Opinions on the Lee APP?

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Markit

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Anyone have any first had experience using the Lee APP press to de-prime pistol brass?

I have a lot of brass to process and being lazy thought this might speed things up.

I load on an aging Lock n Load AP ammo plant but lately have been depriming on a Rockchucker as the Hornady press is not indexing as well as it should and is no longer running smoothly. I have adjusted the pawls but it is still for want of a better word Jerky when depriving and loading at the same time.

Never had good luck with Lee offerings before (other than dies)

Is the Lee APP good to go out of the box or does it need tinkering?

Any first hand users that care to share their experience?

Thanks in advance.
 
I've had one for about a year and it is fast, but can be a little finicky. I use it to deprime my pistol brass when it's dirty so that when I clean it, the water/pins can get it really clean. With that in mind, it "gums" up the back and forth motion of the mechanism more often then if the brass were clean. It's an easy fix though - clean it with turtle wax. It removes the dirt/carbon, and gives it a nice smooth/slick surface to work with.

Also, you can get a depriming kit for it, but if you're not careful and look away as the brass if fed into the depriming area and the brass is upside down, it will bend it (happens alot as you get into a rhythm as it is really fast) . Bend it too often, and when you try to straighten it, it will snap off. You can purchase replacements, but I have found that a 9mm universal depriming die from Lee is much cheaper with regards to replacing the pin when required as the APP pin is specifically made for this setup(and costs more).

In my opinion - this is worth the little issues that occur as like yourself, I had lots of brass to do and this really does make it simple!

Hope this helps. If you have any other question, drop me a PM
 
I agree with Armourall. I have one and I have to say it really speeds up the depriming process, especially if you combine it with the Lee case collator and case feeder. He is also correct in that once in a while you will have to clean accumulated range crud from the feeder assembly and feed ramp but you have to clean any press periodically so that's not a major issue. Once you get it going you can literally deprime cases as fast as you can pull the handle (which reminds me, buy the accessory roller handle as it is a lot easier on your hand). I wet tumble my cases and want the primers out first so it saves me a lot of time.

I am also using mine for cast bullet sizing and have found it really speeds that process up as well.

Personally for the money I really like it.

Lots of reviews here. Most are positive:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022385797?pid=973423#reviews
 
ted_dent said:
I agree with Armourall. I have one and I have to say it really speeds up the depriming process, especially if you combine it with the Lee case collator and case feeder. He is also correct in that once in a while you will have to clean accumulated range crud from the feeder assembly and feed ramp but you have to clean any press periodically so that's not a major issue. Once you get it going you can literally deprime cases as fast as you can pull the handle (which reminds me, buy the accessory roller handle as it is a lot easier on your hand). I wet tumble my cases and want the primers out first so it saves me a lot of time.

I am also using mine for cast bullet sizing and have found it really speeds that process up as well.

Personally for the money I really like it.

Lots of reviews here. Most are positive:
https://www.midwayusa.com/product/1022385797?pid=973423#reviews
Click to expand...

X2 on the Case Collator (I don't have the case feeder attached as the tubes do it for me) and also the handle. No blisters was important to me!
 
Markit said:
Anyone have any first had experience using the Lee APP press to de-prime pistol brass?

I have a lot of brass to process and being lazy thought this might speed things up.

I load on an aging Lock n Load AP ammo plant but lately have been depriming on a Rockchucker as the Hornady press is not indexing as well as it should and is no longer running smoothly. I have adjusted the pawls but it is still for want of a better word Jerky when depriving and loading at the same time.

Never had good luck with Lee offerings before (other than dies)

Is the Lee APP good to go out of the box or does it need tinkering?

Any first hand users that care to share their experience?

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...


Not saying that you don’t know or that you haven’t but like anything mechanical parts wear and need adjusting or replacement. Have you contacted Hornady and explained to them what is happening? Is your case feeder bowl a shiny black or a darker flat black? There are a lot of upgrades that Hornady will send you free and any worn out parts.
 
LOVE my APP.

I built the case feeder from Thingiverse and then modified it and built my own version when I found it was too finicky. The APP + case feeder sped up depriming by about 100x.

The other thing I love about the APP is that it captures all the dead primers in a nice bottle. No more spent primers on the floor and no more dirt all over the place. This alone makes the APP worthwhile for me.

It is possible to size cases on the APP but it is really not the best tool for that job. Use the APP for the routine depriming, decrimping etc and it shines for those jobs. I have all the parts needed to size bullets as well but haven't gotten in to that yet.

I clean cases before running them through the press to keep things clean. My old reloading room ended up covered in primer dirt etc so I vowed not to do that again with my new reloading room. Any batches of really dirty brass get a quickie clean before depriming and then if needed will get an additional, more thorough clean after the primers have been removed. Its just a little bit of extra work to keep the loading bench and floor clean.
 
With respect to case feeders. If you only work with larger batches of one or a couple of different cases, then the basic Lee case feed setup is fine. Its limitation is that it has to be adjusted for height for each different cartridge.

If you want to work on many different cases and in smaller batches, the need to adjust the feeder every time would get old very quickly. The APP case feeder on Thingiverse solves that problem by using replaceable inserts to alter the height for each different case. Of course, you need a 3D printer to make the thing. ;)
 
I Dont Care About You said:
With respect to case feeders. If you only work with larger batches of one or a couple of different cases, then the basic Lee case feed setup is fine. Its limitation is that it has to be adjusted for height for each different cartridge.

If you want to work on many different cases and in smaller batches, the need to adjust the feeder every time would get old very quickly. The APP case feeder on Thingiverse solves that problem by using replaceable inserts to alter the height for each different case. Of course, you need a 3D printer to make the thing. ;)
Click to expand...
Personally I don't find making the case feed adjustments that much of a hassle but I have seen pics of the replaceable inserts and to be honest I can't believe Lee or one of the other major manufacturers hasn't jumped on this idea as it certainly is a time saver and would be a moneymaker for them as people would by several rather than just use the one or two that come with the case feed assembly.
 
Thanks all

Going to buy one based on the posts / recommendations above.

I have a 5 gallon pail and then some of 9 mm brass to process.
 
Reeferman said:
Not saying that you don’t know or that you haven’t but like anything mechanical parts wear and need adjusting or replacement. Have you contacted Hornady and explained to them what is happening? Is your case feeder bowl a shiny black or a darker flat black? There are a lot of upgrades that Hornady will send you free and any worn out parts.
Click to expand...

Case feeder bowl is a Flat black almost a dark charcoal with some texture.

Never thought of contacting hornady given its age - i think the bronze coloured “star” under the ram and the pawls re worn which are causing the indexing problem.
 
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