doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Grains and bushings

Concur, whether a MEC or Lee my experience is bushings are lighter than advertised. As already stated a scale is inexpensive and a valuable tool for accuracy and peace of mind.

I have been told of using fingernail polish on the interior of bushings to decrease the powder drop.

j born

Thanks All.

I will measure my drops, at least 10 times. I do not plan on playing around too much with multiple loads.

A used MEC would be great, but it doesn't look like many are around here, based on the low numbers listings for sale.

The scale is the last thing to get, and hopefully that will happen today.

I always wonder about the mental health of people who go to extremes to get a powder bushing to drop some exact amount. You might consider that you can't. And even if you could it would be an exercise in anality. You can't get it throw to throw, you can't get it from the top of the can to the bottom, and you can't get it lot to lot.
If you have any loader you can easily afford the series of bushings around your normal load requirement. In there somewhere will be two that will be just too light and just too heavy. Use the light one. How difficult is that?
IT'S A SHOTGUN! - - - get over it
I use a 366 and before they were generally available I made an adapter for MEC powder bushing. Over a couple mo worth of gun shows I accumulated one of every MEC powder bushing. Buying a couple or more at a time they cost me less than $1/each. BFD. I've never used most of them but who GAF? I have several presses so I did get dupes of ones I use a lot JIC.

Only JMO but I would never have an adjustable powder drop. Adjustable things can adjust themselves. I have no faith in their good will. If changing powder bushings is so daily an event that an adjustable bar is felt necessary maybe you should get a couple more presses.

Watch on EBay for that Mec Jr. Easy to find one for a good price. A good used one will last forever. They are built like tanks and very simple to keep working. But one and sell that Lee Loader kit on EBay. A big step up.

I do strongly support and recommend the mec 600 jr. � I have also loaded thousands of rounds with the adjustable charge bar. Even On The single stage machine I am able to load more than I shoot ( sadly)!
There is nothing wrong with shooing for a level of precision or a known load specifc but common sense and plain old good judgement will fill the gaps
When something doesn�t measure up right.

A rough calc shows me that over the years I prolly loaded 1/2million+ 12ga. Somehow I never felt the need or the desire for an adjusto charge bar. But that's just me, I'm sure.
If you feel fine w/ one of the things then that would just be you. and keep that scale handy JIC

Adjustable charge bars are at best ok for a small volume of shells. They are made of zinc, aka pot metal and it is not stable or strong. I never trust a bar for weight of shot or powder. Hardness and size affect shot weight dropped. I do admit to using fingernail polish on the ID of the powder bushing.

bill

WTS, the point is not getting the drops to be exactly the same, rather getting them to average a specific load. This is reasonably worth doing if not carried to extremes. Feedback on what plus/minus grain weight you folk out there consider acceptable for 12 bore loads?

DDA

Like I said, I bracket the book load and use the smaller. Anyone who thinks that anything more precise will measurably affect a load in terms of ballistic performance is living in Fantasyland. Just check the performance variation in FACTORY premium loads and then make a fast guess about how much a +/-.2 or so variation from published will make.

IT'S A SHOTGUN = = = GET OVER IT!!

Get real, folks. You're after something that can't be had and makes no practical difference anyway. Get a quality loader that performs in a consistent and trouble-fee manner and sleep well.

Really, Rocketman! Shame on you for ignoring the real world.