Narrow down two choices on single stage press

If I had to choose one of those, it would be the Hornady for two reasons. 1)Legendary customer service and 2) LNL bushings for quick die changes but I didn't choose either one when it came down to opening my wallet.

.40

Of those two? Hornady. MEC is to fresh to the market.

Myself, I can't see why you'd by anything but a new or used RockChucker.

I have no experience with the hornady, but I love my MEC. If you get it, buy the riser .

Where do fired primers go on the Hornady?
Only liability of my old Rockchucker is that the primer catcher doesn't.

MEC Marksman. It has a floating shellholder and improves concentricity during bullet seating and crimping, also reduces drag and pressures for thin wall cases like the .22 Hornet or .32-20. Hold off on it for a little while as Midway runs sales for the MEC at around $180 occasionally.

IMO, the Co-Ax is a unique and complex design, but that doesn't make it a superior design. It does make it more expensive, but the features that it has, like the integral priming system and the easy die changes, don't really add much value to the press at the price it costs. It takes maybe one minute to change a die in a standard press, it's not worth spending $180 more to reduce that to a few seconds, again IMO.

My question would be what calibers are you going to load? What are your plans for the press??Bench rest shooting? Do you want to prime on the press?

There are many single stage presses out there
I gather than you like the "open" front design as your reason for picking these two?

I have a Hornady LnL Ap and it is a great press, Can't go wrong with Hornady. The MEC looks fine also, but I know nothing about them.

Bat Rastard said:

I have no experience with the hornady, but I love my MEC. If you get it, buy the riser .

Click to expand...

I have the MEC with the Riser. It is a very solid and smooth press.

RCBS or Redding. Lyman has very poor C.S. and Lee is made too cheaply.

Hornady

I’m trying a MEC now and so far I like it. I’ve been using a CH press forever and I’ll decide which one to keep over the next couple of months. MEC has been around a long time, so I don’t see parts or service as an issue. This is their first press for metallic cartridges, but they are certainly a major force in shotshell reloading.

I’ve got it mounted on an In-line Fabrication stand and would recommend you buy a stand with it. MEC makes their own, but I already had the Inline so I just had to buy another plate.

Well, that's a tough decision. The Hornady weighs over 10 lbs more so it's the heavier duty of the two. It may have a larger frame opening but neither press shows what the frame opening is in the add.
It doesn't look like the Hornady is capable of using just a threaded die without the bushing on it.
The Hornady also says it has no primer collection system on it. I don't have either of these so I would have to find out from Hornady if a collection system is available for it.
The Mec looks like a good solid press also.
I'm a Hornady guy so for me the decision would be clear. The 28 lb press over the 17lb press, but you better check with Hornady because from the picture the it looks like you have no choice but use the LNL bushing with the Hornady.
That may be the deciding factor for your process if you don't want to consider any other brand.

If you are indeed an MD, then you'll appreciate that the MEC press routes the spent primer and all its smut down though the center of the ram, where you can attach a hose that is routed to a sealed, 5-gallon container. Not only will you be able to re-cycle your brass primers, but you won't need to be handling or breathing the 'smut' that contains some lead and mercury.

Some Redding presses also have this feature.

Spoke with them this am and confirmed it is threaded for their LNL bushing system which can be removed and an RCBS like bushing can be used to use 7/8"x14 dies.

Click to expand...

That's really good to know. I would definitely go with the Hornady of those two then. You will be getting more for your money, 10 +lbs more.
Just check around on shipping costs or wait until Midway is shipping for free on orders over $49.00. (For either one you choose).
I don't like straying from what the post is about, Mec vs Hornady, but with what your loading I wouldn't exclude the Lee Classic Cast Turret press. It's a little different with indexing the turret automatically, but you can take out the indexing bar and run it like a traditional single stage press if you want to.

It's a good solid press that should really shine with the calibers your loading. Just a suggestion, not telling you what to do.

tightgroup tiger said:

That's really good to know. I would definitely go with the Hornady of those two then. You will be getting more for your money, 10 +lbs more.
Just check around on shipping costs or wait until Midway is shipping for free on orders over $49.00. (For either one you choose).
I don't like straying from what the post is about, Mec vs Hornady, but with what your loading I wouldn't exclude the Lee Classic Cast Turret press. It's a little different with indexing the turret automatically, but you can take out the indexing bar and run it like a traditional single stage press if you want to.

It's a good solid press that should really shine with the calibers your loading. Just a suggestion, not telling you what to do.

Click to expand...

Well if we are gonna drift to "turrets" and the OP has lots of presses, and does.nt like the Lnl bushing I would get a Redding T7. He can leave 7 dies all set up and just seat or whatever on it.

Of the two, I'd go with the Hornady. It has the lock n load feature which is nice and it's a beast, they've also been in the game for a while. I don't like the handle setup on the MEC and as for the floating head, I don't know if that's important. I mean, these presses are supposed to be straight and square, right? What's the floating head supposed to compensate for?

MDof2 said:

Hornady. . .

Click to expand...

Since so many are praising the Hornady quick-change system, let me add: it's stupid.

1) Unless you're changing dies 100 times a day, you save almost no time.
2) You're supposed to buy their high-price bushings.
3) Once bushings are on your dies, they won't fit in any of your boxes.
4) If you just put a bushing in the press, it will try to back out when you unscrew a die.

So, they're dumb.

^ that’s one thing I like about the co-ax, quick change and all you need is the lock ring so they go back in the box they came out of, you don’t even need a shell holder.

That said one could make a bushing stay in place if they wanted to. FWIW the MEC has one too. Part #4 on page 5 here.

https://www.mecoutdoors.com/Content/documents/MEC-MARKSMAN-INSTRUCTIONS.pdf

In the end, just get the press that “floats your boat”, the dies you use will make more difference than what press they are used in.

I used JB Weld and a bushing in my LNL Classic turning it into a tradition threaded press.

Those bushings are the biggest money grab scam in reloading. I truly don't get why people buy those things. It takes all of 10 seconds or less to screw a die in or out.

How they handle spent primers is certainly worthy of your consideration.
I have a Rockchucker 4 and a Hornady LNL AP. I do virtually all my de-capping on the LNL AP b/c the spent primers drop through the center of the ram down through a hose.
I have 'aftermarket' primer collector's for the 'chucker. They catch 99.9% of the primers, but the carbon/grit etc still pukes out.

I have the LNL bushings in / on everything I own. They fit fine in my Hornady Die boxes, require a little creativity in my RCBS die boxes, but 'not so much' in the few LEE boxes I have. I also tend to prefer the little 'give' the bushings provide during die-case alignment vs. having the die locked up tighter than snot. (Somewhat similar to 'all the fuss' you hear about certain presses w/floating dies/floating shell holders being superior,,,)