How Do I Get My Reloader Ready To Go?

Bolt the Reloader Down to the Right Surface

You will be amazed at how lead bounces. When you spill shot — which you will repeatedly do — it will hit your hard table and bounce to the floor. One solution is to bolt your reloader through a large baking tray that has a lip running around all sides. Another is to put thin foam rubber, carpet, or other soft material around your reloader to catch stray balls.

If you can bolt your reloader down, do it. MEC says you can reload by bolting the machine to a piece of plywood. This may be true, but you are much better off bolting it to something solid. Once you try it, you won't go back. Either find a surface you can drill four holes in, or at minimum, bolt it to a plywood sheet large enough that you can clamp the sheet to the table.

What's the big deal with bolting? If the reloader is loose on a plywood sheet, some of your downstroke effort goes to stabilizing the machine instead of 100% of it going into a solid downstroke. You lose speed and waste energy. Powder drops can also be more consistent with a bolted-down machine.

Be Careful With the Bottles

Don't torque down the powder and shot bottles too tightly. If you over-tighten them — thinking you're just making them snug — you risk flattening the brass ring that acts as a seal over the powder drop. Doing so can remove its sealing capability, and more powder can leak out from the shot bar as you reload. This is especially true with the unusually fine-grained Winchester powders.

Adjust the Primer Drop Mechanism to Gain Speed

Spend time setting up the primer drop mechanism. It's the toughest part of the setup to calibrate, but getting it right saves a lot of aggravation. The MEC instructions weren't always clear about what to do with the retaining clip — a black clip that is flat on one side and an open half-moon on the other. It comes from the factory loose in a bag. It goes between the primer tube and the screw that locks the primer tube in place.

Really tighten that primer screw. If you're too gentle, when you pull the handle, the chain that actuates the primer mechanism will also pull the primer tray to the side, throwing off your calibration.

A Speed-Increasing Adjustment

More than one reloader comes out of the box with the shell lifter not operating properly. This device holds the shell up in Station 1 so the Shell Carrier can move after depriming. To check yours: look in the space right above where the spent primers fall into the tray. You will see a small plate attached to the bottom of a rod — that's the Shell Lifter Bracket. (Buried in the manual, MEC says the "Shell Lifter should go in the yolk." This is a reloader, not an egg poacher. I think they mean "yoke.")

Rotate the bracket to make sure it is straddling the shell lifter — the removable rod that sits in Station 1. When it's positioned correctly, shells will be resized on the downstroke and will return up so they can be easily rotated to the reprime/powder station.

Look at Your Placement

Get at the right height to see the stations. Seems obvious, but sometimes you make just such a convenience adjustment only to wonder why you suffered under the previous setup for so long.

Keep components within easy reach. Have shells, wads, and a big box for finished shells as nearby as possible without interfering with the machine. Take a cue from assembly lines: minimize movement to maximize speed. You should be able to move each hand no more than six inches to pick up a shell and wad for the next cycle. Putting wads and shells in shallow boxes means less fumbling in a half-closed bag to fetch them.