American Accurate, LLC is a new manufacture whose 1st product is a new and improved collator for the Lee case feeder on the Pro-1000 and Load Master presses.
I have to admit when I 1st saw this product I was skeptical that there was anything to be improved upon the Lee Red Collator! So when American Accurate offered one to me to try I jumped at the chance!
Upon unboxing the collator several things are apparent it's larger, heavier, deeper ,steeper and has steps with ridges inside! It fits tighter on the feed tubes and has a more secure feeling when in place. Now for few quick tests:
AA, LLC vs., Lee Red (unmodified)
.32 H&R Mag 6% inverted average fill time 12 seconds vs., 2% inverted fill time 25+ seconds
.38 Special 5% inverted average fill time 12 seconds vs., 1.5% inverted fill time 25+ seconds
.40 S&W 6.8% inverted average fill time 15 seconds vs., 1.13% inverted fill time 30 seconds
.44 Mag 2% inverted average fill time 17 seconds vs., 1% inverted average fill time 30+ seconds
7.62x39 .8% inverted average fill time 20 seconds vs., 1% inverted average fill time a very long time!
As usual numbers don't tell the whole story:
The larger bowl with deeper sides allows a few extra cases to be dropped in along side the center shorting holes and more vigorous shaking can be used allowing the much faster fill times. Additionally the steeper sides resist bridging when larger (.44 Mag and 7.62x39) cases are being loaded. This I pretty much expected given my experience with larger calibers in the Lee Red collator given it's much flatter bottom.
Overall, American Accurate's collator performed about how I expected given it's design not quite as good with smaller fatter cases and much better with larger longer cases! Note: American Accurate is aware of this situation and working on a small case adapter insert!
I liked the larger bowl with it's deeper sides and faster fill rate and think it will be a great addition to the reloading bench particularly for the 5.56/300 Blk out and 7.62x39 re-loaders and also for the .44 mag and .45 Colt guys too!
I have to admit when I 1st saw this product I was skeptical that there was anything to be improved upon the Lee Red Collator! So when American Accurate offered one to me to try I jumped at the chance!
Upon unboxing the collator several things are apparent it's larger, heavier, deeper ,steeper and has steps with ridges inside! It fits tighter on the feed tubes and has a more secure feeling when in place. Now for few quick tests:
AA, LLC vs., Lee Red (unmodified)
.32 H&R Mag 6% inverted average fill time 12 seconds vs., 2% inverted fill time 25+ seconds
.38 Special 5% inverted average fill time 12 seconds vs., 1.5% inverted fill time 25+ seconds
.40 S&W 6.8% inverted average fill time 15 seconds vs., 1.13% inverted fill time 30 seconds
.44 Mag 2% inverted average fill time 17 seconds vs., 1% inverted average fill time 30+ seconds
7.62x39 .8% inverted average fill time 20 seconds vs., 1% inverted average fill time a very long time!
As usual numbers don't tell the whole story:
The larger bowl with deeper sides allows a few extra cases to be dropped in along side the center shorting holes and more vigorous shaking can be used allowing the much faster fill times. Additionally the steeper sides resist bridging when larger (.44 Mag and 7.62x39) cases are being loaded. This I pretty much expected given my experience with larger calibers in the Lee Red collator given it's much flatter bottom.
Overall, American Accurate's collator performed about how I expected given it's design not quite as good with smaller fatter cases and much better with larger longer cases! Note: American Accurate is aware of this situation and working on a small case adapter insert!
I liked the larger bowl with it's deeper sides and faster fill rate and think it will be a great addition to the reloading bench particularly for the 5.56/300 Blk out and 7.62x39 re-loaders and also for the .44 mag and .45 Colt guys too!
