The Joys of Reloading

[Larry Frey]

After conversations with a friend and fellow PGCA member regarding all the benefits of loading your own I took the plunge and bought a used MEC 650 and various other items I would need to begin this relaxing and enjoyable new hobby.:)

After being publicly ridiculed on this site and possibly others for barrel diving for empties at our Addieville shoot last weekend I finally had everything I needed to get started except for the lead shot. After checking many websites and several phone calls I located what may have been the only two bags of #8 shot in the state of CT. After driving half way across the state and back I now had everything I needed to get started. I put the two 25# bags just inside the house as there were lawns to mow and other chores to be completed before getting things set up. Around 8:00 I picked up the first bag and put it on my shoulder to bring down to my gun room and that’s when it happened.:crying:

My first thought was man it's really raining outside. Wrong, #8 was hitting the hardwood flooring from almost six feet high and was on the move. Now I am sure using math and physics there is easy explanation as to how those little pellets were able to travel from room to room, under furniture, into closets, down the stairs, literally covering every square foot of flooring and all in a matter of seconds.:cuss:

Anyone who has tried to sweep up shot on a smooth surface knows what I went through for the next two hours. At that point the PGCA was very close to loosing longtime member #800 who shall remain nameless. This was a painful lesson to learn but I am now over it now and ready to start relaxing and realizing the joy's of reloading.:bigbye:

[Eric Eis]

I bet RST's were sounding real good as you tried to clean up that shot:rotf: What did Deb have to say..... :rolleyes:

[Jeff Kuss]

Nothing like the sound of shot rattling in a vacuum!

[Rick Losey]

As much fun as sweeping it up is, just try vacuuming

Wear your ear plugs, during and after when she finds out what you did. :rotf:

[Bobby Cash]

This was a painful lesson to learn but I am now over it now and ready to start relaxing and realizing the joy's of reloading.:bigbye:


Larry,
Just ask anyone who's reloaded for a while, after you've spilled lead once, it never happens again.
Here's a (re)load of RST's that UPS just delivered.


http://i279.photobucket.com/albums/kk136/2low8s/RSTReload.jpg

[Chuck Bishop]

Larry,

Your buddies will never let you forget that one:corn:

Before my basement got flooded, it had shag carpet. Who cares if some shot spills in it. Had to remover the carpet, now it's bare cement so I know how hard it is to pick up. Even the shop vac has a hard time!

Was it the plastic bags or cloth. Inquiring minds want to know.

P.S. I think you would have been better off keeping this quiet!

P.P.S. If you are shooting reloads at Hauseman's, remind me to stay well back of you when you're shooting:rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

[Rick Losey]

Here's a (re)load of RST's that UPS just delivered.


Thats my style of reloading . There are a couple MECs in the garage that have not been unpacked since we moved to this house many years ago.

[Eric Eis]

Thats my style of reloading . There are a couple MECs in the garage that have not been unpacked since we moved to this house many years ago.

Don't worry Rick I am sure Larry will wise up pretty quickly esp. after the words Deb probably gave him....:rotf:

I also see a new Vac in Larry's future......

[Larry Frey]

Don't worry Rick I am sure Larry will wise up pretty quickly esp. after the words Deb probably gave him....:rotf:

I also see a new Vac in Larry's future......

Somehow I just knew this was the right place to come for support.:dh: I can just feel the love.

Chuck, to answer your question the bag was plastic inside and cloth on the outside. I was initially thinking they were going to be difficult to open.:rolleyes:

[Eric Eis]

Somehow I just knew this was the right place to come for support.:dh: I can just feel the love.

Chuck, to answer your question the bag was plastic inside and cloth on the outside. I was initially thinking they were going to be difficult to open.:rolleyes:

Surprise.......:rotf:

[Brian Stucker]

The toughest part of using RST's?.......unwrapping the packages.

Kinko's? Not even close.

[Dave Suponski]

Holy s--t! I haven't laughed this hard in a long time....:rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf::rotf: I can just picture this whole disaster......:rotf::rotf: So Larry...All you had to do was call they have lead at Silver City Sporting Arms in West Haven...And its not "Star" shot in the cheesy cloth bags.

Its most likely not a good idea to get in the truck with you Saturday morning...Huh.....:whistle:

Yup welcome to the joys of reloading and oh ya....Have a Bilco cellar door put in so you don't have to carry shot through the house!

[Eric Eis]

"Yup welcome to the joys of reloading and oh ya....Have a Bilco cellar door put in so you don't have to carry shot through the house! "

I am sure Deb would appreciate that.. Larry, RST's phone number is, 570-553-1651 just in case....:rotf:

[charlie cleveland]

larry you never told us how the bags got openedor should we ask...your rite about the lead being hard to find....i even bought some steel bb s today from walmart to have something to load and shoot a few pop cans with...yours was a frustrating experiance but it sure gave us other fellows something to smile about...least you had enough guts to tell the storey it was funny.... charlie

[Richard Flanders]

Welcome to the club Larry. There is spilled #8 shot under every item in my basement... freezers, tables, boxes, shelf sets, you name it.... my heirs will have to deal with it...!

