lee has a new single stage press coming out Lee APP

ARBossman: If I get to live past this coronavirus pandemic.....I would really like to try one of those 3d printers!

I betcha that's how John Lee created his prototypes of the plastic shuttle parts. I also betcha John Lee had numerous tries that didn't work as good as his final......and you know what? I betcha he isn't through......as it worked near perfect only on some calibers. Plastic where I put the wire would work even better.....but only for .40 and maybe 9mm.

I ordered the app press and automation kit. my son is 3d printing a bullet feeder. this should speed up the bullet sizing process considerably

Got my APP with automation kit a couple days ago. I set it up to de-prime 45 Auto cases. At this point the press strikes me as finicky. I've de-primed about 200 cases, but can't get through more than about 25 before something hangs up.

The other major issue is the caliber changeover. To switch from 45 Auto to 357 Mag requires changing four parts, and a readjustment. Most of the changeover is simple, but an extra $.50 for a bolt and two nuts would have eliminated the need for readjustment. I reload for several calibers so I'll likely order a few extra parts to simplify changeovers

I also plan to set the press up to bell cases, something it should be able to do.

This is my first experience with the Lee breech lock. It seems to work well, but the little Phillips head screw on the rings is too soft and wears easily.

Overall, typical Lee.

I received mine from Midsouth a few weeks ago after a few days being on back order. I finally got around to setting it up for decapping 45acp cases and the best mod was obtaining the aftermarket collator from American Accurate. After running over 500 cases through, I had zero inverted cases drop through the tubes. The latest design has an aluminum plate that isn't shown in the video:

katonk said:

I received mine from Midsouth a few weeks ago after a few days being on back order. I finally got around to setting it up for decapping 45acp cases and the best mod was obtaining the aftermarket collator from American Accurate. After running over 500 cases through, I had zero inverted cases drop through the tubes. The latest design has an aluminum plate that isn't shown in the video:

View attachment 899246

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This looks like a good option. Where did you find this for sale? Every place I found has them listed as unavailable. I just picked up this APP press last week and did a test run decapping a few 9mm cases, and it works great. However, the big bottleneck with this press is case feeding. If I have to manually feed the cases in the tubes, I'm not really saving a ton of time.

I'm thinking about using some PVC tubes and bending them with a heat gun to run cases from my case feeder to the APP press, though I don't know how well it will work with bends in the tube. I'm sure it would work okay with smaller cases like 9 mm, but I'm not so sure about something like .223 cases.

The red line would be roughly where the tube would connect my case feeder to the APP press:

Regarding the aftermarket collator, there is a seller on ebay that sells them by the name of:

utahstore

His picture doesn't show the aluminum plate but mine arrived with one and I wrote the seller that he should update his photos

I just checked and apparently he is out of them too...

katonk said:

Regarding the aftermarket collator, there is a seller on ebay that sells them by the name of:

utahstore

His picture doesn't show the aluminum plate but mine arrived with one and I wrote the seller that he should update his photos

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Looks like he doesn't have any listed right now either. Thanks though!

Just a FYI......

Some of my x-press shell holders have the relief cut and some do not. When I inquired about getting the latest styles, I received this response from Lee Customer Service:

"If you are using a shell holder without this relief groove, it is important to remove the shell holder detent, to allow the cases to freely flow into the shell holder.
Sincerely,
Andy @ Lee Precision, Inc."

katonk said:

Some of my x-press shell holders have the relief cut and some do not.

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Which calibers came with the "relief groove" and which did not?

And BTW, the reason for removing the "detent" isn't the lack of the top groove, but the bottom of the un-grooved ones are not cut out deep enough to allow the holders to rotate freely.

So I put together the tube that connects my Dillon case feeder to the APP press, and it's a smashing success!



