Best 20 G hull

[William Davis]

Looking for the best 20 G hull for my two Trojans. Only junk euro hulls available picked up from bins around here. Bought a flat of 20 g STS used them in my 870 then loaded with 3/4 oz 20/28 and Winchester 209s.

High primers giving me trouble. One Trojan well worn closes nice on the shells. Other, almost unfired gun closes tight at times on the same shell. It’s the primer causing trouble. Figured I would go ahead and pay the Haz and shipping fees & get some Remington primers. Comes out to nearly 80 dollars a thousand

Is a flat of AA 20s and staying all Winchester the answer ? My grandson would make quick work of the AAs in the 870.

William

[C.O.B.]

Are you looking for 2 3/4 inch hulls? Do you want to reload them? I have used Chedditte hulls with great success but I have gone to 2 1/2 inch hulls and use the RST hull. When I shot registered skeet the AA or STS hulls worked fine. Make sure you getting the primer fully seated in the hull. I have had some difficulty when using a Rem primer in a AA hull esp in 28ga.

[Richard Flanders]

The high primer issue in the STS hull is indeed an issue between the nose profile on Remington primers being radiused and other primers which are not. When Remington fits the base to their hull they somehow use heat which generates a large melted plastic burr at the end of primer hole that pushes any non-radiussed primer(WW) back out a bit, which is, as you have learned, is very aggravating. You can remediate the issue by taking a General brand tapered reamer and removing some of the burr on every hull. Been there on this one, especially, I think on STS 28ga hulls. Get rid of that burr and the issue is solved, but it's a time-consuming project. I do think that, in general and with the exception of the older and heavier WinAA hulls, the STS are the best small gauge hulls, though, so I have actually reamed a large batch of mine. The newer Win AA 20ga hulls generally last no more than 2 reloads for me, and often not even the original firing, before splitting at the mouth.

[William Davis]

2 3/4 is fine with me. I use Cheddites in my 16 g loads out of necessity, if I can avoid them for other gauges so much the better.

I might try that ream the primer pocket trick on the STS hulls I have on hand. If the AA hulls only go a few loads before splitting would be hard to keep up with demand using a pump to empty factory shells. I don’t like factory 20 G shells in my SXS guns. Safe but not pleasant.

Let you guys know how it worked out

William

[Richard Flanders]

It definitely works. Some you can ream from the back end, others need some reaming from the mouth end. Seems I remember that I did most of mine from the mouth end. The General reamers are readily available from many box and hardware stores.

[William Davis]

Boy you guys showed me something !

I went to my pin punch set. Found one that mikes .2315. It goes in AA primer pockets from the breech end nice fit, and all the way through to the inside of the hull. STS and a old Remington Peters “skeet” goes in the pocket and stops short. Shorter than a primer.

Put a tapered hand reamer in the two Remington hulls from the mouth few twist and the pin punch slides in same fit as the AA hull.

Going to make a 50 shell run ream and load, see if it’s a cure.

William

[Ken Hill]

I like the Rem STS hull and never had a problem with the win209 primers.

The new AA shells will sometimes buckle during reloading; even the once fired shells. I also had them split after firing so I stayed with the Rem STS hulls.

Since you are using hulls after being fired in a different gun, are you resizing the hulls during reloading?

Ken

[Richard Flanders]

Glad to help William. It's definitely a cure if you make sure to ream enough of the plastic burr out.

[Gary Laudermilch]

I have loaded many thousands of STS 20's with Win 209 primers and never had a problem. The problem is getting the hulls. They are like gold. I have been experimenting with the new Rem Clay/Field hulls. I have run some through 7 reloads and they held up well. Certainly a viable alternative to STS hulls.

[Richard Flanders]

My encounter with this issue was primarily with 28ga STS hulls. I assure you, though, that William is not making this up. If his primers backed out, he has the same issue with his 20ga hulls. His experimenting with a reamer is proof of concept for the cure.