28 gauge MEC 9000 loading problem

[Mike of the Mountain]

Originally Posted by Chris Pope

Same problem with shot hanging up in my Mec Jr 600 28 ga. Remedy for me is to rattle the handle back and forth after dropping the shot. It's a pain in the butt, but it works. I appreciate the other tips above and will try some of them also.
I must say static electricity is another issue and has always concerned me. Why we don't have more explosions reloading shotgun shells and pumping gas is beyond me...easy to become complacent.

The pumping gas issue is over rated. Have you ever actually seen a news story about someone blowing up while pumping gas? I never have. Urban legends don't count. Same for using a cell phone while pumping gas, totally BS. As for static electricity sparking powder while reloading, wouldn't be too concerned about that either. Static might cause some powder to cling in a press, but out of all the shells I've reloaded and all the shells all my buddies have reloaded, we've never had an explosion, and if there was one, Big Bro and their lap-dog media would be all over it.

[Cold Spring]

Thanks gents with positive replies. I haven't had a chance to get to the reloading bench since posting. I'll get this figured out and without having to change hands 100 times to hold the 9000's handle and use my right hand to whack the press for 100 shells. As a high school professor used to say: "every problem has its solution".

[Chris Pope]

Originally Posted by Mike Koneski

The pumping gas issue is over rated. Have you ever actually seen a news story about someone blowing up while pumping gas? I never have. Urban legends don't count. Same for using a cell phone while pumping gas, totally BS. As for static electricity sparking powder while reloading, wouldn't be too concerned about that either. Static might cause some powder to cling in a press, but out of all the shells I've reloaded and all the shells all my buddies have reloaded, we've never had an explosion, and if there was one, Big Bro and their lap-dog media would be all over it.

Well Mike I agree with some of that…such as starting a fire with a cell phone while pumping gas (really rare); and yes the media will certainly be all over us if one of use causes a fire or explosion at the loading bench. But I will respectfully disagree with some of your other observations. After 30 years in the fire service, yes I’ve seen fires at gas pumps and they too are very rare. Fires from fueling lawnmowers, snow blowers, boats, soaking motorcycle parts in a pan of gasoline in your apartment all can have nasty consequences. Again, all relatively “rare”. But spending a few weeks in a burn unit I’m thinking is not fun.
It's the old risk assessment measuring probability against consequence. I had a career because of low probability/high consequence catastrophes. Not all of them caused by dumb people. Just something someone had done a thousand times but something changed the equation on that fateful day such as having an ignition source too near the flammable liquid.
There are small things we can all build into our habits to reduce the risk. As an example, after reading the incredibly helpful thread on this forum about a burst barrel on a Parker injuring one of our members last year, I now always, always check to make sure the bore is clear before firing a round at the skeet range or in the field. A simple new habit even though a burst barrel is a really low likelihood. And I’m still grateful to the member for sharing that story and all of the really helpful thoughts on the matter from other members on the forum.

[Bill Murphy]

Frank, the only cure for shot bridging I have used is a well buffed coat of Johnson's paste wax on the inside of the tube. I guess it should be renewed occasionally, but I have never done that. I am still on my mother's last can of Johnson's wax. She died in November of 1960 and the can is still in good shape, a good skim over the bottom edges of the can. Clue for making it last, leave the rag in the can and never throw it away. I once saw a loader with a hammer mounted permanently to whack the tube at the right time. I don't remember how it was mounted or the brand of loader.

[edgarspencer]

I have never experienced bridging in my 28ga 9000. That said, the press came with cadmium plated drop tubes, but one of my 600 presses, a newer version than all my others, has a black plastic drop tube. Comparing that tube to the cad plated tubes in the 9000, they appear to be the same dimensions. Im sure you have a 600 in your stable, so if you have one with the plastic drop tube, try switching it out with the shot drop tube in the 9000 and see if you still have the bridging issue.

[Paul Harm]

Mec does not recommend using 800X in their progressive presses for the smaller gauges like 28 or 410. It's too big of a flake powder to meter well with such small bushings. It's all I had at one time for my 28ga so I would rap the side of the powder bottle when the bushing was under it.

[Cold Spring]

This guy isn't going to be whacking the press for each shell to get it to work reliably. I concluded the shot bridging was in the "bottleneck" at the bottom of the wad seating tube (not the shot drop tube) and modified mine this morning by cutting off the bottleneck part on the lathe, turning the OD very slightly and silver brazing a steel extension that's now the same ID and OD as the bottom end of the wad seating tube. In other words the wad seating tube no longer has a bottleneck at its bottom end. Also, I added an extra 1/16" to its length so I can deep seat wads if necessary. Afterwards I loaded (50) Remington STS hulls without any shot bridging/hangup problems.

First pic shows the wad seating tube with bottleneck as supplied by MEC

Second pic - rough turning the attached extension on the lathe

Third and fourth are supermacros of the extension, see the yellowish silver braze lines

Two reloaded shells in the fifth one

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[10 bore]

i brought mine to work and opened it up .005 to .007 with a reamer. i think i did another one the same way for a buddy. that help the problem with larger bismuth shot.
scott