Armory Sponsor
Posted: 11/7/2008 3:05:40 PM EDT
pic is a sampling of some shells I got the other day in a trade locally. I have a large tub full of shells and some look like this. They have been reloaded before, how many times?? I don't know. I'm just going to trash the ones that look like these but I thought I'd post a pic and see if anyone has run across this before.
|
|
I shoot skeet with guys who shoot their old .410 AA hulls until they separate, nothing ejects but the brass or steel base.
The hulls in your pix don't look like they have been reloaded a lot, the crimp ends aren't feathered much. They are odd looking at the base though, would a 3" chamber do that? I'd trash them too. |
|
The (2) on the left appear to be first fire.. The more they is fired, the crease in the in the crimp folds get darker, and the overall fold gets darker.
The 2 on right may be 1 fire, as I cannot see any marks on the base from prior sizing, the picture seems to have a lot of yellow about it. If you going to trash them now, put them in box and send to me. |
|
That is from resizing, not from seperation. The plastics used will stretch far more than brass before failure and the minor heat of firing "anneals" the plastic. Yes, similar to metals, thermoplastics anneal with heat. Thermosets, which are NOT used, generally do not anneal.
Besides, the sealing element is the metal head, not the plastic. What about all plastic hulls? They have a metal lip in them which provides resistance to pressure. |
|
None of those hulls have been fired very many times. The two on the left are probably once fired, the other two have been fired only two or three times.
Don't toss 'em, they're nowhere near ready. I shoot 12 gauge until they split at the crimp, although sometimes the side splits first. Two years ago I made a hull conditioner out of a tapered piece of wood. The mandrel is a long #8 machine screw. The wood plug is mounted with star washers and nuts on each end, the conditioner is chucked in my drill press, then the conditioner is run down into each hull to smooth the crimp on 28 gauge hulls. This makes the crimp after the third firing much easier and clean. I've never needed to do this with 12 gauge hulls. |
|
New style AA's are garbage to me, I don't even save them, just trash 'em. Old style aren't as good as Remington STS hulls, even the Remington Gun Clubs load up nice but the newer ones with nickel plated "brass" head catch on the rim and keep my o/u from closing properly. The old style Gun Clubs with the brass head are great |
| I've got a shitload of AA hulls and none of them have stretched like that... Some have probably been loaded and fired a dozen times now(2 3/4" and 3" chambers). My load is pretty damn warm compared to 95% of factory stuff. IIRC, it's something like a 4 3/8 dram equivalent and 1 1/8th ounce of shot. Kills on both ends. |
|
Quoted:
New style AA's are garbage to me, I don't even save them, just trash 'em. Old style aren't as good as Remington STS hulls, even the Remington Gun Clubs load up nice but the newer ones with nickel plated "brass" head catch on the rim and keep my o/u from closing properly. The old style Gun Clubs with the brass head are great AssaultRifler, how can you tell if it is a "new style" AA shell? Does the new style have a pronounced taper toward the case head? I have a bunch that look different internally, they look to be a one piece compression formed hull but the plastic is thicker than the grey AA's. I read on another forum that an AA hull is a AA hull and they all load the same. Any info would be helpful as I am new to shotshell reloading, not so new to metallic reloading thanks to you and this forum. |
|
Quoted: AssaultRifler, how can you tell if it is a "new style" AA shell? Does the new style have a pronounced taper toward the case head? I have a bunch that look different internally, they look to be a one piece compression formed hull but the plastic is thicker than the grey AA's. I read on another forum that an AA hull is a AA hull and they all load the same. Any info would be helpful as I am new to shotshell reloading, not so new to metallic reloading thanks to you and this forum. Shine a light down the hull, if you see a ridge about where the wad would seat it's the new style 3 piece hull, you can see the same ridge if you shine a bright light on one side of hte hull and look at the other. Old style hulls are smooth all the way inside the hull, they're one piece compression formed, the new style are glued from 2 pieces, outer tube, base wad section. Wads tend to snag where the ridge forms on the new style hulls. Old style hulls dont feel as slick as the newer style, the plastic is different. |
|
Quoted: Thanks AR, there is a definate ridge where the wad would seat..I'll have to break out the trusty dremel out of curiosity. Is the data the same for this new style hull? ETA: Winchester's reponse, they said to check with MEC, searched for MEC's suggestion on how to adjust the crimp for AA's but couldnl't find it http://www.winchester.com/contactus/faq/faqview.aspx?questionid=160&question=AA&history=1&searchby=2&sortby=3&category=14 |
|
I bought a complete setup, used, from the local ffl. Old MEC Versa-MEC. I ASSUME it is already set-up for these hulls as the deal included 1k+ mixed shells, old and new styles. I am going to separate a few grey hulls and load 'em up.
Thanks for all your help AR. |
| The MEC website has manuals available for download. Also, the new AA hulls should have "HS" stamped into the brass head. Also, like someone else pointed out, they are a multipiece hull rather than the one piece compression formed hull that they used to be. IMO, the new AA hull sucks. When the ones I've got give it up, I'll switch 100% to remington STS. |
I'm selling all my rifles and buying shotties! No more case trimming, no more tumbling, no more case lube yada yada yada....just kidding..thought I'd share my first shotshell reloads with 'yall. I wasn't going to use these grey cases, but upon further examination, and insight from here and other forums, I loaded them up. The area I was concerned with near the case head seems to be common among all the examples I have of the "old" style AA case. The red ones have it too, and I have some that look nearly new and the ring is visible upon close inspection. I think the silvery/grey color highlights this area and just looks odd. I will let you know if they perform well....or not.
the load is.. 1 1/8 oz 7 1/2 shot 18g Green Dot WAA12 wad Win 209 primer A fairly light load with lower pressures than most loads listed. It's amazing how much pressure difference there is by just changing wads! Thanks to everyone for their input, now to buy more shotties! |
Armory Sponsor