12 ga reloading Mec 650

[Bill Holcombe]

I finally found a 650 of similar vintage(pre85) to my fathers at a favorable price.

It has been 20 years or so since I reloaded and the press I have found needs a new primer assembly.

Charge bar is labeled 12 ga 5 300.

I have a slew of 2.5 rst 12s both cheddite and paper as well as modern shells. Will have to play eith it on the length, have also been advised to try 2 inch shells in a parker.

Anyway any advise and or suggestions appreciated. I loaded a ton of 12 ga shells for my 1100 bavk when I shot skeet in 4-H so I am not a complete novice.

[William Davis]

Best standardize gauge shell length. Components very likely different one length to another. You can convert Mec presses with a “short kit” , converted to 2 1/2 they won’t load 2 3/4 inch. 2 inch another set of issues best left to English gun that need 2 inch.

I have 600 Jr Mec presses with short kits for 16 & 10 were I prefer (16) or need (10) short shells. 12 & 20 plenty of good hulls available, Parker’s handle 2 3/4 inch well no need for me to go short and I load for a O/U those gauges too. You can load very light shot weight 2 3/4 shells by changing wads.

That’s my routine somebody else may see it different, some good reasons to load 2 1/2 inch 12 G.

William

[Chuck Bishop]

Bill, assuming that the 650 uses the old style primer feed, I have one that you can have for free. Your charge bar numbers are something I'm not familiar with. New progressive bars should have a "502", followed by the weight the bar is for. Maybe your bar was made before they used the 502 code. Here is the link to MEC bars. https://www.mecshootingsports.com/content/images/document/PowderBushingChart.pdf

[Richard Flanders]

I love my older all metal 650, a gift from a good friend. Smoothest press I have by a good margin and absolutely consistent.

[Jerry Harlow]

The 12 GA 5 is the old numbering system MEC used to use. If you can find the old chart it will tell you what a 5 drops. Going after doves now but when I get back I will go to the garage and look up a 5 to see what it is supposed to drop.

But best bet is to put your powder and shot in it and see what it actually drops and go from there because they are always low on what they drop compared to the chart.

[William Davis]

Probably a good idea to settle on a load you plan to use before buying parts and components. Good post would be "what is your preferred load for xyz" get opinions from the guys on this forum, pick one then set up your Mac to load.

William

[Bill Holcombe]

I like shooting rst spreaders but not sure how easy that eill be to duplicate.

[William Davis]

Slam simple. My normal 12 G recipe is 16.5 Red Dot AA Hull Clay Buster 7/8 oz wad. For spreader shells same powder and shot charge, go to Claybusters 1 oz wad which leaves room for a polywad spreader disk on top of the 7/8 oz load. In practice it’s one more stroke on the press. If You want a 1 oz spreader, use a 1 1/8 oz wad.

I substitute a green Gun Club hull for the AA, makes the spreaders easy to identify in a shell bag.

William

[Jerry Harlow]

Charge bar is labeled 12 ga 5 300.



Found several old MEC charts.

5 in 12 gauge shows 3 drams equivalent, 1 1/8 ounce of shot, 23 grains of unique, wad pressure 75, 2 3/4" shell, it then says shell with HI BASE WAD 9/16" wad column, shell with LOW BASE WAD 15/16" wad column.

Now that is going back a ways when there were no plastic wads!

Substitute plastic wads? As the preacher in Blazing Saddles said after the Bible was shot through: "Son, you're on your own."

[Pete Lester]

Best standardize gauge shell length. Components very likely different one length to another. You can convert Mec presses with a “short kit” , converted to 2 1/2 they won’t load 2 3/4 inch. 2 inch another set of issues best left to English gun that need 2 inch.
William

The MEC 650 is a progressive reloader and as far as I know all MEC short kits are for their single stage reloaders only.

Any part you need for a 650 is available directly from MEC.

Those old MEC bars are essentially scrap metal, the OP would be better off buying a couple of bars that accept MEC powder bushings.

IMO a progressive reloader is a poor choice for a beginning reloader, you have to be very careful to prevent double powder charges and spilling shot when you run into any problem that disrupts the cycle, and you will run into problems from time to time. A used 12ga single stage MEC loader is inexpensive, it can be fitted with a short kit as well, and the chance of over charging a shell or spilling powder and shot greatly reduced.

[William Davis]

Opps I was thinking 600. Agree single stage 600 is the way to go for short shells .

William

[Bill Holcombe]

Not a beginner. I have a Dillon 550 that I have reloaded on for the past 2 years and reloaded on a lee classic turret for about 10 years before that. Also as stated I picked up the 650 exactly because it is the same press I reloaded on from about 12 years old to sometime in college and I reloaded 10s of thousands of shells on that old press.

I found this comment by another poster on this forum and am currently trying to research its feasibility.

