Got a few newbie questions . Can a Mec 600 Jr. Load steel shotshells. I looked on the mec sight and it lists steel shot charge bars for single stage presses but doesn't specify wich ones. Also how do I know wich charge bar to get for steel. I plan on loading 3" steel using #2 and BB and 2 3/4" lead using #6 and 8 shot. How do I tell wich powder bushings to get also. What are some good books to get?
Shotshell reloading newbie
- Thread starter gunny123
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Get the Lyman Shotshell Handbook. Unless you can find steel and lead shot locally you won't save much or not at all. I recommend seeing what you would have to spend on the components and then compare that to factory loads. The book is still not a bad read so just only invest that far at first and save your hulls.
From reading your post it sounds like you are reloading for hunting purposes only. The big advantage to reloading is to lower the cost of the ammunition. Trap and skeet shooters reload for this purpose. But over the last many years with the cost of reloading components steadily on the rise. The cost advantages to reloading against buying flats of factory ammunition has greatly narrowed.
You are not reloading for target shooting but hunting and your going to be using a lot less ammunition than say the average skeet shooter. By the time you buy a Mec 600 Jr. various charge bars and bushings, plus all the necessary components, primers, powder, wads, shot, hulls, and keep in mind you are proposing to reload 3" and 2 3/4" so you will need two different size dies for your 600 Jr. plus you are also reloading for steel and lead which take different types of components. Your into a big expense just getting yourself set up before you even turn out your first reload.
My sincere advise to you is for you to watch the sales and buy all the factory ammo you figure you will need. Buy it by the flats if you can. (250 rounds.) You will have good ammunition and you will be much, much farther ahead dollar wise.
I have reloaded shotgun shells since 1973, as that's when I started shooting skeet. I used a Mec 600 Jr., still have it, and still use it now and then. When I was shooting different gauges in skeet I had a 600 Jr. set up for each gauge as it is a PITA to change dies and get them set just right. Over the years I have produced thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition. I loaded all my own hunting ammo as well including slugs because I had the set up and know how and components were relatively cheap at the time. I have never loaded steel, any time I needed non toxic I just bought it as it is a totally different component ball game than lead, and I did not want to get into it. Besides at the time the vast majority of the ammunition manufacturers had no idea what they doing trying to make decent non toxic ammo, so I just bought the results they put on the market.
So my very best experienced advice is to buy your shot shell ammo as you will save yourself a lot of money, time and aggravation.
You are not reloading for target shooting but hunting and your going to be using a lot less ammunition than say the average skeet shooter. By the time you buy a Mec 600 Jr. various charge bars and bushings, plus all the necessary components, primers, powder, wads, shot, hulls, and keep in mind you are proposing to reload 3" and 2 3/4" so you will need two different size dies for your 600 Jr. plus you are also reloading for steel and lead which take different types of components. Your into a big expense just getting yourself set up before you even turn out your first reload.
My sincere advise to you is for you to watch the sales and buy all the factory ammo you figure you will need. Buy it by the flats if you can. (250 rounds.) You will have good ammunition and you will be much, much farther ahead dollar wise.
I have reloaded shotgun shells since 1973, as that's when I started shooting skeet. I used a Mec 600 Jr., still have it, and still use it now and then. When I was shooting different gauges in skeet I had a 600 Jr. set up for each gauge as it is a PITA to change dies and get them set just right. Over the years I have produced thousands upon thousands of rounds of ammunition. I loaded all my own hunting ammo as well including slugs because I had the set up and know how and components were relatively cheap at the time. I have never loaded steel, any time I needed non toxic I just bought it as it is a totally different component ball game than lead, and I did not want to get into it. Besides at the time the vast majority of the ammunition manufacturers had no idea what they doing trying to make decent non toxic ammo, so I just bought the results they put on the market.
So my very best experienced advice is to buy your shot shell ammo as you will save yourself a lot of money, time and aggravation.
