Shotshell Reloading – Part 1

by Woodsbum

Lately, I have been almost obsessed with reloading. This may or may not be evident with my posts. If you want to see the next installment that addresses my mindset and why I got what I got, please click here.

A few weeks ago I ran into my neighborhood sporting goods store and came across a mispriced MEC 9000GN loader. Since then I have acquired almost all the parts needed for my pistol/rifle reloading and am now diving into shotshells to get ready for hunting season. To help myself and any of my readers out I decided to do a multipart series of posts on my quest to learn how to reload for my shotgun. This series will be numbered and this is Shotshell Reloading – Part 1.

Here is a good picture of my MEC I purchased:

MEC 9000GN

MEC 9000GN

These units are usually around $600, but due to a mispriced tag I got this one for $300. This made me decide upon MEC rather than going for a Ponsness Warren like my brother and father praise. The fact that I got a progressive for less than the PW single stage was also a nice bonus that I can’t really complain about.

Because I am unable to keep stock items unaltered for very long, I went ahead and did some additional purchases. I picked up a Universal Charge Bar, 3″ conversion kit, steel shot conversion kit, Super Crown and adapter. This will allow me to reload 3 inch steel shot shells that I use for duck hunting and put a very clean, factory style crimp on the shells. Unfortunately, I will have to pick up a different loader for my goose loads, which are 3 1/2″ shells. Once I get heavily back into goose hunting I will take the time to get set up for those. Until then, I will just stick with the 3″ duck loads and 2 3/4″ self defense loads on this machine.

Here are a couple good videos about shotshell reloading and the components used to reload shotshells.

 

 

 

At this time I have a lot of components on order that I am waiting to arrive via Big Brown Truck. When these get here I will go more into my quest to make the perfect duck loads. Until then, I will start Shotshell Reloading – Part 2 with a brief explanation as to why reloading your own ammunition is an important step in my evolution into a well prepared and well rounded outdoorsman. Maybe it will help you get off the fence make a choice for yourself.

Stay safe!!!

  • Share on Tumblr

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

20 − nine =