MEC 600 question - time sensitive

[RogerDat]

How much does it matter if there are rust spots and maybe some shallow pitting on the tool heads of a MEC 600? The bars that come down to press out the primer, set a new primer etc.

Might want to buy one if the price is right and those rust spots won't be a problem. On the other hand if they will be grabbing shells or a problem I want to avoid.

[RogerDat]

BTW - I have to decide rather quickly so if anyone has an answer would love to hear back.

[jimkim]

I have one like that. It works fine. I paid $45.00 for it, if that helps.

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[jeepyj]

Honestly except for the inside of the Sizer shouldn't be a big deal. I have a couple that I've picked up and have pitted finish. They work great.

[gwpercle]

Can be cleaned up easily....No Problemo , jump on it with both feet if the price is right !

[RogerDat]

I bid $1 more but network choked. Was getting a little bit higher than I wanted but still not bad. Sigh. Now I know a little rust is not a problem. Thanks guys.

[15meter]

Belong to a gun club that has trap/skeet/sporting clays? If so, post a wanted to buy flyer. There are a lot of single stage presses taking up space in reloading rooms that aren't used any more. Don't write off the 650's. They can be had for not much more than a single stage.

What gauge are you looking for?

[jimkim]

I bid $1 more but network choked. Was getting a little bit higher than I wanted but still not bad. Sigh. Now I know a little rust is not a problem. Thanks guys.Post here and on Shotgun World too. You never know who might have something.

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[trapper9260]

Just keep a eye out and something will come your way. Also if need any parts later on just go to the Mec site and they should have something to work for you.

[RogerDat]

Belong to a gun club that has trap/skeet/sporting clays? If so, post a wanted to buy flyer. There are a lot of single stage presses taking up space in reloading rooms that aren't used any more. Don't write off the 650's. They can be had for not much more than a single stage.

What gauge are you looking for?

20 gauge and 12 gauge. Seems like eBay the MEC single stages go for between $75 and $125 plus shipping. At that price a Lee Load-All bought new makes more sense. I know they are not as robust but then I don't shoot competitive shot gun so they might be adequate for my needs. Not having bushings, bars, or a universal charging bar to buy helps too.

I might post in wanted to buy but this desire all came about on account of trying to load slugs with a Lee Loader in 20 gauge. I can make it work but only by using a drill press with a dowel to set the crimps to the right depth using a stop. By hand doing new hulls just wasn't working well. That is why I recently started looking into presses. Saw that one sitting low priced with not a lot of time left on eBay so decided I would give a try for it.

Single stage will do me fine. I'm more of a load a box or two of a few different types of loads and that will last me a good while. Lee Loader is probably fast enough. Just struggle to get good crimps on new hulls with it. Figure with a press I'll just make three or four boxes less often. Or shoot them more :-) Progressive is overkill for my uses. Some good deals true but I'm working from a KISS perspective since I foul complicated stuff up more often.

Seems to me the prices and number of bidders on a rusty one is generally lower. Knowing it's still good might allow me to get a deal. MEC part and price list suggested gives me a way to add up the cost of missing items so that is really useful information.

[15meter]

20 gauge and 12 gauge. Seems like eBay the MEC single stages go for between $75 and $125 plus shipping. At that price a Lee Load-All bought new makes more sense. I know they are not as robust but then I don't shoot competitive shot gun so they might be adequate for my needs. Not having bushings, bars, or a universal charging bar to buy helps too.

I might post in wanted to buy but this desire all came about on account of trying to load slugs with a Lee Loader in 20 gauge. I can make it work but only by using a drill press with a dowel to set the crimps to the right depth using a stop. By hand doing new hulls just wasn't working well. That is why I recently started looking into presses. Saw that one sitting low priced with not a lot of time left on eBay so decided I would give a try for it.

Single stage will do me fine. I'm more of a load a box or two of a few different types of loads and that will last me a good while. Lee Loader is probably fast enough. Just struggle to get good crimps on new hulls with it. Figure with a press I'll just make three or four boxes less often. Or shoot them more :-) Progressive is overkill for my uses. Some good deals true but I'm working from a KISS perspective since I foul complicated stuff up more often.

Seems to me the prices and number of bidders on a rusty one is generally lower. Knowing it's still good might allow me to get a deal. MEC part and price list suggested gives me a way to add up the cost of missing items so that is really useful information.

I also have a old pacific that I bought with a bunch of dead guy stuff last year, haven't even looked at it to see if it is all there. That could probably be had for the price of a beer, two if it is cheap beer:D

[toallmy]

Be patient in your quest for a reasonably priced Mec loader they do come up although it is usually after you give up and order a new one . I find new hulls ( never crimped ) to be the hardest to ever get a good crimp on I battle with new Remington 10 gage hulls .

