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Reloading wal mart Federal Hulls?

10K views 8 replies 8 participants last post by  Quack Shot 
#1 ·
I was wondering if anyone reloads the wal mart federal hulls? I have seen thousands of these in the trash at my club and other surronding clubs. Is there anything special about them other than checking to see if your compenents are over the pressue, etc? I currently use AA hulls, windjammers, 1 1/8 shot, 17.3 grains clays with win 209 primers. Im wondering if this will work.

Thanks
Nick
 
#6 ·
I reported this in another thread and will repeat it. I "dug out" some of these Federal hulls out of my clubs "hull barrel". I load Remington hulls exclusively. I loaded these Federal hulls, (100), 5 times each. I used the same recipe as with the Remington hulls. Downrange DRRT12 wad, Fiocchi primer, 1 oz #8 Lawrence shot and 17 grains of Promo. After being reloaded 5X each they performed no different than the Remington hulls. Now maybe utilizing this recipe at the 27 yard line "might" show a decrease in performance;but at the 16 yard line they have no problems in breaking targets. JMHO. Ed
 
#7 ·
I reload the Fed (Wal-Mart) hulls using the Claybuster 2118-12 (12S3) wads with Nobelsport (209) primers and 18.5g 700X.

You have to inspect the Fed hulls after the NEW shell is fired. About 3% of them have splits in the sides or side/top. If it is there they will bulge when they come out of the 2nd to last stage in a MEC progressive reloader. After the 2nd firing, the split percentage will increase to about 10%.

In general, they are good for about 2 reloads -- maybe three.

I have not seen 6 point crimps -- only 8 points.

The Estate shells are basically the same type and I reload them the same. The estates seem to last longer and do not show the splits after the first or the second firing. I have only reloaded estates 2x, but I am about to enter the phase of doing 2-3000 for a third time.
 
#9 ·
This has been covered in depth many times before. Estates, Federal Top Guns, or WalMart Federals. They are the same hull with a paper base wad and steel head.

18.2 grains of Red Dot or Promo, Federal 12S0 wad or Claybuster clone, Federal 209A primer or Rio 600, 1oz of decent shot gives about 1200 fps over my chronograph. 18.7 grains of Red Dot or Promo, Federal 12S3 wad, Claybuster or Downrange clone, Federal 209A or Rio primer, 1 1/8 oz of decent shot gives around 1200 fps over my Chrono. These loads have been tested at fairly cold temps and have given good results. The Downrange clone of the 12S3 works pretty well. All pattern testing was decent for all of these loads. The Federal wads seemed to be marginally better, but the 12S3 and the Downrange DRF8 seemed about equal. Testing was done at different times, so the results were within a reasonable margin of error, considering only ten samples were fired of each load. I don't have pressure data for these loads, but data for higher velocity loads using the same components and powders were well within limits, so I'd expect these to be under 9500 psi.

I load the Federal Primer on the first loading and then the Rio for the second, since it is oversized. It will help seal the case better, since the paper base wad seems to allow a little gas leakage after the first loading on many of them. I toss them after the first or second loading.

I have had issues with some wads designed for tapered hulls like the Remington or Winchester. I settled on the Federal type wads since they worked rather well. They are designed for a straight wall hull. If you want to avoid a lot of experimentation and possibly poor results, the loads I listed above will work well. I have also used Clays powder and several others with decent success. I settled on Red Dot and Promo, since I have/use a lot of it.

Be certain that the hulls were never wet. You should look inside each one and look at the paper base wad to see if it shows signs of swelling due to moisture, or any other irregularities that could be a problem. The tubes also have a habit of coming loose from the base, on occasion. I have had a couple tubes pull free of the head as they were ejected. Usually not a problem, unless you try to stuff another shell in the chamber. Just give them a quick tug to see if they are loose before loading.
 
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