Index2018-11-18T05:27:11+00:00

Dear Fellow Shooter,

If you want to spend less time using your MEC reloader and more time shooting, then this will be the most important letter you will ever read.

Take This Quiz:

  • Are you unaware of the little-known reloading safety rule that your insurance company might quote to try to deny paying your fire damage claim?
  • Are you tired of dud reloads when shooting with your friends? Are you especially tired of their laughs and remarks about your reloading?
  • Are you not saving as much money reloading as you thought you would? Do you shake your head at the waste and trouble each time shot spills everywhere?
  • Do you ever shout, “What went wrong THIS time!” when your MEC reloader gives you trouble?
  • Are you unaware of the type of shotshell most likely to blow up your semi-automatic shotgun?

30-60 minutes per week is all you need to reload all you can shoot. (Unless you’re Rambo; then you should go 90 minutes.) If you know the right techniques, you can make your reloading sessions productive and enjoyable, so you can spend more of your time and money out there shooting—whether your passion is trap, skeet, sporting clays, or hunting.

“Your reloading guide arrived today. As a matter of fact, I’ve read the whole thing. Very well written and informative. I’ve owned and used my MEC 9000G for over 10 years. Made many of the mistakes you mention and don’t intend on making the others, now that I’ve read your excellent publication.”

—Bob Davenport, Smithville, NJ

The MEC Owner’s Manual is Not Enough

Why not just read the MEC Owner’s Manual? That’s a good place to start. It explains how to reload, fix some common problems, and maintain your reloader. But it doesn’t help you through all the problems you’re likely to encounter. And it doesn’t discuss getting your speed up without sacrificing quality. That’s what I do in my reloading guides.

Why Make All the
Shotshell Reloading Mistakes Yourself?

I’ve been there and done that. You should take the easy route and avoid most of the mistakes I experienced.

I’m not associated with the MEC Company. I’m a competitive shooter who got into reloading to save some dough, so I could shoot more, and buy nicer guns.

I soon learned that reloading was not as easy as the advertisements made it seem. Yes, you can load six shells at one time. But at first, it looked to me more like “you can have six problems going on at one time.”

So I studied, and I experimented, and I listened to other shooters. I also took notes of things I found out. Improvements I could make that would save me time, or improve my reloads.

Because I’m just that kind of guy, I decided to organize my notes into some kind of systematic approach to reloading shotshells. What resulted was my first guide, “MEC Shotshell Reloading Secrets.”

In the 16 years since I’ve been on the Web, selling that guide, I’ve sold literally thousands of the books to people in all 50 states and in many countries around the world. I’ve also received lots of emails from shooters, who found the guide helpful. Often they would have another question, and I would write them with my answer.

Because I would frequently get the same questions over and over, I decided to publish the mainstream ones in my next guide, called “MEC Shotshell Reloading Mail Call”.

“I ran across your web page and decided to order your books. I am glad that I did. The information that you provide made it a lot easier to get going on the 9000G that I purchased.”

—Ronald Ford, Wayne, MI

After all, your goal is to break that target or bag that bird. This is not the Olympics, where you get extra points for degree of difficulty. Crummy reloads also don’t build character.

Reloading should help your shooting, and not harm it. Reloading should not only be saving you money, but giving you the ability to customize loads just the way you like them.

Secrets to Make Your
MEC purr like a kitten

What’s in “MEC Shotshell Reloading Secrets”?

  • Do some of your loads feel like Mattel loaded them for Barbie to shoot, and others feel like Terminator shells? You have a consistency issue, my friend. We fix that.
  • Don’t believe the conventional wisdom about which MEC reloader to buy first! Take my advice, and save money.
  • Should you take the plunge and buy the top-of-the-line hydraulic? The answer is here.
  • The one bakery item that will help keep lead shot from migrating all over your house. Your honey will kiss you passionately for adopting just this one trick.
  • This one-time preparation step with your reloader will mean faster reloads for as long as you use your machine.
  • Be really careful when using those low-cost promotional shotshells from discount stores! Here’s why.
  • Which hulls last the longest.
  • How to get a free replacement owner’s manual.
  • Your shooting buddy may give you this advice about caring for used hulls. Don’t take it! It could be disastrous for you.
  • An easier way to refill powder.
  • The single most important thing to watch for in the whole reloading process. This takes far less time than pulling out ruined shells, cleaning spilled shot and powder, drop-kicking the dog, and restarting the whole process.

“You should charge more for your book. You just saved me twice that amount suggesting where I should buy the reloader.”