No issues feeding 380, 9mm, 223, 40, 357, and 38 spec. Unfortunately the tube is too narrow to feed 45 ACP or larger, but I'm sure I can find a slightly bigger pipe somewhere to accommodate larger rounds if need be. This press works flawlessy decapping 9mm so far. Here's a quick video I made of it in action:

So which version of the X-press shell holder allowed that, and with no mods? Flat deck or plowed deck shellholder? I just got a new shellholder today, the #1 for .357.....original flat deck...and I expect none of the problems I had with the .40 S&W plowed version.

GW Staar said:

So which version of the X-press shell holder allowed that, and with no mods? Flat deck or plowed deck shellholder? I just got a new shellholder today, the #1 for .357.....original flat deck...and I expect none of the problems I had with the .40 S&W plowed version.

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I have the plowed version. And no mods at all, other than the tube leading from the case feeder to the APP. I haven't tried actually feeding any other calibers through the APP press other than 9mm. The other calibers I mentioned were able to feed down my improvised tube and into the press, but that was just a test to see if they would get hung up in the tube.

And no tipping and freezing....good to know. Your case feeder extended tube works well....congrats!

I think I will borrow some of my friends .9mm empties, to see if that is repeatable on my APP.

The one flaw on my wire mod is that it has to be removed when I use the press for other calibers.....so I need to either find an unplowed shellholder for the .40 or buy a second shuttle.

GravelRider said:

So I put together the tube that connects my Dillon case feeder to the APP press, and it's a smashing success!

View attachment 899700

No issues feeding 380, 9mm, 223, 40, 357, and 38 spec. Unfortunately the tube is too narrow to feed 45 ACP or larger, but I'm sure I can find a slightly bigger pipe somewhere to accommodate larger rounds if need be. This press works flawlessy decapping 9mm so far. Here's a quick video I made of it in action:

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GravelRider NIIICE... what kind and size of tubing did you use there?

GW Staar said:

And no tipping and freezing....good to know. You case feeder extended tube works well....congrats!

I think I will borrow some of my friends .9mm empties, to see if that is repeatable on my APP.

The one flaw on my wire mod is that it has to be removed when I use the press for other calibers.....so I need to either find an unplowed shellholder for the .40 or buy a second shuttle.

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No tipping or freezing. About once every 100-200 rounds or so, one of the shells won't feed all the way down to the case inserter, but I just flick the tube and it drops right now. So far, it's been nearly flawless. However, I've only run 9 mm through it. Once my swage kit for it comes in, I'll be testing my luck on .223. I'll report back how that goes.

digitalsleet said:

GravelRider NIIICE... what kind and size of tubing did you use there?

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Thank you. I used 1/2" CPVC pipe. I ran a length of insulated refrigerator water line inside the pipe to keep it from kinking (same idea as an internal pipe bender spring) and used a heat gun to then bend it. I had to grind down the bottom part that attaches to the APP press, as the OD was too large. I got the pipe from Lowes. Here are pictures of the markings on the pipe:

20 days ago the APP was finally delivered. I had some fun and some frustration too......not unexpected either way. So is there anything that really bugs me about this product? A couple of things.........I hate the adjusting mechanism for the case feeder......it's way harder to set up for different calibers than it should be....huge pain in the ass. I'm trying to come up with a mod that simplifies it, and speeds it up.....but so far my brain is at a loss......tried several things....nadda....maybe it's the pandemic effect.

The other thing.....also concerning the case feeder is dropping rifle.......it just doesn't do it well......223 barely and part-time, 308 not worth a dang. Its just too long a drop and the drop is not at all elegant and straight. IOW's, the case isn't supported well. And I wish there was a hold feature for the case in waiting above the one dropped, but there isn't. The APP proves that you really don't need that for short cases, but rifle cases are another matter entirely!

So that's going to be my focus while in "voluntary confinement" during the current world crisis.....

If I survive, I'll share my success.......if any.....but don't hold your breath. As a reminder, I for one was intrigued by this tool....99% because of the idea of auto-feeding cases on a single stage press.....that's what made it worth buying for me. My vision is for one that works equally well for most calibers....not just 9mm. That's the most popular pistol cartridge these days.............but not for me.....I don't even want one.

