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
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.
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