With all the choices out there in powders, primers, wads, shot type, shot size, hulls, it can easily get confusing to know where to start. Can anyone tell me who makes the best 12 Gauge hulls. 12 Gauge 2 �” for skeet; 12 Gauge 2 �” for sporting clays; and 12 Gauge 2 �” for bird hunting. 12 Gauge 3” for waterfowl. 12 Gauge 3 �” for waterfowl and 12 Gauge 3 �” for Turkey.

If money or economics isn’t an issue, which hulls would you like to use? I know that it isn’t a simple question because of how reloading shotshell combinations are. But one has to start somewhere. And I think that the hull is a good a place to start as any.

Right now I’ve been using Win. AA for all of my 2 �” loads and Fed. 3 �” hulls for my waterfowl and turkey. But I’m willing to try other products. Anything better?

I would say you are pretty much right on as it is. Clay target shooters tend to prefer AAs & STSs for their durability. Also, target loads are not demanding from a standpoint of velocity or payload and there is a wide variety of components that will enable you to put together a perfect load for your gun at a reasonable price.

For hunting, a straight wall case (in any length hull), such as the FGM, is often preferred as its greater internal capacity allows more versatility in putting together loads of higher velocity and/or heavier payload while keeping pressure down.

Steve

I use the good ol' AA's for everything.

I even used to use them (loaded a little stiffer) for ducks, back in the lead shot days.

Winchester AA's get my nod. The current production ones, both the red and grey ones seem to hold up very well. They did have a spliting problem for a while a few years ago. If $$ was never an issue I'd use once fired AA's all the time. Perfer my reloads for breakin clay targets over new ones anyday. BT

It's going to be hard to beat AA's,Been trying 50 rem.sts hulls,loaded them 3 times so far with good results. Happy Shooting!!!!

Thanks for the replies guys.

I've read that Ballistic Products like the Activ Hulls in 2 3/4". But even they indicate that shooters are unfamiliar with them. I aslo see alot of loads for Fiocchi hulls too, but don't know squat about them either.

I'll say that I'm pretty happy with the AA hulls. I have found that the grey ones last longer for me, but they are impossible to find in the field. I save the grey's for the clay targets now and use the red ones for the field.

I haven't tried a lot of different specialized loading for the AA's yet. Mainly loaded up what I wanted to use for dove in the AA's and have used that on clay targets. I will get to a point where I will taylor specific skeet loads vs. sporting clays. Also plan on doing more patterning data for field use.

I may give these other hulls a try, but I now don't feel I have to do it right now.

Again, thanks.

-tlfw

Activ hulls are not made anymore and gave all mine to a guy who wanted them. I quit using AA's and have gone to all STS's. They are the best, easiest loading shell on the market and last forever. I do buy Clever Mirage's for sporting clays and leave them in the throw-away barrel. They are a nice, easy shooting load and inexpensive. Anyway, I load 17.3 grs. of Clays in the STS with 1 1/8 oz. of hard 8's and it smokes the clays.

I load ALL of my own shotshells regardless of gauge length or shot! Everything from 410 2.5" skeet shells all the way to 3.5" steel goose loads for the 12 gauge. Without a doubt the BEST hulls for reloading are the Remington's, (STS's for target loads and the Type 6 for waterfowl loads). I have loaded just about all of the other brands in most gauges and the AA's are a close second! The Federal Gold Medals are way down there on my list of prefered hulls and their 3" or 3.5" steel hulls are the absolute worst hulls I have ever tried to reload and now I just pitch them in the trash! Activs are the hulls I use for my lead pheasant loads (2 3/4"). Cheddites are ok too, but there isn't alot of data for them, yet!
Check out the website, Waterfowler.com and go to the discussion forums.

[ 09-30-2002, 20:49: Message edited by: Elk Country ]

Thanks guys. I will check the Reminton's out. I really appreciate the info.

-tlfw.

I still use the AA`s for my 2.75" turkey loads,1.5 oz #5,waa12r,win 209 & 44gr of alliant 2400,add a little farina cereal (it`s what I have on hand)for buffer and ready to go,all else except steel goes into the Rem. sts`s.got a couple un-published (I know,stay with tested loads)5/8ths ounce loads that are hell on small game and backyard clays.but keep some Fed paper around also for the occaisional box of black-powder loads too.

For a while, Remington produced a "Blue Magic" which was an excellent hull. I haven't tried the STS, but they sound very similar to the old Blue Magics. The old Federal Champion II was a great hull. I don't understand why Rem and Fed quit their two best hulls. Double A's will probably always be the standard by which all others are judged.

Those "blue magic" hulls are for sale on ebay right now, seller claims they were in storage.

Can you guys educate me here. What is the difference between Remington STS green hulls and the gold ones, and what about the Nitro ones?

I can run the green sts hulls through my grabber with the same crimp settings as the aa's.The gold ones seem to be a bit longer,and i'd have to do some re-adjusting to the cam and plunger settings to get them to crimp properly.That's my experiance with them.

Can you use the same load data in each? Is it like the difference between the Win. AA reds and Win AA grays? Basically the same hull, you can use the same reloading data on each.

I pick up AA's, STS's, and Gold Medal's at the range. I save them until I get a batch of at least 500 and then load them up. You can load the AA's and STS's pretty much interchangably if you stick with light target loads. With the Federals use only Federal Wads (or a duplicate) and a flake powder. This prevents the powder from migrating past the wad on loaded rounds.

I have had some trouble with wall buckling on the new AA's, but only with 1.125 oz loads. One ouncers do fine. This may be just a quirk in my old Hornady 366, as my buddy loads the heavier loads on his MEC with no trouble.

All of these hulls do fine. With hulls so plentiful, I don't reload more than 3 times anyway.

I would stay away from the Fiocchi's. They have steel heads that are hard to resize.

I see some 12 ga. RXP's on ebay and must be from the same guy who had the Blue Magic's (in storage from a cruise ship). RXP's were a favorite back in the 70's and still have a batch I use for my "The Hammer" pheasant load. I just may bid on them, for old times sake. When I moved to Germany back in 89, I gave all my blue magic's to a shooting buddy and he still uses them for his trap loads.

I do a fair amount of registered trapshooting and a fair amount of reloading as a result. For my money, the best hull on the market is the Remington STS. Period.

An amazing amount of the new Winchester AA's will split on the first firing, new from the factory. And they will keep splitting as you reload them.

So when I buy factory shells, it's always STS's. My "old" AA hulls are relegated to "doubles" duty and get kicked on the ground. (I shoot a Remington 11-87.)

Winchester used to have the best hull on the market and they chose to go cheap at the same time Remington brought out the STS hull. Really poor decision to say the least.

The STS load good. My only complaint is that they suffer from static cling and flake type powder clings to the hull a little. But they still go bang alright.

Tim