GW Staar said:

20 days ago the APP was finally delivered. I had some fun and some frustration too......not unexpected either way. So is there anything that really bugs me about this product? A couple of things.........I hate the adjusting mechanism for the case feeder......it's way harder to set up for different calibers than it should be....huge pain in the ass. I'm trying to come up with a mod that simplifies it, and speeds it up.....but so far my brain is at a loss......tried several things....nadda....maybe it's the pandemic effect.

The other thing.....also concerning the case feeder is dropping rifle.......it just doesn't do it well......223 barely and part-time, 308 not worth a dang. Its just too long a drop and the drop is not at all elegant and straight. IOW's, the case isn't supported well. And I wish there was a hold feature for the case in waiting above the one dropped, but there isn't. The APP proves that you really don't need that for short cases, but rifle cases are another matter entirely!

So that's going to be my focus while in "voluntary confinement" during the current world crisis.....

If I survive, I'll share my success.......if any.....but don't hold your breath. As a reminder, I for one was intrigued by this tool....99% because of the idea of auto-feeding cases on a single stage press.....that's what made it worth buying for me. My vision is for one that works equally well for most calibers....not just 9mm. That's the most popular pistol cartridge these days.............but not for me.....I don't even want one.

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See post 132. I ran 1500 223 cases fast and easy. Should work for 308, too.

Just going to say thanks to all you guys figuring out the kinks for the rest of us. I won't be able to pick one up until this fall but rest assured I'll be back through this thread when I inevitably have issues.

I haven't used Lee's collator in a while but it is No Way as slow as in that video !

Somethingbenign: Can't speak for all the guys who posted and helped, but I think we all feel the same......if these ideas can help someone and their APP get along better, then I am happy and feel it's been well worth the time.

Bang!: Thanks for the reply......I'm not sure what those "fingers" are but I assume they are something zip-tied to the to the bottom of the multi tube adapter. I've had some success myself tonight, finally! Maybe the same principle, but a different method. I went back to my successful home-made case feeder I made for my RCBS Pro 2000, and used the concept I did there on the APP for the .308 I wanted to make work so bad.....and danged if it didn't work!

Here's the video:


Here's the details of how I did it:

First I removed the wire I used for .40 S&W, below:

Then I cut a 2" piece of 9/16" OD Thinwall tubing, and carved the side out so that the .308's can slide through....


Then I inserted it into the bottom of the biggest hole in Lees 4-tube adaptor, below:


I mounted the tube adaptor so that the plastic tube I added was 1/16" above the shuttle surface.


As you can tell, it guides the case into the shuttle....I moved it forward a little to show how it affects the case above it....that case falls to the shuttle and in turn falls (straight finally!) to the slide.

The picture above shows why the case above can't follow the dropped case at all like it use to and cause everything from two at a time dropping to dropping at an angle such that it falls to the floor.

Happy! Happy! Now if I can just speed up caliber change......and I need another shuttle, because this one I want to put the wire back in and use it exclusively for .40 S&W.

Now if I can figure out a way to set the feeder quicker for more pleasant caliber changes.

Thanks for posting.

My 9 mm went SO smooth without any modifications whatsoever (other than the casefeeder). However, I started doing .223 on it today, and it was an entirely different story. It was an exercise in frustration. I had some sort of case feeding failure on average one every 8 rounds. What usually happened was the case that came down would bounce forward and the next case would slide in behind it and send both of them flying. The biggest issue is that it would often send it flying into the bin of cases I already deprimed. It wasn't too big of a deal finding the case that was still primed. However, once I finish up depriming, my next step is to swage on this machine. I'm quite concerned about unswaged brass ending up flying into the bin of swaged brass, and I'll have a hell of time picking out the one that went in prematurely.

