Lee App Press

[hotshot357]

Just to let everyone know, I bought one and I really like it. Also a big "thank you" to those who voted and left comments. This thing is quite well built and does what Lee says it will do. Here's some pics.

 

[dave1918a2]

Spend the extra and get a Dillon. Why buy something that continually has to be repaired and modified.

 

[Tex1001]

I admit to a love/hate relationship with Lee. In the '90s when I wanted to upgrade to a progressive that would load 32ACP, the Load Master was the only one available. I've been satisfied with it, but it has it's operational quirks.

In my experience, Lee's customer service is excreable.

Their Factory Crimp Dies, especially their collet style, are the answer to a prayer. I never have to adjust a roll crimp on revolver rounds or bottleneck cases now.
I will probably not ever use the APP press, but only because the processes I've developed move in a slightly different direction.

 

[1sailor]

Every time someone asks a question about presses you always get some "Buy a Dillon or buy nothing" responses. My thinking is, if you need a Dillon then by all means get one. But if you don't then, why.

 

[hotshot357]

If Dillon made one, I would have bought one. Problem is, they don't.

 

[tlawler]

I say "Get a Dillon! Maybe a few bucks more - but you will reap the rewards forever!

Spend the extra and get a Dillon. Why buy something that continually has to be repaired and modified.

If Dillon made one, I would have bought one. Problem is, they don't.

I agree with hotshot...if Dillon made one I’d buy it. Maybe they will follow Lee, but Kudos to Lee; this is a pretty innovative piece of equipment.

A week ago, I didn’t even know the APP existed. I was visiting a local reloading shop that was out of just about everything. I did manage to get a .32S&W Long Lee FCD and a Lee reloading manual. We were talking about decapping and I mentioned that I miss decapping on the Lee turret mainly because of the catch tube and not having to directly handle the spent primers. Since I got rid of the turret, I’ve been using a Lee challenger single stage to deprime, but it tends to shoot primers out of the ram and I haven’t figured out a good way to catch them. He pulled up a video of the APP and showed me how it worked and I was sold on the idea. I came home and watched a few more videos, read some reviews(including this thread), and decided I wanted one. I ordered it from Midway with free shipping along with extra X-press shell holders to cover all my calibers and waited. It came on Tuesday and so far I’ve used it to decap about 1500 9mm casings. It’s fast! The only thing that was slowing me down is trying to feed casings into the top of the tube to keep up with the pace of shells I was depriming. True, it does have a lot of plastic parts and I can’t speak to its long term durability, but this contraption really is a better mouse trap. I’d really like to see Dillon, RCBS, Hornady, or Lyman come up with something similar and more durable in all metal. You can’t complain about the price of the Lee though, it was $80 shipped with extra shell holders at $5 each.

 

[Sevens]

I started with Lee equipment in 1989. I believe it was about 2007 when I got a good deal on a lightly used Pro-1000. I never did care for the auto-disk powder measure but I hatched a plan to use the Pro-1000 to process pistol brass.

I used it to deprime, size, prime and flare case mouths... across 13 different calibers on a shoestring budget.

In 2010, a bit over two decades in to the hobby I began to log all my production. For the 10 years between Jan 1, 2010 and Dec 31, 2019 the log totaled 131,783 loaded rounds.

My Lee equipment is still producing for me. I feed $2,500 elite handguns with ammo made with my low-buck equipment and I can’t stop smiling about how well it all works.

Dillon makes phenomenal equipment. I’d thoroughly enjoy an XL-650 however my brain and my wallet couldn’t wrap itself around the price tag to make a 650 handle loading 13 different pistol calibers and a handful of bottle neck rifle also.

7,600+ in 2020 so far, but this year isn’t over so that number isn’t in the total yet.

 

[chief38]

Spend the extra money and get a Dillon - you WON'T regret it and well worth the extra money! Lee will certainly get the job done - just not the easiest or best press to load on IMO. If you intend on getting into this for the long haul - Dillon is the obvious choice to me.

 

[Engineer1911]

Bad news folks, Dillon 650 is no longer manufactured, but parts are available.

 

[mmb617]

I've had my APP for about 4 months now and it's really speeded up the process of sizing and expanding my pistol cases. I converted it to the rolller handle and that made it much more comfortable. But I did run into a problem.

When sizing 9mm cases you have to slam it down pretty hard and I noticed that the handle was starting to cock to the left. I saw that the right side metal support was twisting. Rather than wait till it became I major problem I decided to fix it now. I disassembled the handle and welded a piece of bar stock to the side as a reinforcement.

 

[Mike SC Hunter]

I like and use a lot of Lee products........Just not their presses...My presses are RCBS and Dillon. Had a pro 1000 once. My BIL grabbed it as I was tossing it into the trash can. Too many plastic parts inside to wear and break.

 

[mikld]

For some unbiased info; Lee Loader • View forum - APP

 

[tlawler]

For some unbiased info; Lee Loader • View forum - APP

Thanks for the link. I registered earlier and just got my account activation email, so I’m going to be over there checking it out.