[RogerDat]

I also have a old pacific that I bought with a bunch of dead guy stuff last year, haven't even looked at it to see if it is all there. That could probably be had for the price of a beer, two if it is cheap beer:D My wife likes IPA and I like Molson or Labatt's it was long ago and far away when Falstaff or Blatz was my beer of choice. Think that was about as cheap as you could get beer without buying it recycled through kidneys and still warm. Although taste wise not sure all that much difference.....

[15meter]

My wife likes IPA and I like Molson or Labatt's it was long ago and far away when Falstaff or Blatz was my beer of choice. Think that was about as cheap as you could get beer without buying it recycled through kidneys and still warm. Although taste wise not sure all that much difference.....

Younger days and thinner wallet it was Goebels. Now it's more likely to be an IPA myself. Favorite is Bumper Crop @ Blue Tractor brew pub in Ann Arbor.

[15meter]

younger days and thinner wallet it was goebels. Now it's more likely to be an ipa myself. Favorite is bumper crop @ blue tractor brew pub in ann arbor.

oh no! It's the dreaded thread drift!!!! Geezer alert!!! Geezer alert!!!!!

[15meter]

20 gauge and 12 gauge. Seems like eBay the MEC single stages go for between $75 and $125 plus shipping. At that price a Lee Load-All bought new makes more sense. I know they are not as robust but then I don't shoot competitive shot gun so they might be adequate for my needs. Not having bushings, bars, or a universal charging bar to buy helps too.

I might post in wanted to buy but this desire all came about on account of trying to load slugs with a Lee Loader in 20 gauge. I can make it work but only by using a drill press with a dowel to set the crimps to the right depth using a stop. By hand doing new hulls just wasn't working well. That is why I recently started looking into presses. Saw that one sitting low priced with not a lot of time left on eBay so decided I would give a try for it.

Single stage will do me fine. I'm more of a load a box or two of a few different types of loads and that will last me a good while. Lee Loader is probably fast enough. Just struggle to get good crimps on new hulls with it. Figure with a press I'll just make three or four boxes less often. Or shoot them more :-) Progressive is overkill for my uses. Some good deals true but I'm working from a KISS perspective since I foul complicated stuff up more often.

Seems to me the prices and number of bidders on a rusty one is generally lower. Knowing it's still good might allow me to get a deal. MEC part and price list suggested gives me a way to add up the cost of missing items so that is really useful information.

Lee loaders work great with paper hulls, I loaded lots of Federal papers back in the day, when AA came out, I moved to the Mec because of the crimp issue. I got tired of using a Dake arbor press to finish the crimp.

[Hairy Dawg]

I'd take a rusty mec over the lee loader all day long.

[jmorris]

Rust on the outside won’t have any affect unless it’s severe. I agree they go for cheap, last 600jr I acquired was given to me, no telling how many I have seen under $100 in great condition.

If you are doing research before buying, might want to look at the prices of the loads you are using right now then price out hulls (if you don’t already have a good pile of the same hulls ready) you don’t want to load mixed hulls like you might brass in metallic reloading, powder, primers, wads, shot and add that all up. Unless you are planning on loading for an odd ball the margins are either very low or and in some cases could cost you more to load them yourself.

[RogerDat]

Rust on the outside won’t have any affect unless it’s severe. I agree they go for cheap, last 600jr I acquired was given to me, no telling how many I have seen under $100 in great condition.

If you are doing research before buying, might want to look at the prices of the loads you are using right now then price out hulls (if you don’t already have a good pile of the same hulls ready) you don’t want to load mixed hulls like you might brass in metallic reloading, powder, primers, wads, shot and add that all up. Unless you are planning on loading for an odd ball the margins are either very low or and in some cases could cost you more to load them yourself.

If it needs ammo I like to be able to make my own. Sort of a guiding principle. In some cases my custom load is better than store bought, or cheaper. Don't expect that to be true for shotgun, just provides an option. Going to focus on high price loads. Slug, or buckshot, probably some lighter loads for the smaller members of the tribe. I did pick up a few bags and containers of shot as scrap lead that I saved for when I had time to pursue loading for shotgun. Worth more as shot than as lead that is for sure. Trying round ball for 20 gauge and a Lyman mold for 12 gauge. Have a 6 cavity in .31 (fat #1 buck) May pick up a key drive Lee or one of their annoying shot molds.

