Need advice crimping 410 shells on MEC 600 Jr.

[Chappy]

My wife recently bought me a Stoeger 410 Coach Gun.  It's a hoot to shoot.  The chambers are a little rough and I plan to polish them a little, but it works fine with factory ammo.  I have been reloading 12 ga shells on a MEC Sizemaster for many years and consider myself a fairly experienced shotshell reloader, but reloading 410 shells on the MEC 600 has frustrated me a bit.
First of all, I wish I had bought 410 Sizemaster instead of the 410 600 Jr.  The 600's resizing die system works OK, but after using a sizemaster for years, the 600 was a bit of a let down.
Anyway, the real problem I'm having with the 410 reloads from the MEC 600 is that they come out too large in diameter around the crimp end of the shell.  They chamber very hard and are almost impossible to get back out of the chamber - unless you fire them, in which case they come out just as easilly as a fired factory round.  Uncrimped, resized, reprimed hulls slide in and out of the chamber very easily.  I am careful not to overfill them as MEC says this is what most often causes the difficult chambering problem.  I believe my problem lies with the final crimp stage not "resizing" the end of the shell small enough to easily chamber.  I have been trying various adjustments to the crimp stages with little success.  I read somewhere that reloading 410 might require more "tinkering" than reloading 12 ga shells, and I'm starting to agree big time!  If any of you 410 reloaders have any advice or suggestions, I would welcome and appreciate them.  I am using Federal and BPI 3" hulls, and Winchester HS, Remington, and BPI 2.5" hulls.  I know that using a variety of hulls can complicate matters and I am leaning towards just using BPI 3" and Win HS 2.5" hulls in the future.  I am using W209 primers and 15 grains of H110 powder and Claybuster Winchester HS replacement wads.  I am using 11/16 oz of #9 in the 3" loads and 1/2 oz of #9 in the 2.5" loads.  They all fire and pattern nicely.  I just need to get the end of the shell smaller so they chamber more easily.  Thanks for your help!

Chappy

[lostchild]

I loaded 410 with a 600Jr many years a go ( well 3-4 )   I forgot the part name but the piston like part that pushes the final crimp down might need to be backed out just a little.  The way I adjusted mine was to back the piston out till the crimp would not close completely then run it down till the crimp would just stay closed.  Hope this helps ....lost

[Graybeard]

I guess I can't really be of much help even tho I've likely loaded at least 10,000 rounds of .410 on a MEC 600 JR. The factory setting has always worked well for me in O/U guns, Remington 870s and 1100s and that really is all I've fired mine in.

I can say that when you get the final crimp station messed up on a MEC it is about the most frustrating thing there is about them to get right again. Since I've not experienced the specific problem you're having tho I'm not sure what to tell you. It really is the exact same tho as on the Sizemaster so if you've played around with it over the years the adjustment process is the same.

You likely need to loosen the cam adjustment screw and play with it but it might be the screw adjustment on top where you use a wrench to loosen then turn the screw in or out to change the punch setting. That cam adjustment once wrong is for me the most difficult thing to get back right on a MEC.

[Hank08]

Like Greybeard, I've loaded a lot of .410s on my 600 jr. over the last 10 yrs. with no problems except the large shot bridges in that small shot tube.  No problems with the crimp.
I don't think I changed the factory settings.  They chamber and unchamber in every gun I've tried them in.  Yours probably just needs a little tweaking.
Hank08

[Graybeard]

no problems except the large shot bridges in that small shot tube.

NEWS FLASH: So does small shot.  All I use is #9 and from time to time even it bridges tho I have found that making dang sure the drop tube is NOT at the bottom of wad when dropping shot helps some. I can't even imagine trying to load shot larger than #8 in one. Would take more patience than I have I'm sure. 

[Chappy]

Thanks for the replies guys.  I've also emailed MEC for advice.  I've done this in the past and they were always good at getting back to me quick with helpful suggestions and I trust they will this time too.  I learned about the bridging in the small tube Very soon after getting the 410 loader.  Spilling a load of 9 shot all over my bench and floor a few times taught me to raise the tube SLOWLY and make SURE the shot flowed into the hull.
I should add that the loader worked fine as it came from the factory set up for 2.5" shells.  My problem started after I changed it over to load 3" shells - following the included instructions to the letter.  I also bought a 410 short kit to "easily" reload 2.5" shells with the press set up for 3".  Great plan - but still working the bugs out.  My daddy always told me that there are some things you should not mess with.  (MECs may be one of them.)

Regards, Chappy