Had a overwhelming supply of 1 1/4 oz wads and plenty of time on my hands so decided to try to make them work for 1 1/8 oz loads. First made a short shell plate out of two RCBS shell holders. They fit perfectly in the 12 ga slot on the MEC base plate and are exactly 1/4 in tall when the base is ground off. Cut down some AA hulls and loaded them up with the 1 1/4 oz wads using 1 1/8 oz shot. No other adjustments were done. Pile of wads is getting smaller after every trip to the range now. I did add a bar between the spacers to keep them from moving

Great idea!

Nice,

I just add a Cheerio on top of the shot with MEC reloaders
to take up 1/8 ounce of volume

Mike

The only problem I've had with spacers instead of a plate going underneath the shell holder is there is then nothing to hold a shell in place and help it out of the final crimp die. You'll notice the shell holder has a lip on the top where a shell goes in and on the underside a lip to keep it in place when you lift the handle after the final crimp. Without both, the shell wants to stick in the die when you lift the handle. When using a 1/4" spacer under the shell holder you'll loose the bottom lips ability to keep it down on the press. I run a 1/4x20 machine screw through everything [spacer, shell holder, press plate]to keep it tied together. On my old press it has a tapped 1/4x20 hole in the back of the press, like it was made for it. Maybe I just don't know how to use the spacers. Maybe someone could tell me how you get a shell out of the final die when using spacers. I like your shell cutter. Did you make it yourself ? You probably already knew, but a navy bean in with the shot would have made your load work without the cutting the shell down.

uummmm? Kind of a dollars to save dimes solution? Rather than using two $6.99 holders and time to cut or grind them and a welder... any piece of 1/4 material (lexan, plywood, ABS plastic pieces of mouse pad, dense cardboard) could have been trimmed and placed flat, under the stamped sheet metal piece. This would have retained the designed shell holding lip and allowed the press to function completely normally and hold the shells in the crimp station.
Past that - if the only goal was to use the wads... why spend time trimming the shells? Cheerio, navy bean, Kix, etc.
Good for you for setting a goal and making it happen, though.

Shell holders were some off brand that I didn't even know what for(and they were free). I've used all different kind of spacers. Did it just to do it and now I've got the cool factor of some short full power shells. If you insert the shell into the final station before bringing the handle down they line up correctly and almost fall out. The hull cutter is a Thalson that was in a box of stuff I bought years ago. So many ideas put forth on how to do it, so let's see it.

I’ve bought every $20 yard sale/ flea market 600jr I have seen. ( that’s approximately 2 dozen although a few were cheaper) There are lots of ways to do things. I keep “short” and “long “ machines in all my gauges. I converted one to 8 ga and customized a supersizer to take the industrial ring off 8 ga hulls. I pay attention when someone shares a trick. I’m not trying to give 12brd a hard time- just happy to help the next guy.

I like it.

Necessity is a mother.

It works for it's fabricator, and the idea could aid others.

My dad always said that any tool used once was paid for, but then he also said that most of his projects required making tools first.

I get a kick out of improvisation when time permits.

Marks21, what did you do to convert the MEC to an 8 gauge press? Same question for adapting the Supersizer to take the ring off the industrial hulls? This sounds fascinating!!

I'm listening... tell me more about an 8ga supersizer mod please...
I have several hundreds of winchester 8ga cases I can't yet use because they don't fit the dies I have access to; (rem cases do fit those dies though).