At 78, Who In Their Right Mind...
goes out and buys a new press? Me, but for the part about being in my 'right mind'.
My 1974 20ga. 600 Jr was still fine, but since I seem to be mostly clay shooting with either one of my 28ga., or one of my 20s, I find the speed at loading 20s was becoming tedious.
Since I have a 28 with 2 1/2" chambers, and another with 2 3/4" Chambers, converting my 9000 press to load 2 1/2" was a worthy undertaking. I am in the same boat with the 20s, some short, and some long, so I only loaded 2 1/2" for them also.
I grudgingly like the 9000, but have to remain diligent or I'll end up with shot and powder everywhere, and I wanted to avoid that with a new, progressive, 20ga. press. I opted for a "Grabber", which is essentially a 9000, but without the mechanism that automatically advances the turret. That contraption makes catching a primer miss-feed difficult. Without it, it adds a minute and a half to the 2.5 minute rate per 25, of the 9000. Very acceptable.
The conversion to 2.5" was easier the 2nd time, and the Grabber loads factory-like shells, without a single spill. MEC modified their 200 primer feeder a little bit, mostly for the better, except a sharp edge on the lock-out ring, that drew blood. A fully loaded turret does seem to take a bit of muscle, but not bothersome.
At one time, I stated that I believed the conversion could be done on a 16ga. press, but I've re-thunk that.
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