Choosing hulls to reload?

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BigV

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I have a shot gun reloading press promised to me, though I have yet to pick it up. Is it worth spending the extra money to buy a flat of Winchester AA trap loads just to keep the hulls for reloading?
I see all kinds of guys at the trap field picking through the spent shells and only taking certain kinds of hulls for reloading, I'm guessing some are better than others? I have asked at the range but it usually starts an argument about who likes which shell the best and the conversation quickly gets way over my head. Brands aside, what makes a particular hull good or bad for reloading or what should a newb look for if they are picking through the spent shell bucket? For now, my reloading will be strictly for trap.
 
Go with a Compression Formed Hull ( if you look at the hull it has a metal head and the rest is all one piece of plastic )
The two most common Compresson formed hulls are OLD Winchester AA hulls, and Remington Target Hulls.
The new Winchester AA hulls are OK but they are made of 2 plastic parts ( base wad & tube )
With a 1 piece hull + metal head there is nothing to come apart and cause a problem.
The cheaper Remington Gun Club Target hulls have a brass plated steel head making them a bit harder to push thorugh a sizer then the brass heads on their STS hulls.
For more info I would suggest you get a copy of the Lyman 5th Edition Shot Shell Handbook.
 
I reload only grey, Winchester AA now. I've tried a bunch of others and the AA's are the most consistent. Remington STS are okay and Federal Gold Medal as well. Remington Gunclub's are inconsistent in length, so you get inconsistent crimps, and go nuts trying to adjust the machine. I finally trimmed all the gunclub's I had to get nice crimps, but that is a pain! Load only one kind of hull, so you don't have to keep adjusting the machine, and never try to load a bunch of different ones at the same time or you will end up hairless because they all require slightly different adjustment to the loader. Trap clubs often have these good hulls for sale. Finally, use only one piece hulls. Never reuse hulls with a separate base wad, as that wad will come loose on the second or third firing, and will lodge in the barrel, and blow up your gun on the next shot. The worst one for this problem, I have found, is the ubiquitious[cause they are cheap], Federal Topgun with the paper base wad.
 
Good advice DON, and as he says, the grey AA's are two piece but I don't count them as such because they never come apart.
 
More so than rifle or pistol brass, the relatively significant differences in internal capacity between various shotgun hulls mean that you should tailor your load to the particular hull that you've chosen to reload. Those that reload Win AA hulls tend to stick with only that hull (this is why reloaders look for specific hulls at the trap/skeet range), whereas those with Rem or Fed hulls also stick with the one type of hull for safety and consistency reasons. Reloading manuals for shotgun loads (DO NOT RELOAD WITHOUT ONE!) give specific loads for each hull/wad/powder/primer combination. That said, those old Win AA compression-formed hulls mentioned above are just that: OLD! It's been at least 10 years, likely more, since Win switched over to the two-piece hulls so it's going to be hard to find a good supply of new or once-fired old style one-piece hulls. I've reloaded thousands upon thousands of both AA versions and never had separation issues with either; they're both great hulls.

So when you're going through the spent shell bucket, pick the one type of hull that you already reload and only pick once-fired hulls. If you're not sure if it's a once-fired hull, then leave it in the bucket! ;-)
 
So I have whats left of a flat of Rem Gun clubs. While I understand from the post above they are harder to resize, would it be worth keeping those and also using those to compare to other spent hulls to judge what is worth and what's not worth keeping? I'm having trouble visualizing what to look for with a compression formed hull, but I have no doubt someone at the range can show me what to look for.
 
What I meant about the Remington Gun Club's is that they are not all the same length. That means you get some really gnarly crimps. Once I made a little jig for length, and trimmed them all to a consistent length, they worked great, but the trimming part is a pain. I haven't found that the color of the base of the hull is of any consequence. I second Don's advice about the Lyman Handbook. It tells you what hulls to use, and how they are made.
 
I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that unless your reloading buckshot, slugs, or custom trap loads it's cheaper to buy a flat then it is to reload unless you get your lead shot for free or close to it.
 
dirtytwo said:
Reloading manuals for shotgun loads (DO NOT RELOAD WITHOUT ONE!) give specific loads for each hull/wad/powder/primer combination.
Click to expand...

This is the best advice you can get for reloading shot shells. Unlike metallic cartridges which are much stronger and can withstand MUCH higher operating pressures, shotgun hulls, being mainly plastic, can only withstand far lower pressures. Whereas metallic cases can often withstand the pressure increases of several grains of powder, an increase of even a half grain of powder or use of straight wall wad in a taper wall hull can dangerously increase the operating pressure. Do not deviate from the data in the reloading manuals.

That is another good reason to pick and stay with a well known and commonly available shotgun hull. Off brands may use scarce and hard to find powders and wads which cannot easily be replicated or substituted for. Your best bets are Winchester AAs, Remington STS (or equivalent) and Federal Gold Medal for which there is lots of data and components available.
 
Spawn-Inc said:
I'm surprised no one has mentioned yet that unless your reloading buckshot, slugs, or custom trap loads it's cheaper to buy a flat then it is to reload unless you get your lead shot for free or close to it.
Click to expand...

While not in this thread, that has been mentioned to me in the past. It's actually why I haven't bothered till now. I came into a reloader by accident, friend of a friend of a friend that was cleaning out the basement so I don't mind throwing a couple bucks at it to see if I enjoy it or not.
Thanks to everyone for the advice so far. I will be buying a good manual for sure before I start.
 
i like the older red AA hulls for reloading since they seem to be esier to size, and last longer i have some that are on their 16'th reload, while i have had some only last about 8 reloads before they crack or break. but i do use anything i can get my hands on. they all work, some may size or load better than other but at the end of the day it is just a shotgun, not a precion rifle.my other favorites are the winchester/federal low base target rounds from the cheap bulkpacks of 100rounds, dominion high brass, and winchester high brass hulls last year i brought out a 5gal pail full of homeload slugs and i only had a few get stuck in the chamber ith the bulkpack hulls. birdshot usualy is pretty expensive now, so i would sugest maybe trying to talk someone into a good deal for a few bags to make it worth it. for my loading i like to use 33.5gr of HS6 powder for all my birdshot and slugs/roundballs.

heres a photo os some of my hulls that i like using...
 
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