Craig, The press was a birthday gift, so, easy or not, MEC threw down the gauntlet when they told me the press will not load 2 1/2".
Jerry is correct, and I follow his train of thought completely, except The spacer is needed under the wad guide/shot drop tube also, because the hull needs to be Inside the fingers of the was guide, at least on a reload, in order for the wad to slide smoothly into the hull. This thought came to me in the middle of thee night, so I went down to the basement to confirm it.
This whole idea is rather silly for the number I need to reload on a weekly basis, which is 200 on average, 300 if I get more time to shoot. I've been feeding my habit on a row of 600Jr presses just fine, but when a 9000 press falls in you lap, you do stuff that only makes sense to yourself.
I've had "ideas" sent to me by a couple people, and apart from Jerry's spacer, none of the others will work, BUT, since I'm going full steam ahead, I plan on making my 'modified part' and proceeding.
The parts that I ordered from MEC came today and I plan on spending some time at the Bridgeport next week. My wife leaves for the month of November next Tuesday, and Apart from the myriad of daily chores, I'll have a clear head with no distractions. When I'm done, I plan on discussing it with MEC. What I don't have a handle on is whether there are others who would like to load 2 1/2" shells on their 9000. MEC could implement the change for only the cost of modifying the tooling used (by an outside vendor) to make the part I'm making. I think it will take about 10 minutes to change the part and go from 2.75" to 2.5"
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