I do have a batch of used hulls purchased used from member here to get me started. I had noticed that a BPI order could grow rather rapidly as one started ordering a list of components for a specific load. Enough so a bulk box from Walmart would probably be cheaper, at least for one loading. Provided corporate or political changes don't remove that source. Or another bout of panic buying doesn't strip the shelves.

I did get a MEC for 20 gauge that just needs a few parts and a Pacific for 12 gauge that is complete and came with some bushings. Member did me a solid favor on the price and dropping it by my work when he was out on vacation. No shipping really helped with the price. Lee Loader will reload an already formed crimp decently. A new paper hull is fine, a new plastic hull is an adventure in frustration. I figure It would do fine to reload a few used hulls to try a new powder or load stack or even a box when sitting around camp but the press will allow me to crank out a couple of boxes of different loads to put on the shelf to have on hand for next time I want a box.

[Smoke4320]

I loaded several thousand rds on the original lee load all in 12 ga .. trick was finding right components for a good crimp.
once found you just stick with the same components and load away..
my favorite hull was the old Blue Peters ..
Now I have 2 9000H hydraulics, a 8567 grabber and a 600 slugs/buckshot in 410
some days I wish I had the lee back.. it just worked

[15meter]

If it needs ammo I like to be able to make my own. Sort of a guiding principle. In some cases my custom load is better than store bought, or cheaper. Don't expect that to be true for shotgun, just provides an option. Going to focus on high price loads. Slug, or buckshot, probably some lighter loads for the smaller members of the tribe. I did pick up a few bags and containers of shot as scrap lead that I saved for when I had time to pursue loading for shotgun. Worth more as shot than as lead that is for sure. Trying round ball for 20 gauge and a Lyman mold for 12 gauge. Have a 6 cavity in .31 (fat #1 buck) May pick up a key drive Lee or one of their annoying shot molds.

I do have a batch of used hulls purchased used from member here to get me started. I had noticed that a BPI order could grow rather rapidly as one started ordering a list of components for a specific load. Enough so a bulk box from Walmart would probably be cheaper, at least for one loading. Provided corporate or political changes don't remove that source. Or another bout of panic buying doesn't strip the shelves.

I did get a MEC for 20 gauge that just needs a few parts and a Pacific for 12 gauge that is complete and came with some bushings. Member did me a solid favor on the price and dropping it by my work when he was out on vacation. No shipping really helped with the price. Lee Loader will reload an already formed crimp decently. A new paper hull is fine, a new plastic hull is an adventure in frustration. I figure It would do fine to reload a few used hulls to try a new powder or load stack or even a box when sitting around camp but the press will allow me to crank out a couple of boxes of different loads to put on the shelf to have on hand for next time I want a box.


And I came up with one of the hardest things to acquire, bench space!!!!!

[RogerDat]

I loaded several thousand rds on the original lee load all in 12 ga .. trick was finding right components for a good crimp.
once found you just stick with the same components and load away..
my favorite hull was the old Blue Peters ..
Now I have 2 9000H hydraulics, a 8567 grabber and a 600 slugs/buckshot in 410
some days I wish I had the lee back.. it just worked

My Lee Loaders are not going anyplace. On once fired hulls with an established crimp it does the job well. New hulls were a problem, on new I couldn't get the crimp pleats to fold over snug and level. At least not with round ball.

Took some looking to find a decently priced complete Deluxe Lee Loader in 12 gauge, with the crimp starters and wad guide. Then in 20 gauge I was lucky again (eventually) to find a basic kit and a member tipped me off to a source for the crimp starters and wad guide. Wad guide doesn't really matter as much but the crimp starters are really useful. The kits are often on eBay but they often cost more than a decent used MEC 600 Jr. being "antique" and "rare" every so often one will be available at a reasonable price. Do wonder how many have to be for sale at one time before "rare" gets dropped from advertising?

Yep 15meter you get bench space and I get to provide dear wife an answer to the immortal question of "what's that?". I used to explain, now I tell her it is something I'm going to use in the basement so you can have the remote more often :-) Gave up on the "it followed me home" response, never worked anyway. Cleaned and polished the Pacific DL-105 and that is an impressive old press. If I can locate a sizing ring (maybe Hornady or MEC will fit) then it has the ability to size brass bases in depriming station. I would say on features it compares well with the later model MEC 600's I can't wait to get a base made for it so I can clamp it to bench.

[skeettx]

At our gun club
http://www.amarillogunclub.org/
we often give newer shooters with the desire to reload
a used MEC 600 or VersaMEC
There are often a few around from shooters moving to progressives.
So they are LOANED to shooters for one year and if they are
used well, they are GIFTED after the one year :)
Often they bring them back as they have now purchased progressive
for them selves !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!