Load-All Junk

My 20 gauge Lee Load-All II press broke in half last night. It's never been a good press, but one would expect reasonably light duty out of it.

Now the Load-All isn't that great a press to begin with, the crimp isn't adjustable for example, so you have to take 3 times the normal time in component selection to get everything just the right height to crimp properly. Also it had an annoying tendency to crush cases instead of properly roll crimping.

The base of this press is a molded piece of plastic and the part that held the upright rod simply broke off.

I was loading some light 20 gauge loads:
. . 12.0 grains of International
. . Claybuster 1075-20 Wad (3/4 oz wad)
. . Winchester primers (Remington primers appear to be an extinct species around here)
. . Remington Hulls.

Even though the Load All was factory set up for 20 Gauge, the smallest shot bushing is 7/8 oz, so I had to hand weigh the charges.

Also the smallest shot bushing was about 20% to large to drop 12 grains of International so I ended up dispensing with my Lee Perfect Powder measure.

That meant that the only thing I was using the press for was seating the wad and starting and setting the crimp. Oh, and the wad seating rod isn't adjustable either, so I had to finish seating each wad with a ball-point pen.

Time to buy a Mec Jr. If anyone want's to give me a good deal on one let me know. Otherwise it will be e-bay to the rescue.

The Mossberg 510 "mini"

Mossberg has a new youth shotgun out. New being about 6 months ago. It's called the 510 "mini". Made in the USA, and modeled on the old standby model 500. You can get one in either 20 ga or .410. The .410 is obviously easier on the shoulder, but not on the wallet, nor ones confidence.

In Mossberg's nomenclature, a 500 is a standard size shotgun, a 505 is a scaled down youth shotgun. Thus one would expect the 510 to be even smaller yet, and it is. Here is a pic of the 20 gauge next to my 18 1/4" barreled home defense 12 ga.


Yeah, it's that small.

Mossberg did it right, and it comes stock with a set of 3 chokes, and it should use standard 20-gauge Mossberg/Winchester/Accu-chokes like all US built Mossbergs. It also comes with a stock spacer to add an inch to the length of pull later if one wants.

The factory plug is actually long enough that it plugs the entire magazine, so you can use it as a single shot if you want. The plug is just a normal wooden dowel, so you can cut it to length to make the magazine hold 2 (for hunting migratory birds) or to just one if you want the gun to only hold two for shooting clays.

Now the bad news: at just over 5 lbs, it kicks like an angry dyspeptic mule. This is with standard "target" loads. Since the 510 is built on a normal 20 ga frame it is actually chambered for 3" magnums as well. (thanks, but no thanks)

Size wise, it fits my 9-year old daughter perfectly, but I WILL have to handload to make it comfortable to shoot. Anyone have any extra light 20 ga recipes?

Obama and the Contraception bruhaha

Let's be clear here: Requiring Catholic Charities to pay for contraception/abortion is just as unconstitutional as forcing a Buddhist food kitchen to serve beef soup.

That is all.