I was just curious. No fish stories here just plain out facts. I am using a PW hydraulic and have sat down and punched out 1100 but never was actually to the machines potential or mine. Seems if I had more patcience a guy could surely do a record! So whats your record? and what machine?
Four flats in an afternoon on an old 366 Pacific. Not a record for a lot of guys but that was plenty for me. Much rather do a couple hundred then go do something else and come back to it the next day.
I loaded a 1000 one afternoon on my P/W 800+. I was fortunate they all went off as expected, and honestly was tired after having boxed them all up and inspecting them on the way in the box.
I think my Spolar is probably faster (hydraulic also), but have determined that since I reload for satisfaction of shooting a premium load, speed is not an issue. I load up a couple of hundred, then inspect and box them, move on to another bucket full if so inclined.
I try to get a rhythm going, but not a frenzy of speed that would cause me to short stroke the machine or fail to check my primer drop, or listen for the loaded shell to eject. On one occasion the crimp bulged, and the last station came around with the loaded/ugly shell in it. Empty hull found no room at the inn. Funny thing was, I was telling myself something was wrong since the usual sound was missing, but it never happened before so I was clueless what really the problem was.
In 1980 I loaded 10000 non stop on a super hydraulic Ponsness that had been reworked by John Tyrone of Roselle Park NJ. I recently gave the machine to a good friend who will probably get a lifetime of use out of it as long as he doesn't try to load his thumb. If he reads this, perhaps he can post a picture of it in action.
The one and only time I tried a marathon session I caught myself putting wads in upside down at around the 1400-shell mark. That will absolutely be THE last time I will ever try to pull something as down-right brain-dead idiotic as a loading marathon!
750 shells in about 1 hour and 30 minutes running a nice smooth pace on my Pacific DL366. Thats stopping once for a complete refill and a few short ones for primers. If i go too fast i do dumb stuff!!
Four boxes in one evening with an old Lee Loader. These days I'm not in any race to the finish. I go for quality rather than quantity. I check and double check, so it takes me a few more moments to load a flat on my progressives. A couple of flats per hour is a reasonable estimate if I'm working well. Maybe less if using oddball wads or hulls. Mec 9000GN, Grabber, or Mec 650. All about the same, except for a little extra time to resize for the 650.
I did 875 one afternoon (about 2 1/2 hours)on my Spolar with Auto drive because I owed the shells to a buddy for a bunch of reloading supplies he gave me. Normally I reload to relax and regain my sanity so I usually do between 300 and 500 in a session. Normally about 1 1/2 hours from start to machine refilled and all shells boxed and marked.
About a winter ago I sat and loaded approximately 10 flats with my 9000H. I use my big toe on my right foot to engage the pedal on the pump. After two days I got the worst case of Tendonitis in my toe that I swore never again. I can honestly say it could of been one of the worst pains I've ever had. Went to the doctor and he said it was Gout. Never had gout before so now I'm just a little gun shy. Not more than a few cases a time.
Hey Ed, I think I have the same loader you are speaking of. When it's running, alot of shells end up in the bucket real fast. Pretty sure the same guy made this one.
I stopped reloading with my 9000H barefoot for exactly the same reason. My big toe wouldn't bend when I walked and hurt like hell! Now I always have a shoe on to make sure the shoe sole takes the pounding.
I can load 15 shells/minute, but that does not include the racking and boxing up.
My biggest marathon was last week when I did four cases in an afternoon (with shoes on). The four cases took three hours.
Doug
Mine was very similar but just had a steel table with a Ro-Teck drive on the right hand side. Mine also had hoppers that hung from the ceiling. Held several bags of shot and a keg of powder
Where did you get yours.
Ed there is a steel table under the wood, it also had the big hoppers on top. I dressed it up a bit with the wood when I got it.There was a guy near Garwood who knew a friend of mine, well he was getting out of shooting and was unloading all his stuff.
Years ago I reloaded with a PW 800. I could crank out about 500/hour at a relaxed pace. If I had a helper feed in the empty hulls 750/hour was pretty easy.
I made a larger primer tray that would hold 500 primers. I also hung up a sand blast hopper with a hose reaching down into my shot tube. I could load 100+ pounds of shot into the hopper at one time. Made a similar set-up for the powder feed. Just to beat someone to the punch, it held less than 100lbs of powder.
Loading, inspecting, and boxing more than 1000 at a setting got pretty tedious. As long as I can buy new shells with the rebates being offerred by Rem and Win I will not reload. Marc
I use an old grabber and never worried about speed. I've seen too much crap come out of progressives used in a hurry. I suppose I get a box every six or so minutes, maybe seven which equates to about a flat an hour. Plenty fast enough for me and they all go bang quite nicely.
In one 8 hour day, I loaded and boxed 8 flats (2000) on my 366. Could've done a lot more, but these were for ATA events and I didn't want any mistakes. Seems like it takes as much time to put the hulls out on the bench and keep the primers,shot and powder full as it does to load the shells. Steve j
A friend of mine and I loaded 3,000 in one session. I think it took us about 3.5-4 hours. It takes more time to keep the hoppers full than most people imagine. The machine was an 800C Plus and was "in tune". Everything worked flawsley.
The wife and I can load 750 per hour pretty regularly. We load 300 shells in about 15 minutes with my new P/W 800 Plus.
30,000 + the first year I started shooting using a well used 8567 Grabber. I bought a Mec hydraulic but never set it up and later sold it. I like the old Grabber. Ray
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Related Threads
?
?
?
?
?
Trapshooters Forum
4.1M posts
85.3K members
Since 2005
A forum community dedicated to Trap shooting enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about targets, clays, hunting, gunsmithing, gear reviews, accessories, classifieds, and more!