Winchester Low Recoil Shells

[John Davis]

I’ve considered using these for the first shot in doubles trap.

[Cold Spring]

Just my perspective, I load any/all 12g clays shells to 1150-70 speed. That can be done at relatively low pressures. If I go under that speed range I can see a perceptible delay as the pellets get out to mid and to longer range clays; and inversely, those time delays increase as the speed decreases. And with lesser speed shells I have to increase the lead (forward allowance) on crossers and wide quartering birds. I suppose the low speed shells are OK if that's all you shoot; your subconscious will adjust accordingly. But that can lead to a mind game when shooting faster loads for longish targets or heavier loads for humane hunting. Again, this is just my take on low speed 12g shells.

[Ed Blake]

I spoke to a Winchester rep on their helpline, probably 20 years ago, when they had a helpline with a real live person helping the customer. I was told then that these shells run about 8,500 psi.

[Drew Hause]

Ed: Are you sure that wasn't the Xtra-Lite load?

The old Winchester Reloader’s Manual, 15th Edition
https://www.appuntidiricarica.com/pl...rs-Manual-.pdf
Lists the 12g AA Xtra-Lite 1 oz. at 1180 fps - 7,300 & 7,400 psi

Independent testing of Old AACF Xtra-Lite 1 oz. WAAL12 was 8000 psi
The new AAHS Xtra-Lite Target 1 oz. AAL12 was 8,760

[Chris Riley]

Attached is a pdf of the WAALite load data from the Hodgdn website. I believe it contains the load data Harold circulated. At the end of the day, it would be great if Winchester could provide definitive pressure for the low recoil low noise shotshell now being sold.

[Ed Blake]

Drew I’m pretty sure it was the Low recoil, Low noise AAs. It’s been a long time but it was a Board discussion similar to this. I stopped using them because there wasn’t enough bang for the buck, so to speak. I thought they were anemic.

[Jay Oliver]

Thanks for posting Chris, it looks like for the loads at 970fps the preasure is low enough. One of the reasons, I made this post is that I was surprised how well I shot with these and they are readily available. They were fun to shoot and were easy on the gun.

They shot better that I would have thought given the velocity. In my opinion a good possible option for the non-reloader.

[Chris Riley]

The following are the question posed to Winchester Customer Support and the answer received:

“Question: Concerning your Winchester AA low recoil low noise target load shotshell with the 26 gram load of #8 lead shot and a velocity of 980 fps, can you kindly provide the pressure for this load? Thanks very much!”


“Answer: The information you requested is considered proprietary information and is not published, sorry for the inconvenience.”

From this response, one must reasonably conclude that the powder in the AA LR/LN Target Load shotshell is not WAALite because the WAALite load data has been published, is in the public domain, and is not proprietary. Thus, the WAALite data would not apply to the 980 fps AA shells in question.

[Jim McKee]

I talked with Tom Armbrust today about the PSI of the current Winchester AA Low Recoil, Low Noise 26 gram # 8 shot factory loads (AA12FL8).
He is not aware of any PSI change but has not tested them recently.
So I will be sending him 5 rounds to test hopefully next week.
I will post his findings.

[Jim McKee]

Looking back over the PGCA forum information posted about Chamber Pressures:
8-31-2016 Chamber Pressures by Bruce Day
3-11-2014 Chamber Pressures for 12 gauge VH
12-23-2009 Parkers and Pressures?

this provides some interesting reading