"If you pull the bolt that holds the mast in place, and lower the press 1/4", you will see there is room to drill and tap and new hole in the mast. This will lower the whole machine, and still allow adjustment back to 2 3/4" or 3". You will have to re-adjust the drop tubes.

I have a 650 with this done to it, and it works perfectly."

[William Davis]

More than one way to refit for 2 1/2. It’s still best to limit you reloads to one size shell, considering time and effort to switch . Used Mecs cheap enough best set up dedicated machines for short and full length. What I do is only shoot short 16 & 10 loaded on Mecs. On Ponsness Warren machines my high volume loads, 2 3/4 inch 20 & 10. Two Mecs two Ponsness Warrens , no reset time they stay adjusted.

Willam

[Bill Holcombe]

Oh, I am planning on sticking to 2.5". I have been emailing with a gentleman at MEC who says if I send in the reloader along with the recipe and some hulls and wads they should be able to set it up to reload for 2.5 inch shells for me.

[CraigThompson]

IMO a progressive reloader is a poor choice for a beginning reloader, you have to be very careful to prevent double powder charges and spilling shot when you run into any problem that disrupts the cycle, and you will run into problems from time to time. A used 12ga single stage MEC loader is inexpensive, it can be fitted with a short kit as well, and the chance of over charging a shell or spilling powder and shot greatly reduced.

While I don't disagree with you the first loader I ever owned and used was a used Ponsness Warren 800B 12 gauge followed very shortly with the other three skeet gauges in PW 800's .

It's almost as if I reverted going from the PW's to 600's and now a menagerie of 600's Sizemasters , 650's , Grabbers and 9000's !

[Rich Anderson]

Oh, I am planning on sticking to 2.5". I have been emailing with a gentleman at MEC who says if I send in the reloader along with the recipe and some hulls and wads they should be able to set it up to reload for 2.5 inch shells for me.

Bill I have three Mec 9000's all set for the 2 1/2 case. These were ordered directly from MEC and I sent them the cases and load data with wads. I couldn't be happier with the results. I think Santa will bring another 9000 this time for a 12.

[Paul Harm]

Pete, think he said he use to reload a ton of shells, so he wouldn't be a novice. Your old charge bar will work if it throws what you want. The newer ones have a powder bushing that is replaceable for different powder charges and you'd buy different bars for different shot charges. Then there is the adjustable charge bar where the powder and the shot can be adjusted for just about anything you'd want. There are two of them, one for single stages and one for progressive presses [ the powder and shot bottles are on different sides ]. If you want to reload short shells it's done with a single stage press, like a 600 or a Sizemaster. I have two 650s - the one thing they don't do [ without a whole lot of fooling around ] is resize. This isn't a big deal if you shoot your shells in the same gun. If you pick up shells some will be bigger because they came from a auto loader or a different gun with just bigger chambers than yours. All of Mecs other presses resize and you'll need one of them. A Super Sizer along with the 650 will also work. They'll resize a loaded or unloaded shell. Good luck.

[William Davis]

I like sized, so I don’t have to be gun specific with loads. Still Mec 600 is my preferred press for short shells. I deprime and size on PW 375 presses using a homemad knock out rod longer and thinner than factory . Then prime and load shells on the 600s . You could do the same with a Mec Super Sizer.

Willam

[Bill Holcombe]

Got the 650 today. It needs a bit of work, but is in good shape overall. Don't have the primer assembly installed on it yet and no idea what that primer rod is where the tray usually fits but it looks to be in nice good shape.

No idea on the age of it yet.

[Carl G. Bachhuber]

I started with the OLD MEC reloaders and accumulated a bunch of the old charge bars. When they started using bushings I modified all the old bars to take a bushing. I have even honed some of the old bars to get the exact weight of of a specific size of shot. The adjustable bars are easier.
C.G.B.

[Paul Harm]

you'd put primers in the rod.

[Jerry Harlow]

When they started using bushings I modified all the old bars to take a bushing.
C.G.B.

I guess you machined the powder hole? I've got lots of them I need to modify.

[Paul Harm]

Or just buy an acb. I know some guys don't like them but I have a couple for different machines and love em. When I want to change a drop with powder or shot the bottles don't have to be removed. Just turn a dial.

[Jerry Harlow]

Or just buy an acb. I know some guys don't like them but I have a couple for different machines and love em. When I want to change a drop with powder or shot the bottles don't have to be removed. Just turn a dial.

I have several of those but I have a dozen machines from 10 to 28 and I've got all of these bars. I record what the bar drops with a certain powder but if I could use my dozens of bushings in the useless bars it only would take a second instead of trying to weigh and dial the adjustable bar in. I try to leave the loaders set up and ready to go so I don't have to change them. Some loaders don't have bars in them now and this would solve that problem. Thanks.