MEC 600 Jr - Adjustable powder and shot measure

[Scorpion8]

Is this a worthwhile upgrade to the MEC 600 Jrs, instead of having a drawer full of powder bushings and a shot bar for every possible load? Seems like it, although I have already accumulated the former. Thoughts?

[Scorpion8]

Nobody has used both and have any insight into one or the other?

[Chilly]

The ONLY advantage I can imagine is not having to amass the drawer of bars and bushings, and since you already did that then I see only downside.

Fixed bars arent terribly expensive considering most guys use two, maybe three different bars. Bushings are only $5 at my local shop and I've needed to buy only a few to get the loads I want.

I minimize variation by loading only three basic shells: 1-1/8 oz hot field loads, 1-1/8 oz light target loads, and 7/8 oz loads half way between field and target loads for my kids. I also loaded an ammo can full of 525 gr Lyman slugs for some reason but thats many lifetimes worth of slugs so wont ever need to set up for that again.

I find it more convenient to slap in a bar and bushing for my pet loads than to twist knobs, weigh charges, tinker some more... slap in a bar and bushing and go. Also think round cavities throw shot and powder better than rectangles but thats just my speculation.

I think the adjustable bars are kind of gimmicky, though could be useful for load development without needing to run to the store for bushings I may abandon. But I dont do load development. I follow the recipes in the Lyman manual and just use the ammo such as it is for the components I happen to stock.

[Daniel44114]

This machine is a joint venture. My son has two 10 gauge shotguns - both 3-1/2" magnums. He is paranoid that the ammo will become obsolete. It's difficult to find and expensive now. He wants to hunt upland birds and turkey with lead shot and I guess they are hard to find. I've been loading black powder 2-7/8". I think the machine comes with a 2 oz bar. Obviously overkill for CAS.

Loading data has been hard to find for the 10 gauge. Even the MEC manual does not list 10 gauge loads. Black powder loads are pretty easy but finding recipes for smokeless is providing harder. I have the BPI "The mighty 10 gauge" book to study.

I'm thinking to load black powder, I'll just tip the charge bar back and just scoop and dump down its gullet.

[Scorpion8]

I'm thinking to load black powder, I'll just tip the charge bar back and just scoop and dump down its gullet.

Actually for smokeless powder, lots of folks get aluminum bars sized to match the MEC bars and have the calculated hole-size machined into the bar for odd, non-standard drop amounts. You might consider that.