Steel Shot Reloading Hack

[Thefeeder]

Reloading steel shot, using the thick steel shot wads, can be PITA with the wads sticking to drop tubes and pulling back up.

I just changed the drop tube on my MEC from 12ga to 16ga and the 20ga to 28ga.......man is life easier now

[Thefeeder]

Steel Shot Reloading Hack

Reloading steel shot, using the thick steel shot wads, can be a PITA with the wads sticking to drop tubes and pulling back up.

I just changed the drop tube on my MEC from 12ga to 16ga and the 20ga to 28ga.......man is life easier now

[BOBGBA]

Nice fix, do you use a MEC Steelmaster?
If not, I wonder if MEC has figured that out.

I haven't tried to reload steel. I've loaded lead and bismuth.
Even had MEC make some custom charge bars for bismuth.

[Thefeeder]

><

Negative on the Steelmaster, both are 9000's.....going down one gauge on the drop tube works on all MEC models..... except on the 410. That's another story

[sargenv]

I don't usually put the wads through the machine. I size/prime, usually drop powder using a chargemaster (Alliant Steel doesn't meter worth a hill of beans) then hand seat the wads, The next batch process is to drop the shot after weighing (the larger shot sizes don't easily go through the press), and then start the crimp, and finish the crimp on the press. It's slow going but doesn't have other issues. I usually batch the size/prime, the powder drop and seat the wad, then drop the shot, place overshot card (if needed), and then pre-crimp and crimp as my last batch process.

[Thefeeder]

><

Sargenv---that is my 410 routine. 12 & 20. I've loaded up tp #4 on the Mec with very little problems. I have not loaded large shot as of yet. Steel meters good enough for my proposes on the machine. The other powder I use is Longshot and it meters well

For the 410 I use Alliant410, target loads only...found the sweat spot of powder charge, the rest were like day and night as far as patterns...loaded about 10,000 of those by hand/machine back in the day

[sargenv]

#4 will go through the bar, since I don't use anything smaller than 3 for hunting ammo, I weight each or do a pellet count method by dipping of all things, a SPP or LPP primer tray taped off to the right # of pellets. As for target loads, I usually use 7's or 8's and putt hose through a regular shot bar with few issues. 8's work fine for skeet.

[JagerDog]

What size shot? I found anything bigger than 5's like to bridge in the 20g drop tube. I've even had #4 Bismuth bridge in 12g. Makes for a mess on the upstroke.