shotgun reloading questions

[compass will]

Instead of finding a new forum, signing up, and asking there I figured I would run this one past my friends here.

I picked up a MEC 600 Jr with a box of supplies this summer, and was just getting around to thinking of using it.

I already have plenty of once used 12g hulls from someone at the sporting clays course. low brass most are AA shells.

My box of supplies includes the following
Fed 209 primers
CCI 209 primers
some other kind of primer that I can't read what the guy wrote, but I think it ends with an "M". The hole on the powder side is smaller then the 309's I have.

A load of Hercules Red Dot
A bag of 250 WAA12F114-12GA plastic wads.
1 bag of #8 shot.

The bar for the MEC is marked O
my graph (that the owner highlighted) reads as follows
aprox dram equ 3
oz shot 1-1/8
amt grn 18.5
shell len 2-3/4
aprox highth of wad says "as recommended by Wad manf".
(I plan on weighing both charges to validate charge bar)

Reading about the WAA12F114-12G they are for 1-1/4 oz
Do I need to buy different wads before I start loading?

I am looking to load shells for an old riverside arms SxS (stevens 315) for cowboy action shooting. and maybe some clay birds with my buddy. I already replaced a shear and firing pin in this gun, and have been shooting store bought "estate" shells with it.

Does the above sound like a strong load? or a lighter load?

[cabezaverde]

Type of hull figures ino the equation also. Shotgun is different than rifle and pistol - there is a very narrow band of variability in load data.

Go to the powder manufacturer website - Alliant in this case.

They will list data with various types of hulls - follow those exactly. Not nearly as much latitude in shotgun loading.

Personally, I would not use the data the guy gave without verifying it with published material.

[FN in MT]

I would NOT use the primers that You can not ID.

What kind of loads do you require for CAS??

Hulls are not ALL the same. A Federal/Estate can require a different wad compared to a WW or RP.
I have started to load nothing but WW AA's and RP hulls. This allows me to stock one primer, one or two wads and two powders.

I use CLAYS powder with a WWAA12SL (pink) wad for 1 oz loads.

Then use GREEN DOT with a 1 1/8 oz wad for my 3 dram trap handicap loads.

Wads...... Factory wads from Rem/Win/Federal are roughly 1/3 more than "clone" wads from Claybuster , or Duster. These other companies produce clone wads that are virtually impossible to tell from their twin made by win or RP. Much cheaper too.

The WW209 or the Fiochi 616 are good do it all primers. Talking rds used for clay shooting not heavy hunting loads.

I'd suggest going to ShotGunWorld.com forums,specifically the reloading forum...ALL you could EVER need to know. Your MEC is a great do it all loader. They can help you set it up over on the forum in no time at all. As well as suggest loads, powder bushings, etc for what You want to do.

FN in MT

[compass will]

Personally, I would not use the data the guy gave without verifying it with published material.

Thanks for the help everyone. The guy really did not give me any load data. It looks like this charge bar is not one with bushings, it looks like you used to have to replace the charge bar if you wanted something different. My Bar is an O, and he highlighted that section in the owners manual.

As for loads, we shoot at this steel target at around 25 yards, some just move, some fall over. Even 410's knock it over.

I will get rid of the primers that I can not ID.

There is one full bag of wads, so they must be the wrong ones or he would have used them :)

The powder is about 1/2 a can that I think was 7 lbs full. I think it's the original can of powder he bought when he bought the loader.

[cabezaverde]

If you go to the MEC website, you can find a pretty good manual for the unit.

[Dean D.]

I would highly recommend the Lyman shotshell reloading manual. They give excellent information on the various hulls and wads available. It is amazing the variations out there.

I have been loading shotshells for field and trapshooting for years and their listed loads have never let me down.

BTW, the Hodgdon's manual only seems to list their powder which is a drawback IMO