[Tom Carter]

Someone told the story on the forum a couple of years ago about tilting the shot container over backward on a MEC with the stopper removed and dumping the shot all over the floor while his wife watched. The MEC container holds about 16 pounds of shot. He said his wife walked out of the room shaking her head. I wonder if he'll admit it again. Cheers, Tom

[scott kittredge]

this won't be you last spil,l if you load for the next 20 years you should spill about 1 1/2 tons by than:rotf: and you will find all kinds of differnt ways to do it:crying: scott

[jimcaron]

I can empathize as well. If you haven't dropped shot, you haven't reloaded. The best part is that the previous owner of my house was an FBI agent, who was an avid reloader as well. To this day I still find a stray 9mm shell in some dark deep recess. I would say it might be mine but I don't own a 9mm.

I love the RSTs as well. I also like the Gamebore's but they seem to be very hard to get now. they even have real blackpowder load.

[Pete Lester]

I am not sure how much I spilled at one time definitely not a whole bag but like Scott says over the years about a ton. I had a female black lab who used to like to lay down near me while I reloaded. As soon as she heard the first sound of a spill she would run upstairs because she thought the expletives were directed at her :rotf:

PS. Welcome to the club Larry, we have all been there, just not as soon as you got there. Reloading is the way to go for vintage guns allowing for control of pressure, shot weight and recoil.

PPS. A MEC 650 is a progressive reloader and if you have a problem you really have to stop and think about where each shell is in the process. It's easier to learn on a single stage loader. Also the 650 does not resize the brass so you may encounter hulls you have picked up not fitting or sticking in the chambers of your gun. You will need to get a MEC Super Sizer or Shell Conditioner to perform that function.

[jimcaron]

I am not sure how much I spilled at one time definitely not a whole bag but like Scott says over the years about a ton. I had a female black lab who used to like to lay down near me while I reloaded. As soon as she heard the first sound of a spill she would run upstairs because she thought the expletives were directed at her :rotf:

PS. Welcome to the club Larry, we have all been there, just not as soon as you got there. Reloading is the way to go for vintage guns allowing for control of pressure, shot weight and recoil.

PPS. A MEC 650 is a progressive reloader and if you have a problem you really have to stop and think about where each shell is in the process. It's easier to learn on a single stage loader. Also the 650 does not resize the brass so you may encounter hulls you have picked up not fitting or sticking in the chambers of your gun. You will need to get a MEC Super Sizer or Shell Conditioner to perform that function.

You're dog and my dog must be related! Everytime I start with the salty talk, she flies out of the room! I think those ears of her must really be wings!

That reminds me when somebody new to reloading asked me how to not spill any shot. My reply "don't reload"

[Chuck Bishop]

Larry, here is some more advice for a beginner MEC user. I know from experience!

Pay close attention when you are filling the bottles with shot and powder. Don' fill the powder bottle with shot and don't fill the shot bottle with powder. Heck of a hard time separating the shot and powder when their mixed together.

You'll have screw ups where you forget to put the wad in or the machine malfunctions. A good trick to separate powder and shot is to use the wife's kitchen strainer. It's usually a round basket with screen door mesh. Hold the strainer over a container, pour the powder shot mixture in the strainer and agitate it over the container. The powder will fall through the holes and the shot says in the strainer. You can separate most of the powder from the shot this way. Any powder remaining with the shot won't matter. Poor the shot back in the shot bottle. Bin there done that many times:banghead:

Also, any shells that don't look right, cut the shells open with a knife, separate the components and reuse them. You can punch out the new primer, just take it slow.

If you don't have a scale, you need one. Don't rely on MEC's bushing chart for powder drop. You can file out the powder bushings to get more accurate drops if you don't have a bushing for the correct amount of powder or buy an adjustable charge bar. The adjustable charge bar is great.

[Mark Ouellette]

Larry,

Ballistics Products Inc (BPI) offers a great digital scale for about $26 if you need one. Even if you do not, buy one of these... You will thank me!

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/BPI-BallistiScale-1500-Digital-Scale/productinfo/6880300/

Mark

[Larry Frey]

Thanks to everyone for their tips on reloading and I hope you all got a good chuckle at my mishap. I showed this thread to my wife last night and she laughed like crazy.
I never used to pay much attention to the reloading post so I am thankful for the "search feature" so I can go back and see what I missed. I am looking forward to the process of loading and patterning various loads to come up with a round that works well in both of our target guns.

