Shotshell Press Recommendation

[j1b]

Those that know me know I bleed blue.

I've got a good number of dillon's. Square Deal B's, 1050's, etc.

So the favorite that I can see in the shotgun world is the MEC 9000. Looks to be a good press and they've been in the business a long time. That said, Dillon has their shotgun press and as I said, I do tend to bleed blue.

I'm looking for recommendations from folks that have experience with both. I know all the loyalty to Dillon that exists within the handgun world. I'm trying to get to folks that do both, have experience and have loaded on both, and can give me suggestions on which path is better.

Thanks in advance!

Jack

[3GunF1Guy]

Get a Ponsness/Warren it is the "Dillon" of shotgun reloaders. I looked hard at all of the reloaders and the Dillion 900 is the WORST of all the shotgun reloaders except for the Lee. The Spolar is just like a P/W but 3 times the money. For example I own a P/W 2000 (900) I can take the crapiest shells like the Estate the Federal Top Gun or the Winchester game loads (not the AA ones) and it will make shell that are BETTER than the factory. If you load Win AA or Rem STS hulls the shells come out of the P/W are a thing of beauty. The P/W and the Spolar are the only loaders that support the hull all the way through the loading process. This prevents buckled or crushed shells while loading. It also sizes the entire hull from the base up to almost the top of the hull. The P/W also has a 3 station crimp that puts a taper crimp on the hulls just like the factory shells (this makes reloaded hulls run better in semi-auto shotguns). Untill you have used a P/W you do not know what you have been missing. Two nights ago I loaded 500 rds on the P/W with 100% of the hulls coming out perfect.

Scott

[smokshwn]

+10

Jack,

My dad and I would generally shoot upwards of 75-80k rounds a year. 90% of that was loaded on a PW.

I will echo everything Scott said in the above. I own a 650 and two 1050's and love them.. I know they are the best of their realm. Much the same to the PW with respect to shotshell reloading.

Good luck, Craig

Edited May 26, 2009 by smokshwn

[Lexor40cal]

Jack,

I think it all depends on how many shotgun shells you are going to run through. I went with the MEC Sizemaster, as they are very inexpensive, I only shoot ,<2K shot-shells a year, so the slow production time is not an issue.

If you are going through a lot, go big & blue!!

Those that know me know I bleed blue.

I've got a good number of dillon's. Square Deal B's, 1050's, etc.

So the favorite that I can see in the shotgun world is the MEC 9000. Looks to be a good press and they've been in the business a long time. That said, Dillon has their shotgun press and as I said, I do tend to bleed blue.

I'm looking for recommendations from folks that have experience with both. I know all the loyalty to Dillon that exists within the handgun world. I'm trying to get to folks that do both, have experience and have loaded on both, and can give me suggestions on which path is better.

Thanks in advance!

Jack

[smokshwn]

One thing to remember....as good as Blue is....it took PW to automate it. They know a thing or two about high volume progressive reloading.

http://www.brianenos.com/forums/index.php?...Ponsness+warren

[uscbigdawg]

Jack,

My Mec 9000G is super sweet and cheap. The auto indexing is nice and it's pretty brainless in operation. You can later upgrade to fully automatic.

Rich

[h2osport]

I have a friend that had several PW presses. He got the Dillon SL900 and thinks it is the greatest. He did not bad mouth PW, but he did say he likes the dillon better. I have not had a chance to try it out yet.

Randy

[hitman]

Dillon + side, you dont need to swap bars to change shot wt., no bushings required for powder changes.

MEC + side, cost, can get a hydrolic unit for the same price as the Dillon

Dillon - side no hydrolics, cost.

MEC - side, need bars to change shot size, need bushings to change powder charge.

There is an ajustable bar out there dont know how or if the work.

I have a 900G and a 900H, sorry I didnt make the jump to Hydrolic a long time ago.

[gmantwo]

With the cost of lead shot, seems I can buy what I need cheaper than I can reload it!

[j1b]

Thanks to all! Exactly what I was looking for!

With the cost of lead shot, seems I can buy what I need cheaper than I can reload it!

I may land there too. I won't be loading for a long time, but wanted to start researching presses regardless. I'll load at some point.

Thanks!

Jack

[2alpha]

RCBS grandmaster, won't drop shot or powder without a shell on station, same warranty as Dillon but built from the ground up as a shotgun loader. Mec second choice they look cheap made but aren't.

[MarkS_A18138]

I have the spolar gold and love it......it's the real 1050 super of the shotgun world..... www.spolargold.com

[Tom Freeman]

Cry once and get the Spolar. Dont forget the hydro option.

If you are only going to do 12 gauge, the Dillon is awesome.

