Hi yall,
New joiner here. My wife is awesome. She bought me a 12ga reloading kit from Amazon for Christmas. I was thrilled when she told me but it didn't arrive until today. All excited, I opened it up and would you believe the directions are written in Russian!

The kit, which appears to be pretty straight forward has a star crimp assembly and I'd really like to read the directions particularly on the crimping pieces.

I have years of experience reloading pistol brass (9mm through 45LC) and I shoot quite a bit of Trap and Skeet. Like I said, I'm all excited about this.

Anyway, the kit is from Voenohot - Star-Shape Shotshell Reloading Press 12 Gauage. It is on Amazon.

I tried the expected things - googled, searched youtube, even called the seller but straight to voicemail.

I'd be interested in any ideas you might have.

Shoot em straight. And thanks.

Johnny

No, no-no-no, No!

No offense, but your wife ain't so 'awesome' if she did *this* to you. This is a GAG gift !



Especially if she already *knows* you load metallic, - she should have known to get you something better.

Just throw it away, - straight up. And don't even tell her. Seriously, - get rid of it.

$32 is is nothing, - that's a round of beers for the boys at the table. Toss it an FaGatAboutIt ...

Look at a MEC 600 jr.

$200 on Amazon & at Cabella's Will get you going making good ammo, You'll learn a LOT.



Welcome to the forum, and sorry about the wife comment. I'm sure she's the greatest.

NOOOOO! Don't pitch it !! Just stick it in the bug out bag ,along with a few primers,shot and wads. It looks like it is lightweight and somewhat compact. Could turn out to be a life saver !!!!

Amazon stuff is returnable! Send it back! Get a MEC.

Steve

YES! Do it today.

If you check our EBay you can buy good used MEC 600s all day long for under $100. It’s a good place to start reloading. I started with a Lee Loader and a plastic mallet over 50 years ago. Might load a box an hour if I was fast and lucky

Without any "powder", it won't be of much use in a bug-out-bag.

Driller, Republican and everyone else -

First, thanks all for the replies.

I will definitely check the MEC out and if I can find one that's inexpensive, I'll give it a try.

I think this is not a bad thing to have around and the fact that my wife bothered to try and surprise me keeps her in the awesome side of things.

I used it last night to de-prime about 50 hulls and it went real fast. I agree with Driller that this is really something to have in a pinch or a SHTF moment but I'm going to learn it so I can use it.

UPDATE: My son came home from school last night and I showed him the instructions - remember they were written in Russian, he takes a picture, well two, loads them into an app and sends me two pictures with it fully translated. Technology is really cool.

Thanks again. I'm glad I joined here. This weekend, my 83yo father, my 16yo son and I are shooting clays. Can't wait.

Keep it pointed in the right direction.

Johnny.

Johnny,

My brother 'kinda' wanted to get into reloading but didn't want to pop for a MEC 600 so he went with a Lee Load All to get his feet wet (for about $20 more than what your wife got you). It's a little less flexible than the MEC if you start changing recipes but it turns out very nice looking reloads and I'd guess that the vast majority of reloading addicts here started with either the MEC or the Lee.

https://www.amazon.com/LEE-PRECISION-Sh ... th=1&psc=1

For effort and having her heart in the right place, I'd give your wife an A. For execution....not so much.

Johnny, where do you live?

I'll sell you a used MEC 600 at a fair price.

hey your wife buying anything reloading related makes her awesome in my book.
I'm close to 35 years now and the closest mine has ever come to even trying was telling me about seeing some totes and boxes full of reloading stuff she seen at a yard sale for 50$.
the next day.

Just wanted to say thanks again for the feedback. I'll be looking into the MEC but I'm definitely keeping this "field set" as well. We didn't get out this weekend on account of the weather but I can't wait now - it is something cold in NJ right now.

- Johnny

It looks like what would have been used back in the 1800s. The main tool is for depriming and priming. There's also a rammer for wads and a funnel to help load powder and shot. It's about as basic as it gets. You'd have to glue in a OS card. Keep it for a conversation piece.

The market for this loader is the minimalist survival crowd. Any time I turn up an original Lee hand loader kit it sells right away.

Its not even worth half what she paid for it. Send it back.

Aut, aut, aut, that's not the way to treat a wife. She had good intentions when she purchased it . How many guys can say their wife bought them something to do with reloading. It ain't worth the hassle/ bad feelings to say or do anything negative. You'll just have to train her to question you a little before the next purchase.

Ya need to do it on the quiet.

...and it's 32 bucks. I can figure a way to blow that in a heartbeat.

If my wife wasn't as awesome as the OP's I'd try to steal her from him.

This once again proves that it is better to ask a person what they want to get as a gift than to buy something useless. Of course, it's good that your wife gave you this gift and you were able to return it. Because if a gift is given by someone who is not your close friend, of course you could not return it. In fact, I like the idea of making a list of your wishes before the holiday, so everyone can choose what to give. And the main thing is that the birthday boy will be happy. Unfortunately, not everyone shares my views, many people like to make surprises. For example, recently my best friend decided to surprise me and gave me a gift basket bouquet of beer. A funny gift, of course, but still useless.