Any long term reviews of the Lee single stage App (Automatic Processing Press)?

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MikeInOr

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The Lee single stage APP (Automatic Processing Press) has been around for a few years now and I was wondering if anyone could share their long term thoughts on the press?

Do you use it as much as you thought you would?
Do you still use it at all?
Which operations do you perform on it?
Is it trouble free when processing large batches of brass or has it been problematic?
Have you adapted a case feeder (like Dillon maybe) to it?
Any other thoughts on it?

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Thank you for the feed back!
 
Been using mine since they were introduced. I use it only to deprimed 45 Auto brass. It works well enough for that purpose and I still use it regularly. It's unmodified and occasionally the feeding mechanism acts up a bit and fails to grab, feed, or eject the case.
 
Been using mine heavily to de-bulge .40 brass. Despite my (and other) posts the modifications they recommended do not work 100% of the time - it still tries to launch cases occasionally.
I will use it to de-prime and 'pre-size' straight cases but not bottleneck (the manual specifically recommends the press not be used for that).
 
I’ve used my APP for Busting, to Size, to decap, to flare. thousand and thousands of brass. A little over a year and I bought another APP as a backup
 
The Lee single stage APP (Automatic Processing Press) has been around for a few years now and I was wondering if anyone could share their long term thoughts on the press?

Do you use it as much as you thought you would? - Yes, its a huge time saver when decapping large batches of brass
Do you still use it at all? - about once a year to decap 10K+ pieces
Which operations do you perform on it? - decap only
Is it trouble free when processing large batches of brass or has it been problematic? - Pistol runs as fast as you can pull the lever. Rifle you have to slow down a little for as the cases (especially 223) will get tippy if youre running fast
Have you adapted a case feeder (like Dillon maybe) to it? - Yes, about 5 minutes after setting it up I drew up and 3d printed an adapter to run my case feeder from my LnL AP on it.
Any other thoughts on it? - Bar none, fastest and cheapest way to decap brass I know of.

View attachment 1031555

Thank you for the feed back!

Comments in quote



Im not even running full speed and this was right after I set it up with case feeder
 
Do you use it as much as you thought you would? Do you still use it at all?
Yes, I've only had it for a few months but its already processed allot of brass
Which operations do you perform on it?
Resize and de-prime
:eek:Is it trouble free when processing large batches of brass or has it been problematic?
o_O:rofl: It likes to throw things across the room.
Have you adapted a case feeder (like Dillon maybe) to it?
No, I use the tube that it came with.
The only mod is the better handle.

Any other thoughts on it?
I have a lower opinion of LEE in general so my (lowered) expectations where already aligned with the performance. It's also relatively cheap.
I had to contact LEE when I bought it as parts were missing.
 
I've had mine about a year and a half. It is used for de priming and sizing cast bullets. I've used it hard and so far it has held up. It is a time saver and I'd buy another one if/when it needs replaced.
 
Boomholzer - there is a good fix for the flying brass problem.

Lee "APP" press | The High Road

.
Do you use it as much as you thought you would? Do you still use it at all?
Yes, I've only had it for a few months but its already processed allot of brass
Which operations do you perform on it?
Resize and de-prime
:eek:Is it trouble free when processing large batches of brass or has it been problematic?
o_O:rofl: It likes to throw things across the room.
Have you adapted a case feeder (like Dillon maybe) to it?
No, I use the tube that it came with.
The only mod is the better handle.

Any other thoughts on it?
I have a lower opinion of LEE in general so my (lowered) expectations where already aligned with the performance. It's also relatively cheap.
I had to contact LEE when I bought it as parts were missing.
 
I wouldn't be without mine. It really makes case prep easier and faster. I just posted another APP Thread.....see below:

The flying across the room problem I fixed....the annoyingly slow caliber change I fixed.....then TylerR perfected and expanded both with totally awesome 3d printing files.

I have a new video here showing what it can do with TylerR's 3D printing mods.....warning ;) there are two cases that went flying.....but I had sabotaged it on purpose.....I loaded a single .357 case upside down wondering how the thing would fare!......Well in that case two cases flying without stopping the whole operation was a plus. But try not to load one upside down.:)

https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...om-3d-printed-parts-depriming-357-mag.896261/
 
@dcloco; thank you!

@GW Staar: is the 3D model for Tyler's carrier transport part out in the public domain?

Yes....go to any one of his posts, click on "downloads" at the bottom, #8 is the APP parts, download APP_Base_Slide.stl. All that stuff is copyrighted for individual use, not to be bought or sold.

Here's a link to one post of his on the 3D printer subforum on CastBoolits. https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sh...let-Collator&p=5273422&viewfull=1#post5273422
 
I have given the thought of a purchase briefly in the past......
But with 3ish different threads on the product in the last few days........
I feel that this is a sign that one shall be on my doorstep shortly.....
It's hard when you guys push stuff on a guy....!!!....:cool:;):p
 
I feel that this is a sign that one shall be on my doorstep shortly...
Just in case you needed another data point…;)
index.php


I like mine a lot. I put a piece of tape over three of the holes on the collator and then taped it to the feeder. Filling with my left hand from the bucket and shaking the collator, while depriming cases at a fast pace. I did fifteen hundred my first time setting and using it! And I still had an early night!:)

I rarely have cases shooting out. Those that did go flying were damaged at the rim and I filed the burr or tossed the case if it was bent. I ran these back through and they didn’t get shot across the room.:thumbup:
So now, if they do go flying, I have the scrap bucket moved to the spot that they land!:D
Saves time!

I just bought a Hornady Ammo Plant. I can wait to hook the case feeder to the APP for depriming rifle brass. I heated and flared the end and asstuck a short length of the appropriate tubing on the APP for doing .223 brass. Filling from the bucket a couple at a time got a thousand done in short order, but I couldn’t get it to operate like the 45s in the collator by hand.

Still by far, the best hundred bucks spent in reloading yet!:)
 
Still by far, the best hundred bucks spent in reloading yet!

Totally agree!

So, Mr. Demi! ;) Since you have not been sucked in to the 3D printed collator temptations yet, and you want to collate rifle, you might be interested in one of my earlier Lee inspired projects to collate .223 and .308........with a Large Home Depot funnel, an egg crate lens, some clear styrene plastic, and of course 36" long thin-wall clear plastic tube 9/16 diameter.

First one .223


Then .308 (no changes except for the brass.)


Then I made one for a friend from "one" of his Lee collators instead of the funnel.....works just as well....and easier not to drop one upside down on initial dumping. You dump from the sides on these tools. This version has more "sides":)

The white "bucket" is the bottom of a small plastic bucket bought at a hardware store.



But I've been sucked in now...getting ready to build the APP it's very own electric motored collator. My 4th one now. With age comes more laziness, I'm afraid.
 
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It's the money, the simplicity, and the versatility.....as nice a machine as a Dillon 1050 is, peer pressure to buy one of those doesn't affect me in the least....;) now if I was a billionaire with a 30'x50' reloading room.....that might change.....I'd buy 4 APPs and 4 1050's and 4 RCBS Pro Chucker 7's.
 
Understood. Thanks again.

I should also say that the Green "code" button is what you press to download the whole zip file with everything on it.

Or for just the one .stl file
click
8. APP
click
APP_Base_Slide.stl
click "download"
 
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