Lee Precision is so clever- the stuff is made as cheaply as possible, but the designs are great. From another post here, I started checking out the Lee APP, which is a single-stage press with a bullet/case feeder, which is clever enough on its own. But the really interesting part of the device is that it has bushings on the 'top' of the press where you'd typically put in a decapper. The bottom bushing holds a bottle for spent primers, which is great. But even better, the top and bottom bushing can be replaced by two halves of a swaging tool.
Since I got it last week, I have cranked through so many rounds of 223 and 308 that I'm hoping for the day I can get primers to fill them all! The APP itself is only $75, and with a decapper, you've got a decent decapping station (faster than loading one at a time into a typical single-stage). But- to speed that up, they've got an inexpensive 4-tube collator which you can quickly fill by dumping cases and shaking it. This 4-tube thing lets you quickly move to the next tube when you've emptied the first by rotating it. But the slowest part of my volume reloading has been removing primer crimps, and that's where I'm the happiest- instead of getting huge forearms from holding shells with my Frankford station, I just crank the handle on the APP with the swaging kit, and have a bucket under the press which catches them.
I like it so much that I might get two collators just so I don't have to adjust for the case dropper from different height cases. I don't bother decapping 9mm, but if you do, you can crank through tons of it, which seems to be the most common use case. For me, the real gem is swaging- that part is half the cost of a little bracket I was going to put on my Dillon 550- and does it right. The shell is pressed down by the top bushing, and swaged by the bottom. It also comes with large and small swaging inserts.
Oh, while I'm at the Lee fanboy rant- they've now go 223 and 30-cal specific rods for the universal decapper. Less broken rods, and helps straighten out case mouths before you move to the next stage in the process.
A shout out to Midway who has this 'birthday' promotion (based on your birthday) once a year, where I got a great savings on a bunch of stuff in one big order.
I can post up pictures late,r but there are plenty of videos on youtube.
Since I got it last week, I have cranked through so many rounds of 223 and 308 that I'm hoping for the day I can get primers to fill them all! The APP itself is only $75, and with a decapper, you've got a decent decapping station (faster than loading one at a time into a typical single-stage). But- to speed that up, they've got an inexpensive 4-tube collator which you can quickly fill by dumping cases and shaking it. This 4-tube thing lets you quickly move to the next tube when you've emptied the first by rotating it. But the slowest part of my volume reloading has been removing primer crimps, and that's where I'm the happiest- instead of getting huge forearms from holding shells with my Frankford station, I just crank the handle on the APP with the swaging kit, and have a bucket under the press which catches them.
I like it so much that I might get two collators just so I don't have to adjust for the case dropper from different height cases. I don't bother decapping 9mm, but if you do, you can crank through tons of it, which seems to be the most common use case. For me, the real gem is swaging- that part is half the cost of a little bracket I was going to put on my Dillon 550- and does it right. The shell is pressed down by the top bushing, and swaged by the bottom. It also comes with large and small swaging inserts.
Oh, while I'm at the Lee fanboy rant- they've now go 223 and 30-cal specific rods for the universal decapper. Less broken rods, and helps straighten out case mouths before you move to the next stage in the process.
A shout out to Midway who has this 'birthday' promotion (based on your birthday) once a year, where I got a great savings on a bunch of stuff in one big order.
I can post up pictures late,r but there are plenty of videos on youtube.
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