My grandson is three years old and his favorite activity is "loading shells" with Granpa. This morning, I introduced him to shotshells by having him deprime a bucketful of 20 gauge AA's.

Now, these shells are from various cases and lots all mixed together (but none of them the new "HS" AA). I distinctly remember purchasing a case in 1973 (a REAL case, that is, of 20 boxes!) of AA 20's loaded with #9's. These were the then-new yellow hulls with the red lettering. Every AA I've purchased since has been lettered in black, so shells from this lot tend to stand out.

Well, about every fifth shell or so that my grandson was depriming was from this old 1973 lot -- and in 1973 our son (grandson's dad) hadn't even been born. Point of the story is that when I bought the case of AA's, if you had told me that one day my grandchildren would be loading those very shells, I would hardly have found that credible (much less conceivable at that tender age!)

Sadly, pointing out the enduring value of my shooting purchases did little to convice my wife of the marvelous economic advantages that my spending on the shooting sports has reaped for us over the years.

Stonecreek,
It is more the amount of times that you reload them than the time since you purchased them.

I am reloading the new AA HS cases in 28 and .410 and with powders like 296 and 110 then will outlast the old types by approx 50%.

Chic: You're correct. I don't shoot competitively asny more, mostly just dove and quail, so my attrition in shotshell hulls is more from losses in high grass than from reloading fatigue. Still, I was a little surprised to realize that my grandson was "reloading" shotshells that were purchased before his own father was born!

I've avoided the new HS AA's primarily because the component stock I have on hand is for the old-style. Glad to hear the HS is actually an improvement. I've never had to discard a AA except for excessive splits at the mouth; is this where the new ones better the old ones?

Stonecreek, I think it is pretty neat that you have your grandson as a reloading partner.

There are some problems with the AA HS 12 gauge loads. They have on rare occasion had the base wad ( it is a separate wad and not the one piece like yours) come out with the shot. The next shot does in the barrel. I am sure Winchester is working on it but it hurt their sales to target shooters. The 28's and the 410's are the dramatic improvements for life of the hull. I have heard the 20 is on a par with the old one.

sorry for highjacking your post but I have a question about reloading shot shells i've reloaded rifle and pistol for longer than I
want to remember but with the price of shot
shells (walmart) is there a big saving by reloading them. I just use these sells for
plinking not hunting

Claudeb,
It depends on the gauge. The 28 and the 410 will set you back about $6.50 a box for target loads and almost twice that for hunting loads. You can find the 12 and 20 gauge's for $3.35 a box in the Remington gun club brand on sale. Loading them costs around $2.50. The best target loads (Rem STS or nitro golds and Win AA's) though will cost you around $4.50. I have used up 5000 primers on shotgun loading and mostly in the 28 gauge. I think I saved enough money to go buy another shotgun.

I'm shooting 12 gauge I can get 250 winchester
target loads for $44 cdn I bought a lee shotgun
press a couple years ago and never used it but
I might try to load a few just to compare.
thank you

Claude: I load shotshells because I've been set up for it for years, and because I shoot a lot of 28 gauge, which as Chic says, is much costlier than 12 and 20.

Even so, once-fired AA 28 hulls will sell for 10 cents apiece, thus reducing that $6.50 box of 28's down to $4.00. Unless you're shooting targets competitively, there's no way it's worth it to reload them.

The economics of reloading are even worse with 12's and 20's, since they cost less as factory loads but cost more in greater lead and powder consumption as reloads. If you're shooting only occasional doves, quail or other upland game, I hate to say it, but there's just no sense in reloading these days.

thank you

I think you and your grandson are lucky to have each other for a pal, and you're "passing it on".

As to the AA HS hulls, they ARE Winchester's answer to the seperating basewad problem. I'm certainly no expert, but I haven't heard or read of an HS basewad comming loose. I would venture to say that Winchester has solved that problem. I reloaded a lot of the original silver AA 12 gauge, pre HS hulls and never had a problem, but after sectioning a hull, I could see how it could happen. What baffles me is that I can't imagine how Winchester is getting any kind of huge savings on hull manufacture from using two seperate pieces. One piece, one die, one piece hull equals big sales. Everyone who reloads shotshells knows the AA hull will outlast the STS, but the STS is a one piece hull and of good quality. That's why you see them on Ebay for such enormous prices.
Everything has to come down to money these days. I just wish someone would think about quality. If I have to pay a penny a hull more for AA one piece hulls in loaded ammo, so be it.

Customstox,

Would you mind sharing your recipie for the 28 and 410 using WW HS hulls? I'm looking for a good replacement wad rather than using WW HS wads.
Thanks,

Jeff

Bobby, the cost saving is from switching from the dies to an extruded tube. Cut the tube, insert cup, press on the rim. No dies! Just an extruded tube. HTH, Dutch.