There was a thread below that discussed the MEC charge bars and bushings. I have an adjustable bar, but Ive found an even tricker way to get shotgun shells done fast.

Bear in mind that I also like Varmint rifles....

What I do is deprime and reprime all the shotgun shells at once.

Then I dump the powder using my Hornady powder measure. All at once. I did a homemade load block and I can hold 50 12 gauge shells at a time.

Then its back to the press for wads, shot and crimp.

I can go almost as fast as I can just using the press, and there seem to be fewer messes to clean up.

I've used my powder measure for shotshells in the much the same way. It is much more accurate in dispensing powder than a charge bar or bushings (not that that is of particular concern with most shotshell loading, however).

I typically deprime/resize in one step, then reprime in another. The primed shotshells may sit in bulk in a cardboard box for months until I'm ready for them. When I'm ready to load, I don't charge in a separate step, but rather go all the way through to the end with each individual shell.

Using the rifle powder measure allows you and indefinate choice of powders and charges.

As does an adjustable powder bar Like a powder measure vibration on the bench and operator technique dictate accuracy of the powder drop. The same checks and balances apply to both. Both are set up the same way and so on. No real world difference other than those who learned metallic prior to shotshell reloading have a bias about supposed accuracy of charges. While shotshell pressures are far less, the shotshell powders are far faster of burn than rifle powders and the design limits of shotguns are also much lower, you can double charge a shotshell with red dot and get it all fit in if you are unobservant. That is a blow up waiting to happen for sure. I've seen far more shotshell related blow ups than rifle blow ups at the range. The same rules apply, no reason not to use the adjustable bar at all, you might be surprised how fast you will get with practice on that MEC loader and how consistent your charges are.

quote:

Originally posted by Planemech:
you can double charge a shotshell with red dot and get it all fit in if you are unobservant.

I'd like to see you try to do that...... A hull double charged with Red Dot will overflow with shot. If you REALLY tried, you could do it, but it would require persistence, not just being unobservant. JMO, Dutch.

quote:

Originally posted by Stonecreek:
I've used my powder measure for shotshells in the much the same way. It is much more accurate in dispensing powder than a charge bar or bushings (not that that is of particular concern with most shotshell loading, however).

Planemech: As I state, extreme accuracy in dispensing shotshell powder charges is not of particular concern (a quarter grain more or less has no effect on the consistency of the shot pattern nor on the average velocity.) However, there is no comparison between the accuracy of a good bench powder measure versus the charges thrown by the typical shotshell loader charge bar. No matter how carefully one may operate a charge bar, the tolerances are much wider and the design incapable of dispensing powder with the kind of accuracy that a well-constructed dedicated powder measure is capable of.

I hasten to add that this is totally academic in that, again, accuracy to that degree is unimportant in shotshell loading.

Double charging is an entirely different issue. As to whether it is more likely to occur if using a bench measure rather than the charge bar, I have managed to do it both ways , but never actually managed to get a double-charged shotshell into my supply of loaded rounds.

What are you saving you still have to slide the charge bar back an forth from shot to powder back to shot.

There is no way you can out load me the way you are doing it, you have to take the shell out put in holder charge with a powder measure then put back in press to add shot I don't think you can even come close to just using the press.

Twice I've double charged a 20 Ga shell...once on a Hornady 366 and once on a RCBS Grand.

Both times the shell was obvious by looking at it that it wasn't right.

I know how it can happen on the 366 but how it happened on the Grand is beyond me.....

The point:...a double charged shotshell is blatantly misformed and obvious.....crimp won't stay shut and one can see there's way too much stuff in the case.

Or you could get a basic Ponsis Warrin loader. I can do a box of trap loads in just over 5-minuets on mine. Accuracy in the poweder charge is not very important. +/- a grain or two will not matter enought for you to notice. Why complicate things?

Or you might try to find a Ponsness Warren, they are a bit easier to find. BTW, 300 rounds per hour is slow for a PW.