Been doing a little reloading myself. 1500 rounds to go. That's a lot of pulls on a single stage.

My best friends parents and my parents bought “us” a reloader for Christmas when we were about 12 years old. What they were thinking is beyond me, lol. We reloaded everything from birdshot, rock salt, metal shavings, to BB’s that used to come in the little packs at the curb store. What’s even more impressive is we both still have the same shotguns we used to shoot all that through!! I still take mine out every year for a dove shoot.

Wolfie,
On the bottom of the presses where the base mounts you’ll see two holes in the base and two holes in the upright bar. For 2 3/4” shells, put the bolt in the bottom hole on the bar and the bottom hole of the base. The upper holes are for loading three inch shells.
The advise above about the crushed hulls is probably correct, it appears you are using a 6 point crimp starter to crimp an eight point crimp.
I own seven of the Mec 600’s and have been loading on them about 50 years. I’ve bought most of them at garage sales for under $40. It appears you have the same press just several years apart in age and have minor differences in the dies.
My best advice to you would be to contact Mec and get the appropriate owners manuals and when you order the primer pads and springs your missing on both presses unless they came with a box of parts. Mec may send them free of charge with a parts order. I think the owners manual will help you out because there are several adjustments on the crimping, sizing, and wad pressure that are explained in the manuals, and will help you out in the future.
You were also given some good advice about picking one type of hull and sticking with it, because almost every experienced reloaded I’ve known has ended up doing just that eventually , because each hull type requires adjusting the press to get correctly loaded ammo with that hull. If you stick with it long enough you’ll start loading and casting your own buckshot and slugs too.
When I buy a press that is rusty like those I first remove the top of the press that holds the shot and powder bottles on and the drop tubes, essentially any part the powder will come in contact with and set them aside, and never use anything but a dry rag to clean these parts. You don’t want even the slightest chance of powder coming in contact with any oil or solvent, which can cause powder contamination or powder build up on the charge bar or bushings. If you really have some problem spots on any of these parts further cleaning use alcohol or a brake cleaner that will evaporate quickly.
To clean the rest of the press, I take a quart of transmission fluid and a quart of diesel fuel and mix them together. I use a clean paint brush to apply this mixture to the entire remaining parts of the press. I stand the press up in a bucket or large bowl and give it all a good bath, then leave it soak at least overnight. I then take a bronze or stainless toothbrush to any stubborn rust or grimy spots. Then I take an old towel and dry off as much as I can by just rubbing it all down. If you want to repaint the press, give the whole thing a bath in mineral spirits before repainting. If your not gonna repaint it the above mixture leaves a good rust inhibitor coat that soaks into all the moving parts.

Ps: Rustolium makes a paint that is real close to the original color. I believe it is called “Regal Red”:

Been doing a little reloading myself. 1500 rounds to go. That's a lot of pulls on a single stage.

Been doing a little reloading myself. 1500 rounds to go. That's a lot of pulls on a single stage.