—Steve Butler, Coral Springs, FL
  • During the upstroke, listen for this.
  • Be sure to do this when you resume reloading after taking a break.
  • How to save time when removing finished shells.
  • The right and wrong types of handle resistance.
  • The exact make and model of powder scale to buy. (Hint: It’s one of the less expensive ones.)
  • Take this advice on where to set up your MEC, and your reloads will be more accurate.
  • The one part of the MEC machine most likely to cause you migraine headaches, and how to kill the problem dead.
  • One speed-increasing adjustment that should be made to many MECs that come incorrectly set, right out of the box.
  • Tons of shooters have written into me, agreeing with my take on which 28 gauge shell to buy. They and I found out the hard way. You don’t have to.
  • When is it OK to use wet hulls, and when you are potentially risking blindness or worse.
  • New to reloading? Take these 18 exact steps, in this order, and you’ll be reloading smoothly in your very first session.
  • Make this assumption about bushings at your own risk! If you don’t know what a bushing is, then you’re in real trouble (unless you read all about it in my guide)
  • The fastest way to remove crooked primers.
  • Get this tool for taking apart bad shotshells, so you can reclaim the shot and powder. One tool works for all gauges. (Not those wooden things you have to buy several of.)
  • The skinny on when you need to weigh your powder drops.
  • Making sense of the confusing primer designations.

Here is the entire Table of Contents, which lists everything in the guide. It is 76 pages, with lots of photographs of key things that are hard to put into words alone.

“I recently bought and read your book ‘MEC Shotshell Reloading Secrets’. I think your book was well worth the money, as it helped improve my knowledge and relationship with my machines. You filled in numerous gaps in the MEC manual, and they probably should have paid you for writing it.”

—Tim Brunett, Baton Rouge, LA

Some Of What You Get In
“MEC Shotshell Reloading Mail Call”

After all, your goal is to break that target or bag that bird. This is not the Olympics, where you get extra points for degree of difficulty. Crummy reloads also don’t build character.

Reloading should help your shooting, and not harm it. Reloading should not only be saving you money, but giving you the ability to customize loads just the way you like them.

Dozens More Tips

Some Of What You Get In
“MEC Shotshell Reloading Mail Call”

  • One tool you should not do without at your reloading bench. (Hint: It’s not bought at a gun store.)
  • When you can and cannot swap out powder, primers and other components safely;
  • Solving sub-gauge powder drop problems once and for all.
  • Sick of paying big bucks for popper loads to train your hunting dog? Make your own popper loads with this recipe!
  • An absolutely critical adjustment to make when loading sub-gauge shotshells, to ensure you are getting a full powder charge
  • What to do when your reloader jams on the upstroke.
  • What do the markings mean on my old charge bars?
  • A surprising fact about .410 hulls, and how it directly affects the quality of your crimps.
  • “Shot bridging:” What it is and how to prevent it.
  • The pros and cons of making your own shot.
  • The best places to buy MEC equipment, and sell it.
  • How old of a MEC reloader is too old? Answer here.
  • The cheapest places to buy components.
  • The $1.49 popular lubricant that can rot your $5,000 barrels.
  • The Ideal Recipe.

“Thanks for the information presented. It has helped immensely.”

—Craig Stephens, Australia

My Information Is Not For Everyone

As I said, I’m not the MEC factory. I don’t sell wad guides, replacement springs, etc. If you salvaged a bent MEC because somebody threw it out the window in frustration, then I’m not the guy to help you repair it.

If you only have a single-stage machine, and it’s worked well for you over the last 40 years, and you stick to one recipe, then you certainly don’t need my help. You don’t have any questions in that case.

If your dad or some buddy set you up with a flawless reloading system—or you did it yourself—then congratulations! You don’t have questions in that case, either.

But if you are trying to reload faster, and find yourself swearing like a sailor in the process, you might want to take an easy step to make your life simpler and more pleasant. You should get my stuff.

“The owner’s manual is lacking a lot of information. You have filled in all of the blank places and I thank you for the wealth of information….You gave insight to many problems I have had with my unit. Thanks to your help, I now reload trouble free.”

—Bill Smith, Eagle River, AK

I Also Have a “Troubleshooter” Poster That Delivers.

The Troubleshooter is a laminated, 11 x 17 inch, double-sided poster. It contains 37 different common problems you might encounter while reloading, and specific things to do to fix each of those problems.

The poster is divided into sections that correspond to the process of reloading a shotshell. The sections are not organized haphazardly, but instead relate to what stage of the stroke you are having problems:

  • Top Half of Downstroke: 9 problems identified here.
  • Near or at Bottom of Downstroke: 10 problems discussed.
  • Upstroke: 3 problems listed.
  • After Upstroke: 15 problems with either what your shells look like after the upstroke, or with what the reloader is doing (or not doing) after the stroke is finished.
A Guide for Your Bench

The poster is divided into sections that correspond to the process of reloading a shotshell. The sections are not organized haphazardly, but instead relate to what stage of the stroke you are having problems:

  • Top Half of Downstroke: 9 problems identified here.
  • Near or at Bottom of Downstroke: 10 problems discussed.
  • Upstroke: 3 problems listed.
  • After Upstroke: 15 problems with either what your shells look like after the upstroke, or with what the reloader is doing (or not doing) after the stroke is finished.

“I have been bumming reloads from a buddy over the past 15 years. I know that they are MUCH better than factory ammo. Now he is moving, and I am on my own. He told me to contact you. Oh, and by the way, [my reloading buddy] swears by the info you provide!.”

