What Kind of Shotgun Hulls do you use?

[Professor Marvel]

Greetings Fellow Netizens

I now find myself the proud possessor of a very tight vintage hammered Belgian damascus double, and thus am desirous to manufacture proper BP loads my my new girl. Since I shoot colt and remmie C&B revovlers and a yellowboy I thought it most appropriate to use Brass shells. I plan to use a light square load, (light because I am cheap and powder is dear) but Whlist I wait upon reciept of the brass I thought I would load up a batch of more ordinary shotshells.

If I need to , I can use plastic, but it is after all, so .... plastic. And petroleum based polymers are sooooo modernisch ...

However, While cleaning the shop I came across a box of paper hulls I had acquired some time ago, and of course this led to thinking and cogitation and cerebral overheating ..... if I can find my antique roll-crimper Ill be all set.....

Can anyone offer any advise, hints, tips,  specific to loading paper hulls, esp with Black?

Sooooo.... what hulls do you load & shoot, dear reader?

yhs
prof marvel

[Pettifogger]

Remington STS's are the best followed by Winchester AA's.

[panhead pete]

I use Federal paper and all brass.  On the paper shells I used a star crimp as I am without a roll crimper.  (I now have a BPI (for drill press) crimper but have not loaded any black since).  I use a 4.3 cc LEE DIpper of FFg and a 4.3cc of shot.  I use an over powder card,  1 and one half 1/2" fiber wads (3/4" stack up), and make a shot cup from parchment paper.  I have since sprayed them with silicone to help  with extraction, but I have not tried them since.

Have fun,

PhP   

[fourfingersofdeath]

Some Aussies insist on WinAA, but most seem to use just about anything they can scrounge out of the waste bin. I have collected a fair quantity of Federal Silver based Maroon Federal cheapies. These seem to be the shotshell of choice for the cowboy (smokeless) shooters so there are always plenty in the bin. The shotgun section of the club shoot on the second Sunday of the month and I am always diving into the bin next afternoon when I was there for the rifleshoot. The inconsiderate sods seem to have gone to another brand! I think I have enough to do me for awhile. I have bought lots of loaded shotshells off a friend and it is a real lucky dip, he uses any thing he can get his hands on. The first time I picked up a few boxes off him a few minutes before a shoot, I turned up my nose a bit and he just shrugged and said, thyey'll be ok! It was with a with a bit of trepidation that I went onto the range and they worked fine. I think we dazzle ourselves with science sometimes.

[Lucky R. K.]

Remington STS's are the best followed by Winchester AA's.

I'm with Pettifogger.

Lucky 

[Mako]

Remington STS's are the best followed by Winchester AA's.

Professor I'm sorry to say this is not a well worded or complete survey...  Are you trying to bias it towards  towards AAs?  You have severely limited us in our choices.

I'm with Pettifogger and Lucky R.K. , STS hulls are the best.  I only use AA for my girls smokeless loads to keep them separate.

I have shot thousands of both.  I used to shoot Peter Blue Magic hulls for clays.  I find contrary to Winchesters claims of a better plastic in the hull (maybe for smokiless) that the current STS or Nitro hulls outperforms and outlasts AAs for BP.  AAs are not what they were 10 years ago.  Section both hulls and you'll see the difference.

Add the category for STS/Nitro and you will have a completely new champion with AAs trailing.

Add it and I'll vote.

Thanks,
Mako

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

My vote would would have been for "none-of-the-above"

My main shotgun has been an old Baikal TOZ 66.  It has tight chambers, and plated bores, so I did not attempt to polish the chambers.  My main hull for trap loads was AAs so I started working on my stash of them but I had to claw them out.  

SOO into the waste bin!  Eventually I found that anything made by Reminton-Peters slipped out slicker'n owl &***!

I also use Magtechs.

Recently the waste bin yielded some SELLIER & BELLOT 6-pointed shells that seem even smaller than the R-Ps, so I loaded up a handful in BP with my "JAM-ROLL" crimp to try them out.

[Noz]

Remington STS's are the best followed by Winchester AA's.

Absolutely +1

[Cumberland Mtn John]

As others have said STS.

John R. Redmon

[Fairshake]

I for the most part have always agreed with the postings of the Prof but as Sir Charles posted there should have been a None of the above box. I shoot at least 3 SASS matches a month with others thrown in and use two shotguns. The first is the 1887 Lever that was done over by Coyote Cap. He says to use AA's only for good extraction. The rim of a AA is .005 as are the STS, Nitro 27,Federal Gold Medal Paper and the old Fiocchi Paper hulls. The 1887 will work with them all. I also have for the past 9 months used the 1878 SXS Colt Model hammer gun. It will not shuck the paper or brass hulls so I use the STS or Nitro 27 hulls which fly out after being fired. Stay away from the Game hulls with the silver base and those that are ribbed if you are shooting SASS with a SXS. The loads may be less powder and more shot for the KD's.

[Pony Racer]

Brass!

Infinitely more reusable than any other plastic or paper shell!

