I bought a second- hand MEC 600 Jr. and it came with 3 charge bars (12 gauge). The charge bars are labeled "0", "1" and "2". The "0" bar has been drilled out for more powder charge. All of these bars throw seemingly high charges. I only had 3 powders on hand to try. Even the tiniest hole throws 34.5 gr of TiteGroup. All the data I can find is limited with TiteGroup. I can buy a different powder of course, but with all the charts being outdated, how do I pick an appropriate charge bar? I picked up some Remington TGT12 wads and would like to start with 1 oz. loads of #7 1/2.

One more question- I see shot and powder bushings being sold and they seem HUGE in O.D. compared to what the charge bar can handle. Are these for the experimenter in all of us?

quote:

Originally posted by 3584ELK:

All of these bars throw seemingly high charges.

One thing you can do is take one of the larger ones and line the powder hole with layers of plastic electrical tape until the hole is reduced in size enough to throw the charge you want.

hmmm, never occured to me to try that. I guess it would work.

Every Mec charge bar that I own or have ever seen is made to be used with powder bushings. What kind of animal did you buy?

The old Mec charge bars were for specific loads, ie xxx grains of powder abc and yyy oz of shot. If you liked to experiment you could end up with a lot of charge bars on the shelf! I have a bunch of these old bars that I bored out to accept Mec powder bushings. Unless you have a bunch of these it is hardly worth the effort. I think I still have some of the old tables that show what bar was used for what load. If the bar has been modified you are on your own.
C.G.B.

Like I said- it appears that the bushings wouldn't work. Without taking my calipers to the store with me, and considering its several days between messing with the MEC to getting a look at the sporting goods store, its tough to imagine.

CGbach- what you show seems to align better with what I have. It makes sense that a person would have to ream the charge bar to accept the different bushings. Any idea of hole size?

I tossed the mec charge bars and put universal charge bars in mine,,much happier,,Clay

as I recall the 0 bar came standard with my MEC 600 jr and was set to throw 18.5g of reddot and 1 1/8 oz of shot. that was a 1969 version. all bars were fixed at that time. throw away the old bars and get a new adjustible type bar and go to loading. a good powder scale is probably your most important tool.

I don't remember the hole size but I can check. The top of the hole has to be counterbored a bit to accept the flange on the bushings. As I recall the counterbore was a standard size. I will check tonight. Also, if you are fussy you will find the actual weight of the shot charge changes slightly with shot size and the weight of the powder charge will change if you use their baffle. These are not problems, just things that should be checked with any new bar or bushing.
C.G.B.

For all of $19.99 you can get a universal charge bar that will cover every load you might ever want.
My suggestion is to deep six the old fixed bars and get the Universal Bar.

The bushing type mec charge bars have a step on the powder side to hold the bushings in place,,the older style are drilled straight through.without a doubt you have a old charge bar.If you add up the cost of a bushing style charge bar,,,then add up the cost of the bushings,,Let alone I've never seen a gun shop carry a selection of them,,and you're stuck with a shell game trying to match a bushing to throw what you want,,yeah you can use tape to downsize a hole,,but have to bore it out to get more,,then screw around putting in layers of tape to fine tune? Then buy another bar and go through the same ritual if you want to increase or decrease the shot load,and the comment on shot weight changing with shot size was posted on pure experience from cgbach,,the powder baffles help smooth out the charge weights conciderably.If you value your time then a universal charge bar is the way to go,,if you go to make a change,,note the #setting so you know where to go if you want to go back,I filed in notches to mark different charges of powder,,and shot throws for various weights and sizes,,dial it in,,check it on the scale,,tweak it and start loading! You need to consistantly pull and lift the handle the same way as well,,regardless of what charge bar you use,,,Clay

quote:

Originally posted by Rusty Marlin:

For all of $19.99 you can get a universal charge bar that will cover every load you might ever want.
My suggestion is to deep six the old fixed bars and get the Universal Bar.

I got one of those once and began trying to use it, but I didn't really like it, and I returned it to the dealer. I've now amassed a collection of charge bars, from 1/2 oz of shot to 1 1/2 oz., and a large collection of powder bushings. Yes, the collection was more expensive than a single adjustable one would have been, but I still prefer the MEC charge bars.

Did you ever notice that a non-adjustable box end or open-end wrench frequently works better than an adjustable wrench, even though the adjustable is far handier and more versatile?

I use both, but have found that a particular bar,e.g. a 1 1/8 oz. bar won't give that amount with every size shot. With an adj. bar I can dial it in for all sizes of shot.