I am concidering buying a 12 ga. reloader .need help picking
a good machine.which one's are concidered the best options.

Welcome to the forum pilly. Rules are simple, be nice and join in.

The choice of a reloader depends on rather your going to be doing casual reloading or are needing a high output for some type of competition shooting.

For casual reloading I use a couple of the $40.00 buck Lee shotgun reloaders. This does fine for a few boxes at a time. If your thinking about high output then the high end loaders that drop a loaded shell for every pull of the handle is much better, though on the pricy end of my taste. Dillen, MEC and Ponses Warren would be more in the line you would want.

Here is what I use. These two little loaders work great and are on a round piece of plywood. Loosening the center nut lets me swivel either around to the loading position.

I'll second what Bob said. If you're looking for a progressive, be sure to get one you like and make sure you know all about it before you try loading with it. If you're new to shotgun loading, I'd suggest starting out with a single stage like the Lee till you get the hang of it then move up to a progressive.

I'll throw out one more thing. If you plan on loading a lot of different types of loads, don't even consider a progressive. The change over time and hassle on a progressive is a pain in the butt and you usually end up with a lot of buggered up rounds in the process. A single stage is very easy to change over and use to work up new loads on. I cant knock a single stage too much because with some practice, you'll figure out a system that works for you and you can run it as a semi-progressive by simply indexing each round manually, that way you still have a round on every station as long as you keep your concentration, no interruptions or distractions.

BTW, welcome to the forum too! :D

I am considering buying a 12 ga. reloader .need help picking
a good machine.which one's are considered the best options.


My recommendation would be a MEC SizeMaster that resized the brass and the rim. These are reasonably priced at about $175.00 and will do a fine job. Sometimes they show up in used condition at gun shops and can be a real bargain. All the best...
Gil

My recommendation would be a MEC SizeMaster that resized the brass and the rim. These are reasonably priced at about $175.00 and will do a fine job. Sometimes they show up in used condition at gun shops and can be a real bargain. All the best...
Gil
thanks a lot, I did concider them at $ 145.54 at midsouthshooters supply .but just purchased a mec 9000 on e-bay for $ 236. hope it works out ok

hey everyone I appreciate all the help
I bought a mec 9000. may need more help on this one when it gets here .again thanks a lot.

Ditto on the Sizemaster. I traded up from a Lee and it's a vast improvement. The Lee would not make a decent crimp on Remington target shells and there's no adjustment, but I can adjust the Sizemaster to crimp anything. It's a great press for anything but high volume. It's the way to go if you're playing with multi-piece wads in hunting loads too.

I have a MEC Grabber for volume. It's much faster than the Sizemaster, but you don't want to do much experimenting with it. Set it for a good load and go. If you are switching between shells, write down all the settings. Measure the crimp cam to 1/32". This applies to the Sizemaster too.

Bye
Jack

Check out this thread for tips on running a Grabber or 9000.

http://www.shootersforum.com/showthread.htm?t=31732

Bye
Jack