Struck gold at yard sale

[compass will]

Back on Wed I went past a yard sale and picked up a MEC 600 JR with enough supplies to load at least 250 12 gauge shells for $50.00. I noticed several coffee cans of fishing weights and a weight mold on the table so i asked the guy if he had any lead for sale. He thought he had a couple hundred lbs and told me to come back.

Today I went back to pick up some metal shelfs he had (which turns out had already sold). He said "look over there in the corner". here is a pile of diving belt weights and some pipe. On a bathroom scale it was 140 lbs of pure lead. I took it home for $25.00.

I think I need to stop by more yard sales. Would need to luck into some tin.

[wheelgunner]

Ya just never know where the next score will come from. I was sitting at the lunch counter with a friend and we were talking about meltin some range lead and a lady sitting there says she couldn't help overhearing that we used lead. Her husband (a plumber) had passed away and left a pile of it in her yard and the cleanup guys wanted a fortune to "get rid of it". We took about 650 lbs of lead pipe out of there. The lady wouldn't take any $$$, said she was happy to get it out of her way! Next time in, I gave the restaurant owner $50.00 and told him to buy the old gals lunches with it till it ran out, felt it was the least I could do. I got 650 lbs of lead and big ole smooch from the old gal when she found out we'd paid for her lunches, lol!

[sammy]

the mec 600 jr is a nice solid no frils loader i have a pre 1982 model...
loaded thousands of rounds and still going strong..
mec has it's own web site with parts in stock for even it's oldest loaders....
happy loading - melting - casting

[454PB]

Good on ya, wheelgunner! There are a lot of people that would never even think of doing something nice for this generous lady.

What goes around comes around!

[badgeredd]

Good on ya, wheelgunner! There are a lot of people that would never even think of doing something nice for this generous lady.

What goes around comes around!

I second that, A kind heart will aways be rewarded.

Edd

[jdgabbard]

I second that, A kind heart will aways be rewarded.

Edd

I have seen times when it didn't happen. But I like it when it does.

Congrads on the find!

[compass will]

the mec 600 jr is a nice solid no frils loader i have a pre 1982 model...
loaded thousands of rounds and still going strong..
mec has it's own web site with parts in stock for even it's oldest loaders....
happy loading - melting - casting

This is also a pre 82. Paperwork is dated 1975. It has a charge bar marked something like 302 with an O on it. I noticed in some of the paperwork the guy had circuled the O on a power chart, and red dot was one of the powders listed after the O.
Should I expect to find bushings that insert into the charge bar? or is the O telling me the size of the charge direct from the charge bar?

Now if I switch powders, do I need to buy inserts? or a new charge bar?

thanks

[Scrounger]

The original MECs used bars drilled for specific amounts of shot and powder. A few years later they thunk up the process of drilling the bars for a shot load and the powder cavity drilled for the bushings you could use to vary the powder charge. Don't know why they didn't take a step farther and use shot bushings as well. They did make a bar which was adjustable for both powder and shot:

[compass will]

Thanks, I will at least weigh a charge first to make sure it's safe for the old double barrel riverside arms (old stevens).

[sammy]

the powder bushings are numbered if you look at a shot shell reloading book you can find the right bushing for the type and weight of powder you want to use just weigh the the first couple charges before loading.. as powder densitys and size of the flaks vary from differnt batches of the same powder..
the bar is what sets the amount of shot and has to be changed if you plan to change shot ammounts..

the charge bar that scrounger shows is sweet and works well, costs about 35 dollars

if you plan on only loading with one or 2 powers and using the same shot ammount then you could just buy the bushing you would need........

bushings run under 4$
bars around 12$

sammy

[Gunslinger]

Ya just never know where the next score will come from. I was sitting at the lunch counter with a friend and we were talking about meltin some range lead and a lady sitting there says she couldn't help overhearing that we used lead. Her husband (a plumber) had passed away and left a pile of it in her yard and the cleanup guys wanted a fortune to "get rid of it". We took about 650 lbs of lead pipe out of there. The lady wouldn't take any $$$, said she was happy to get it out of her way! Next time in, I gave the restaurant owner $50.00 and told him to buy the old gals lunches with it till it ran out, felt it was the least I could do. I got 650 lbs of lead and big ole smooch from the old gal when she found out we'd paid for her lunches, lol!