[ranger]

MEC 9000G

[EkuJustice]

The mec is a pretty good machine but it depends on the volume you are doing. When were were shooting skeet big time we loaded all the practice shells and went through alot of ammo. We ended up with 4 spolar machines with hydraulic on all 4 of the machines. Built like a tank. I know when I was competing big time in skeet I was going through aproximately 60k a year myself in practice and thats not counting the rest of the family. Those machines were well worth it in the volume we were doing

[steveyacht]

I have loaded many thousands of rounds on MEC loaders. I had a 9000G in 12 Guage, a Grabber in 20 guage and two Size Masters, one in 28 and the other in .410. With the 12 and 20 Guage I went with adjustable charge bars so I would not have to tear apart and change bushings and/or bars to change the loads. I stopped loading anything but 28 and .410 beacuse the cost of lead made it impractical, I can buy 12 guage in volume nearly as cheap as I can load and sleep the extra couple hours. I Still have to load some 20's and 12's for my older SxS's because they need to be fed a special diet of LOW pressure ammo.

[Jaxshooter]

I have loaded shotgun shells on the Dillon, Mec (all models), PW and Spolar loaders. The Dillon is ok but the Poness Warren is the Dillon of shotshell reloaders. It also has a motor drive for it just like the Dillon 1050. I have loaded 400,00 + shells on my latest PW and it still looks and works like new.

[2alpha]

Hate to say because I do like Dillon stuff but after 3 tries and much hair loss with different sl900's I have to say they just don't know shotgun loaders. Had fine reloads with very little trouble with Mec, PW, and RCBS

[warpspeed]

I've got a PW that has seen some serious use. It is everything Scott described; makes perfect reloads.

If you shoot an O/U, you may not fully appreciate this but for an autoloader, reloads that look OK aren't good enough.

[RiggerJJ]

Never loaded shotgun shells on anything but a Dillon SL900. Seems to work great for me, and I reload all my 3 gun shotgun ammo for auto loading shotguns on it as well as clays ammo for the O/Us...

jj

[cautery]

When MarkS_A18138 got his Spolar, I got his MEC 9000H... (Thanks again Mark for getting me into the shotgon side of reloading). I've never used a PW or a Spolar, or a Dillon (I Love Dillons... we have 2-550Bs, 1-650, and 1-1050), BUT I love my MEC 9000H... In fact, I'm pretty sure I'd rather have the hyd than the automate.

I've loaded over 5000 shells in the less than two months, and I could not be happier... If I do my part, it does its part... And I am using the adjustable powder/shot bar.... Coming from the metallic world, using the adjustable bar is THE ONLY way to fly. I dig it... I have a spreadsheet that I record the loads and bar settings and I can repeat them pretty easily... WAY more accurate than bushed bars!!

I'm loading a 1oz ALR reclaimed shot load over Downrange XL-1 wads in STS hulls primed with NobelSport 209's..... using TIGHTGROUP powder for 1300fps... Less recoil than a AA Target 1-1/8; smokes targets in all reasonable sporting presentations, and I can also use it in skeet, trap, and wobble trap practice. Love this load!

Sorry for the drift... The MEC 9000H is a cool way to go...

The ONLY thing I don't like is the requirement to have a separate machine for each gauge... However, since I will likely be needing to reload for all 4 guns on a regular basis, it will be more efficient time-wise for me to switch machines on a quick change mount and quick disco. hyd line, than it would be to do a gauge change... Or perhaps one day I will have the space to have all 4 on the bench at once with a switching manifold to direct the hyd pressure to the desired machine.

I'm thinking that you can't go wrong with a MEC or a Spolar, and the guys here in this thread like the PW...

[Sarge]

Years ago I had a couple of different MEC'S. They were top notch machines and the MEC folks backed them 100% at the time. Not sure about now but back then you could find an old press in a pawn shop and send it to MEC and get it brought back to new condition including paint. It was either free or a very nominal charge, depending on the work needed. I load pistol on a Dillon but they are not the only great company out there in the reloader business.

[laportecharlie]

I have a P-W 900 and a P-W 2000. Load all four gauges on the two. Love them! Never tried a Dillon so I can't compare. Seems like its either MEC or P-W unless you have money to burn than its Spolar.

Charlie

[warpspeed]

Well I decided the other day that I wanted to speed up my reloading a bit and figured a shell feeder was in order. I looked at the PW feeder and after thinking about it, decided a Dillon SL900 was in order.

I could not be happier. This thing is every bit as good at loading shot shells as the 1050 is for metallic cartridges.

It has a few nice features that you would not notice if you had not loaded on something else. First off, the lack of bushings is a godsend. With the SL900, you can dial in both the powder and shot charges to exactly what you want. This might not seem a like a big deal but with any of the bushing based machines, you are always compromising. Secondly, the ability to remove a damaged shell is awesome! Probably the coolest thing is that the machine will not throw a powder charge or shot charge unless there is a shell there to catch it.

I'm still getting use to it but so far, it is working great. I think that it would work fine without a shell feeder if that puts it out of ones budget.

[Pharcyde]

I'm a reloading dummy what brand is the P/W loader ?.