The picture to the left shows a drawing of the shell tray on the MEC9000G reloading press as seen from above. There are six stations performing different functions on the hulls with each pull of the handle. With Auto Indexing the tray automatically rotates counter clockwise to advance the hull to the next station.  Let’s talk about what happens at each station.

 

At station one you put a fired empty hull in the re-loader. When you pull the handle down the hull will descend into the resizing collet where it will be returned to factory dimensions, the used primer will be punched out, and a primer will drop into the primer hole of the shell tray to the right of the hull. On the upstroke the tray rotates counter clockwise, the primer will drop into the primer seating hole, and the hull will rotate in place above the primer at station two. 

 

At station two, the powder drop tube will descend into the hull seating the primer in the primer pocket on the down stroke. On the upstroke, the powder will drop into the hull as the tube ascends, and the hull rotates over to station three. Pull the hull out of station three, measure the powder in it on your scale, dump the powder back into the hull and return it to station 3. I don’t measure the powder in every hull once things are running smoothly. Once I have determined by a series of measurements that the powder drop is consistent and accurate, and conforms to the established recipe of the manufacturer,  I re-check it about every 25 shells.

 

Put a wad around the wad rammer tube and above the wad guide on station 3. As you pull the handle, the wad guide and rammer tube will seat the wad above the powder on the down stroke, the shot will be dropped into the shot cup of the wad on the upstroke. The hull will rotate to station four.

 

Station four is the pre-crimp station. On the down stroke the hull will be crimped about half way and then the hull rotates to station 5.  At Station five the crimp is finalized on the down stroke, and then the hull rotates to station 6. Station six is the final sizing station where the whole shell is made a uniform proper size. After the upstroke on station 6 the completed shell is knocked onto a ramp and slides into your bin as the tray rotates.

 

There you have it! See how easy it is?  Put a MEC powder bushing in your MEC one ounce steel shot bar, set the depth of the steel shot wad ramming tube, load some shot into your shot bottle, some powder into your powder bottle, some primers into the primer  tray and you are ready to go. As the hull tray rotates, keep adding an empty hull to station one, a wad to station 3, and a completed shot shell is made with each pull of the handle. Remember to measure the powder at station three initially and then periodically! Even though this is easy, it requires great care and diligence to avoid damage to your firearm, or serious injury to yourself or others.

 

In part four I will describe some ways to avoid mistakes and spillage that could happen to anyone, and certainly has happened to me. I will also discuss some of the difficulties the current recipe causes on the MEC9000G and how I solved them in part 5. Till then, I’ll see you on the line.

 

Tom K

Member, NSC 

 

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Reloading at Sportsman’s Park – Part Three: Making Shot Shells

       

 

Now that you have assembled the basic equipment, it’s time to crank out some reloads for next Sunday. But first, a little description of exactly what you are trying to make.

The figure to the left shows the components of a finished shot shell.  What, you don’t have any components? They are easy to acquire.

 

You will need some Remington STS hulls. Bob Seetin spent a whole winter picking up after everybody, and he still has a few STS hulls to sell you. You won’t find a better deal anywhere.

 

You will need some Ballistic Products MG42/STS steel shot wads. Most re-loaders stock up on components when Scott Calhoun orders them. They are usually happy to sell you some of their stock to get you started. Many thanks to Scott for organizing the orders!

 

You will need some steel shot, and Dennis Haffner should be commended for his efforts at ordering, storing, and distributing the shot. Remember to return the bottles!

 

You will also need some powder and primers. Since Ballistic Products regularly updates their data, I will not list a recipe here, since I do not want any outdated information on my website.  Contact BP for the latest recipe information, and talk with one of the more experienced reloaders at Sportsman’s Park. Reloading is enjoyable and fun, but also a very serious endeavor. Failure to exercise diligence and caution, as well as substitution of components that have not been tested, could result in serious injury to yourself or others, or serious damage to your shotgun.