best 410 reloading set-up??

[adirondacker]

got my son a 410 v-rib barrel for his g2 cont ,christmas day he had ne out on the porch hand throwing birds for him,you know he broke about 6 out of ten,not bad for hand thrown birds at like 50-60 ft,oh and did i mention he is 10.
  well anyway looks like i am going to have to add 410 shotgun to my loading list.those little buggers are pricey to shoot.any ideas,i load for over 20 rifle and pistol calibers but never for shotgun,need advice,thanks,adker

[rickyp]

you should look at the MEC 600 JR they run about $130 or so and should work well for you.

[Questor]

I have the MEC Sizemaster for 20 gauge and like it a lot. You can load faster with it than with the less expensive models, but it's not too expensive. It's not a turret press, but its operation reminds me of one. Once you get into the rhythm, it's easy and quick to load shells, and the unit is very reliable so there is little fuss.

You need to research this further though. Everything I've read and heard about loading for .410 indicates that it can be a real hassle with the wrong machine. It's unique among the shotshells for this fuss-prone nature.

[maddogg]

Reloading .410 is a PITA no matter what re loader you use. The crimp is the problem to get a good pre-crimp you have to get the crimp started with your thumbnail.If your going to try I would go with a smaller MEC.

[Graybeard]

I certainly DO NOT agree with that last post. I've never needed anything but the MEC precrimp station to start the crimp on my .410 cases. I've loaded well in excess of 10,000 of them I'm sure some loaded to the point of eventual case failure and even on that last load I didn't need to use a fingernail to start the crimp.

Now I do agree they are a PITA to load as tiny as they are but not for reasons stated. With the MEC presses other than progressives you can't use a primer drop and must deal with each individually. Many different brands of cases like to stick in either the sizer or priming station and have to be pulled to remove them. Heck they even include a tool now with each 600 JR to aid in removing them when they get stuck in the sizer station. Any shot larger than #9 bridges horribly and often results in spilled shot if you are now very careful. So yeah they are a PITA to load but not because of problems in crimping them. With that I've never had a problem and they crimp as slick as any other gauge for me.

[adirondacker]

thanks,it was the $130 model i was looking at,adker

[JoeG52]

If you get the MEC with the collet sizer (sizemaster/grabber/9000) you can eliminate the sticking on the sizing station. You can REDUCE the sticking on the priming station by using only small diameter primers. The Winchester primers give me the least trouble, CCI and Fiocchi a lot of trouble sticking. I have not found an easy solution to the shot bridging but I load #9 shot almost exclusively so it is not a big problem for me. Even with #9 I still have one bridge on occasion (1 of ~ 500).

[12Bravo]

I have been using my MEC 600Jr for 12+ years and other than shot bridging, I haven't had any problems. I reload both 3" and 2 1/2" shells.