Shotgun Shell Hulls?

F

fortkevin2

New member
****If this needs to be moved to the reloading section I apologize****

I know you can reload brass cases that are boxer primed and am currently reloading metallic cartridges right now. My question is regarding shotgun shell hulls...

I know high brass seem to be the best from what I've read(could be wrong) to reload but what about low brass? I must have 10,000 low brass hulls (rio, Winchester etc etc etc) that I have saved up. Is there any market for these? Are they worth the time to save? Thanks!!
 
Most People that reload for shotguns stick to the premium target hulls, STS and Nitro, AA and Gold Medal.

These last longest and have the most recipes listed.

Stick to established load data you find in print from a known source like Hodgdon..

Dig out a reloading manual like the Lyman. Search the hull section. If they do not list a hull, toss in out. Make up your mind about the rest.

At my range, no body picks up,say, Gun Clubs and keeps them. OTOH, toss a once fired 28 gauge AA and three skeet shooters will beat it to the ground.

Low brass hulls can easily be reloaded. Whether a particular brand is worthwhile is a judgement call.

HTH....
 
hulls

I know high brass seem to be the best from what I've read(could be wrong) to reload but what about low brass?
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Stick to the recipes in the reload manuals exactly.
That being said, the differences between high brass and low brass hulls are cosmetic only. The low brass hull is just as strong as the high brass and can be reloaded the same way.
Pete
 
Why do you think high brass is better? (It's not)

Hulls designed specifically for target shooting are the best for reloading, will last the longest, and have the best "resale" value.

These include, but are not limited to, Winchester AA, Remington STS, Nitro, and Gun Club, Federal Gold Medal, some of the Fiocchi.

It IS possible to get a reload or two from a RIO, Estate, and even the Wally World Federal promo loads - but it isn't worth the trouble to most folks.

As mentioned, there are specific recipes - just like metallic - that need to be followed for safety and performance reasons.

Dave McC- those Gun Clubs reload the same as STS, so if your club doesn't want them......................:D
 
Brass is better than the STEEL rimmed ones because it is easier to resize and it doesn't get as hung up in the chamber when firing. I am unaware of anyone using aluminum based hulls and reloading those. The better target loads are solid brass, others are merely brass-washed over steel. If a magnet stick can easily pick them up,you have steel heads.

It's not that steel hulls, like Gun Clubs CAN'T be reloaded, (they can),you just need to make sure your reloader resizes them properly, especially if you are using a pump or semi, or you will encounter FTF and FTE issues.
 
Lemme add...
Jist 'cuz the base is yeller don't mean it is brass:eek:

Winchester Super X high brass slug and 00 buck are steel with a right fine brass colored coating. It ain't electroplated brass as it will rust after just a couple days on the florida ground:D My father put a base in a shift knob for Junior's truck and in final sanding he bumped it with sander and it has a nice silver tone in spots...:rolleyes:
Brent
 
You originally asked if there is a market for hulls ... meaning you were wondering if you can sell them ....

The only hulls that have any value in 12ga - are "once fired" factory shells Remington STS, Remington Nitro - and to a lesser extent Win AA's - and even less Rem Gun Club hulls ( but only if they are dry, with no corrosion, ideally never having hit the ground ) so they came out of an O/U .... and are absolutely, Once Fired, - not maybe only once fired, I picked them up off the ground, or out of a garbage can ....

For Once Fired Rem STS or Rem Nitro - the going retail rate is $ 0.05 each in my area. Rio's, Estates, etc - or a mixed bag of hulls - are just trash ....

Bottom line ( if you buy a new box of Rem STS hulls ) - go out and shoot them, keep them dry and clean - and bring them to me in the club house, I'll pay you $ 1 for 25 hulls. For stuff you pick up all over ....keep on walking ... ( same in 20ga ).
 
thanks for all the info guys... well i've got a ton of trash hulls basically. At least I was littering when I saved them. :rolleyes: I guess I'll just have to make a ton of those shotgun shell christmas light strings. :D
 
Some of the hulls in promo loads like the cheap Winchester hulls are not well suited to reloading due to base wad construction and the fact the crimps don’t hold up very well at all. I also doubt you would be able to find much of a market for them either, but I‘ve never tried to sell any. That said, I do use a lot of the black Remington hulls and the Federal field hulls for reloads for specific hunting purposes. The differing colors are a very handy way to have loads laid out for specific hunting purposes, and that’s what I do to easily separate them from the AA hulls that I use exclusively for trap and skeet loads. There are plenty of reloading ‘recipes’ for all of the less attractive hulls I mentioned. With a little experimentation you can come up with loads that utilize many, or all, of the same components you use in your ‘top drawer’ trap and skeet loads, and you can then cut back on a lot of unnecessary inventory of components, and still have some superb hunting loads that can easily surpass any of the cheap one ounce promo loads you can buy off the shelf. That keeps the costs down even more.

I’m fortunate in that I have a few non-reloading hunting buddies that use Winchester AA loads for dove hunting, and I just may have a lifetime supply of once fired hulls collected from them at present.

For what it’s worth, I cannot think of any practical advantage to high brass hulls.
 
well i've got a ton of trash hulls basically.
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They're not exactly trash, but they're not worth much.

I reload the cheap Federal and Remington field hulls, but only because I can get them for free and they work OK for a handful of reloads. I don't think that I'd pay money to buy 'em.
 
WCW said:
For what it’s worth, I cannot think of any practical advantage to high brass hulls.
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The only thing I can think of is they are easy to identify. If you shoot targets with two different loads (fist and second shot in doubles -- a spreader and a reacher -- or 7/8 and 1 1/8 oz) hi brass would help tell to them apart. When I use two different loads, I typically color code the primers (with a marks-a-lot), or use Federal paper target loads. If you never shot targets with Federal's paper tournament loads, you might wanna give them a try at least once.
 
Gauge and Manufacturer Usually Drive Demand

Old style AA and STS are in high demand, especially in those areas that require the use of steel shot. If you have 16 gauge AA or STS, I will buy them from you.

Agree with other posters that high versus low brass doesn't matter to the reloader. Quality of the hull is what matters.

I'll take tarnished true brass hulls in AA or STS, as I know how to clean them up and I know how to resize them. I can get 10+ reloads in 20 gauge easy, so don't dismiss high quality hulls.

Club shells are problematic. I discontinued using Kent steel hulls in 20 gauge because they had an annoying habit of sending the plastic hull down the barrel and the plastic would get jammed at the ports and chokes. I now use only Fiocchi or AA/STS as reloads in my 20 gauge shotguns.
 
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