I used to load only Peter's Blue Magic and Winchester AA hulls. Now I hear that the idiots at Winchester changed the AA hulls. Is there a good one piece plastic hull with a brass head that can be reloaded often and still crimp properly?????

The new AA's are pretty good, but they are different from the ones you used to reload, so crimp height and recipes might not work.

My favorite in 12 and 20 are the Remington STS. They hold up longer than anything else I have tried and they crimp really nicely. Old style AA is still a favorite in 28 and 410, and seems like I can still find them.

Good luck.

Doug Koenig

It has been awhile since I've reloaded any shotgun shells, so my info concerning them would be quite dated.

But, I have a question for both of you. Are you doing the reloading to achieve a specific purpose? Just a quick look at component costs a few years ago had me convinced that I'd have a difficult time reloading shotgun shells as cheaply as I could buy factory shells.

quote:

Originally posted by dougk:
The new AA's are pretty good, but they are different from the ones you used to reload, so crimp height and recipes might not work.

My favorite in 12 and 20 are the Remington STS. They hold up longer than anything else I have tried and they crimp really nicely. Old style AA is still a favorite in 28 and 410, and seems like I can still find them.

I agree with this advice. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that the new Remington hulls are better than the Winchester hulls in all gauges.

There is a special problem with the new Winchester AA hulls: they need a different wad than the old AAs, at least in 28 and .410. Also, you need different crimp starter and final crimp settings. And the new hulls are two piece, meaning that there are additional possibilities of things going wrong in the reloading process. I don't know why Winchester made this change in their AA hulls, but I deplore the change.

I load 12, 20, 28, and .410 skeet loads. In any gauge other than 12 gauge, I've found that best results when using Remington hulls are gotten using the Remington wad specifically designed for that size. In 12 gauge, although the internal dimensions of the hulls are not exactly the same, I've found that you can use Remington and the old WW AA hulls interchangeably, with the Winchester or Claybuster wad for the shot load that you are using.

I've also found that the Remington hulls from their promotional loads (provided they are the ones with the 8-point crimp) and their Gun Club loads also reload very well, using exactly the same components and loading machine settings that you'd use for the STS hulls.

Unfortunately, those promotional and Gun Club shells are made in only 12 and 20 gauges, meaning that there is still no inexpensive and widely available hull for 28 gauge and .410 loads.

Remington STS hulls are still one piece. And since
Winchester's are not, I will buy no more Winchesters.
Some bean counter/marketer needs to be taken out
and shot, with loads, from these nasty new AA hulls.
They need different wads, and the few boxes I have
put through my 28 gauge, have had several useless
hulls after once fired. When I am now looking for
target ammo, with intentions of reloading the hulls,
I buy Remington STS. Before AA hulls changed,
I got about equal use out of the AA, and STS,
hulls, so it is a no contest choice now.

Squeeze

Without a doubt in 12 ga & 20 ga the Remington STS hull is currently the best currently available. If you can get the Rem. Gun Clubs, Sure Shot, Dove & Quail (Black or Green) they are all one piece construction and use the same data. Best of all their life is nearly as good as the STS's. The only difference is a brass plated steel head.

The current 2 piece Winchesters can be reloaded but your machine will require some adjustments by increasing the wad pressure and by giving a heavy crimp start. If you try to final crimp them with a heavy crimp they oftem wrinkle just above the base wad. Some report excellent life once your machine is tweeked to handle them. There have been reports of base wads shooting loose in some of the 12ga hulls. I've never had one but some people I know well and respect have reported it. As Ripley says " believe it or not".

In the 28 ga and .410 I must differ, the new AAHS hull gives far better life than the STS. At best I can get perhaps 5 reloads from my Rem 28's before the ends are too crispy to crimp well. I have Win AAHS's that are on reload #10 and still going strong. Note the 28 & .410 MAY require the use of a special HS wad as the base wad in the smaller hulls need to fit on the charge. I can report excellent results with Hodgdon Longshot powder and Rem's PT28 wad in the 28.

I have loaded thousands and thousands of the STS hulls with all types of wads and powders and though some loads preform better than others, just like any combinations in other hulls, hull life and patterns are just fine from the STS. Check the powder manufacturers web sites there is a lot of good data out there.

Scout Master 54

I only shoot federal hulls....and since I load for the 20 Ga mostly I find their target hull to also make a excellent huinting load....as did the AA of yesteryear.....Even the 12 ga target hulls are good.....I gave up on AA and STS years ago

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
I only shoot federal hulls....

I have loaded Federal hulls, but I don't like them much at all. In 12 gauge, they require a different wad from the AA and Remington hulls in order to get a good crimp because the internal dimensions of the Federals are different enough that the shot column rises to a different (lower) height from what it does in the Remington and AA ones if you use AA wads -- the Federal wad is a bit longer just because of this.

In smaller gauges, the fact that the walls of the Federal hulls are of a different kind of plastic means that they don't load and crimp as well as the Remington and AA ones.

I do load Federal 28 gauge and .410s a lot, but that's just because 28 ga and .410 hulls are difficult to get, and because I succeeded in picking up a some of the Federal ones. If you are buying shotshells in anticipation of reloading them after the initial firing of the factory loads, then I suggest staying away from Federals, and making Remingtons your first choice. Of course, if you can find a lot of the old Winchester AA shells, those are excellent too.

For different loads I load the new AA ,old AA
,Fed GM ,Rem STS ,PMC and Chedite
Thats just for 12 Gau 2 3/4"

Of the expensive hulls, the STS (speaking 12 ga, now) is the way to go.

However, I shoot a lot of auto's, and I need a regular supply of cheap "load 'm and leave 'm" hulls. For that purpose, the Federal field hull (i.e. top gun, field, estate) is fine. So is the Fiocchi purple (hate the orange ones), are good, and the Rem gun club or field hull is tops of all.

Anymore, there are a lot of AA's on the ground at the club. I load them but only if I don't have any others. There have been too many reports of basewads popping out to trust them. JMO, Dutch.

REmingtons STS are the best.

However, I have loaded thousands of the new AA's and I use the same Claybuster wads that I use on the STS's and have never had any problems whatsoever.

Rem. STS / Premier is all I load anymore.

I only load for 12 GA 2 3/4.
Typically with #4 shot and Hodgdon LONGSHOT.

IMHO for birdshot loads the cost savings is virtually nil for reloads. Shop your local Mart type store.


Travis F.

The same as I used in the 1960's and 1970's.

The old Winchester AA reds.

I had about 20,000 of them, and now have only around 18,000.

Remington skeet shells work very well with number 4 shot.