Back when hulls were plentiful, I got 500 Once fired gun club hulls. That taper is a pain to find a wad to properly load, and once fired can also be exposed to moisture causing the base to rust! Imagine grabbing your loaded shells only to find a bunch rusting out!!! Now I only buy new, primed hulls for SHTF storage!!!!!!
For anyone curious, Remington currently makes the best hulls on the market, with their STS at the very top of the heap. After that, Nitro, then Clays & Field, then Gun Club. All of these hulls use compression-formed tubes. The reason why the STS is the best of the best is because it uses a thicker and more durable grade of plastic and because it uses a genuine brass head instead of a steel head. Expect to get at least ten good reloads out of STS and about 8 from the other Remingtons mentioned.
STS’s are great “target” hulls. They can load forever using target load data. What I do, and many others, tapered hulls like gun clubs and STS’s just won’t cut it.
Thank you bro for finally clearing up the difference between the Winchester AA and the HS. I have been confused about that and why different wads were needed ever since I started reloading. Everywhere I looked on the internet I would find different data on which hulls were straight wall and which tapered. Great presentation.
Very informative for me . Gonna try 1-1/4 loads (lead shot ) they recommend tapered hulls which the STS and even the Gun Clubs which reload very nicely for me . Thank You very much !
Thanks for taking the time to do this video. I am new to shot shell reloading and if I would have found your video sooner I could has saved myself a lot of grief. PS. I like your country ass grammar!
Can someone please explain how the plastic part is ‘fused’ to the brass base? It seems like there is a lot of ‘excess plastic at the base where the brass is. When looking at plastic hull extruding machines, the end product is cut to length, does this mean at the brass end the plastic hull is scrounged up in the press to create that plastic mass at the base? No glue is used to ‘stick’ plastic to the brass right?
Awesome, thanks for doing this video man. Have you noticed any brand or style of hull that handles repeated roll crimping better than others? I have been playing around with some blue Rio medium height brass hulls from a bunch of lead #2 stuff I picked up a few years back. After one roll crimp, the plastic almost looks distorted / melted and has a seam all the way around it. Might be able to get a second reload on it but I was hoping they would last longer than that. It is also possible I am screwing up the roll crimp somehow.
Colson, That’s an excellent question. I haven’t noticed one brand being easier to reload over the next. In the beginning, reloading once fired roll crimped hulls created a lot of problems due the the mouth of the hull being all crinkled and hardened for the gases when fired. The main issue was trying to figure out how to get the mouth of the hull back round. Then a discovered this neat little tool from Ballistic Products called the Spin Doctor. Put that bad boy in a drill or drill press and run in down the mouth of your hull. The friction created rounds out the mouth to almost factory condition making reloading a roll crimping that same hull a piece of cake. Hope this helps, brother!
Have you ever considered that almost all of the factory crimps are folded crimps? There's a reason for that. It's easier to do than a roll crimp. And can be repeated several times before the hull is worn out. And most all reloaders utilize a folded crimp built in.
Thanks Leon! Really great information on the different types of hulls. Let me know if you have any information on Centurion hulls. I'm looking for a reload recipe, specifically what wad should be used.
Hi Charles! I’m pretty certain those are Rio hulls. There’s not much difference between Rio’s, Cheddites, and Fiocchi data. All three are very similar to Federal.
Thank you for this great video, im juist getting into shotgun reloading after rifle reloading 30 years. What hull would you recommend for Tungsten shot? I am looking at reloading the new Sphero 18 Tungsten and curious what hulls are the best in 2 3/4 and 3 inch? Thank you!!!
Steven Laubach glad you got something out of it! For tungsten, you’re best bet is to got with a 3” straight wall hull like Fiocchi, Rio, or Cheddite. Depending on the load, you can also use 2.75” with tungsten .Of course you can use once fired hulls like Winchester or Remington. Hulls aren’t as important as wad selection. Make sure you use a wad designed for non-toxic shot. Regardless, you can’t go wrong with any of the three that I’ve mentioned. Good luck! You’ll love that tungsten!
Thanks for the information. I was surprised that it was so difficult to tell hulls apart as I try to learn shotgun reloading. I bought some federal hulls which arrived completely unmarked.