[jimcaron]

Larry,

Ballistics Products Inc (BPI) offers a great digital scale for about $26 if you need one. Even if you do not, buy one of these... You will thank me!

http://www.ballisticproducts.com/BPI-BallistiScale-1500-Digital-Scale/productinfo/6880300/

Mark

I have one of those scales and they do a great job. BPI is a great site and very nice people to work with.

[Stephen Hodges]

I never trust the powder bushings on my Mec. I only dispense powder using my Lyman Automatic scale. No worries and perfect weights every time.

[jimcaron]

Thanks to everyone for their tips on reloading and I hope you all got a good chuckle at my mishap. I showed this thread to my wife last night and she laughed like crazy.
I never used to pay much attention to the reloading post so I am thankful for the "search feature" so I can go back and see what I missed. I am looking forward to the process of loading and patterning various loads to come up with a round that works well in both of our target guns.

Reloading can be a relaxing and rewarding endevour, but, as you can see, everyone starts out at the bottom and and growing pains will result. The good news is that there are a whole lot of great people who are more than happy to offer advice and tips. That's how I learned and I am more than happy to pass along what was passed to me.

[Pete Lester]

MEC powder bushings USUALLY drop light, more so on progressive presses because there is less movement up and down (compacting the powder) before a powder charge is thrown. MEC bars USUALLY drop lighter than advertised shot weights. Some of this is due to magnum vs chilled lead but it's mostly due to shot size (they are volume measures). Lighter loads 1 1/8 ounce bars and less are made for small target size shot, 1 1/4 ounce and up bars for larger size shot. So the 1 1/8 will throw lighter loads of #4 and and 1 1/4 ounce bar might throw a heavier load of #8.

We are loading for shotguns not rifles, close is good enough, you will not go wrong following the MEC bushing chart, there will be no noticable difference in performance.

[jimcaron]

MEC powder bushings USUALLY drop light, more so on progressive presses because there is less movement up and down before a powder charge is thrown. MEC bars USUALLY drop lighter than advertised shot weights. Some of this is due to magnum vs chilled lead but it's mostly due to shot size (they are volume measures). Lighter loads 1 1/8 ounce bars and less are made for small target size shot, 1 1/4 ounce and up bars for larger size shot. So the 1 1/8 will throw lighter loads of #4 and and 1 1/4 ounce bar might throw a heavier load of #8.

We are loading for shotguns, close is good enough, you will not go wrong following the MEC guidelines, there will be no noticable difference in performance.


I have a PW and pretty much the same applies, especially for the shot.
One of the things I have been doing is taking a bushing one size larger and then lining the inside with small strips of this copper flashing tape you can get at any good roofing supply house. just a small strip about 1/8" at a time is enough to get a to your desired powder drop. As a disclaimer, I do not know how well this will work on a MEC, so your MMV.

[Stephen Hodges]

MEC powder bushings USUALLY drop light, more so on progressive presses because there is less movement up and down (compacting the powder) before a powder charge is thrown. MEC bars USUALLY drop lighter than advertised shot weights. Some of this is due to magnum vs chilled lead but it's mostly due to shot size (they are volume measures). Lighter loads 1 1/8 ounce bars and less are made for small target size shot, 1 1/4 ounce and up bars for larger size shot. So the 1 1/8 will throw lighter loads of #4 and and 1 1/4 ounce bar might throw a heavier load of #8.

We are loading for shotguns not rifles, close is good enough, you will not go wrong following the MEC bushing chart, there will be no noticable difference in performance.

Pete, I am sure you are correct 99.9% of the time on this, and I realize that shotgun reloading is different than rifle reloading, but I did have a bad experience some years ago with a heavy charge, so I just decided to use my Lyman. Maybe a little more work, but it works for me and I get great results every time.

[Pete Lester]

Steve, my point I was trying to make is directed at Larry and any brand new to shotgun reloader is to trust the guidance from MEC, make some reloads and shoot them, i.e. focus on and get comfortable with the basic process and then expand into it via scales, modifying bars etc. There is a learning curve and my advice is to keep it as low as possible and not worry. There is no harm in weighing each powder charge but if you shoot any kind of volume you will give that up pretty fast. Powders do vary from lot to lot and initial weighing of a new canister is good idea but again most have no issues by not doing it. I and others on here cut our teeth reloading 40 or more years ago using the old Lee handloader that used nothing but a glorified measuring spoon pushed through loose powder. The powder variation from load to load was well beyond what a MEC or PW reloader is throwing and I have not heard of anyone blowing up a gun (albeit) they were all fluid steel from using a Lee Loader and it's powder scoop. Shotguns do not require the precision needed in rifle reloading, they load just like they shoot, plenty of room around the center of the target and it's still good.

[Mark Ouellette]

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I also order from Percision Reloading which unlike BPI, doesn't have specials every week. I have received free shipping and other discounts by calling them and asking.

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