I tried putting little fingers to hold it in place, but didn't really get anywhere with it. What I think I will try next is to epoxy some fingers onto the front of the case grabber claws (whatever it's called) to keep the case from flying forward when dropping down. I'll report back once I try this.

GravelRider: Yeah I had similar problems with .223. I'm going to make another version of what I did for .308, only I think it will require a little smaller diameter thin wall tubing, and of course the shorter cutout for the smaller case. The whole idea is to control the cases on the way down.....any sideways movement causes nothing but trouble. I think Lee had kinda the same idea on the opposite side of the 4-tube feeder assembly as it has a cutout in the bottom of that of the tube.....think that one is for .223, because the cutout lets .223 necks go through.....but it didn't work as well as my .308 fix.

BTW, thinwall tubing comes in 1/16th inch increments that telescope into each other.....I get mine from the internet pet supply linked below. It's cheap and used to be free shipping on any order, now you have to buy $49 worth......which if you buy several of each diameter in the range below it does add up......I use the heck out of it.
Lee uses 9/16" in their 4-tube adaptor, but these are 36" long.....I buy lots of those.

The tubing that fit inside Lee's biggest hole outlet on the four tube adaptor was 9/16 OD.
.223 will slide in 7/16 which slides inside the smaller hole outlet on the four tube adaptor.....1/2" telescope slides onto that, and 9/16" onto that (which, 9/16" is the same as what Lee provides in their 4 tube feeder kit.

So I may try all three slipped into each other, with the inner most 7/16 tube longer so that it slips through and 2" below the bottom of the adaptor.....so I can cut out the side the same way as I did the .308.

(belate that idea of the 7/16" tube being longer to go through the bottom of the adaptor....it was late... If I did that I've turned it into a single tube adaptor...duh.)

I will have to cut that one and press fit it into the bottom like I did the .308. Use a tape wrap to make it slide in tight....and of course cut one side out to fit the .223 neck. Probably telescoping the tubing together isn't necessary if it feeds though okay to the one press in from the bottom.....I will probably need to use a case deburr tool to bevel the top edge inside of the small tube press into the bottom....so cases don't hang...

The telescoped tube layers can be tacked permanently to each other when you get it set right with a touch of super glue, but I will try just the small tube in the bottom first.

Thinking outloud again, I may telesope the 1/2" tube over the 7/16, for a 1/2" (beveling the top edge of both....but that will requires drilling the bottom hole a little bigger so the 1/2" will press in.

https://www.petmountain.com/product/lees-thinwall-rigid-tubing-clear

Ugh. Swaging on this thing is miserable. I think I'd be going faster using my Dillon Super Swage. I think I expected too much of something made by Lee...

I got my app and mounted it to my in line fabrication quick change bench plate. Set it up to size 9mm cast bullets (My reason for buying it) and started sizing. Worked perfectly. I think the bullet sizing set up is probably going to be more trouble free than the other operations. I am very happy with this ingenious little machine.

GravelRider said:

Thanks for posting.

My 9 mm went SO smooth without any modifications whatsoever (other than the casefeeder). However, I started doing .223 on it today, and it was an entirely different story. It was an exercise in frustration. I had some sort of case feeding failure on average one every 8 rounds. What usually happened was the case that came down would bounce forward and the next case would slide in behind it and send both of them flying. The biggest issue is that it would often send it flying into the bin of cases I already deprimed. It wasn't too big of a deal finding the case that was still primed. However, once I finish up depriming, my next step is to swage on this machine. I'm quite concerned about unswaged brass ending up flying into the bin of swaged brass, and I'll have a hell of time picking out the one that went in prematurely.

I tried putting little fingers to hold it in place, but didn't really get anywhere with it. What I think I will try next is to epoxy some fingers onto the front of the case grabber claws (whatever it's called) to keep the case from flying forward when dropping down. I'll report back once I try this.

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Post 132 for 223 cases falling over. Cut off the ends of small zip ties and make some fingers to hold case when it drops.

If time allows today I hope to experiment with some of GW Staar’s suggestions.