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Posted: 1/25/2009 5:21:36 PM EDT
| Whats a good press to reload 12 and 20 guage shells, for under $300. I already have a dillon 550B and love it just hate to spend $750 on their shotshell loader right now. I have never reloaded shotgun shells so I really don't even know everything I need to do this. Is it more difficult than rifle and handgun rounds. |
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Typical questions arise.
What shells do you want? Skeet, trap, Dove Turkey, Zombie? A MEC jr for each 12 and 20 is as cheap as it gets. Or go to a MEC Grabber and a second set of dies. The charge bars determine the amount of shot and contain a hole for a bushing which is changed out to vary the powder charge. I would send you to the MEC website first. If you are using a very fine grained powder get the brass washer part number 304W 800-797-4MEC Mayville, WI ps - you waited to long on Dillon - they are $819 now link to MEC |
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I mostly use a 20ga for hunting birds (dove/quail) . I shoot a lot more 12ga at clay targets (sporting clay, trap and skeet) so I have a Hornady progressive for 12 and a
MEC single stage set up for 20. I bought a set of 20ga dies for the Hornady. but it was too much trouble to change out the dies. It's much easier and faster to have separate presses for 12 and 20. Shotshell reloading is probably easier than metalic cartidges. There is no starting load or max load or load development. You simply use the hull, primer, wad, powder type and weight and shot weight as specified in the load data. The hardest part is adjusting the dies to get a good crimp. |
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Quoted:
I mostly use a 20ga for hunting birds (dove/quail) . I shoot a lot more 12ga at clay targets (sporting clay, trap and skeet) so I have a Hornady progressive for 12 and a MEC single stage set up for 20. I bought a set of 20ga dies for the Hornady. but it was too much trouble to change out the dies. It's much easier and faster to have separate presses for 12 and 20. Shotshell reloading is probably easier than metalic cartidges. There is no starting load or max load or load development. You simply use the hull, primer, wad, powder type and weight and shot weight as specified in the load data. The hardest part is adjusting the dies to get a good crimp. There is load developement in shotshell loading, for patterning. I have been reloading shotshells with an old Mec 700 versa-mec and it's great. I can crank out a bunch of shells pretty quick. IMO, I would go with a separate press for each gauge unless you shoot ALOT of shotshells and it is much easier than metallic reloading. |
| Thanks for all the ideas and the link, ok on the jr 650 how do you prime the shells what all do you have to do off of the press. Reason in asking is Im use to the 550B and I have never operated a single stage press of any kind so what else would I be doing by hand without the press. Would the grabber be a better choice in the long run even though its over my budget. I would be reloading for clay targets mainly seeing of how I have gone through about 650 shells in the past 2 weekends. Figured it might be time to reload some to keep my shooting habit up. |
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If you think you'll be satisfied with a single-stage press, then I feel the 600 Jr is the way to go. I've reloaded with one for years and I couldn't be happier. Speed isn't an issue with me and you can make decent time with a single-stage press once you get the hang of it. If it is an issue, then you may want to look for a progressive press like the Grabber; it'll have to be your call on that one. Again, you can make pretty good time with a Jr, and reloading 325 shells per week isn't that outrageous of a number to do in an evening or two.
With both the Jr and, the next step up, the Sizemaster, you don't have to do anything 'off the press' like you would in a single-stage pistol or rifle reloader. The presses all de-prime & resize at one station, prime at the next, charge then seat the wade and drop the shot at the 3rd station and the last 2 are crimp stations. With the Jr you have to manually set a primer in place but can add a primer feeder later on. The Sizemaster already has the primer feeder with the kit. I believe most progressive or turret reloaders won't resize your brass, you will have to do that 'off the press' if you opt for one of those. Having said that, I have always heard that if you shoot the same shells through the same gun you won't have to resize because the brass would have expanded to your gun's chamber and you won't have any extraction problems. It may be more of an issue with auto-loaders than pump or single/double barrels. I've only shot O/U so I don't know if autos have problems with oversize brass or not. And Alliant Powder has a great reloading database where you can choose your data first by what type of hull, as the insides of some are tapered and others are straight walled, and then work up a load choosing what wad, primer and powder you'd like. |
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Quoted:
Thanks for all the ideas and the link, ok on the jr 650 how do you prime the shells what all do you have to do off of the press. Reason in asking is Im use to the 550B and I have never operated a single stage press of any kind so what else would I be doing by hand without the press. Would the grabber be a better choice in the long run even though its over my budget. I would be reloading for clay targets mainly seeing of how I have gone through about 650 shells in the past 2 weekends. Figured it might be time to reload some to keep my shooting habit up. just get the grabber. it is similar in operation to the 550, in that, you have to advance the shell plate. |
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Look for a second hand MEC Grabber. You should be able to find a real nice one for $125 to $150. This press is not convertible for different gauges. It's a manual advance progressive that rotates counterclockwise.
The single stage MECs vary from about $60 to $100 used depending on model. Another single stage press you might like is the RCBS Mini Grand. I have Grabbers and an auto advance Grand and I like the Grand a little better because the dies are easier to adjust than on the MEC's. Shot shell loading is fairly easy once you get the press set up. The MEC crimp dies will drive you crazy if you don't follow the instructions and make very small adjustments to the screws. You'll also get ample opportunity to dump powder and shot all over. My shotgun bench is built like a 6 foot long tray, although the 28 gauge press is only surrounded by half round nailed to the top of the bench for my metallic loaders. |
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