I bought an old pacific loader DL 105 cheap and it came with about a thousand hulls. I have been trying to reload the remington peters, green plastic and I'm having a hard time, can't seem to get a good crimp. I'm using wwaa-12 wads. Could it be because of the old hulls? I'm new to shotgun loading. I've wasted a lot of hulls trying different things. Any help will be appreciated.

different hulls take different wads as they have different inside dimensions.

You need to be specific about the hulls you're using. You also need to identify if the hulls you are using are six pie or eight pie crimps and what crimping tool your press uses.

I'm using winchester wads and using 8 pie crimper. I'll check the hulls but I thought they were 8 pie. I think the wads had a fiber disk at the bottom but they are gone now. I have a lot of these hulls and hope I can make them work.

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I have a lot of these hulls

If you can make an ID on the hulls such as:
Winchester AA.....or
Federal Gold metal.....or
federal paper
and then be specific about what load you want such as:
target load, 1 1/8 oz lead.....or
target load 1 oz lead etc...then I or someone else here can assist you and get you on track.

What powder are you using.....700-X ?....Red dot?.....and how much?

Have you weighed the powder or are you relying on the bushing in the press to meter the powder accurately?

Vapo

Your old Remington hulls may be of the Old Express variety; Dark Green Ribbed Plastic, pressed fiber base wad. If so they are vintage early 70's and most likely have the Rem 57* primer size that Rem used back then (.227" vs the 209's .244"). The fiber base wad set higher up in the case and if I recall we used a shorter Rem Power Piston wad back then. You could always cut back to 1oz in the AA wad but you need reliable data.

You may find loading them more of a chore than they are worth. You will have to check around for an old Lymans Manual for some data, 2nd Edition? In my opinion if they are what I described toss them - more trouble than they are worth. Current Remington one piece hulls; STS, Nitro 27, Shur Shot, Sport Loads etc - Green, gold or black all load the same and give 8 - 10 good reloads. And more importantly there is plenty of data and every range has plenty on the ground for the picking. The old Rem 57* primer has not been made since the early 80's, unless you're an old scrounger like me that has some you will not find the primer currently available. And to top it off that old express hull used a stiff plastic that cracked and split easily, at best we only got 3 reloads on them.

Scout Master 54

quote:

Originally posted by DICKY1:
I think the wads had a fiber disk at the bottom but they are gone now.

That fiber disk is called the basewad. If it is missing, those hulls are junk.

I guess my hulls are junk, I think they are all fiber base wads. I was going to use 700x powder I got a 12LB keg,4box's of winchester wwaa12 wads and 100LBs of #8 shot.So I thought I was in business. I'll just have to buy different wads. Thanks all for your input.

I pulled my old Lyman #2 manual. (the only one that I could find data for the hull you describe)

It does require a Rem 57 star or a cci 157 primer, which I think you will have a bit of trouble finding.

The 700 X loads require either the old Alcan max flight #6 wad or a R12L Remington power piston. I understand the WAA wads are intended for use with compression formed hulls (or the winchester AA replacement)

As far as I know, if the crimps are your only problem, just add fiber or card wads to bring it up to the right level and crimp. All of the manuals I use in hunting loads say this is a non-issue for pressure. If the shot level is too high, you are SOL.

Having said that, I would really reconsider using those hulls. If they are the old size primer, I don't know how interchangable the primers are. The old manuals all tell you not to do it. Maybe you could find some old reloader who has a supply of the old primers and trade.

The other option is just see if a local trap range will sell you some once fired hulls. A lot of them will let you take what you are willing to pick up--- but ask first.

Good luck with the loading!

May I suggest you get a few winchester AA hulls. Many places have them for sale as once fired but they are not always available.

Most local trap/skeet/clays ranges have them available and you have to ask for them......they used to be a nickel.....probably a dime today but a very fine hull for target and upland game as well.....I've loaded thousands for trap and hundreds with 1 3/8 oz pheasant loads.

I mention Win AAs as you have that wad.....but prefer gold medals now.

I went throught all my hulls and found 51 winchester AA hulls and reloaded them and they worked real good and I threw all the rest away. I'm loading 1 1/8 oz #8 and 16.5 700x powder, winchester 209 primer and winchester wwaa12 wad. This should be good for birds? Thanks you guys, I think I would still be trying to load those old hulls if it weren't for all your input. Thank you

quote:

This should be good for birds?

It will work quite well for quail, dove and pheasants behind a pointer.....I've used that load pheasant hunting as it worked but would prefer $6 shot and a minimum of 1250 FPS

I think you're about 1150 FPS.....check the charts to confirm!

Also #8 shot is a lot of BBs to pick from the breast meat!

quote:

Also #8 shot is a lot of BBs to pick from the breast meat!

That's why you need to head shoot them.

your right vapor dog, but I really can't find #6 shot in my area or online. So I thought I would make do with what I had and your right on the velocity, I want to see how my old gun holds up on this recipe before I bump her up a little.

If you go to a trap or skeet range where there is any substantial amount of shooting going on, you can almost always pick up a lot of 12 gauge hulls from the ground for nothing other than your time and work in picking them up. Many shooters buy factory target loads and discard the hulls because they are not into reloading. Find hulls that work well for you -- I like Remington Gun Club or STS or Winchester AA ones -- and use those and discard the ones that don't work well.

The load you've specified is perfect for trap or skeet, and will work OK for doves. For pheasant I'd prefer larger shot, and a bit more power, say 1250 to 1300 f.p.s. instead of the approximately 1150 f.p.s. you are getting.

I succeeded in buying a bag of #6 shot recently from the Bass Pro Shop near Baltimore, but I agree with you that #6 is far more difficult to find than #8 or #9. I think this happens because trap and skeet shooters use #8 and #9 shot, and they are far more likely to reload and to reload far more shells, than are hunters.

quote:

Originally posted by DICKY1:
your right vapor dog, but I really can't find #6 shot in my area or online.

Here is #4. #5, and #6 and all work well for pheasants

Sporting Clays, Trap and Skeet ranges all have a maximum shot size of 7-1/2 by the rules of the sanctioning bodies. Most often it is against range rules to shoot targets with #6 shot or larger. This is also why shot sizes larger than #6 are hard to find. Clay target shooters do the lion's share of reloading and other than a few hunting loads every year they don't use the larger shot.

Promo shells and the new Win AA two piece hulls are fairly easy to find on clay target ranges. Rem STS/Premier and compression formed Win AAs are much harder to come by. Most clubs are more than happy to have you pick your hulls and any others you find AS LONG AS you don't hinder the progress of shooting squads. Don't make other shooters wait on you while you are scrounging hulls off the ground.

A decade ago many clubs said that any hull that hits the ground is the property of the club. The members sorted the hulls and sold them or the members kept the reusable ones. This has gone by the way in most clubs.

quote:

A decade ago many clubs said that any hull that hits the ground is the property of the club.

Yup.....darn true....but the reason was to prevent shooters from picking up hulls and delaying the squad.....and as long as one didn't interfere with the progress of the squad or become a safety hazard it was still permitted.

BTW....the link to larger sizes of shot was for pheasant hunting and not clay busting.

quote:

Originally posted by vapodog:
Yup.....darn true....but the reason was to prevent shooters from picking up hulls and delaying the squad.....and as long as one didn't interfere with the progress of the squad or become a safety hazard it was still permitted.

Partly true! I remember there were a lot of tournaments where shooters had to buy new shells from the hosting club and throw all the hulls on the ground. The truckloads of 1X hulls were then either sold to club members or a local sporting goods store to help fund the club or private range.

Here is another one www.deadbirdshot.com
God Bless, Louis