Got a re-loading setup

D

Drummer101

New member
One of the guys at the range said he never reloads anymore and does not shoot enough to. So I bought it from him.

MEC press
Big bag of AA hulls
Lots of wads
Box of primers
Press loaded with shot and powder with some extra power and shot.

$75
 
He offered $50 but I felt bad doing that.

I think it is the 600 Jr (which is prefect for me)

Dang it has been a really expensive month.

Still have about 225 shells that I bought so I am going to drop this off at my parents house and load there (no good place in my apartment at the moment).

How would I check what bar or what size drops are going in right now?
 
Sorting out all the stuff.

about 6 full cylinders with of shot
1.5 cylinders of powder
3/4 grocery bag of wads
1 grocery bag of shells
1,000 primers

Have some little silver cylinders that say MEC 29 and the other 30. Not sure what those are for yet.
 
You got s good deal even after paying $25 more than he wanted. It isn't so much the money saved, but the ability to turn out some shot shells to suit your needs and, if you want to shoot light loads, that is where you save the $$$. What bars did it come with? Go online to the powder manuyfacturer to check recipes for the powder, hulles, primers, and wads you have.

The primers alone are likely worth $25 to $32.

Those silver cylinders are powder bushings. #29 and #30 are the two I use most often. the powder bushing determines the amount of powder dropped in a hull. Still, you should spot check the accuracy of your drops with a scale.

If you look on the MEC site at the powder chart under the powder you are using it tells you which bushing will drop so many grains of a particular powder. That is approximate and should be checked with a scale.

The powder bushing goes in the charge bar. There are different charge bars depending on how much shot you want. They are marked on one end. If it says 78 it drops 7/8 ounces of shot. A 1 ounce reads 100 and a 1-1/8 ounce bar reads 118. There are also universal charge bars that allow you to dial the size of the shot and the powder. Some love em and some hate em.
 
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Those silver things are the powder bushings that you use to drop your powder during the reloading process. On the end of the red aluminum bar will say what weight of shot it is dropping. All weights are approximate. The issue I have with MEC bushings is that they tend to drop up to 20% less powder than their chart says, so a scale is necessary to verify. If your recipe calls for a drop the bushings can't do, they make a LOT of them - the higher the number, the larger the drop.

You'll need to know what wads you have and the weight of charge they were designed for. 12 gauge wads can range from 3/4 oz to 1-3/4 oz, I will assume that the wads are designed to go with the charge bar you have, so that should narrow it down some

I am not sure what you mean by cylinders of powder and shot?????? Do you mean the plastic bottles that go on top of the press??
 
Yeah, by cylinders I am referring to the containers on top.

Looks like I will still need a scale and half the wads are of a unknown variety unless I was just missing where they were marked unless I was not looking that close. I also saw online that it is good to tap the feeding tube where the powder comes down to knock some of it loose.

Apparently this press has not been used in a few years, I am going to go over some of it with goo gone to get off most of the grim but is there anything less I should look at?


All the shot I have I think is 7.5
 
After the MEC site, start looking for recipes on the powder maker's site - whether it is Alliant or Hodgdon.

Determine what you want to shoot, trap, skeet, sporting clays, etc and develop a good load. Personally, for clay targets, I have no need for a payload over 1oz (in 12 gauge), and typically reload 7/8 and even 3/4 to save on shot and recoil
 
My gun is a gas semi auto so I still need to google around to find a good minimum for my gun.

Most of what I like to do is skeet with 16 yard trap when no one else is doing skeet.

Right now I am trying to look around for a scale but most seem to be more for the rifleman rather than for me where I would just check it every so often (I presume it works that way). Beam or electronic it does not really matter to me.
 
Found out more about what I have.

Powder
Hodgdon Clays Extra Clean Shotgun - Handgun Powder

Winchester W209 primers
WAA12 wads

Charge Bar
1 1/8oz. lead shot, not sure if I should get a new size.

I think this is what I am going to do for now.

I looked at loading data from hodgdon's website and also MEC.
1 1/8oz shot
"29" ring which will give me 16.2 grains. (16.1 gives 1090fps with 1 1/8). I will take a few samples and bring them into work and use the nice scales there for the powder (4 decimal place's in grams).


Turns out the other owner flipped the powder and shot on the loader... Glad I took it apart.


Do the hulls make a difference in the loads?

Is there anything else I should check?
 
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Hulls can make a difference. I will let those with more knowledge than myself explain why but they do.

Sionce you have Hogdon poweder, go to http://data.hodgdon.com/main_menu.asp

After you agree to the tems of using the loading data, you will be at the loading data center and need to select "Shotshell Loads".

Thsn select 12 gauge, lead shot, 1-1/8, your hulls, Hogdon, and Clays. I think you have Winchester AA hulls. If so you will see at the bottom of the page three recipes. If your read the MEC bushing chart correctly, and I looked at the chartm your #29 is good to go for the lowest fps.

Lead Shot 12 1 1/8 oz. Clays Win. 209 WAA12 16.1 7,700 LUP 1090
Lead Shot 12 1 1/8 oz. Clays Win. 209 WAA12 17.3 8,800 LUP 1145
Lead Shot 12 1 1/8 oz. Clays Win. 209 WAA12 18.2 9,800 LUP 1200
 
AA and Remington hulls are basically interchangeable as they are tapered hulls. Federal and Cheddites (Estate and others) are straight-walled and those can be interchanged amongst themselves.

Personally, I would look to load 1oz loads. In any event you wil need to weigh charges on a scale periodically as the MEC bushings can throw light or heavy charges from what is printed based on how you operate the press - so be forewarned in that regard
 
What different setup would I need for the estate?

I think I have 2 crimpers or sizers (on the last 2 stations, I was thinking that is for 2 3/4 vs. 3 inch shells), but I am not even 100% sure what is even in there now or see any markings. All I know is the guy before me used them for target loads.
 
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You said that you have 225 shells that you bought. What are they? When I shoot I usually come back with a box or more of once fired hulls in addion to keeping what I used up. Those are Gun Club and AAHS hulls. You can also buy once fired hulls at some places. I don't know about your area.

You should have a pre-crimp on station 4 and a crimp on 5. There are two kinds of pre-crimps. One is for an 8 point crimp and the other is a 6. You should not reload a 6 using an 8.


Not sure but think that Dave McC might reload Estates. As far as I know they are not a popular hull for reloaders.
 
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The 225 are all estate because they were cheap and worked. Just wondering if it is even worth keeping the hulls or if I should just toss them.

I have a few hundred more here and there.
 
One is for an 8 point crimp and the other is a 6. You should not reload a 6 using an 8.
Click to expand...
The newer Mecs have a plastic snap-on crimp starter. If you have an ancient Mec, like some of mine, conversion from the old metal starters to the snap-ons is cheap, easy and worthwhile. In addition to the 6 and 8-point snap-ons, there is a smooth one specifically for paper hulls.

Warning: Getting into reloading is akin to opening Pandora's box. ;)
 
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