shot shell life

[tacmedicp94]

I recently was cleaning out my grandmothers garage when I came across approx. 500 AA shotgun hulls that were apparently my grandfathers. He passed away about 20yrs. ago and was not actively shooting/reloading for at least 10 years before he passed. The hulls were marked in bags once fired and twice fired but my brother thought it would be a good idea to put them all in one bag for easier transport:banghead: All of these hulls appear to be in good condition but they are all AT LEAST 30yrs old. Anybody know if they are still good to shoot?

On another note, anyone know on average how many times a shotshell can be reloaded? I'm reloading almost exclusively AA hulls and some of them are on their 3rd reloading with no obvious signs of wear.


thanks adam

 

[Galil5.56]

I have hulls going on about the same age, and they seem to load fine. Times reloaded, not age has been how I evaluate hulls. I like these older true compression formed hulls best, as I found the newer compression hulls to split much easier (different plastic?), and I really don't like the newer two piece ones at all.

For me loading HV Dove loads, I can get at least 10 reloads, and I have used some WAAAAY past that in areas where hull loss was an almost certainty. My stash of very old once fired AA hulls is dwindling, and I wish they made them like this today.

 

[rcmodel]

+1

The old AA's like you have are way better then new ones.

You can reload them until crimp splits make them unusable any longer.

rcmodel

 

[Afy]

What about the really vintage paper hulls...

 

[rcmodel]

The base wad is the first to go on them. Then the primers fall out when you put them in.

Oh, and older Remingtons used a wierd size primer.

rcmodel

 

[Galil5.56]

Many years ago I used to load Federal papers with C1 wads, Red Dot, and Fed 209's to almost exactly duplicate the factory loading. They are good for a few uses, but got pinhole burns just above the brass pretty quick. Also loaded some slugs with these hulls too.

I do however LOVE the way they smelled freshly fired.

 

[ReloaderFred]

Paper hulls that are still in fairly good shape can be renewed to a certain degree in the oven. You stand them on the open mouth and heat the oven to about 150 degrees F. When the shells get warm, then you take them out and let them cool. This redistributes the wax to the crimp area and you'll get several more loads from them.

This used to be common practice, but is relatively unknown to the newer generations of shooters.

Hope this helps.

Fred

PS: Don't do this to plastic shells!!

 

[ReloaderFred]

I still have some Remington # 57 primers...........

Fred

 

[Galil5.56]

The base wad is the first to go on them. Then the primers fall out when you put them in.

Oh, and older Remingtons used a wierd size primer.

Yeah, I did keep a watchful eye on base wads, as I only used them in an O/U for easy inspection of a possible obstruction... Some of the very first reloads I ever did were using those funky 157 sized primers... Glad to see em go.

 

[tacmedicp94]

Thanks folks I was fairly certain they were ok to reload but yalls input puts my mind at ease. I am however going to put the 4lbs or so of powder I found in an old metal container on my garden. It's the same age as the hulls and has Red Dot written on the side with permanent marker.

adam

 

[rcmodel]

Heck, the powder is probably still good too!

Are there red dots in it at all?
Are the red dots still red?

Any funky acid smell when you open the can?

If yes, yes & no to those questions, load it & shoot it!

rcmodel

 

[tacmedicp94]

I thought about loading one shell with the old powder. Instead I lit a small pile of new Red Dot next to a pile of the old. The new stuff went up in a poof (like it's supposed to) and the old stuff took about three min to fizzle it's way through the powder. Did I mention that the container wasn't sealed very well?

adam