistol calibers on the turret to be tedious if your doing more than 200 rounds or so at a time. If you were also going to use it for rifle stuff or like 4 or more calibers then I would recommend the turret. I load about 20 calibers in mostly short runs so the turret is a very valuable and efficient piece of equipment for me being able to swap out turret heads and use standard shell holders.

someguy2800 said:

The LCT is much more robust and heavy. The ABLP is rather flimsy in comparison but I would say its plenty strong for small rifle and all pistol calibers.

The LCT does have quite a bit of flex to it when doing hard sizing operations. For example if you like to set the amount you bump the shoulders back on rifle brass, this cannot be reliably done by just screwing the die up and down as you would on cast iron O frame single stage. The press flexes too much so if you do not have the die set to bottom out on the shellholder you will get big variations in shoulder length depending on the amount of lube on the case and whatnot. You can still accomplish this on the turret but the best way is to put a shim between the shellplate and the die body so that it can still bottom out when sizing. I would expect this to be even worse on the ABLP. I think it would still be fine for like 6.8 spc or 30-30 sized brass and smaller, but I don't think you would want to do 30-06 accuracy loads on this press as I think you'll get alot of variation in headspace and seating depth.

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I use the RCBS competition shellholders, comes in a set with .002" graduations in height.

Just getting set up for .223, and having a problem with the case feeder double feeding. I'm using the small hole in the feeder, it's as if it's still too big allowing the next case to drop partially down jamming things up. Happens about every 1 out of 5. Any ideas?

It's a pennys thickness above the case. I'll move it down a hair or two and see if that helps