Picking up shotgun shells.

[HAWKEYE10]

I got a new Remington 1100 12 gauge and I am going to start loading for it. It being a semi automatic I have to pick up the empty hulls. When shooting skeet there is so many shells laying on the ground it's almost impossible to know witch is mine. Is there a way to mark the hulls so I can easily see witch are mine? Don

 

[arjay]

Mark them with a sharpie or use an unpopular brand (if you can find the right wads)

 

[Lodogg2221]

Pick em all up and toss the ones you dont want.
Really though, unless everyone else is shooting Estates or Rio, there isnt a good reason NOT to pick them all up.

Remington STS hulls, along with their ribbed gun club and black economy hulls all load the same.

Winchesters newer AA hulls arent as good as the old ones, but again, I pick them all up.

Personally, I load all the hulls with the same components. Ive never had an issue, though I did go through all the data to make sure I could get away with it. Velocity doesnt vary enough to matter in the load I use.
Plus, its nice to be able to have a bunch of shells you dont have to worry about picking up if its snowing, or they go down an embankment, etc, like when shooting sporting clays.

I use 18gr of Clays, Win 209 primers, and CB1100 wads, with 1oz of #8. Its about 1200 fps. They all cycled my 1100 when I had it, and my Dads Super X 1, and older 1100, and my Brothers 11-87.

The club I used to shoot at had a lot of guys buying the Estates. A few of us even loaded them for a one time throw away shell. They worked just fine too, but I have so many others, I threw most of those out.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Like mentioned.....Grab every hull you can and sort them out at the house. Toss the old and bad ones and be careful with the paper base wads like federal and estates. I like the all plastic hulls best. Uni-hulls are top of the line like the Rem sts hulls.

You can go 8lbs of Promo if just "Plinking" or go the Red Dot powder that is the most used in trap loads, over the years.
Unique or Green Dot works for the heavy handicap loads if
18grs of Red Dot does not work out for you.

Just need to know if the hulls are tapered or straight wall design to get the correct wads, maybe a claybuser wad, cost wise ?

With the cost of lead these days maybe 1oz would work the best for your shooting but I use just 7/8oz loads with 16.5grs of Red Dot for my trap practice loads in the Rem or WinAA hulls....... fed209a or win 209 primers will work.

Good shooting.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

I have more AA hulls than anyone could ever need. Let me know if you ever are coming up I 81 and you can have a few thousand if you like. SILVER & RED --

 

[HAWKEYE10]

I have more AA hulls than anyone could ever need. Let me know if you ever are coming up I 81 and you can have a few thousand if you like. SILVER & RED --

Thanks J.R. that is mighty nice of you. Who knows I may make it up your way one of these days. Don

 

[SMSgt]

Pick them up and load them. Just make sure you size them properly. I've bought bagfuls of once fired WW shells before and none had a problem functioning after reloading.

 

[BlueOvalBandit]

Get some federal papers, not to many people I see shoot them. Not to mention you can sniff them between stations, they smell good.

 

[rwsmith]

Get some fluorescent paint

Shoot the sides of the shells with fluorescent spray paint. They should be easy enough to see then.

 

[perrazi]

make sure the club will allow this. some clubs, once they hit the ground they belong to the club.

 

[SMSgt]

make sure the club will allow this. some clubs, once they hit the ground they belong to the club.

Who paid for the shells? Nuff said.

 

[Lodogg2221]

Who paid for the shells? Nuff said.

Exactly. When I was shooting a ton, a few years back (6-8k per year), Id LOVE to see someone tell me I couldnt pick up my empties. Back then they were going for about 5 cents each.
Cant pick up my own property? Yeah, right. Good luck with that....
Around here that place would be out of business. Out of the 25 or so regulars we had, only 2 bought shells. And only about 8 of us had O/U's, where they didnt hit the ground too often.

 

[Nevada Ed]

Picking up your empty hulls..........

That is why they make shell catches for all pumps and auto's.

The club can ask you to not pick up the hulls but in these times, most clubs are glad for the business and look the other way.

The Reno trap club is closing end of October if it can't find some one to lease the grounds to. Enjoy it while you can !!

 

[FishingPilot]

I use odd color hulls from ballistic products
http://www.ballisticproducts.com/URL]
already primed and ready to go.

 

[TSQUARED]

I use many different hulls but use either 7/8 or 3/4 oz. loads for 12 ga skeet. I tend to use either Promo or WAA Lite in 12 ga. Lots of data on the Hodgdon and Alliant websites.

 

[Nevada Ed]

When picking up "Stray Hulls"...............
make sure you full size the "Brass" back to spec's so they will fit into your chambers.

I did not do this on some Federal "Gun Club" type hulls and the rim caught a metal edge on my over & under and the "Brass" peeled back like a banana and would not let the action close.

Hulls that "Form" to your guns chamber, usually do not need to be resized unless you are shooting magnum loads with high brass hulls.

As a note;
Some only reload the paper base wad type hulls one time and toss them since the paper section could break loose and go down the barrel. Morning dew or water from the clubs sprinklers can damage the felt wads, make sure they are dry and if in doubt let them lay.
I always open my O/U and check for a clean barrel when using this type of hull.

Good shooting.

 

[J. R. WEEMS]

Thanks J.R. that is mighty nice of you. Who knows I may make it up your way one of these days. Don

Don, be glad to ship you a couple large flat rate boxes as well??? No charge for the hulls at all.

 

[Wee Hooker]

Pick em all up and toss the ones you dont want.
Really though, unless everyone else is shooting Estates or Rio, there inst a good reason NOT to pick them all up.

Remington STS hulls, along with their ribbed gun club and black economy hulls all load the same.

Winchesters newer AA hulls arent as good as the old ones, but again, I pick them all up.

Personally, I load all the hulls with the same components. Ive never had an issue, though I did go through all the data to make sure I could get away with it. Velocity doesnt vary enough to matter in the load I use.
Plus, its nice to be able to have a bunch of shells you don't have to worry about picking up if its snowing, or they go down an embankment, etc, like when shooting sporting clays.

I use 18gr of Clays, Win 209 primers, and CB1100 wads, with 1oz of #8. Its about 1200 fps. They all cycled my 1100 when I had it, and my Dads Super X 1, and older 1100, and my Brothers 11-87.

The club I used to shoot at had a lot of guys buying the Estates. A few of us even loaded them for a one time throw away shell. They worked just fine too, but I have so many others, I threw most of those out.

+1 I use and love the same load of lead and clays in both Win AA and Rem STS hulls too.
That said, to be clear to the newbie original poster, this one of the few instances where it is OK to interchange these two hulls. With many powders/loads, you cannot use them (or any other hull) interchangeably. In shotgun loading, substitution of ANY component without proper research is a sure way to blow up a gun (or worse).

ps. FWIW, with the current price of shot, powder and primers (assuming you can find them), I'm finding that savings for reloading 12 or 20 ga is only like $1/box over what I can buy new shells for right at the club. Consequently, the only shot shells I load now are for 28 and 410 which tend to run over $11/box for factory fodder.
hth

 

[arjay]

You could buy a nice stack barrel ;-)

 

[perrazi]

SMSgt- around here you obey club rules or go somewhere else. apparently you haven't shot much registered trap or skeet. those are the rules at most larger gun clubs everywhere.