AAHS

[gman]

Yesterday I took a gentleman out for the first time on our SC course. He was knowledgable and has hunted and shot throughout his life and across the country. When we chatted at the end he told me that he once had a shotgun blow up on him peeling the barrel like a banana and lacerating his arm. Upon inspection he found the internal base wad from a reloaded AA had seperated and plugged the barrel. The next round blew up the gun.This was his best guess on why it blew up and he switched to Remington hulls.
I have not seen this and have shot tens of thousands of AAHS reloads, most of which are 12 gauge around 7200 PSI and light 28 gauge. We sliced up a few empty reloaded hulls and it was obvious that the internal base hull was a little cooked. I have gotten many reloads from these hulls with lower pressures.
Has anyone seen this or have any thoughts? Makes me a little uneasy.

[Gary Laudermilch]

I load shells in the winter and shoot the remainder of the year. So, I have 3500 AAHS 12 ga hulls that I am cycling now and am on the fifth reload. To the best of my knowledge I have never had a base wad separate. However, I have had 4 instances where the entire plastic tube has partially separated from the metal head. I discovered them while reloading and noticed a hull much longer than the others. My current batch of hulls is a mix of red and grey and all of the separations have been on red hulls. I intend to scrap them after this firing despite the condition of the case mouth is still good and serviceable.

[charlie cleveland]

i once had a factory loaded remington 10 ga 3 1/2 incch shell that the brass and the plastic seperated...reason i found out another shell would not go into the barrel..the hull had stayed in the chamber i pulled it out with a knife...and i have had several 8 ga winchester brand hull that the bass wad was about 2/3 rds the way up the barrel..so i check my gun after every round i shoot in the 8 ga s....charlie

[Kensal Rise]

I wish someone could logically and scientifically explain this alleged phenomenon to me.

It seems to defy Newtonian laws. When the round goes off, pressure should be equal in ALL directions. Including BACK against the base wad.

The HS hull is a Reifenhauser type. And I've not heard of any Cheddites, Fiocchi or other such hulls doing this. Why not?

And... If Winchester knew this was a potential hazard, WHY would their legal staff allow this "flawed" design to subject the company to such liability??

Just a few of the "cosmic questions" this issue always bring up...

[Eric Estes]

I am sure the Newtonian laws are just fine. :-)
I would theorize that if the base wad becomes loose that upon firing, gases can get behind it. As the gases leave the barrel and pressure dissipates any gases trapped behind the base wad will likely escape a bit slower. And sometimes there might be just enough oomph of gas behind the wad to push it partially down the barrel as the pressure drops off. Just a thought.

[Billy Gross]

There were a lot of postings on Trapshooter.com on this subject when the HS hulls first came out. Several guns blew up and this was the suspected cause. Nothing was ever proved or acknowledged. The rumors were that the cement was then changed. I have not heard of this happening in the last few years. So, perhaps the issues was fixed with the newer HS hulls. Billy

[William Davis]

If it did happen it must of sounded "off" and a safe shooter would have checked the bore before loading the next shell. I shoot some very old paper hulls with black powder in my Lifter. Some will separate at the brass/paper join , you can tell with the sound. Old hulls I always look every shot .

New or many times loaded AAs have never seen that happen but any unusual sound look before loading .

William

[Mark Wallo]

Well I can tell you that I ringed the barrel of a Browning superposed with some of these three piece AA hulls that I had loaded. Both the upper barrel and the lower barrel. The gun didn't blow up but the barrels are ringed about 2/3s the way toward the muzzle. As to I should have heard it. I was shooting sporting clays and there were many shooters shooting around us. The noise around me would have made it hard to know that there was an issue with the previous shot. Shooting doubles the trigger finger is faster than the brain. These hulls were some of the first of this Winchester design. Never had an issue with the old one piece AA hulls. Maybe they are better now, I don't know. Mark