After being told that Hodgdon had new 2 7/8” data on their webpage I called them Friday and asked them to send a dozen of the free data books to the shop . The fellow I spoke with said they were planning on doing some more 10 gauge 2 7/8” stuff in the relatively near future . Only time will tell .

One day next week if I can remember I'll try and call Alliant and ask them about 10 gauge 2 7/8" in their manual and inform them of Hodgdons forward thinking if they haven't . Either way I'll get them to send me a few new manuals as well if they're willing and I certainly expect they will be .

Maybe if I can lay off buying any new shotguns for awhile I'll go ahead and take the plunge !

https://www.reloaders.com/collection.../l-s-1000-10ga


Only problem with that's going to be me wanting to upgrade all the MEC 9000's to PW 800's as well .

OOPS!

them new loaders look really nice....for someone who volume shoots it will be great....charlie

The basic PW design’s been around fifty plus years . I learned to load on these as well as being the first loaders I owned which is probably why I still look at MEC 9000’s as second rate (even though I own five MEC 9000’s at the moment).

I'm just the opposite. Give me a Mec any day over any other reloader. I had one of 800s once and had trouble with the primers seating. What a pain to correct the problem when a primer didn't seat compared to a Mec. It was probably me causing the problem but I hated what it took to pull a shell out and fix it. I couldn't sell it quick enough. Must be a reason Mec out sells all other reloaders. Anyways, it will be nice if the powder companies do a little more with the short 10.

Back thirty years ago I had a rather formidable setup !

I have an old oak conference table I use as a loading bench and I had 4 PW 800's bolted down on it . But I shot A LOT of skeet and trap then . Also had a PW 375 for the 10 and 16 .

When I stopped competing I sold all the PW's and thought my shotgun loading days were over . But when my grandfather passed and his W&C Scott 10 came into my possession I wanted to shoot it and got a 600 JR 10 gauge and then a bunch of JR's in all gauges followed then a couple 650's a couple Grabbers and five 9000's .

If I had my way and plenty throw away money I'd get PW progressives for 10 , 12 , 16 , 20 , 28 and 410 . PW 375 for 12 gauge 3" , 20 gauge 3" and 10 gauge 3 1/2" .
But I gotta say for the buckshot and slug loads in the 10 , 12 , 16 and 20 I prefer a 600JR or Sizemaster . The MEC single stage is far easier to use for loading buck and slugs over the PW single stage and of course the progressives suck for buck and slugs .

My own personal opinion on the numbers of MEC's being used vs PW's and Spolars is totally price . Back in the 1980's when I bought new 800's they were $500 if you got a good price and a MEC Grabber then was I think about $150-175 . Now a PW is a Grand and a MEC 9000 can be had new for $600 . And if I'm not mistaken Spolars are perhaps 20-30% more cost then a PW .

Wow! I asked if anyone had any thoughts about the 10 ga. 2 7/8 loads and now there are 3 pages of comments. You guys really know your stuff. I shot my 10 ga. with some RST 1 1/8 loads and successfully broke the first 4 clays on the skeet range. Unfortunately, at that point the extractors failed and I had to bring it to a gunsmith for a minor repair. When I got it back, I took it to a nearby pheasant farm loaded with RST 1 1/4 oz loads. I'm very happy to say that I killed 3 out of 6 my first time out with that gun. I'm not accustomed to hunting with such heavy barrels, so I was probably a little slow on the "swing" a few times, but when you hit them with a 10 ga., they go down. :)

Probably the best loader in the market for tens is the PW 375. I bought my 375 when I was about 15 years old, still have it. I load everything else with antique PW 800Bs. My 12 gauge 800B has well over 100,000 clicks on the counter. Still going strong.