I have used both STS and Gun Clubs in 20ga 3/4oz Clay Buster wad with chedditte primers. I much prefer the gun club to STS, I get much better crimps. The STS hulls are thicker at the mouth which causes a slight mushroom at the mouth making it necessary to push the shell into the chamber of my Fox, I don't have this issue with the Gun Clubs with the same MEC 9000 press. Also make sure your resizing to suit your chamber---Foxes are normally tight.

Running them in a Ponsness Warren 375 sizes the whole case. Shell drops in the chamber fine. The Trojan with light use gets the occasional hard to close. Well worn Trojan never happened . Took me a while to figure it out. Even stripped the gun and polished the cocking slide thinking it was a gun issue . it was hard to open too.

Finally painted dozen loaded shells heads with layout die. Scrapes on the hard to opens were on the primers . Friend of mine has same interment issue with Remington Gun Clubs in a Beretta 687.

If I pay attention to pushing the press operating handle real hard no high primers. But something was hanging up when seating for sure.

William

Craig, the last station on your 9000 should taper the mouth of the shell. Do you use it?

Yes I do Chuck. But before I get a good taper it crushes the sts hull. No issue with the gun clubs with exactly the same press settings. I was so frustrated with the sts hulls I called mec technical support. They offered no suggestions. Maybe the design of the 3/4oz wad???

Craig, years ago I loaded a ton of Gun Clubs and then they began to vary in overall length which caused erratic crimps so I switched to STSs. When first loading the STS I encountered the problem you describe. The solution was to adjust the press. I increased the crimp starter a wee bit, adjusted the crimp die to put less pressure on the outside but a bit more on the center punch, and slightly increased the finishing die. Problem solved and I have shot these shells in 7 different 20's with no discernable difference in any of them.

As an aside, last year I loaded some new gun clubs with 3/4 oz loads so I could easily tell them apart from 7/8 oz loads. The plastic on the newer gun clubs was so stiff that the press handle pressure was so excessive I gave up after a few hundred rounds. Then I tried the Field/Clay hulls and found them to be nearly identical to the STS in crimp quality, longevity, and interior volume. I've loaded quite a few 3/4 oz loads with the CB1075-20 wad and they work beautifully. No press adjustments required.

I'm no fan of the STS 28ga hull. The end frosts after firing and case life is crap. For me the old AA hull is superior and fortunately I have lots of them. Using the correct new HS wad helps in that hull and IMHO it 's a better hull than the STS.

Gary thanks so much for the tip I will give it a try.Craig Larter

Many guys may not have a tapered reamer. Just select a drill bit that goes in the primer hole, around 15/64, and you can cut the plastic out. I did it about 10 years ago on 28ga and it worked great. I've never had the problem with 20 or 12ga Remingtons.

Just finished 50 it’s quick work with a reamer. I used a pin gage to check & make sure I did not over open. Load them tomorrow & test them in my Trojan

Will see

William

Best 20 Ga. Hull
 

Have any of you 20 Ga. Reloader's tried the Remington Hull with the yellow Plastic base wad?? I did load up some of these hulls couple of weeks ago and they did what I wanted done. ((Field Loads)) I found that the Federal wad is larger in diameter than some of the other wads, and worked well. The loads shot very well, clean burning and good velocity. I most likely load at higher pressures than some of you, but the hulls held up good. No Primer issues, Crimps were 6 point, and I loaded them four or five times working up a load. I think I may like these hulls. Just a thought :) David