Mini-review, Lee APP Deluxe Kit

daved20319 · Feb 26, 2020

So I've had this for a little over a week now, and finally set it up yesterday and started playing with it. I originally ordered it for swaging .223/5.56 brass with crimped primers, but Lee made a pre-production change in the swage kit, and I missed the memo. Have since ordered the new one, but it hasn't arrived yet.

So in the meantime, I had a pile of .45 ACP brass that needed prepping, and decided to start with the Lee universal decapping die. Worked a treat, and made short work of the process, even with having to load the feed tube by hand. This works with the Lee universal case feeder and collator, ordered both today, so the process should be much faster the next time around. Had a few hiccups, but once I figured out what it wanted for lube, it was smooth sailing. Once I had that pile decapped, I moved back to my Rockchucker and started sizing. Didn't take long for me to decide to give the APP a shot at this part of the process, again, worked a treat, and really speeds up the process. I just placed an order for a bunch of the Lee Spline Drive bushings, my pistol prep is going to move to this machine, I think I can decap, resize, and flare a bunch of cases in the same amount of time it would take to do ONE of those steps on the the Rockchucker. Charging will still be a separate step, and bullet seating will be done on the RC, but I think crimping will also be moved to the APP. I haven't had a lot of experience with Lee products, and have tended to avoid it as cheap gear, but this is a surprisingly good piece of equipment, especially at the price. It's definitely early days on my use of it, but so far, I'm more than pleased with the purchase. Will post more as I get more use under my belt, either good or bad, but at this point, I'd say if you're on the fence, get off and order one

. Later.

Dave

Pops1911 · Feb 26, 2020

Lee makes some good stuff! I have my Lee Turret Press next to the DIllon 650xl in the Man Cave

DizzyJ · Feb 26, 2020

Thanks for the review!

daved20319 · Mar 6, 2020

So an update is in order. Got in the Lee Universal Case Feeder and Case Collator, these additions really speed up the whole process. Instead of a single tube that you have to fill one by one, and that only holds 18 .45 ACP cases, the UCF has 4 tubes, with the Collator sitting on top. Drop a handful of cases in the Collator, give it a shake, and the tubes fill up quickly. Takes less time to fill all 4 than it did just filling the one. Couple of other tips/tricks I've learned so far.

1. Use silicone spray lube on the plastic automation parts. Doesn't take much, and it lasts quite awhile.
2. Use case lube even with carbide dies, this seriously reduces the force needed to operate the press, and speeds it up.
3. Be sure not to get a twist in the spring that runs the feeder, if you do, it won't work properly.
4. Finally (for now), be firm, a little extra pop at both ends of the handle travel seems to keep it running right, and a steady rhythm helps, too.

So far, I haven't been able to actually sit down and run a whole batch start to finish, but there's no question that this will be a huge increase in production vs. my Rock Chucker

. My best with the RC is probably in the neighborhood of 100 rounds per hour, I'm sure the APP with case feeder will more than double that, and I wouldn't be surprised to see triple or more. Maybe not that impressive to you guys running Dillons, but for someone that's only run single stage, it's pretty good, good enough to even make 9mm worth loading. Yes, there's still a lot more brass handling that a progressive, and a lot more handle pulls, but that's okay by me. I prefer doing a single operation on a batch all at once, I get interrupted often, no matter what I do, and this makes it easier to stop and start without causing problems. I also like the price, so far, I'm still under $200, and that includes the case feeder and crimped primer swage kit, as well as a couple sets of the Lee bushings. At this point, the only question mark is durability, there IS a lot of plastic, although it seems well made and sturdy. Time will tell, I'll post more if I think it's warranted. Later.

Dave