—Dan Berger, Wexford, PA

I Even Have A Better Ball Chain

The primer chain that ships with MEC is standard ball chain that you find on key rings, etc. The problem is that the constant action of the primer mechanism means that just as you get going, the chain sometimes snaps.

I got tired of the chain snapping, so I did some investigation. I came up with some heavy-duty chain that has not snapped on me yet. It fits into a MEC reloader just fine. In fact, what I’ll send you works better than the original, in two ways:

These Babies Won’t Bust

First, the chain is noticeably thicker. Second, the clip that attaches to one end of the chain is better. The clip that’s shipped from MEC is OK, as long as the chain doesn’t snap. But if you need to replace the chain, the clip must be pulled apart, and I never could get it to close up completely. The new clips I will send you are already attached to the chain, and they never splay open.

Is this a big deal? No. Is it one more thing I take care of, so you don’t have to? Yup.

“I received my copy of your book today. It is great! I have found your book sensible, direct, and most informative…more so than the MEC materials that came in my reloaders.”

—Dan Lumpkin, Fairhope, AL

“OK, So if I Buy Your Stuff, What Do I Get, and
What Will it Run Me?”

I sell the four items above, all in one package for a discounted price. This is how it breaks down:

  1. You get the MEC Shotshell Reloading Guide. It’s 69 pages stuffed with the knowledge you need to save money on your very next reloading session.
  2. Then you get MEC Shotshell Reloading Mail Call. You’re looking at 100 pages of real-life questions from shooters, and practical answers.
  3. The laminated Troubleshooter goes right next to your reloader, and helps you out on the spot.
  4. The Ball Chain eliminates one annoyance if you reload a lot. It consists of two chains and two clips.

The undiscounted price for all of this is $50.25. ($17.95 for each of the guides; $5.95 for the Troubleshooter; $1.95 for the ball chains; and $6.45 for Priority Mail postage.) Because it saves me time to ship it all to you as a unit, the discounted price is $42.35, all-in. You save 16%.

Please note: I’ve not increased my prices since before the year 2000, and I’m keeping them steady now because I know how you’re whacked by higher lead-shot costs. I’m trying to keep things reasonable. I only charge my cost for postage—no markups. I could try to rip you off by charging the typical “handling” fee. That’s just a way of playing games with people; a way of raising prices without coming out and saying so. I won’t do that to a fellow shooter.

Also note: If you’re an international shooter, you know that shipping costs vary a great deal depending on your country. Please contact me here and I can quote you a price that is my cost for shipping you my materials.

“I just got your Mail Call book and it is great…I’ve got both your books and refer to them frequently.”

—Bill Pounds, Quincy, IL

How To Get Your Kit

You can safely order online by clicking on the following button:

In fact, here are several ways to order.

“I’m Used To Buying Much Larger Books For That Price!”

I could easily have added 150 pages to the guide by including thousands of reloading recipes, the way other reloading books do. Gee, I could show nice pictures of bags of wads and different powders, to bulk up my guide. (As if real shooters don’t know what wads look like.) I could even show thrilling pictures of clay targets breaking. Would you get any more value from a fat book with this fluff in it? I don’t think so.

I respect your time. You want straight answers to problems, and tips for better reloading. That’s what these guides do. They give you the essence of what to change and what to remember, in order to start saving you money right now. Not only will you save money, but you will save time and lots of frustration.

When you Prevent Just a Few Boxes of Bad Reloads,
You’ll Easily Cover the Cost of This Guide

Especially for clay target shooters, those few boxes will be saved pretty quickly. And as you get even better at reloading, you will drop your average cost per shell down even further. This is not a “cost,” but instead an investment that will repay you again and again.

“I have tripled my 20 gauge shell production thanks to the Tips   in your book. I haven’t had any problems; well, maybe the odd split shell and losing track of where I am. Thanks again for the helpful Tips  . I have given other shooters your information, but they will have to buy your book themselves. A guy with a $10,000 Krieghoff should be able to afford your book.”

—Scott Schmidt, Houston, TX

Satisfaction and Results Guarantee

I want you to get more out of my guides and extras than you paid for them. Therefore, take a full 90 days to read and reread them. Decide for yourself if they saved you significant time, money, and aggravation while reloading.

You MUST decide during that period that both these guides were a great value to you, or, simply return them to the address below, and I will refund your money, including your original shipping costs, no questions asked. And keep the Troubleshooter and the ball chains as a token of thanks for trying out my information.

“All the Tips and tricks I have learned from your book really helped me set the new machine up correctly from Day 1. So far, out of 2,000 primer drops I have had ZERO problems. I gave your book and laminated problem guide to [another shooter]. I can only hope he has good results like I have had.”

—‘Impala’ Bob Fix, Schwenksville, PA

P.S. These guides are truly an investment: You pay for them once, and they keep repaying you back every time you load a box of shells faster, better, and with no grief. You take zero risk. Soon you’ll be saving time, money, and frustration. Get them before you get an ulcer.

“I have read your book, cover to cover, and would recommend it to anyone who experiences frustration while reloading (that would be everybody).”

—Tom Fudold, Washington, MI