Loading 12ga promo shotshell hulls....

[rbernie]

I've been casually loading up Remington promo hulls with good success for a while now, but really hadn't ventured beyond the Rem hulls other than to play around and kill some time at the bench. I recently decided to specifically load once-fired 12ga hulls from each of the bulk-packs offerings (Federal plastic hunting, Winchester Universal/SuperX/HiSpeed, and Remington SportLoad/GameLoad/ShurShot) to see which ones worked the best in regular range use. My test loads were made with a scant 7/8oz of #8 shot, using either Helarco VP05 or Claybuster WAA12L clone wads, and just enough Clays to achieve a 1200fps (estimated) velocity. I did not try to pick a wad that really matched any given hull; I just wanted to see how each hull would stand up over time.

So far, the Remingtons are (as my experiences in the past had shown) proving quite satisfying; the vast majority of the hulls have lasted for half-a-dozen reloads, and retain a strong crimp right up to the point where the hull is just too filthy and nasty to want to load again. I have lost a few hulls so far due to cracking/work-hardening at the crimp, but for the most part I can see no reason to suggest that four or five reloads is not easily within the average lifespan of these hulls without losing crimp quality. I have found that some of the promo hulls (specifically in the ShurShot packaging) used six point crimps instead of eight, and I had to really pay attention to keep them separated.

The Federals are working about as well as the Remingtons, although they seem to need a bit more fiddling in the crimp starter to hold a crimp. I had to adjust the crimping station of my MEC a bit to get these to work well, but I think that I've got that pretty much in line. Hull life has been good, and I've reloaded most of them four times so far with no external signs that I can't get a half-dozen reloads out of them. The hull tubes themselves seem quite robust; the single biggest concern that I would have about reloading them too many times would be a breakdown of the paper basewad. I've struggled a bit to get good clean performance with either wad. The softer WAA12L wads gas seal would occasionally collapse into the basewad, while the Helarco's wad had too large of a gas seal for the relatively light powder loads. If I was going to keep using these hulls (which I might), I would probably switch to Green Dot paired with the VP05 or perhaps the Fed 12S0.

The Winchesters have been (as many suggested) an utter disaster. Many of them will not hold a solid crimp even on the first loading. I eventually got a batch to load up and shoot, but it took a lot of work and fiddling around. They did not work well with the Helarco wads at all, presumably because the Helarco is pretty firm and not 'pliable' in the gas seal like the WAA12L. The hull is clearly the thinnest of the lot, and uses a six-point crimp. I have played with these hulls a bit in the past, but never really tried to make them work. Frankly, they are just not worth the trouble considering that the other promo hulls displayed far better characteristics.

[1911 Shooter]

remmy hulls rule in 12 ga.. premium, promo, anything.. Win universal, won't bother to pick them up. win. even claims not to load them, just the AA's. Federal promo ? yeah I might reload them once, in a 1,11/8 payload, providing the hull has never been wet due to the paper basewad. the federal gold medals are a different story. Euro shells ?, they call them eurotrash for a reason. the helarco wads are designed for euro hulls. My best advice, use published recipes from powder mfg. best

[rbernie]

remmy hulls rule in 12 ga.. premium, promo, anything

What has your experience been WRT how many times a Remington promo hull can be reloaded?

[rbernie]

As an addendum to this; I have had minor but ongoing crimp issues with the Remington promo hulls that can be traced to variability in the OAL of the spent hulls. None of the crimps have been unacceptable, but there is clearly less QA/QC on the promo hull length than on the STS-class hulls and the result is that some small percentage of the promo hulls are overcrimped while others are borderline undercrimped.

[oneounceload]

The Gun Clubs by Remington use the same recipes as the STS and get a decent number of reloads. The steel bases are a little tougher than the STS brass ones, but are easily doable.

The only Winchester I'll reload are AA's - and in 28, they're my preference over Remington.

In 20 gauge, both Gun Clubs and AA's work well.

I have never liked loading Federals - never quite had a recipe crimp well for me.

[David Wile]

Hey folks,

Maybe fifteen years ago I came across a large supply (12 gauge) of once fired Win-AA hulls, and I also had a rather large supply of Remington Gun Club ammo I had purchased before the Win-AAs. Both of these hulls were compression formed with a built in base wad, and I was able to load the same recipe in either hull.

I have a Hornady 366 progressive as well as a MEC Sizemaster for loading 12 gauge. With the progressive 366, I would have to make an adjustment to the primer seater to change from Win-AA hulls to the Remington hulls. If I were to use the Sizemaster, I found I could load either of the two hulls without any changes or adjustments. I was shooting a lot of trap then, so I was doing most of my loading on the progressive, and this tended to make me want to stick with one brand of hull until they were all worn out and then change the primer seating adjustment and use the other hulls.

Some years later, Hornady came out with an alternative primer seater that was spring loaded. Once it was installed, I was able to feed the progressive machine either Win-AA or Remington Gun Club hulls, and it did not care one bit when it came to seating the primer. Somewhere along the line, I also came into a large supply of Remington STS once fired hulls, and now I find I can reload all three in the 366 progressive without any concerns.

I can get more reloads out of a hull if I load them on the Sizemaster than I can reloading them on the progressive. Once they start to get a little ragged, the progressives don't handle them too well, but the Sizemaster can keep on loading the same shell.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile

[Red_Eagle]

I've had excellent results with Remington and federal/estate. I can't get any Winchester to stay crimped, including AA.

[David Wile]

Hey Red Eagle,

I got good use from Win-AA hulls, but these were AA hulls I bought maybe 15 years ago after a national match. In the last year or so, I have heard others say the same thing as you about the AAs being junk. I am guessing that Winchester made a change to their AAs at some point, but I do not know what, when, or why. I haven't been shooting much in the last two years, and at this point, I only have perhaps ten boxes of the old AAs, but I still have a big supply of the Remingtons in STS as well as the Gun Clubs. My only problem with the Gun Clubs is that some are 6 point and others 8 point crimps, and I have to segregate them for loading.

I have a problem with the prices of components today, and that makes me less interested in shooting like I used to do. Sometime in the late 1980s or early 1990s my distributor had a sale on shot when bought in 1 ton quantities. Lead shot had been a bit expensive for a year or so before that, so I figured I would stock up on the shot when it came out to less than $5 a 25 pound bag in the ton weight quantities. I backed my heavy duty trailer to the dock, and they loaded 4 pallets of shot which was 4 tons. I sold nearly half of it and have been shooting the rest of it ever since. That was probably the best buy I ever made. I have about 10 bags of shot left, and with prices where they are now, I can't stand to think about buying shot today.

Best wishes,
Dave Wile