Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Shotgun Ammunition Reloading.
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Scorpion8
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:20 am

Found it! This thread: http://www.trapshooters.com/threads/209 ... ns.628209/ Despite being a "new guy" on there, TrapShooters is the worst forum for a-holes and jerks, and the Mods seems to randomly enforce rules except in the case of old timer friends. Some of the folks are very knowledgeable, and some can't say it without telling you what an idiot you are.

Anyway, if folks could read this and comment please.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by John A. » Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:12 am

I've never used the Rio primers. I was always told they don't fit well in anything except rio hulls.

With that said, I have video of me shooting the 12s3 wads in a Remington (tapered) hull if you would like to see proof that having those wads in those hulls won't cause all life as we know it to stop.

Spoiler alert: The video does not end with a catastrophic failure. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXlMJp3pEO4
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:38 am

Yea, I didn't think that tapered hulls and straight wads was going to cause a Scott Pilgrim video game score above my head to ring up 3000 bonus points for stupidity. Trust me, I love these forums, but public forums allow public opinions, and we all know the old adage about opinions. There's good information everywhere, ya just gotta glean your way thru it. And in any event, a load that one guy loves may be a load that everyone else hates. I'll load a dozen or so with this wad and that, and find the one that my gun likes.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Sun Apr 15, 2018 5:40 am

John A. wrote:
Sun Apr 15, 2018 3:12 am
With that said, I have video of me shooting the 12s3 wads in a Remington (tapered) hull if you would like to see proof that having those wads in those hulls won't cause all life as we know it to stop.

Spoiler alert: The video does not end with a catastrophic failure. :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXlMJp3pEO4
I'm not seeing a video....
Last edited by Scorpion8 on Sun Apr 15, 2018 6:09 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by John A. » Sun Apr 15, 2018 1:46 pm

Sorry, try the video link now. Should work.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Mon Apr 16, 2018 3:11 am

So Synch turned me onto a trick, to sacrifice a hull and saw it in half. Some of the hulls have a "cup" near the base and I suppose a straight-hull wad could get caught up on the lip of that cup and get damaged. But Remington GC's, Premier Nitro's and Premier STS do not have that cup. So I'm thinking that a wad will care not if it's straight or tapered in one of those hulls. Perhaps I'll just stick to those hulls.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:34 pm

So, quite a bit more review, research and examination of hulls leads me to believe that (a) there IS a difference between tapered and straight hulls, as they are identified in the Lyman guide, Hogdgon's online info and many other places, and (b) unless you define "anal retentive" with a self-image, it matters mainly in splitting hairs. Lyman's guide, taken to be the definitive reference, even lists loads for tapered hulls using the Federal 12S3 straight wad. And IIRC it also has loads using tapered wads in straight hulls. Those may not be "optimal" loadings, but in a pinch I don't think the target will know. There are probably better loadings that the "cross gender" mixing, but most likely it just gives you an excuse why you missed the target.

I've recently been shooting a lot of Federal Top Guns because they always seem to be on sale cheap at the LGS. Thus I've built up quite a stock of Top Gun hulls, which are straight. I also have a lot of the 12S3 wads, because they're at "steal me" prices at the LGS also. So those two mate up perfectly, and I'll have beaucoup practice rounds once I get the reloaders cranking. I also followed a guy who was shooting Remington Nitro 27 rounds and throwing away the 1x hulls which quickly found their way into my pouch. I have a stash of Remington's Fig8 wads which are perfect for 1-1/8 oz. loads in those hulls. In fact, Claybuster's website shows all their wads with a "performs best in..." tapered or straight hulls, but nowhere does it say you cannot use them in cross-gendered loads.

A great academic exercise, and I learned a lot by pursuing this. Time to select which reloader to use and start cranking the handle.....
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by John A. » Fri Apr 20, 2018 8:44 pm

In my experience, shotguns are more forgiving of variances than rifles or even pistols. I'm not going to say to totally ignore every warning you ever read. And in an extreme example with everything loaded to max, sure you may get some pressure extremes. But that's why you approach things from the bottom and work your way up.

There was a time when my Grandfather had shown me how to dump the pellets out of the shell and make slugs out of them and put them back together again. This saved me a lot of trouble a few years ago post sandy hook when you couldn't hardly find any ammo on the shelves. I even made a topic about it on another forum. Unfortunately photobucket has blocked many of the photos, but the text is still there if you want to take a little while to read over it. http://www.mossbergowners.com/forum/ind ... post-98594

And in a real pinch, if you can't get pellets or lead but still have the other components to complete a shell, you can use small river and creek rock to make buckshot out of.

True that it doesn't fly as straight as poured shot, but if it's all you've got, you'll be glad to use it if your belly is grumbling.
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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by couliewalker » Sun Dec 23, 2018 2:26 pm

I've been struggling for this for years.Looking at the pictures of the three different hulls the taper is clearly visible,but it looks like the taper is confined to the bottom of the hull.Would the powder not take up the taper part meaning that where the wad stops on top off the powder the rest of the hull is straight ?

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Re: Federal Wads and Tapered Hulls

Post by Scorpion8 » Tue Dec 25, 2018 6:04 am

couliewalker wrote:
Sun Dec 23, 2018 2:26 pm
...,but it looks like the taper is confined to the bottom of the hull.

It is, it's more of a question of "is the wad designed to seal as the powder starts to burn against the tapered portion of the hull to make a tight gas seal?" Wads designed for straight-walled hulls are better at sealing in those straight-walled hulls than a tapered-hull, and vice versa. The load books how you "can" use them interchangeably, but there are better options in most loads.
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