July 27th 2023Product Review By F-Class JohnFor precision reloading, case preparation is essential. You must trim cases, clean necks and debur/chamfer the case mouths. You also need to spruce up primer pocket, and perform other important tasks. Each of these processes requires its own tool. Each of these tools requires additional storage space and costs. Case Prep Xpress was created by Lyman to make case preparation easier, faster and more convenient. The Case Prep Xpress was introduced a few decades ago and combines up five prep stages in one well-built unit. Watch this video to see the machine in action:[embedded content]The Case Prep Xpress features five (5) independently-turning spindles all with the common 8/32 thread. This allows you attach the included tools as well as many other screw-on preparation tools. In our testing, we used a variety 12 tools included in the kit and found that they covered the majority of case preparation tasks. Lyman provides deburr, chamfer, and pocket uniformers as well as reamers, cleaners, and neck brushes. The deburr, chamfer, and pocket uniformers worked well to create beautiful bevels while maintaining a flat edge on the top of the neck, which is crucial for accuracy and brass longevity. The primer pocket cleaning tool worked well, but we recommend the primer pocket uniforming tools for truly clean pockets. It removes even the hardest residues. You can customize your interchangeable heads by adding your own accessories. We use a borebrush with bronze wool wrapped all around it to use inside our necks. Once we screwed it into place, this worked perfectly. We couldn’t find any 8/32 threaded accessory that would not work on this machine. All accessories are oriented up, which is another great design feature. This allows for a perfect visual alignment of the cases on the tools, which is crucial — especially when performing cutting operation such as primer pocket uniforming. This feature is great because you will need more than five accessories and having them readily available is a great benefit. You can store 11 tools on the machine (5 at the top, 6 at the sides). So you don’t need to dig through storage bins. The Case Prep Xpress comes with a removable front bin for brass shavings and two circular trays either side. The brush is located in a long tray on the front. This makes it easy to remove brass shavings and other debris during case prep processes.
Lyman’s Case Prep Xpress offers a lot for the price. It is stable and easy to use. There are multi-spindle preparation centers that have spindles with variable or slow/fast RPM, but the Lyman spindles all have fixed RPM. (See, e.g. The RCBS Brass Boss is one example. These other systems are more expensive and do not offer the same convenient on-board storage as the Case Prep Xpress. The Lyman CasePrep Xpress is priced between $170 and 190. Midsouth is currently selling it for $169.99. The Lyman Case prep Xpress is a great value. It offers great versatility, while saving money and space compared to buying multiple powered tools.
Similar Posts:Tags: Cartridge Brass Prep, Case Prep Machine, F-Class John, Lyman Case Prep Express, Reloading
