Hi all,

I am looking for a crimping die for my dad's Mec 400. He is missing this one piece so he can't use the reloader. Would anyone know where I could find and purchase this piece? I've been looking on e-bay but haven't found any current auctions for this item.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

All the best, -Mel

Try and give MEC a call,there are still limited parts for that machine.


Steve

I tired to get that same part from MEC about 6 years ago and they said that there were none left on the shelves. Also said that they were not going to be making any more. The only way you are going to get one is to find someone that is getting rid of that style of press. Probably will be tuff to find so why don't you guys try to find a used a 650 jr or something like that? Usually they can be had or purchased for anywhere from FREE to maybe $50 as most people now have upgraded to grabbers or 9000s.

melbee1313 -- Which piece is missing? The crimp head, attached to the press, or the crimp sleeve, not attached to anything and easily lost? (That sleeve is also a crimp starter). Also, does the press have the add-on crimp starters? (They aren't pictured in a manual, but are obvious add-ons - the daggone thing sticks out whare there shouldn't be anything hanging out ). Reason I ask these things, depending on what's missing and what's available, something might work for you. No guarantees, I'd have to pull out a 400 and tinker with it a while.

Naturally, buying a 600 jr or some other press would be the easy way to go (The 400 is the clumsiest press to use that I've ever seen).

DC

Plus 1 on what 45 Colt said. It's very hard to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Those 400's left a lot to be desired, even when new.

Spend a little energy looking at the Classified adds on the various gun forums and yes, even eBay, and pick up a good used 600 JR or Sizemaster, and you will have a far better machine, and one that parts are readily available. You will be way ahead of the game.

Thanks for all the info. I did talk to a MEC rep and they are indeed out of that part. I believe it's the sleeve that's missing from what I recall. For whatever reason, my dad likes that old MEC 400, but he has a bunch of other reloaders as well, which I will check out when I visit for Thanksgiving.

There is a full Mec 400 on e-bay right now that I could just get for him and then he'll have two and all the parts on at least one, but if it's as much a PITA as you say, that might not be the best move... It's selling for around $40.00. Even for a PITA reloader, is that a good deal?

I gave my 400 away a few years back to a new shooter. He did ask me how much I wanted for it and I told him it was not worth anything except to a new shooter to learn on. He used that for about 3 months and then moved up to a 9K. What does that tell ya -

melbee1313 - if your dad really wants to use the 400, rather than buy another press, a jobshop could make a sleeve for you. Got no idea what the cost would be, it's nothing special, but has an internal taper at the top end. If you want to try that way, I can probably send you a dimensioned drawing.

DC

Here is one on ebay.Is your missing part here?


http://cgi.ebay.com/Mec-Super-Speeder-1 ... 483d9be266


Steve

Hi .45 Colt,

That would be great! My dad loves rebuilding things as well and would love a project like that. Let me know what you need in order for me to retrieve the drawing from you.

Thanks everyone for your replies. You've been a tremendous help. :-)

-Mel

I'll have to send a sketch by U. S. Mail, so I'll need your address (PM it). It may be a few days, I have to dig out the right sleeve and measure. My drafting instruments are long gone, so it'll have to be a sketch with dimensions, not to any scale.

DC

OK. No worries. I'll have you send it to my parents and address it to me so it will be there when I arrive for the holidays.

Send it to Mel Schultz
4612 Wilderness Dr NE
Remer MN 56672

Thanks again for your help. I really appreciate it and my dad will like the project. :-)

-Mel

If the weather was a little better, I could walk it to Remer faster than the mail would get it there.

I'll get on it.

DC

Hi All,

I'm another Mec Speeder owner who could use a drawing of the 12ga. sizer die. Could one of you send some information to me? I'll try to make it or send the diagram to a machinist friend.

I modified my loader with a plastic, 6-fold, crimp starter, and loaded a few shells with the aid of a part that I made to keep the top of the paper shell from collapsing. I do have some rejects, but not too many....it's slow going though. I'd sure like to get this old loader working. Otherwise, I"ll have to go back to a Lee hand loader.

Best wishes for a great Thanksgiving holiday.

Mr. Clay

Do yourself a favor and forget about ht 400!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Leomat

The 400 uses two removable sleeves, the "sizing sleeve" and the "crimping sleeve" MEC came out with add-on crimp starters, but they still required the crimping sleeve to finish the crimp. Which one are you missing? If I can find my parts bag, I can maybe draw one for you. The crimping sleeve, which would prevent shell crushing, is difficult to machine exactly, but a slightly different design would probably work just as good.

DC

I may have what your looking for, I have a sleeve that holds the wad guide and one that looks like it may be the final crimp. PM me.

Hi leomat,

I hear you, but the Speeder loader is still useful to me because I don't shoot hundreds of shells per week and volume loading isn't an issue. Anything is an improvement over a Lee hand loader and I can at least use the de-prime, re-prime, powder drop, shot drop and crimp start stations. Ultimately, I will get a better reloading setup. The challenge of getting this ol' Speeder working seems a worthy goal though.

Cheers,

Hi Sauer16,

I sent a pm right away, did you get it? Haven't seen a reply, checked my spam box too.

Cheers,