NEVER TRUST A MEC BAR

[J. A. EARLY]

I was loading what I thought were 1 1/8 ounce dove loads for 12 gauge on a MEC 9000. Even though the bar was 1 1/8, I noticed that the 1 1/8 ounce wads were too low, so I had to go to the 1 ounce wads. After loading a few hundred I decided to weigh the shot charges. In both 8s and 7 1/2 loads it was dropping exactly one ounce. Of course the powder was correct for the bar uses bushings. But not the shot side. One will find that all of MEC's info is light. They do sell on EBAY an aftermarket bar that uses bushings on both sides, which I did buy for my 20 ga 9000 since the 1 ounce bar does not drop 1 ounce either.

I did not have drill bits that big so using a step drill on the bottom I kept opening the bar until it dropped 1 1/8 ounce. I did not go from the top so as not to mess up the rubber in the bar. Here is the bar that now drops the true amount. If one has bigger drill bits that would work better, but hey, it works with the step drill bit.