Winchester "grey" hulls

Win/64

Win/64

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I was wondering if anyone was getting any cracking issues with WW AA grey hulls? I have noticed on some a horizontal crack running from about 1/2 in. below the crimp down to the base. Anybody else?
 
Win/64 said:
I was wondering if anyone was getting any cracking issues with WW AA grey hulls? I have noticed on some a horizontal crack running from about 1/2 in. below the crimp down to the base. Anybody else?
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I would have the same issue with red and grey hulls being shot out of an
auto loading gun when loads where bumped up.
I assumed that they where kicking action open a little early.
Recoil opperated action.
Usualy after hulls were loaded a few times, entegrety of plastic
starts to go.
 
leadslinger said:
I would have the same issue with red and grey hulls being shot out of an
auto loading gun when loads where bumped up.
I assumed that they where kicking action open a little early.
Recoil opperated action.
Usualy after hulls were loaded a few times, entegrety of plastic
starts to go.
Click to expand...

These were shot out of a break action shotgun and by no means over stressed. I have not had a problem with any of the Rem. hulls I use.
 
Yup- I am having a similar problem with the grey hulls - weird though as I am reloading both grey Supersport and Superhandicap and only the supersports have developed this problem. Sure do like the old hulls better.
 
billboy said:
Yup- I am having a similar problem with the grey hulls - weird though as I am reloading both grey Supersport and Superhandicap and only the supersports have developed this problem. Sure do like the old hulls better.
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X2 I am going to stop loading the AA's altogether and stick to the Rem. hulls.
 
Win/64 said:
These were shot out of a break action shotgun and by no means over stressed. I have not had a problem with any of the Rem. hulls I use.
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Remington are better hulls. Sad to say, only because AA is getting worse! Once fired AAs can be had for the picking so I never use them more than two times.
 
X2 on Remington hulls. It doesn't seem to matter which Remington target hull one uses either. It does seem a little premature to throw the AA grey hulls away after two reloads though. I use them for 1 oz loads and am out to 5 or 6 reloads on this batch with no trouble. On the other hand, I wouldn't even want to guess how many reloads my old red ones have gone through. It may well be that Winchester is getting poorer. A few months ago I picked up a bunch of once fired AA red hulls. They seemed a little waxier than I've seen so far and I noticed more variation in how closed the crimp was too.
 
Since AA hulls now have a base wad I choose not to use them more than a couple times, besides my auto spits them out and I pick up once fired stuff. I once used to buy once fired AAs. One league shoot I attend provides baskets at each shoot station to place shells in. We are allowed to help ourselves because what is not taken gets thrown in the incinerator.

I think that the new AAs are a little shorter than the old ones. I have to make an adjustment to get the crimp to close.
 
Covey Ridge said:
Since AA hulls now have a base wad I choose not to use them more than a couple times, besides my auto spits them out and I pick up once fired stuff. I once used to buy once fired AAs. One league shoot I attend provides baskets at each shoot station to place shells in. We are allowed to help ourselves because what is not taken gets thrown in the incinerator.

I think that the new AAs are a little shorter than the old ones. I have to make an adjustment to get the crimp to close.
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Yes, I've heard there can be problems with separate base wads, though I haven't experienced it yet. Just one more thing to look forward to I suppose...:eek:
I thought the new ones were a little shorter too and I did adjust the crimp, but every once in awhile I still get one that will come close to letting a 7 1/2 shot out. It becomes a matter of just how much you want to adjust your crimping die in the end. I'm becoming a big fan of doing as little adjusting as possible.
 
I use both the grey and the red AA hulls. However I recently learned that there are "generations" of hulls ?? Winchester has made adjustments 3 times to the AA hull in recent years so your old grey hull could be any of the various types.

Now I load Winchester but I prefer Federal. The problem these days is that Federal Hulls are getting harder to find.
 
Speaking of Federal, has anyone loaded the Top Gun hull? From the outside they look like they would be able to handle at least one loading. We're knee deep in them out here.
 
Covey Ridge said:
Speaking of Federal, has anyone loaded the Top Gun hull? From the outside they look like they would be able to handle at least one loading. We're knee deep in them out here.
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Yes,the Top Gun hull can be reloaded.I have also reused the hull 2 to 3 times,and the hull still looks good.After that I toss them out.Those hulls are abundantly available here also.The only thing that I noticed is,the lighter purple hull does not crimp as nice as the darker one.The lighter one seems like a cheaper plastic.Use federal wads or their clones and fed 209A's.
Cheers! Goozeman
 
jacky said:
I use both the grey and the red AA hulls. However I recently learned that there are "generations" of hulls ?? Winchester has made adjustments 3 times to the AA hull in recent years so your old grey hull could be any of the various types.

Now I load Winchester but I prefer Federal. The problem these days is that Federal Hulls are getting harder to find.
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Was there a third adjustment to the 12 gauge? I know there was with the 28 but not the 12.

The old style one-piece AA 12 gauge remains my favourite and I still have a good supply. The newer two-piece AA hulls aren't as good but are readily found on the ground at our club left by shooters who don't enjoy the delights of reloading.

I was having some wad cocking problems with the newer style hulls but Claybuster (no relation) seems to have slightly changed the base of its CB 0178-12 and the problem is resolved. I haven't had any other major problems with the new style AA. I've had a couple split down the side but not nearly as often as Win/64.

When my older AA hulls are used up I will probably switch to Federal GM hulls but only for 12 gauge. I've tried them before and liked them for consistency and longevity but had serious problems with the 28 gauge GM hulls. With Lawry's not far from here I can get Federals anytime.
 
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No particular problems "new" silver AA's - so far , but then again, I've only loaded about 2000 of them. Did have some problems with the new style RED "AA's ( c. 2003/4 ? ) ... These FACTORY red's were splitting on the first firing ! - 4 flats, all from the same lot, nearly a quarter would be split longitudinally - and of those that didn't, about half would split on the second or third reload. Concerned enough that I tried them in two more guns and checked the chamber/headspace dimensions. Trashed all of those hulls ... and subsequent ammo from the the following years revealed no issues.

I still have a couple of 45 gallon drums of once-fired "old-style" AA's, in 12 & 20, that should hold me for a while yet, as well as maybe 5 or 6 thousand Federal GM's which load-up very well with "Federal" type wads (for the straight-walled hulls) The few hundred RST's I played with so far seem, by far, to be the best hull there is these days -an opinion shared by many ... I just hope Remington doesn't follow in Winchester's foot- steps to screw-up their product.
 
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