MEC 600 Jr. Question..How difficult is it to switch die sets?

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LondonDave

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I have an opportunity to purchase a lightly used MEC 600 Jr. at a good price. It's currently set up for 12 ga. I went to my local gun shop today to ask about getting a 20 ga. die set and the told me they weren't readily available and that it's a difficult process to switch the dies from 1 gauge to another and that I would be better off purchasing one already set up for the gauge I want to load.

Does anyone have any experience with this? I thought I'd be able to buy the loader in 12 and get the 20 dies and be able to load both but if it's that much trouble to switch dies then I won't bother.

Thanks,

Dave
 
My local shop sells the reloader for $250. I see cheaper ones on e-bay but it's finding one if 20 ga. The used one I'm looking at the seller is asking $100. If I can get the dies for $100 (I think that is about what they cost) and it's easy to change them am I not better off?


Dave
 
You might not find that changing back and forth is worth the effort, because you will keep loosing your settings, and having to set them all up again, are you going to do that if you want a box of 16ga. and then change it all back again to 12 ga. because you want a box of them too. I would watch around the EE and gunshows and get used ones for whatever gauges you want, they shouldn't be $100.
 
If you are thinking about changing the dies once and making the gauge change permanent then it's worth considering. If you intend to have one loader and multiple die sets it would be a constant pain in the ass setting up each set every time you wanted to change gauges.

Die sets for the 600 run around $100 U.S. plus shipping, taxes, etc. from MEC. I've ordered parts from them before and they are great to deal with. Here's a suitable chilled link.

http://www.mecreloaders.com/Order/600JrMark5PartsList.asp
 
Okay thanks for the info guys. I'm brand new to loading and wasn't aware of what all was involved. Maybe I'll pick up this 12 ga reloader and keep it as that. I do have 12 ga shotguns too. I'll keep my eye out for a 20 ga that is ready to go.

Thanks again,

Dave
 
It is a pain in the butt switching die sets on the MEC. It could make sense to buy the 20 ga dies and switch over permanently. Wholesale Sports used to catalog them, I don't know if they still do. LeBaron's the same.

Either than loading some slugs/buck shot that I cast myself, I hardly ever use my 12 ga MEC anymore, as the price of shot/shipping has gone up so much that it makes more sense to buy bulk packs from Wal-Mart for trap/informal target shooting and the good stuff for the odd duck hunting trip.

20 & 16 ga, however, is a different story. It makes sense to reload for these given the price of factory ammo.
 
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