No I did find I needed to find the right glue for a good seal - but once I did that it has been a splendid marriage since!

PR

[fourfingersofdeath]

I suppose I should add that Aussies aren't allowed to use the 1897 as it is a pump shotgun and few use the Lever actions for obvious reasons. Its pretty much straight side by sides out here!

[Montana Slim]

Remington's are first choice...Gun Club's are plentiful & my first choice for this reason.
Win AA's last choice for BP.....they actually stick in my SxS's...but firat choice for light smokeless loads for my son.
I also occasionally use paper...for my heavy BP loads.

Slim

[Sir Charles deMouton-Black]

Professor;  I know you are enquiring about paper hulls.  The only new ones seem to be Federal.  I got some from the bin, but they were a bit soggy, but still usable.  I use a dowel as a mandril and rub candle wax over the outside and burnish by hand to work soften some wax over the paper.  I did get a bag of once-fired federals, but I havn't had to dig into them yet.  Ocassionally I find old CANUCK paper cases but they are relics from mouldy old shell vests being used up to get rid of them.  I save them anyway, just because I'm an old packrat.

Cut them to 2.5 inches to remove the worst part of the star crimp (shredded anyway).  I have some white plastic pipe that is just right to make into a cut-off guide, and use a box-cutter. I have a MEC Grabber, but the 12 ga. depriming punch is set up to open up the mouths of plastic hulls so I got a 16 ga. depriming punch from MEC to avoid belling the case mouths, thus wrecking them.  Load an appropriate recipe topped with an over-shot card. Leave about 3/8 inch of hull above the O/S card.  I have an antique roll crimper, but the ones that fit in a drill press work great.  This makes good ammo, but won't shuck with a jerk.  You will have to claw them out with your fingernails.

All the above posts are about plastic hulls & BP, which most use, and that works just fine.

[R.T. Rangebum]

I used to be very picky about the hulls I used for BP; I used only Win AA or the Rem STS hulls because of the solid, smooth sides of the hull. I have a Baikal shotgun and it will not shuck a factory loaded ribbed shell, each fired shell must be pulled out by hand. This same situation holds true for my new TTN. When I started loading BP I thought that I had better use non-ribbed hulls or face the same problem. In talking with a friend who has loaded BP shot shells for many years, I now load any hull I can find. The trick for me is that I size all of my hulls with a MEC SuperSizer prior to reloading with a Lee Laod All II. By sizing the hulls with the collet sizer all of my empties just sail out of my shotgun. I'm not saying this will work for everyone but it sure has made life easier for me, I can find the cheap ribbed hulls by the truck load anywhere.

Rangebum

[rickk]

I use brass in my old Crescent Damascus SxS . They only get loaded with 50 grains of 1F and 1 ounce of #6. No chance of getting them mixed up with anything else because the brass hulls at my house only get 50 grains of 1F and 1 ounce of #6.

If it's other than 50 grains of 1F, they go into plastic. I don't tend to reuse them so I use whatever I can get really cheap. For instance, right now I am working on a box of 1000 Remington hulls that I believe were 2x fired with 00 Buck. The folds were pretty beat. No "normal" person would want them. I trimmed them down to 2.5" to remove most of the ugliness, cleaned up the new mouth with a BPI "spin doctor", and now I have usable, no-cost hulls that will be roll crimped and trashed afterwords.

[Fingers McGee]

First off, none of the above selections in your survey

Remington STS's are the best followed by Winchester AA's.

+1 on the STS hulls.  Nitro Golds are also good hulls for BP.

FM

[fourfingersofdeath]

Actually, virtually every gunshop you walk into has almost exclusive Remington ammo or remington/WInchester/ Federal mix.

However, I can't ever remember Remington ammo being available. Having said the I buy the cheap sheeet Aussie made where I can, and don't take much notice of the expensive stuff. I asked the biggest gunshop in NSW who are also have the biggest turnover of ammo and shotgun products. The owner as far as paper cases went, he said his Dad used to get a slab in now and then for some of his mates, but it has been 15 years minimum since he has seen any come into the country. He gave me one of his trademark friendly smiles and said, 'order a pallet and I'll get some in for you.' I noticed in the 2010 Remington catalogue that they don't list the paper hulls any more.

[Driftwood Johnson]

Howdy

I only reload Remington STS hulls. In my experience the plastic is the slickest and they eject best from a BP fouled chamber. I stopped reloading AA hulls when they went to a two piece construction.

[Mako]

This poll would look very different if the Remington hulls were included.  We have 10 posts that say they prefer Remington STS hulls.  
Pettifogger
Lucky R.K.
Mako
Sir Charles deMouton-Black
Noz
John R. Redmon
Fairshake
Montana Slim
Fingers McGee
Driftwood Johnson

How many more that didn't post would have would have actually answered the poll if it was truly inclusive?  And how many just took Hobson's Choice because it didn't have what they used?

This is the way it should actually look with the responses so far:

http://i627.photobucket.com/albums/tt358/Mako_CAS/Odds%20and%20Ends/Graph.jpg