What are the drawbacks of RST paper loads?
 

I am somewhat intrigued by the rst paper loads. Can anyone tell me anything negative or positive about them?

If you mean paper wads then you'll get some leading of the barrel that you wouldn't get with plastic wads. Patterns will also be slightly more open. The lead will come out with a Tornado brush.

If you mean paper hulls, I would say that limited reloadability is a negative to any Paper hull.

IMHO there are NO drawbacks to any of the RST product line. I just received 6 boxes of 2.5 inch paper in both 16 & 20.

I get an average of four loadings using the paper Cheddites 16 gauge hulls Grafs used to sell which is on par with the plastic Cheddites. I get about the same results with some new old stock primed empty Federal paper 16s I picked up a few years ago. They don't compete well with the old Winchester compression formed hull or Remington STS but four reloads for us 16 shooters isn't all that bad when considering all of the currently available hulls.

Shoot 2-1/2" 16-ga paper hulls through all of my 16's. No problems, the empties smell great and make a nice warm sound rattling around in my game bag. I have been cautioned that they might swell if they get wet but I have never had any problem.

So how do you avoid the paper getting all messed up and wanting to curl in on itself when reloading? When putting the wads, and shot card in. Are you roll crimping or folding?

My regular grouse load in 16 gauge is RST papers and I like them a lot. I don't reload any 16 gauge, but the RST papers seem to have a thin wall (as compared with Federal 12 gauge papers) and I wouldn't be surprised to learn they split easily if reloaded. The difference in wall stiffness may be easily felt with a fingernail. Actually the RST paper hulls remind me of Fiocchi 12 gauge paper hulls that have a thin wall and won't stand up to repeated reloading.

Just for info - I load tons of Federal papers in 12 gauge on a MEC 9000 progressive press. That's with a 6 point crimp. With moderate pressure loads I'll get 4 reloads without burnthroughs just above the base. Higher pressure loads will last for 3 reloads. The wad guide fingers on the MEC allow the plastic wad column to enter without fraying or damaging the mouth of the hull. What I've written here applies to the newer Federal paper hulls. I had a batch from once fired shells that I bought in 2006 and they often split after 2-3 loadings. I've also loaded a lot of Federal "Champion" paper hulls from the days of yore and they will last for 4 moderate reloads. Thus the newer Federal 12 ga papers seem to be on par with the Champions.

I once ordered two flats of shells from RST with a few boxes of cardboard mixed in. I went away for the weekend and left a note on the door asking UPS to put the boxes in the cab of the pickup truck, but the driver put them in the bed of my truck. At some point over the weekend it poured and the shells were in 4" of water for at least a day, the cases and all the boxes fell apart when I tried to pick them up. I spread them all out in the sun for a few hours, out of both cases of ammo EVERY shell fired without a problem, even the cardboard!!

Have shot a number of Grouse and Woodcock with paper RST ,they work great and smell good. Another great paper shell is the Federal Gold Medal Paper, I use there 3 dram - 1 1/8 oz - 7 1/2 for Grouse and Woodcock ,they are hotter than RST shells but really work great and I believe they will work in most Parkers.