How many times can a hull be reloaded with a press that doesn't resize the brass? I picked up an old MEC 600 for really cheap and am weighing the advantages of a Sizemaster versus the extra cost. The pump action gun I've shot my hulls through leaves the brass about .800" to .806" dia. Does the brass not "spring back" anymore to slightly less than the chamber size after being fired several times?

Gosh lots of times. Your not working with a lot of pressure here. I ran lots of brass thru a 600 Jr. when I was shooting skeet and can't really tell you how many times some of those hulls were reloaded, but usually the plastic where they were crimped wore out first.

I'm using a couple of the little Lee loaders now and they resize the brass every time.

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Bob from Idaho

If the reloaded shells are shot in the same gun, you most likely will not need to resize for the life of the hull. This may also be true between guns from the same manufacturer as I don't resize for shells used in a Browning BT99 and a Browning Citori. Shells fired in my Brownings can be reloaded without resizing and fired in my Perazzi and vice versa.

These findings apply to brass based Winchester AA, Remington STS and Gun Club, and Federal Gold Medal hulls and may not be valid for promotional and hunting shells as I've found steel based hulls expand sufficiently (and do not re-shrink) to cause Briley "shorty" sub-guage (20 and 28) tubes to be extracted rather than the steel based hull being extracted from the tubes.

Chambers from different manufacturers often vary enough that resizing is needed. Two years ago, I picked up some once-fired STS hulls that another shooter had left on the field, reloaded them without resizing, and found that they would not chamber in my Brownings. I also had a Beretta O/U that would not chamber shells reloaded without resizing that had been fired in my Browning O/U. So I now resize any shells given to me by another shooter before the first reloading.

Years ago, I had an extra barrel for a Remington 1100 that apparently had an out-of-round chamber that required resizing. A shell reloaded without resizing would fit with one orientation, but would not chamber when rotated 90 degrees. I sold the barrel to a hunter who wanted a fixed modified choke and used only factory shells.

MEC also has a stand-alone resizer if this becomes a problem. I'd go with what you have until/unless there's an issue.

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MikeG