Last year I started shooting in our winter trap league. One of the guys I shoot with started reloading last spring. He is only intrested in Remington STS hulls. For Christmas my parents bought me a case of Winchester AA, which I offered my the hulls to the guy who reloads. He said he would have to adjust his dies to resize the different hulls and was therefore not intrested.

Is this correct? I could see a difference in high brass vs. low brass. What am I missing?

Remingtons are, in fact, a bit less trouble than AA's - - not just the SST. Any Remington hull (cheapos including sport loads, gun clubs & game loads) use the same data, reload & shoot just as well as STS/Nitro & don't require a press adjustment.
That said, he should have to fool aroound minimally, if at all, with the AA's. Depending on his components, maybe a slight pre-crimp adjustment which is really quick & simple, & if he's concerned about a little swirling or dishing, a small cam adjustment. You ought to suggest that he try a few with the press set up as is & see what kind of results he gets. I can reload both in my single stage MEC without changing anything, & the AA's are satisfactory.

PS - Resizing should be the same - all a resizer does is squeeze the brass back to factory dimensions - - should do it for either hull.

quote:

Originally posted by eliscomin:

You ought to suggest that he try a few with the press set up as is & see what kind of results he gets. I can reload both in my single stage MEC without changing anything, & the AA's are satisfactory.

I agree with both those points. For target loads in 12 gauge, you can treat the Remington STS and Gun Club and Winchester AA hulls as interchangeable.

Thanks guys, I'll keep your comments in mind. I'm going to keep the hulls for now and may start reloading in the future. I was suprised he would turn them down, then again he was turning down the gun club hulls last year too. Personal prefernce I guess.

We'll see how the shooting goes. They were trying to get me to do some of the registered shoots last year, but I passed. If I do this year I'll probably start reloading my own shells.

Thanks again.

quote:

Originally posted by lhanson8:

...then again he was turning down the gun club hulls last year too. Personal prefernce I guess.

I actually prefer the Gun Club hulls over the STS ones for the first or second loading. But the Gun Club hulls are not good for nearly as many loadings as the STS ones.

Since I shoot at a range where a lot of Gun Club hulls are discarded, it's easy to pick up a lot of them free, so there is no good reason why I need to reload them more than about 3 or 4 times.

quote:

They were trying to get me to do some of the registered shoots last year, but I passed.

I figure you may as well do the registered shoots, even if your scores are poor. Someone has to end at the bottom.

Last year it was more of a timing issue, with our up comming africa trip. I spent the time at the rifle range working up a load for one of the rifles I decided to take.

However, this year I'm shooting much better, so they may have an easier time getting me to go.

I really couldn't see what the big difference between hulls could be. I can understand a slight adjustment of the crimping die, but even so it should be a small adjustment.

There are a lot of guys who discard their hulls and there are a lot of them seem to think they can only shoot the STS shells. Then again 20 years ago when I worked pulling trap for the leagues, everyone shot AA's.

quote:

Originally posted by lhanson8:

There are a lot of guys who discard their hulls and there are a lot of them seem to think they can only shoot the STS shells. Then again 20 years ago when I worked pulling trap for the leagues, everyone shot AA's.

I think today's STS hulls are better than yesterday's or today's AA hulls.

I agree with you that whatever differences there are in these 12 gauge hulls will require, at most, small adjustments of the crimping die, and possibly of the crimp starting die.

lhanson8,
There is not always a good reason for the choices reloaders make as to what they reload and how. A lot of it can boil down to making loads that the shooter has confidence in.

A good way to start a heated discussion at any trap club I have ever been to is to ask a group of shooters what is the best load recipe for a 27yd handicap load. It can be like throwing a match on a bunch of gasoline soaked rags!

As long as they are safe loads I don't worry about other shooters preferences and prejudices regarding reloading. It works for them and confidence in a particular load or setup is worth a lot.

We know that the placebo effect can help people get well if patients believe the "medicine" will make them well. I suspect that shooters also shoot better if they have a load they think is the best thing out there. Who am I to dissabuse them of their cherrished notions.

quote:

A good way to start a heated discussion at any trap club...

That's why I was asking here. I'll just save them for myself. It will give me a reason to buy a reloader.

quote:

He said he would have to adjust his dies to resize the different hulls and was therefore not intrested.

The short answer is that with some progressive reloading presses, like the Pacific/Hornady DL 366, the primer seating ram is adjusted for particular make and type of shell, and if you try to reload a different shell, the new primer may not be fully seated, and it will jam and prevent the shell holder plate from rotating.

It has to do with the internal dimensions of the cases, mainly the thickness of the base.

Shotshell reloading presses have a number of stations that each perform a certain function on a shell. Each station has a die or ram that is initally adjusted, referencing an internal or external dimension of the shell.

The resizing die and the crimping dies are adjusted referencing the external dimensions of the shell. The primer seating ram is adjusted referencing the internal dimension of the shell.

Shotshell primers are seated by a ram inserted into the case then pushing the case down on a new primer until the primer is fully seated against the bottom of the primer seating position of the press.

Single stage presses only work on one shell with each pull of the handle, and the primer seating station works independant of the other stations. Therefore minor differences in shell base thickness do not affect the reloading process and would not be noticed.

Progressive presses work on many shells at the same time. My 366 presses perform 8 or 9 operations with each pull of the handle (I don't resize my light Trap and Skeet shells). All operations at all stations must be fully completed at the bottom of each stroke of the handle.

I have my 366 presses (I have 4 of them - 12,20,28ga, and .410) set to reload old style AA shells. Mixing in a shell with a thinner base such as a new style AA shell or a STS shell will not seat the new primer fully, and the reloader will jam.

Single stage presses can reload a mix of shells, and I've heard that the Spolar reloader can do a mix. My Pacific/Hornady 366's won't because of the primer seating. I have enough once fired old style AA's to last a lifetime, even at 4-5,000 reloads per year, so I'll just stick with them. Maybe that's your friends situation also.