[sherlock222]

This is my first post. I read this section a lot, being new to reloading and trying to get some shells reloaded I am about to hit my reloader with a sledge hammer. I have a 12 gauge mec 76 Grabber progressive loader. My problem is with the deprime station. Some times it works fine other times it doesn't want to deprime, it seems to bottom out and if I keep pulling down it rounds out the brass and hangs up on the deprime punch. I have a shell stuck now on the deprime punch will have to cut it off.
Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Steve Y]

Put the hammer away.You and this board can get this fixed.
Your shell is not dropping far enough down into the collet.
Take that tube out and make sure there is no loose shot down
in there,a dental pick works great.
Next make sure that tube drops smoothly each time you pull
the handle.
Or sometimes it is a quality control issue with the thickness of
the shell rim.In that case go here

http://www.mecreloaders.com/documents/o ... rabber.pdf

Scroll down to page 11 and follow directions and pics on how to
adjust the "shell lifter".It should take a slight adjustment down.
Too much down and your shell will hang up on the collet fingers
when you rotate the shell plate.
Try these and let us know.

Steve

 

[Curly N]

Put the hammer away.You and this board can get this fixed.
Your shell is not dropping far enough down into the collet.
Take that tube out and make sure there is no loose shot down
in there,a dental works great.
Next make sure that tube drops smoothly each time you pull
the handle.
Or sometimes it is a quality control issue with the thickness of
the shell rim.In that case go here

http://www.mecreloaders.com/documents/o ... rabber.pdf

Scroll down to page 11 and follow directions and pics on how to
adjust the "shell lifter".It should take a slight adjustment down.
Too much down and your shell will hang up on the collet fingers
when you rotate the shell plate.
Try these and let us know.

Steve

All that and make sure that the shell lifter tube that goes through the collet is clean and has no lube on it. Also insure that the collet is clean all the way through.
If you do all of these things and the problem persists, then you probably have a sprung collet that is impeding the drop of the hull into the collet. Sprung collets are caused by someone setting the collet to try to duplicate the size of new factory ammo. Setting the collet to size all of the hulls to 0.005" larger than new factory ammo is generally adequate. This will increase the life of the collet greatly.
Sprung collets are frequently the cause of sale of Mec presses and are generally found on recently purchased used presses.

 

[sherlock222]

Thank you for your help. I followed your advice and found a shot in the collet, also the lift tube was greasy. I cleaned and lubed everything per MEC advice I am now reloading like a wild man.
Dave

 

[steveziv]

I'm having this same problem with my .410 Grabber. My drop tube (pictured below) is clean, I picked around the slots of my collet and looked down there with a mirror, looks clean. I can see the slot that accommodates the flange of the hull's base and the top of the tube does make it that far, the carrier arm won't allow it. If I lower the top of the tube the hulls will hang up when rotating the hulls. Short of blindly removing and re-installing the collet and hoping for a miracle cure, I'm at a loss.

It was resizing OK but hanging up when rotated, so I raised the tube 1 or 2 mm and now this. Both the tube and the collet are flush with the top of the table.

 

[steveziv]

... and while this is a recently purchased used loader, its been working fine and a hull drops deep into the collet with the tube removed (mec's test for a sprung collet).

 

[Steve Y]

Check this..in the front of your machine is a rod that the wad guide is on. About 1" above the machine base is an "E" clip. When the handle is full down that clip must rest on the base. If it doesn't the shell lifter fork can not drop far enough.

Steve

 

[steveziv]

I partially disassembled the sizing assembly for better access, picked out a couple tiny slivers of lead from deep between the collet fingers and vi-ola, I'm back in business.

That said, reloading .410 on the Grabber is a PITA, you have to take it slow. I tend to see some inconsistency in the height of the shot in the shell, which frequently leads to a couple BB's bouncing out and gumming up the works.