Reloading promo hulls?

T

Torquemada

New member
Bought a Lee Load-All II for 12-gauge and started saving hulls. I have some Remington STS, Winchester AA (silvery-gray), Winchester AA (red) and Winchester Universal (red).

STS load info is plentiful. I can see no difference between the red and gray AA hulls, so I guess I should use the AA and/or compression-formed reloading data and not worry about the color. (?)

The real question is on the promo/Wally World 100 pack Universals. As I'm just getting started, I don't need those hulls to last 10 or 20 times...they seem ideal for a first-time job, as I can afford to "learn" on them while not worrying about messing up "quality" hulls. If they last for two reloads, I'd be happy. I may download them to 7/8 oz. for newbies down the line. Are these the "Winchester polyformed" hulls? If not, where should I get load data?

I also have three boxes of unshot Federal promos, and again, what should I use for load data?

In the future, I'm gonna do occasional hull pickup for the club in exchange for scavenging rights (for AA and STS!) especially from my friend who has no reloading tendencies.....
 
Torque,the Lyman manual has loading date for the promos.

The best hulls are one piece, the promos have a separate base wad, that MAY come loose after being reloaded and lodge in the bbl. Bad juju.

Once fired premium hulls can be used ten times or more, tho I tend to load 5X and pitch them.

Hulls are not hard to come by,amrs and eyes are.

I suggest leaving the promos alone and sticking to known hulls and the loading manuals.
 
My philosophy with promo loads was to reload them once and toss them.

But there are so many good hulls to be found on Sporting Clays courses, often tossed into the shell bucket at each stand, why waste time on promos.

Now I just use my own empties, buying a certain number of cases of STS shells for formal shoots and keeping the hulls, which will last for a long time.

If I run out I go to Wally World and buy a case of promos and just toss them, they really are not worth the trouble.

The promo hulls have a separate basewad, which can work loose. Not worth the grief.

Thje red and Silver (Grey) AA's are the same. As are the STS and Nitro 27 (Gold) for Remington.

This is usefull in reloading. Green STS get #8 shot. Nitro 27's get 7.5 and AAs get #9 shot.

I mark the primers of all reloads with a black Magic marker to indicate reloads so I am not confused.
 
Your loader will give you fits with the steel casehead of the promo loads. It takes a pretty stout press and some patience to stick with them. The effort to resize and also to crimp them is quite a bit higher than the "premium" hulls.

I have loaded and shot literally tens of thousands of rounds on the Remington Gun Club and Federal promo hulls. I have NEVER had a basewad loosen, or bad effect from the use of them. I have loaded the Rem Gun Club hulls up to 15 times and still get solid crimps, and I don't get the loose primer pockets that I have gotten on the premium hulls. You will not get that life out of the AA or STS. If you have the hulls load them and shoot them over and over and over.

The AA hulls are interchangeable regardless of color, the new supersport hulls are interchangeable as well.

I have not gotten more than 6 or 7 loads out of the AA or STS hulls with good crimps, I am working on a batch of supersports so I have not hit the end of them yet. They appear to be doing a lot better than standard AA hulls though.
 
The remington gun club hulls (black ribbed low base hulls) are single piece,BTW. They don't have a seperate base wad. The federal promo loads do have a seperate paper basewad, but they hold together pretty well.
 
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