Uhh, (cough cough) speak for yourself, Youngster. I learned reloading on those old paper hulls.
I don't feel young after roughing it with my nephews these last 3 days at deer
CAMP! 0 degrees Friday night/sat morn! The propane heater decided it was too cold to work!!
Yeah I started loading the then new AA and Remington express plastic shells, but the old paper was still around in quantity. I still remember the first box of Remington express duck loads I bought in 1958. They sure were pretty, clear enough to see the powder, shot and wad. They also worked much better than the old paper shells. They advertised them as being waterproof with their heat sealed star crimp.
If you do reload spent Hulls, yo DO need to seriously look at the Base Wad construction.
Yup and HEIGHT. low base wads allow more room for components, but the most important was the SHAPE of the base wad. The AA shells had a specific shape for a reason. It was like a shaped charge directed at the base of the wad column. That allowed for up to a grain less powder to equal the 1200 fps standard for trap loads. That grain of powder savings meant a lot of cost savings for an ammunition company.
The AA case was also tapered at the bottom, also something new at that time. You HAD to use winchester wads, the others simply wouldn't fit in those tapered shells, bulging the cases.
The early Remington express high brass shells had a fiber composite base wad. If it got wet, it would come apart, sink to the bottom of the base. Also they had a smaller #57 primer or CCI#157, so you had to use a special primer to re-load them. Some squeezed/forced a 209 size primer into the smaller pocket, the result was the required pressure would collapse the fiber base wad over the primer flash hole. Bloopers were the order of the day then! Things are much better now, those fiber base wads are gone as well as the #57 primers.
That would probably be Herter's. Here is one from my collection:
I still have some of those Herters all plastic shells, mine are green. I also have some of those goofy "model perfect" spin off over shot wads. The extractor would often pull right through the plastic rim leaving the case in the chamber. Besides they shot awful with that heavy over shot wad in the way of the shot charge.
:banghead:
