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Don Pillsbury
PostPosted: Wed Jul 25, 2018 12:47 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 12 Feb 2018
Posts: 13
Location: Rhode Island

I tried to find a used one. While I was looking, a well used one came up on eBay. I thought the price was ridiculous compared to a new one.

As stated before, the Sizemaster is easier on the shoulder.

Don
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Byron Whitlock
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 1:35 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 27 Jan 2016
Posts: 488
Location: Oswego, Kansas

I have not had any experience with the sizemaster but I have loaded thousands of rounds with my 600JR MK5 and have not felt like I needed to get anything else. I often loads a couple hundred rounds at a time whether I need them at the time or not just because it is an enjoyable way to spend an hour or two.
I grew up loading 12ga shell with my Dad's Texan progressive loader that he still uses today after loading millions of rounds with it. of course that company is long out of business but I would buy a 16ga model if i ever saw one available.

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skeettx
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 2:07 pm  Reply with quote
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Byron
I have Texans in 12, 16, 20, 28 and 410 and REALLY enjoy them Smile


Last edited by skeettx on Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:57 am; edited 1 time in total
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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Thu Jul 26, 2018 7:49 pm  Reply with quote
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Ted -- Differences between Sizemaster and 600 Jr.

The only real difference between the Sizemaster and the 600 Jr is the resizing method. Sizemaster has a collet resizer and 600 has a swedging ring-type resizer. Both work very well. The ring type resizer is lower maintenance - no lubrication or adjustment needed, and no wear problems for tens of thousands of reloads - and I find it easier to use, and it is lower cost because it involves fewer, simpler and less costly parts. You will find used 600's priced considerably lower than Sizemasters, but please be careful of any used "deal", as a buyer new to these products, such as you seem to be, might not be able to tell if the unit is incomplete or boogered up in some way. Due to the greater complexity of its collet resizer, is easier to "booger up" a Sizemaster than a 600. eBay can really fool you, with lots of the sellers knowingly or ignorantly selling damaged or incomplete systems and trying to tell you they believe the unit is "good to go", but at the same time telling you they know nothing about it. Ask the seller of a used machine if he has personally used it. If not, I'd pass on it. I've still been duped despite my careful questions, even by sellers on this site!

If you are a knowledgeable "fiddler" of MEC's, "used" is far and away the economical way to go, as MEC's are almost totally "fixable" and "renewable" if damaged or incomplete. If you have a friend knowledgeable, willing and able to help you get a used machine back in good condition, a used machine is well worth the gamble, as they sell for a fraction of today's new prices, which have skyrocketed over the last few years. This rather shocks me, as I have never paid more than $50 for a 600, except for a new Mk V in 28, Which cost me $85 in about 2004, on sale from Ballistic Products Inc., of all places!

Advice you received from Dogchaser37 is perfect for the best type of equipment for your use and quantity of loading. If help from an experienced MEC fiddler is unavailable to you, buy a new Sizemaster or 600, as I suspect you are more interested in loading shells than potentially fixing a reloader. By the way, the Sizemaster retails for $110 more (almost 44% more) than the 600. Personally, I find 44% more too much just to have a collet resize system. However, if you have to have the best, maybe another $110 is OK with you. You might find better deals than retail out there, too. Try Grafs; they are about 15% below suggested retail, and the diff between a Sizemaster and a 600 is $90, still 41%. If you are near a Fleet/Farm or Farm and Fleet, they often have sales that beat that, but one seldom sees a 16 gauge there. If you do, however they are usually trying to unload them at low price because of lack of demand.

By the way, the crimp system is the same on all currently sold models by MEC, and if that crimp system is well adjusted (read the manual - easy to do) it is the best on the market. Folks who say otherwise either haven't used a well-adjusted MEC, or need to generate some reason to defend their purchase of something else.
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texasguy4
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:29 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 28 Jun 2018
Posts: 2

I can't say which press to buy, but I do HIGHLY suggest that you stay away from the Lee Load All.

In the hands of an experienced re-loader, the LLA may be a okay piece of equipment, but for a beginner, all I got was total frustration. I loaded around a hundred shells with it and so far, not one of them has been usable in my opinion.

The only "adjustment" I found was to grind off the length of the crimping tube too allow for more travel of the handle. I find it very difficult to get consistent loads when everything is done by feel.

My "toy" funds are gone for a while (bought 3 Rem 1100's at a show last week), but when the next bonus check hits, it a Sizemaster for me!
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skeettx
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 4:57 am  Reply with quote
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Hello texasguy4
WELCOME on your first posting
Pleased to have you on the site
Mike


Last edited by skeettx on Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:49 pm; edited 1 time in total
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texasguy4
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 6:35 am  Reply with quote



Joined: 28 Jun 2018
Posts: 2

skeettx wrote:
Hello texasguy4
WELCOME on your first posting
Pleased to have you on the site
Mike


Thank you sir!
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Brewster11
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:15 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 08 Feb 2009
Posts: 1301
Location: Western WA

Quote:
Sizemaster has a collet resizer and 600 has a swedging ring-type resizer.


Can the 600 be modified to accept the collet resizer?

B.
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skeettx
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 2:48 pm  Reply with quote
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B.

Yes, unscrew the powder bottle,
Hold it high
move a Sizemaster under it
Screw the powder bottle back in
Done

Laughing

Sorry for the humor but this is not a cost effective expedient

Mike


Last edited by skeettx on Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:47 pm; edited 1 time in total
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16'er
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 3:36 pm  Reply with quote
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Location: Tappahannock, Virginia

I’ve been loading on a sizemaster up till now. I gets the job done and I haven’t had to fiddle with it very much at all. Shells all slide in and eject as they should. Short shells are no problem with a little shim under the shell at the final crimp station.

I picked up a PW 375 a few months ago off eBay. The machining and construction are leagues beyond the MEC. Haven’t fooled around nd with it much, but really wish I had gotten the PW to start with. For something your going to have for a long time, go with the one that will make you happy every time you reload.

I’ll be keeping the mec, just to have it set up for a specific load, but i think I’ll always like the Ponsness Warren more. The abilty to have two sets of dies one one machine is great if you load more than one gauge. I bought the PW to load light twenty loads. Right after I bought it, I came across several cases of light 20ga fiocchi factory at a price I couldn’t pass up. So I really haven’t had a need to use it much. The fiancé has a lightweight 20ga but she doesn’t burn through many shells. With a move coming up later in the year, I’ll most likely not mess with it much till the new bench is set up. I’ve got dies for 12, 20 & 16. Hard to do that with a mec...
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Dave In AZ
PostPosted: Sat Jul 28, 2018 5:01 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 13 Oct 2015
Posts: 348

the 600 jr has a "resizing ring" to resize the metal heads on the shells down so they fit reliably in the chamber. It's just a ring that gets forced down on top of the metal. Works OK, and I do most of my 12ga steel waterfowl reloading with one of these. Especially if you shoot shells in just one gun, the resizing is fine.

The Sizemaster is the same machine basically, but with a "collet resizer" built in as part of the deprime station. This is a bunch of fingers that come in and "crush" or pressure the metal back into size. It's a better system, less arm force, and better resizing. And it's not really adjustable--the ring always resizes to the same diameter. Mostly because the ring thing can "swage" the metal a bit so that you get thinner lips on the head and also the diameter of the head lip can expand, which can cause chamber fit issues. But probably not without many reloads on one hull, which you likely won't get in 16ga. Also, I THINK the sizemaster comes with the auto primer tray, at least I bought mine that way, and that's nice to not have to fumble a primer in place each time by hand...although more reliable Wink

Honestly either will do fine. My 16ga MEC is a 600jr and I'm completely happy with it, although I also have PW375 dies set up on one machine like byrdog. And I used my Lee LoadAll II for years to make hunting loads and was happy with them--16gawaterfowler talked above on setting that up for short shells. That would for sure be the cheapest route.

If I was you, I'd just be looking for USED machines in MEC600 or Sizemaster. They pop up pretty often here or on Ebay. I'd buy whichever came up and probably be happy. I got my 600 Jrs (or Mk V, I can't ever remember the official name of those) for like $60 used. If I could swing the $ I'd buy the used Sizemaster, but again happy with either.
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16gaDavis
PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:07 pm  Reply with quote



Joined: 24 Jun 2013
Posts: 2062
Location: canandaigua - western n.y. (formerly deerhunter)

just start some conversations around your clubs that you MAY be looking for a JR . I've got 5 of them and have never paid more than 25 bucks for one .

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skeettx
PostPosted: Sun Jul 29, 2018 6:46 pm  Reply with quote
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At our club, I/we often give used JRs away to new shooters expressing a desire to shoot more.
We loan them a JR for one year and if they show use and interest and shooting a our local club we grant it to them. Very Happy

Often in the following years, they give them back to me because they have bought progressives Shocked

Mike

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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 6:44 am  Reply with quote
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Relative to the PW 375 16'er says:
Quote:
I’ve got dies for 12, 20 & 16. Hard to do that with a mec...


Man, this is just plain wrong. Die changes are sold by MEC for all the single stage units they sell now (600 Jr. and Sizemaster) and have been available in the past for every single stage unit they ever produced in the past (300, 400, etc), until several years after those earlier units were discontinued. Further, changing the dies on a MEC single stage is much easier than doing so on the PW 375 single stage.

Maybe 16'er is thinking about the MEC progressives (currently the 650, the Grabber and the 9000) when he says he can't do a gauge change. MEC does not sell or advise gauge changes with these. They are, however, priced low enough that buying multiple loaders for multiple gauges shakes out pretty well cost-wise with the more costly PW progressives and their die sets - even better if you're a four gauge skeet shooter. Gauge changes in the MEC progressives can be done, I've done it several times, but it is not economical unless some used equipment has been purchased for a very low price.

PW, MEC, Texan, Pacific, etc --it's different strokes for different folks, but the cost effective machine is the MEC, and the market has shown that -- in spades, hands down, no contest. And the voices of a few users who seem adjustment-averse cannot cover the fact that the MEC crimp system is the best available in a home reloading press.

And I always get a charge out of folks who say MEC reloaders won't last, or are not durable. With cleanliness and care any machine should have, they will last forever. I have some that I have been using for over 50 years, with the only parts replaced being the wad guide fingers.
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MaximumSmoke
PostPosted: Tue Jul 31, 2018 6:50 am  Reply with quote
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Skeetx - In reference to the donation of MEC 600's, that is a wonderful story and a great practice. We should all be doing that!

Cheers!
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