What's the difference between a Winchester WAA12 (white) and a Winchester WT12 (orange)? The same question would apply to the Claybuster clones: CB1118-12 (WAA12) and CB0118-12 (WT12). The construction/style and reloading data appears to be the identical for both designations, I figured out the color part but maybe others have the same question. The price is generally a little less for the WT12 (orange) version. Thank you.
Winchester WAA12 (white) and a Winchester WT12 (orange)
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Now I do the search, and the question appears to have been asked numerous times going back many years and the basic conclusion is the only real difference is the color/marketing and perhaps the plastic type. I'll treat them the same.
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Years ago, the Western and Winchester brand names ran together for years, putting out the same products. Sometime back I read the orange Western wad, might be of thinner plastic, but I cannot document or verify that.
![1737676]()
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All three of these pages from old Winchester loading manuals. Look at descriptions below for WT12 and AA12 wads.
![1737679]()
All three of these pages from old Winchester loading manuals. Look at descriptions below for WT12 and AA12 wads.
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I talked to a man at Claybuster about some wads a couple weeks ago. He said that originally, the WT-12 was made out of a lower grade of plastic. Now it is virtually the same as the WAA12 clone that They make. So the short answer, is the color is diferent now, and that’s about it.
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Some have said the WT-12 has issues in cold weather.
I have had no problems with them at freezing temperatures.
I have had no problems with them at freezing temperatures.
Orange was just a cheaper version of the white. Shot lots of both and saw no difference.
I used the WT12 Orange at 1,250 FPS, the Alliant chart state one less grain per load to achieve the same speed. I load AA CF Hull, 22.2 grains Unique, WT12 Orange that Crono's out at 1,235. For what it's worth to others
| 2 3/4 Winchester AA Plastic Shells | 1 1/8 | - | 1,200 | Win 209 | Unique | WAA12, DRA12 or DR XL1 1/8 | 21 | 9,100 | - |
| 2 3/4 Winchester AA Plastic Shells | 1 1/8 | - | 1,250 | Win 209 | Unique | WAA12, DRA12 or DR XL1 1/8 | 23.5 | 9,400 | - |
| 2 3/4 Winchester AA Plastic Shells | 1 1/8 | - | 1,200 | Win 209 | Unique | WT 12 (Orange) | 21.5 | 9,000 | - |
| 2 3/4 Winchester AA Plastic Shells | 1 1/8 | - | 1,250 | Win 209 | Unique | WT 12 (Orange) | 22.5 | 9,500 | - |
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I shot WT12’s for years, the only difference I found was that the wt12 wads built up plastic in the choke a lot thicker and faster than other wads....
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Once Claybusters was established and a cheaper version of an OEM wad was being produced, Winchester produced the WT12 wad as a competitive prices wad to regain market share they lost to CB.
I thank you all for the input. Even though the topic has been covered before a while back, probably no harm in revisiting the subject, especially to those who hadn't seen the earlier comments. I think Pheasantmaster summed it up pretty well, WT12 orange wads were introduced to compete with the substitutes without discounting the WAA12 white wads.
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The original “Tracker,” although some appear to be black due to powder burn.
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The original claim was that the WT-12 wad was made of stiffer, less expensive plastic so it could compete with Windjammer and other competitive wads. They loaded pretty good cause they were stiffer, but quite a few people claimed they caused more recoil. Not sure about that. Back when I started loading in the early 90's, everyone tried to stay below 10,000 pressure. If you look at the Alliant loading manual and compare pressures with a Red Dot load you'll see that 17 gr in a WAA hull with a WT-12 wad has a pressure of 10,700 (1200 fps), but with a WAA12 wad and 17 gr it's only 10,000 and slower (1145 fps). 18 grains with a WAA wad is 10,400 (1200fps).
However with Green Dot, the WAA12 wad with 21.5 gr has a higher pressure of 10,500, where the WT-12 wad and 21.5 gr has a lessor pressure of 9800.......weird.
However with Green Dot, the WAA12 wad with 21.5 gr has a higher pressure of 10,500, where the WT-12 wad and 21.5 gr has a lessor pressure of 9800.......weird.
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It's a little "weird" but fairly common.
There are lots of mistakes, typos, and probably just made up numbers (not actually tested, just guessed) in the data tables.
Typos especially...
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