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looking to pick up a reloading press for 12 gauge. looks like a single stage would be more than enough for how much i'd probably shoot. would be mainly for trap shooting. i was leaning towards a MEC size master since it has a resizer which seems to be what lacks in the 650. a friend was picking up some parts from someone and they said they could throw in a press but it seems to be a discontinued model and can't seem to find much about it, a Hornady pacific dl-105 for $75. from what i've found old threads on misc sites had it listed for $40 used back in 2010-2013 so seems like he's over pricing it. but just trying to see if it would even be worth it if we were able to bring him down in price or if $75 would be ok these days.
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I have a friend in the EL Cajon area that refurbs and sells the MEC line if you're interested, PM me and I'll fill you in on the contact information.
Other than that, there will be plenty of folks here telling you that you cannot reload for less than buying on sale, which is partially true. The true value in reloading your own is not needing to go to the store, plus you can tailor your loads to suit what you do.
Reloading is a hobby unto itself. It's almost as much fun as shooting.
You will need to buy in bulk if you wish to save as much as possible, meaning a large outlay of cash initially, along with the loader of choice.
I look at buying a loader as 'renting' because when you are no longer into reloading, you will sell that loader, many times for slightly less than you originally paid for it. So if you amortized the cost of the machine over the life of use, then add back the sale price when sold, that is how much you paid in 'rent' for it's use over your reloading lifetime.
Not sure about the price for the Pacific loader, they used to be okay from my understanding, but parts might be hard to find now. $75 seems a little high, but I'm no expert. -
I used a MEC Grabber for years, it was a great press. There's one I saw here today. Seems like a great deal, I'd jump on it.
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I got my start in reloading shotgun shells with a used MEC 650. I loaded 1000's of round on it, and then sold it and recovered all my money. I now have a Hornady 366, but it sits collecting dust because of two reasons, 1) I no longer shoot that much and 2) the cost of shotgun shells are low, but I am glad to have the reloader.
Given that you are in San Diego and Revoman's friend, who refurbishes and sells MEC reloaders is in El Cajon, I would go see what he has for sale. I just checked on ebay and a used MEC 650 will cost you around $100.00, which I would consider to be a minor investment. There is one significant consideration to the MEC 650, it does not size the base of the shell, and this is important if you are shooting a semi-auto shotgun, and you would then need to buy a MEC Super Sizer, to separately size the shell's base.sigpicComment
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You can get the resizer for the 650. It screws on over the deprimer station I believe. (May be the primint station, can't remember off the top of my head) I don't have one for my 650. But for trap loads (low base) resizing isn't generally an issue. The high base hunting shells, yeah, you might want to resize for easier feeding.Comment
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thanks for all the info. i'm hoping i get around to shooting more trap. but looking at reloading since cheap ammo will be the future is ammo
background checks are not overturned. would think walmart would stop selling ammo if background checks are required.Comment
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