Finally started loading with the MEC 9000 Hydraulic. I bought it before Christmas but work has been getting in the way of my shooting. (Got in the way of hunting, too.)
The first thing I did was to replace the shot bar with an adjustable one. Then I cycled the machine 50 or so times just to mate the parts. My first production run was with some Federal Top Gun hulls. Out of 80 rounds I had three hulls that had the rim sized away because the shell did not drop cleanly into the sizing collet. I had two hulls where the wad got caught, splitting the side of the case (and spilling shot). I had a couple of times when the charge bar did not lock when there was no hull in the powder charging station. Spilled powder and shot are a bit of a pain to cleanup, but the ammunition looks great. Seems better, more uniform, than on my Grabber I had previously.
My second run was 54 rounds with Blue Magic hulls. Again I had a couple of hulls with the rims removed, and the powder bar failed to lock twice. I found the hangup with the powder bar lock to be the notch in the bracket that holds the wad guide. The rod that triggers the powder bar lock bottoms on this notched bracket, and the "E" clip at the bottom of the rod was catching in the corner of the bracket notch. Cleaned it up with a file and Cratex wheel and the problem was solved. Had two cases where the wad did not enter cleanly. Again, the finished hulls look superb.
I found I need to watch for a primer drop, look at the rim of a sized case, and be careful with hulls that have been stepped on and their mouth is not round. These are the same areas I had to watch with the Grabber. Other than that, the machine works slick. The auto eject and auto rotate worked without a hitch. The 9000H operation is smoother and more consistent than I was able to operate the Grabber, and weighed charges show greater uniformity because of it. I did not have to make any adjustments to the crimp die even though I switch cases.
