A couple months ago I posted a thread on here stating to the fact that I was thinking of geting into reloading, and wanted oppinions on which unit to get. Due to a horse trade, I wound up with an older MEC 600Jr. I think that it will suit my needs fine, partially because I dont intend on doing a lot of reloading, and partially because I am looking forward to the diversion. Anyhow, I have never reloaded, and I need a good recipe. Really the only thing that I am sure of is that I am going to be using only Estate once fired hulls, and I want 2 3/4, 1 1/8oz 8's. I only shoot Doubles (Perazzi MX7) and on occasion sporting clays (Rem 11-87), so this is a good all around load for me. So anyone that is familiar with Mecs What do you use?
Primer?
Powder?
Wad?
Shot?
And which charge bars and powder bushings are you using to make this load?
Also, any recomendation on a powder scale? Do I really need one? And any other advise would be great also.
I'll answer just one of your questions but the most important one. YOU DEFINATELY NEED A SCALE. Good luck with your reloading venture. That MEC 600 JR is a great starting machine.---Matt
i would use red dot between 16 and max 19.4g Primer, i would say a remington primer or winchester. When you choose a primer stay with it. dont switch. As for the shot id actually use 7 1/2 for your first shot and 8 for your second. Wads, claybuster fig 8. I would probably go to a different hull. Maybe a STS Gun Club or AA. I have never had good luck with estes. Federal are also good hulls. Number one thing. make 5 or so and pattern your gun. dont make 1000 then find out they dont shoot gun. good luck
I load a Remington sts hull, 20 grains of Winchester super target (WST), a Remington figure 8 wad and 1 1/8 oz of 8. It is a 118 charge bar with a #30 bushing. It is aroud 1200 fps. I use it for just about everything. Some people want a lighter load for their first doubles shot but I like it.
As mentioned earlier, please, get a scale (beam or electronic), calibrate the scale, and don't just weigh the first load. Find the recipes online at the powder manufacturers and don't deviate from the published recipes. Reloading is so much fun! Just be safe.
Guy, You can reload that Estate hull the same as a Federal Gold Metal hull. Look up Alliantpowder.com for Alliants powder and Hodgdon.com for Hodgdon type powder. Now you will need a scale and the balance type beam is the best and cheapest,but also the slowest but not a big deal. You will also need to use a wad that will work in Federal hull. Now on to the other 3 compontents,first is the primer. Many shooters here now use a Euro made primer and do not use the Win. Rem. Or Federal primers we used to use 4 plus years ago because of cost. I use the Nobel Sports primers and they work well for me at a 70 dollar savings over the Win. AA I used to use. Powder for your load you can use Claydot, Clays, or 700X all of these will work well. Buy some good hard shot like Lawerence Brand, #8 shot will work for just about anything less than 50 yards. You will have to find out where you are going to buy your 4 different types of components. Where you buy is more than likely tell you what you will use. Find out from other reloaders at your club or clubs where they buy from and see if you can get into a deal with them or if you can go to get them yourself. Shipping primers and Powder can be expensive and well as shot itself so it pays for you to get it all at one time in a large amounts to save the most. First off find out where you are going to buy and what they CARRY IN STOCK. Then go from there. Good Luck and Break-em all. Jeff
Try this load. Estate/Federal hull with paper base wad. 17.5 to 18.0 grains of Red Dot or Promo, Federal 12S3 wad or clone, Federal 209A or Winchester W209 primer, 1 1/8 oz of magnum shot. Same thing except 1 oz of shot and a Federal 12S0 wad or clone for 1 oz. These are light loads and will hit around 1145 fps in either version. You can go up to 18.0 - 18.5 grains if shooting an auto for reliable cycling and you'll be around 1200 fps. As to which bushings to use, that is what you need the scale for. The bushing charts published by the powder companies and the loader manufacturers are only a guide that will get you within a few bushing sizes of where you want to be. You might find that you would likely need anywhere from a 30 to a 33 bushing for Red Dot. It depends on how you operate your loader and the lot of powder you are using. They will sometimes vary a bit. ALWAYS double check your data, including what I've posted here. If in doubt, give the powder company a call, in this case Alliant Powder. I've chronographed these loads and verified fuction in a few different Remington 1100s. Only one 1100 had trouble on the lighter end of the data I supplied. Usually, the data for the Gold Medal hulls can also be used for the Estate/Federal paper base hulls, but the pressures and velocities would not be the same. I would also advise staying away from any load that develops more than about 9500 PSI, just to allow for error. If using Gold Medal data, I would stay under 9000.
I load 18.2 grains of Red Dot or Promo in the loads I described above as my "go-to" load for these hulls. The girlfriend is spoiled and this is the load she prefers in her 1100.
Promo is sort of a discounted "Bulk" version of Red Dot and it uses the same data. It is sold in 8lb containers and Red Dot can be purchased in smaller quantities. Also Promo will vary from lot to lot, so the same bushings would not be used as for Red Dot or other lots of Promo.
I usually recommend a beam/balance scale for beginners. Keep it away from air currents, since that will throw the readings off. You would also do well to buy a set of check weights to verify the scales accuracy. Lyman makes a set that sells for around $20 or so. The cheap electronic scales are not usually worth the effort. I have a couple of RCBS scales and an old Pacific that do the bulk of my measuring, also a couple of Ohaus, but they are essentially the same as some of the RCBS scales today. I also have a few electronic scales, but I've found they are fragile and don't always work forever. They are usually more expensive as well. If you are really strapped for cash, even the Lee Precision scale is workable. It's cheap, but is better than no scale at all.
The best advice is to find someone that really knows how to reload and see if you can have them look over your shoulder the first time or two.
As stated before, don't load too many until you find out how they suit you. You can adjust the load if you need to.
When you are test weighing a powder charge on a MEC Jr. cycle the handle 5 times before you weigh a charge. Cycle the handle 5 more times before you weigh again. This is important because in the normal use of the press, there is a settling in the powder bushing that will affect the true charge weight going into your shell. You would be surprised how much those 5 times of shaking the powder carrier changes things.
For a safety note, read everything you can and don't experiment with any powder/wad/hull/primer that you cannot find established data from a good source. No offense to anyone, I would not use a load from a friend on this site unless I could verify it as resonable from a source like Hodgdon or Alliant or Winchester. Do not start at the maximum load level and if you are wanting to function in a semi auto, do not go the lowest either. Something in the middle is usually best. Take your time and be carefull that every shell is right. If in doubt cut it open, save the lead and throw it out. Blowing up a gun, hurting yourself or others with a bad shell doesn't make any sense.
Like you I'm new to reloading having started just this past spring on my MEC 650. I have some 25k under my belt so far for perspective.
I've closely followed the advice given by several who've responded above and have come a long way because of that.
One thing I didn't do soon enough though was get more aggressive in adjusting my loader. Inspired by my friend laura!, I decided to let my inhibitions down and play with it. Once I did, not only did I learn better how the various adjustments affected results, I ended up with really nice crimps.
Don't settle for mediocre results and stick with the certified recipes.
Set yourself up with a comfortable well organized and lighted work area with good equipment and you'll quickly come to enjoy the experience and the savings.
Here is some data from the 1996 Alliant Catalog. It is what I based my recommendations on. My velocities do not match the data, since the chronograph types are likely not the same. In any event, always double check your data and weigh your charges. The substitution of the 12S0 for the 12S3 wad in the 1oz data was done with confirmation from Alliant some years ago. The loads I recommended are well under maximum pressures, if the data is correct. I don't like to use old data, but this had remained pretty consistent in later years, but some of the data is no longer listed.
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