I use paper hulls exclusively for BP loads to shoot out of my Damascus barrels.
I use paper hulls exclusively for BP loads to shoot out of my Damascus barrels.
Old enough to know better, young enough to do it anyway!
Men who don't understand women fall into two categories: bachelors and husbands!
No State outlaws plastic shells for hunting. Companies went to plastic from paper because of autoloading shotguns. Wet paper shell swell, wet plastics don't swell. Model12s can chamber wet shell. 1100s can't chamber wet paper shell but work great with wet plastic shell. This is why we have plastic shotgun shells. They are probably cheaper to make than paper now. Some competition shooters still use paper. Not sure why.
I was told by a guy that he hunted at a private put and take club that required paper hulls, as for chamber size, it is a case by case issue, I had both 870's and 1100's that would swallow about anything you put in them, I've got a Model 12 that will ONLY chamber fully resized shells from a MEC 9000 with the collet resizer. Used a MEC 650 for decades without problems until the Model 12 arrived.
And I suspect manufacturing costs and hull life for the trap and skeet shooters had way more to do with the move to plastic hulls.
Have a small barrel almost full of plastic hulls that need to reload. Hope I can make it to snow fly. Reloading in Shooting/bicycling/motorcycling weather is just silly.
Shot the Savage 99 in 303, the 30-40 Krag, some 416 Rigby, some 375 H&H and some 300 H&H. Time to throw the brass in the polisher, put on the long pants and fire up the Harley.
Then the bicycle to go to the car show that is going on in town after supper. Definitely not shotgun shell reloading weather!
I wouldn't be surprised if paper shells made a comeback, just for being biodegradable. I have some federal ones I bought and like, they seem more classy, lol
Last edited by scattershot; 07-31-2021 at 05:13 PM.
"Experience is a series of non-fatal mistakes"
Disarming is a mistake free people only get to make once...
I don't think they are obsolete at all. If anything, I expect to see them increase in popularity, at least for some things. They might as well, with the falling shell qualities. You can still get good plastic shells, but they aren't the standard any more. Cheddite, Rio, and Fiocchi already have lesser quality hulls with brittle plastic, and steel heads that rust like crazy. Winchester quality has gone way down. Compared to those, I'd definitely try a paper hull, especially if they come with a brass head on them.
I'm gonna try to swing back by that shop this week and take a closer look.
I never really bought into the old "paper hulls smell so much better" thing. I've shot a decent amount of paper hulls and literally a ton of plastic. I Find Federal hulls, BOTH paper and plastic, have a very distinct and pleasant aroma. I don't know, maybe it's just me.
I shoot skeet with several muzzleloader shooters. They taught me early on not to use plastic wads with black power, or plastic wads and cases in breech loaders with black power. The plastic melts and coats the bore. A few shots won't matter, but if 25 or 50 shots and you will have melted plastic coating the bore.
Paper hulls are great! can't beat the smell! I vote get them!
i think winchester should bring back the old AA hull that you could use many times....i know because i wore out a ponsness warren 800b loading them, once the rebiuld was finished i again loaded most a few more times before switching to remington because of the better hull than winchester was making.
BP | Bronze Point | IMR | Improved Military Rifle | PTD | Pointed |
BR | Bench Rest | M | Magnum | RN | Round Nose |
BT | Boat Tail | PL | Power-Lokt | SP | Soft Point |
C | Compressed Charge | PR | Primer | SPCL | Soft Point "Core-Lokt" |
HP | Hollow Point | PSPCL | Pointed Soft Point "Core Lokt" | C.O.L. | Cartridge Overall Length |
PSP | Pointed Soft Point | Spz | Spitzer Point | SBT | Spitzer Boat Tail |
LRN | Lead Round Nose | LWC | Lead Wad Cutter | LSWC | Lead Semi Wad Cutter |
GC | Gas Check |