Thanks for the advice everyone, and your right mrgoat, I first plan on loading for hunting mostly steel shot. There are 5 of us in our hunting group and plan on splitting the costs of components. I am currently looking into availability and price of components in my local area. That's why I was looking at getting some direction in what I would need for equipment to outfit a mec 600 Jr. For steel mainly. 3" steel would be what I will be loading for in size #2 and BB I see on the mec site they have the bars and bushings for steel just looking for advice on how to determine which bars for the steel sizes I will be using and what powder bushings . Non toxic in my are has gotten real pricy the last couple years. Plus I do load rifle now mostly for hunting, but I find myself shooting more as it is a lot more affordable. I got most of that reloading gear on trade or selling other eguiptment to buy it. It has saved me a lot of cash.
Okay, sounds like your bent on reloading your own despite. Punch up this site: www.ballisticproducts.com, they have a list of publications and reloading manuals with all the reciepes you will ever need. More importantly there is excellent info on the how's and why's. There is a book specifically for steel. Personally haven't read it but if it comes from BP it will be a good book with lots of useful info. Long before nontoxic I used a lot of there components, recipe's and general info for lead. Mec should have charts for bushing sizes for various weights of shot and powder. Personally I have never used a bushing in my life. I always used universal charge bars. Basically a charge bar with two totally adjustable holes. It has numerical settings, disregard them and set the hole to throw what weight of shot or powder you require and verify by a balance beam scale. Once it consistently throws the required weight at least 5 times consistently your good to go. Check it periodically for accuracy. I used to drill and pin my bars for specific load settings so that they did not move and they were easy to return too. Different sizes of shot with fall into a given size at different weights, the universal bar can be adjusted to compensate for any variable. A lot of fellas did not like them because they did not know how to use them and they tried to set them using the numerical number chart that comes with the bar. Throw the chart in the fireplace set the opening to what you require verify with a balance beam scale and your all set. No fuss, no muss and no buying a box full of different size bushing that may or may not throw the exact weight of powder or shot your looking for.
Your big issue is having 4 partners, thus 5 different ideas of how this is all going to work and get done. I wish you luck with that as your are definitely going to need it. Partnerships rarely work out as planned.
My four cents on the subject.
Your big issue is having 4 partners, thus 5 different ideas of how this is all going to work and get done. I wish you luck with that as your are definitely going to need it. Partnerships rarely work out as planned.
My four cents on the subject.
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A couple points to keep in mind with steel shot loading
1) Steel shot in large sizes does not flow very well, and while MEC makes a steel shot kit with an oversize drop tube to help, shot bridging and variation in charges will occur
2) Alliant Steel powder (pretty well thepowder for steel shot loads) does not meter well through a press and bushings.
The MEC Steelmaster is set up for steel loading and still has issues dealing with loading steel shot at times. If you like uniformity in your steel loads, many people use their press for sizing, depriming, priming, weigh out the powder charge by hand into the hull, seat the wad, hand weigh the shot, and then crimp on the press.
1) Steel shot in large sizes does not flow very well, and while MEC makes a steel shot kit with an oversize drop tube to help, shot bridging and variation in charges will occur
2) Alliant Steel powder (pretty well thepowder for steel shot loads) does not meter well through a press and bushings.
The MEC Steelmaster is set up for steel loading and still has issues dealing with loading steel shot at times. If you like uniformity in your steel loads, many people use their press for sizing, depriming, priming, weigh out the powder charge by hand into the hull, seat the wad, hand weigh the shot, and then crimp on the press.
Interesting information, as I heard steel tends to hang up in the drop tube. Sounds like your suggested method of weighing each shot charge individually is the way to go to get uniformity. I wonder if putting some dry graphite powder in the shot bottle and shaking it up would help prevent hang up issues and increase uniformity in thrown shot weight. I have never loaded a round of steel but have several thousand lead hunting loads, only hang up issues with #2's would occur now and then.
Op in this case is proposing to do this to meet the needs of 5 duck hunters. Should be a good long winter past time.
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The easier way to dispense large steel shot is to weigh out the load required and dump them on to a plastic tray that rifle primers come in. When you know how many pellets are in your load tape over the holes above that number on the primer tray. For example if your load requires 77 pellets to get your weight, tape over 23 holes in the primer tray. You just dip the tray into a bowl (we use a 750 ml yogurt container) and when the open holes are filled, dump them into the hull after the wad is inserted. Very easy and fast.
