My Lee Load All II crapped out on me(shoulda bought a MEC to start with) I am now thinking about a MEC 650, I shoot about 50 to 100 rounds a week on average, I know that there is a decent supply of MEC presses on ebay, is the 650 a good press, should I go with a grabber, or a 600 or sizemaster, I shoot an 870 so I don't do a lot resizing. thoughts?

I started with a Lee, but traded up to a used Sizemaster. The Sizemaster is much better at crimping shells that don't want to stay crimped. A set of 20 gauge dies came next. Change-over would be easy, but readjusting the crimp collet takes as long as the rest of the job. A slightly used 12 gauge Grabber came home next. It's about 4X faster than the Sizemaster.

OK, the 650 is the most speed for the $$$, if resizing isn't a problem. It is for me, as my Dad's old Remington is .003" tighter than my Browning. The old one only shoots a box a year, but I resize everything to fit it. It's simpler that way. The other problem with the 650 and Grabber is that they aren't made for specialty loads, just tons of simple trap loads. I've loaded shells with old-fashioned fiber wads with the Sizemaster. It's better to insert each piece of a 3 piece stack separately, than to ram them all at once, and a progressive isn't made for that.

It depends on how much spare time you have, but a 100 a week is the point where I'd like a progressive if time was a factor.

Bye
Jack

I have spare time, but I am not always in the mood to spend it loading shotshells, plus that Lee is a real pain to empy out at the end of a session. I missed a 650 on ebay today for 82 bucks, I bid 81.50 and had it until 5 seconds to go, guess I will have to keep watching, I know they come up a decent prices once in a while

I load with the Lee and like you thought to move up so I bought the 600. What a mistake it was not near the loader the Lee was.

If your going to move up to a Mec go at least with the 650 or one that is progressive. I finally got so disgusted with the 600 that I gave it to away and bought another Lee. I now have two on the bench on a swivel plate so I can go from 12 gauge to 20 gauge just by turning them around.

Just my experience.

My money is on the 9000G. I would never go back to a single stage press.

I think it will be nice to have a progressive press, the 9000's are a little out of my price range

The Grabber is still alot of press for the money. I have two of them. One in 28 and the other in 410. Can load around 275 rounds per hour. Still not as fast as my 9000's but for only shooting 100 rounds a week like you said it should do.

As far as I can tell, the only difference between the Grabber and the 650 is the auto resizing, am I right? also, what is the difference between the old grabber and the new grabber?

go with either the grabber or the 9000g

IIRC, the old Grabbers can't do 3" shells. Could be wrong.

Bye
Jack

go with either the grabber or the 9000g
Why? I don't mean to be obnoxious, but what is your reasoning behind your recommendation

If the 9000G is too much $$ but you can get a grabber, go for it. The grabber isn't that much more work than the 9000G.

It is hard to find a new style grabber used, it even is hard to find ones that look decent on ebay. Will I be at a big disadvantage if I go with a 650? It would be so much easier to go with a 600, they have them on ebay by the truckload, but I would really like a progressive. Does anyone know the average price on a 650 on ebay? I missed on sunday for 82 bucks, most of them are in the high 60's with a few days to go. Is $100 too much?

For the money, the SizeMaster is hard to beat and it resizes the rims back to factory specs. That matters in some of my shotguns when I loaded cases on a MEC250 or MEC600 so I had to buy a MEC SuperSizer. The SizeMaster has the SuperSizer built in. All the best...
Gil

It is hard to find a new style grabber used, it even is hard to find ones that look decent on ebay. Will I be at a big disadvantage if I go with a 650? It would be so much easier to go with a 600, they have them on ebay by the truckload, but I would really like a progressive. Does anyone know the average price on a 650 on ebay? I missed on sunday for 82 bucks, most of them are in the high 60's with a few days to go. Is $100 too much?

They have them on ebay by the truckload because they are really bad. Way worse than the little Lee. They are frustrating to use and, well, they only way you will know for certian is get one, won't be long and it will be with the truckload on ebay. Learning the hard way is sometimes is the only way. I know it was for me. Get at least the 650.

I figured they weren't much good, I have heard it from several other guys, the biggest think I like about the 650 (other than being progressive) is the bottle system for shot and powder and the way it tips back so you can empty the loader at the end of a loading session

I reloaded a LOT of shells on a MEC a while back. Can't speak to the current models.... but here were my impressions:

The collet-style resizer is frankly the best you'll find. It flat-out works, and very well. If the MEC that you are looking at doesn't have this, pass. In fact I bought a MEC stand-along resizer, because my dad's Hornady Apex doesn't do much of a job sizing hulls, and the occasional troublesome hull can be handled with that.

3-position crimp (on the model I used) works slick and puts a nice taper on the shell for feeding in autos. A little better than the 2-position Hornady.

Bad - leaked any fine-grained (winchester 452 or 473, both now discontinued) power like water. Stuff just ended up everywhere. The later WST / WSL / WSF were all tolerable. That was the 'new' flattened-ball powder that was used to replace 452/473 and the like.

I think that the model we used was the grabber but not 100% sure. This was at the trap and skeet club at the university and it sure got used and abused. Once you figured out how to drive it... you sure could load some shells in a hurry.

On the other hand, the Hornady does much better with fine-grained powder, and is much easier to empty the powder/shot hoppers.

Oh and the MEC did not like shot any bigger than #4 lead (not buckshot) and occasionally choked with that. Had to listen to make sure that the shot actually dropped. No problem with the usual clay target stuff from #9 - #7 1/2.

The MEC primer feed was at least out front where you could see it. The Hornady primer feed is less visible, and ANY progressive press will occasionally fail to drop a primer, my Dillons included. Got into the habit of looking for each one......

I picked up a 650 last night on ebay for about $100, I figure, If I need to resize, I can get a super sizer. I already ordered my bushings and a set of 12" bottles from midway.

Be careful with those big bottles. They're heavy when they're full, so don't let them hang on the threaded neck when they're tilted over. The bottle necks have been known to break off. That red plug can come out when you're screwing the bottle on or off and the resulting shot spill is spectacular. Ask me how I know. Keep the bottle supported with one hand with one finger in the plug while you turn it with the other hand. Half a bottle of shot does over a 100 trap loads, so don't fill it to the top if you don't have to.

Those red plugs are hydraulic fitting protectors, and you can find a free life time supply at a farm equipment dealership.

Bye
Jack

Buy the grabber. You won't be sorry. It will produce a good quality shotshell with a good crimp--which is adjustable-- and it resizes so that you will have no problems shooting someone elses hulls in your gun.

I can load 300 rounds pr. hr. with no problem at all. 4 boxes--20 minutes.

I have a Mec sizemaster in 28 ga - what a piece of junk and customer service stinks ( who ever heard of a 28ga machine that would not handle AA hulls without buying more parts)
You might want to give the Pacific/Hornady machines a look - I had good luck with one -
Dillion equipment is pricy, but top of the line and sevice is wonderful(guaranteed forever) - I've never regreted buying the best when I could afford it. By the way, unless you shoot 28ga or 410 there is almost no cost savings in loading shotshells these days