Wanda shotgun shells

[15meter]

A guy brought in a 12 gauge loaded shell today with the headstamp of "Wanda". 3-1/4 dram, #8. 2-3/4" long.

I have never heard of Wanda shells before. Nice looking hull, all plastic, similar to the old Activ hulls. Looked it up, apparently made in Houston from 1967-1971, before the company folded.

Odd part was, it appears to be made out of the similar plastic to prescription pill bottles. The shot was held in with a hard plastic overshot wad that was shaped like a short pointy dunce cap. Then a roll crimp to hold it in the hull.

The roll crimp looks like it was formed by a spinning tool that heated the end of the hull.

One buddy said he had loaded some back in the 70's. He held the wad in with wax. Said they were a pain to load, but when you're young and poor, you substitute time and inconvenience for the ability to shoot.

Says he still has a box of the overshot wads.

Anybody else ever see such an animal?

[Winger Ed.]

I had one for several years and gave it away to a buddy who was gathering a collection of old, weird ammo.

It looked like they'd be a good idea, and cheaper than reloadable hulls.
I never shot any of them, but I'd heard the (real thin) plastic rim would tear off easily when you tried to extract it.
They might have been OK in a semi-auto, but otherwise, it looked like it'd be a problem.

[TNsailorman]

I heard about them back in the day and also saw their advertisements in hunting and shooting magazines but I don't remember ever seeing any first hand. james

[perotter]

My gun loving uncle didn't have a 12ga shotgun so he gave us a box of them to try out. They worked and we reloaded them, but I don't remember what we used as an over wad. Maybe just put paper and wax on the shot. My buddies in school thought, because they cost the same as normal shells, there was no point in buying them.

The most beautiful gal in my school class was named Wanda. When I told her that a new shotgun shell had the same name as her, she gave me that 'Why are you telling me this'. It took me a bit to learn that there was not much point in telling a woman anything interesting.

[Adam Helmer]

Back in the late 1960s era, I was a poor G.I. Bill student in college in Beaumont, Texas. I did buy a box of Wanda 12 gauge all-plastic shells for my weekly trap shoot. I still have ONE loaded Wanda 12 gauge round in my shell collection. It was very good ammo and I miss the innovation.

Adam

[HWooldridge]

We shot dove with them regularly in the 60’s and 70’s but I never reloaded the hulls. They always went bang!

[EVR]

My gun loving uncle didn't have a 12ga shotgun so he gave us a box of them to try out. They worked and we reloaded them, but I don't remember what we used as an over wad. Maybe just put paper and wax on the shot. My buddies in school thought, because they cost the same as normal shells, there was no point in buying them.

The most beautiful gal in my school class was named Wanda. When I told her that a new shotgun shell had the same name as her, she gave me that 'Why are you telling me this'. It took me a bit to learn that there was not much point in telling a woman anything interesting.

So many bits of wisdom in this post.

[danmat]

I remember dove hunting with them when I was a kid, pretty common around the Houston area. Still have some samples put away somewhere.

[Bmi48219]

I’ve got one loaded Wanda 12 gauge laying around here somewhere. Bought three boxes in the mid-60’s. As I recall one of the shooting magazines did a review on them. There was some mention of the pattern being effected by that OTS wad.
The round I have was cycled through a pump gun a few times and has some extractor nicks on the rim.

[pa.frank]

I used to buy them for cheap at gunshows back in the early 70's. they shot as well as anything else for skeet at the time, and some guys even were reloading them..

[HWooldridge]

I remember dove hunting with them when I was a kid, pretty common around the Houston area. Still have some samples put away somewhere.

I grew up in SE San Antonio and hunted birds around St. Hedwig. Wanda shells were available but cost more than other brands. The icehouses also sold Mexican shells that had a paper hull and wads with no shot cup. Those would lead up a barrel but were cheap - I seem to remember $.75-$1.00 for a box of 25 and you could only get 6’s or 7-1/2 shot. The other shortcoming was their 12 gauge shells were colored yellow, same as 20 ga. and you really had to be careful to not mix them. One of my friend’s dad got caught by the old 12-20 problem and wrecked his 870, although I don’t think he was injured.