Whaaa you lucky son of a..... :-D

I recently stopped by a scrapyard in my city. They had 375lbs of WW which I took of their hands for $0.09/lbs, soon I'll be smelting it into ingots with a BIG smile on my face!!

I only recently started casting. I cast with an older man I know from my shooting range, he has been casting for 20+ years. Only problem is that we are down to the last 60lbs of linotype, and that's pretty hard to come by in this country. I even have a hunting buddy who owns a big publishing house, he said all the lino he had is loooong gone. Another member of my shooting range has promised our president that he would donate 400lbs of lino to the range. I'm on pretty good terms with our president, so I'm really hoping I can get my hands on some of that lino. Not many of our members cast... I do fear that the rising ammo prices will compell them to do so.

[compass will]

Whaaa you lucky son of a..... :-D

I recently stopped by a scrapyard in my city. They had 375lbs of WW which I took of their hands for $0.09/lbs, soon I'll be smelting it into ingots with a BIG smile on my face!!



I see your in Denmark. Europe and other areas have not been using lead wheel weights for a little while now. Hope you didn't buy 375 lbs of Zinc :wink:

[snuffy]

The original MECs used bars drilled for specific amounts of shot and powder. A few years later they thunk up the process of drilling the bars for a shot load and the powder cavity drilled for the bushings you could use to vary the powder charge. Don't know why they didn't take a step farther and use shot bushings as well. They did make a bar which was adjustable for both powder and shot:

The reason is that the texan loader company originally had the idea of replaceable shot/powder bushings. When mec wanted to do that, they researched patent records to find texan had patented the concept. Texan would not sell rights to mec. Somehow they got around it for the powder bushings, maybe that patent has run out?


the powder bushings are numbered if you look at a shot shell reloading book you can find the right bushing for the type and weight of powder you want to use just weigh the the first couple charges before loading

Sammy, he has one of the much older solid bars, with no bushing hole in it.

The "O" bar should throw the correct load of red dot for a 1 1/8 12 ga shell. Probably 18.0 to 18.5, now I'm calling up memories 40 years old, so don't hold me to that!:coffeecom I may have a sheet from my original mec 600 jr. that shows that load, IFI can find it!:roll: Put some red dot in the bottle, throw and weigh some drops to see. Remember that the powder hole in a 600 jr. is regulated to the press being operated 5 strokes between powder drops, as it completes each operation after the powder is dropped, and the next shell is sized and primed. Just dropping powder charges will show them light, then be more powder under loading use.

[Gunslinger]

I see your in Denmark. Europe and other areas have not been using lead wheel weights for a little while now. Hope you didn't buy 375 lbs of Zinc :wink:

I didn't, I checked :wink:

The weight were in a 200liter old rusty oil barrel, and on top of the old dark weight were places plastic canisters with zinc weights in them. Thay'd had the old ones for quite some time now. Lucky for me they aren't mixed 8-)

[copdills]

Great score Compass Will good luck in the future[smilie=w:

[compass will]

The only problem I see with it is the last operation scratches the shell. I cleaned it up as best as I could. I don't think the scratches will matter unless hulls start to get stuck in my gun.

All the hulls he gave me are just about shot up. I will pickup some once shot and see how she goes.

If I switch to clays I see the bars are cheep enough.
Thanks for the help everyone.

[Hardcast416taylor]

I bought one of those adjustable bars for my MEC when they first came out. It was made in Canada and was some plastic material other than the adjustments. It didn`t last the fall hunting season as it cracked at the adjustment screw for the shot. I see the newer omes are more metal instead of the red plastic at the breakage points. My 700 Versa mec has loaded shells in the thounds in 12 and 20 gauge and is still going strong. Watch out if you plan to use the extra tall bottles. They can cause thre screw in point to snap off, then you have to buy a entire new top mounting assembly. This happened to a friend. :castmine:

[Bob Jones]

Wiking, I bet in your country you can find junk pewter, that's what I use for tin. I buy old junky pewter at yard sales for next to nothing (mugs usually) and just melt it right into the pot.

It's not scientific but it's worked well for me so far.