Winchester Xpert 12 ga hulls

[Gonehuntin']

Going to try reloading steel shot shellss soon, and I have been saving hulls from my friends and myself. I have a whole bucketful of empty Winchester Xpert Steel hulls in 2 3/4, 3 and a few 3 1/2s. (The cheaper stuff, well the only steel stuff at Wally World)I bought the fifth edition Lyman shotshell Handbook, but the closest matching hull in there is for 16 ga. Has anybody used these and if so, how well do they work? How many loads can you get out of one on average before the deteriorate too badly?Or are they even worth messing with?
New to shotshell reloading, appreciate tips.

[Hilgy]

Hey gonehuntin,

There are a few things to be aware of.

Not all hulls will reload well. I'm pretty sure that xpert hulls are two piece. Be very careful reloading these, they have a seperate tapered base cup that can come loose and end up in the barrel(winchester had the same problem when they switched the AA cases to a two piece.)

The second major problem would be not finding a load for your hulls.


My suggestion would be to try and find some Rem Nitro or some of the old Fed gold medal hulls, Both reload very well.


As far as number of loads to expect, it really depends on the hull and you loads. I only load the old AA(dont trust the new two piece) and can get 8-9 loads with my heavy sporting loads.


I should add that I dont load a ton of steel but have loaded thousands of lead shells.

Pm me if you need any more help.


Hilgy

[otto389]

I reload the cheapies from crappy tire and wally world,and like Hilgy, I get between 7 and 10 reloads before a piece of the fold goes away. Sometimes they crack at the fold as well then I junk them. I don't know what the price of steel shot is but the price of lead shot (I don't duck hunt)is stupid expensive.So I don't know how much (if any) cheaper it is to reload anymore.
Trevor M

[Dick284]

Find a reloading recipe book for steel loads, use only the components listed, if no one lists the Xpert hulls thn you have your answer.

My older RSI book lists Federal Gold Medal's as the hull of choice for 2-3/4", and either Federal or Remington MkVI's for 3".

for loading steel you will notice next to no data for Winchester compression formed hulls, because the steel wads need a straight sided hull to load properly.

I'd contact Will Bilozir in DeWinton, for the latest and greatest on steel reloading.

I unfortunatly do not have his number handy.

Good luck

[buckfever]

i was told to NOT reload thoes hulls. so i just throw them away.

[Gonehuntin']

Thanks for the input guys. I would like to reload top quality stuff, and by the sounds of it these xpert hulls may have to hit the landfill. Checked 2 manuals (MEC and Lyman 5) and neither list this EXACT hull, and substituting not allowed.That basewad stuck in the barrel thing is not something I'd like to experience. Fortunately I also have a bunch of federal hulls which I can find data for. Also, I have a bunch of stuff made by Clever of Italy, but given scarcity of data it may just join the winchesters. Better safe than sorry I suppose. Thanx guys.

[Hilgy]

Gonehuntin,

Put those clever shells in the same bag as the xperts. We have some real hull hounds at our club that will try to load just about anything and have tried the Clever/Mirage shell and didnt have much luck.


Send me a PM if you dont have to be part of the 3" club I could probably give you enough AA hulls to get you started. Ive got about 7000 sitting in my basement so I could spare a couple hundred or so to get you going.



Hilgy