Home Forums Reloading Shotshells Other than yellow 20 gauge hulls?

Is it possible to buy 20 gauge shells or hulls that aren't yellow?

I've seen clear and black 20 gauge, mostly Euro brands.

I had some really old AA 20ga hulls that were red. They reloaded great and lasted longer than their newer, yellow counterparts.

Well into the 1970s Remington had green hulls. In fact, all their hulls were green - from 410 on up to 10 ga. I think that practice may have ended around the time Remington switched over to 209 size primers. In addition to Remington was the early AA hulls which were red (in all gauges, just like Big Green) and I recall some CIL that were blue.

More recently I have seen a couple shades of blue, black, orange, and a translucent white in 20 ga. The black was a Remington I believe as I picked it up thinking it was a 16 ga hull. I should rummage around in my bin of stuff that i have no use for but is too different to throw out. I probably have some oddball in there.

Back in the early 60's Remington had green hulls like woods said for their express loads their field loads were called Shur Shot and the hull was maroon. They used #57 primers...mb

Win AA hulls were the best for reloading

Rem RXP's played second fiddle for me

Talking 12 gauge here..never loaded 20's

The Rem RXP in 20 ga is my “go to” hull to reload. That and a few old federal paper hulls is all I load in the 20 ga.

Federal owned the patent on plastic crimp on all plastic shotgun shells ,the reason yellow was chosen for 20 gauge ammo was a safety reason so people did not put the wrong size ammo in the wrong shotgun . red for 12 gauge , purple 16 gauge , yellow 20 gauge and so on . i was very lucky i got to see all the proto type Federal plastic shotgun shells and colors years ago before the public did when i was young. wished i would have shown more interest then i may have learn a little more ,maybe got some more free shotgun hulls too ?

In the UK:

8 Bore = ?
10 Bore = ?
12 Bore (Gauge) = Red
16 Bore = Blue
20 Bore = Yellow
28 Bore = Yellow or red ?
0.410 = Red?

Having said that, have seen green shotgun cartridges and black, high brass ones too in ?12 Bore?

I think 28 Bore were / are yellow. Depends on maker. The shotgun cartridges in UK were made by Eley / UK, Fiocchi / Italy, some Belgian company and Baikal / USSR. Think they were the green ones.

One of the old skeet shooters was using some old red 20ga hulls this weekend at our club. Pretty sure they were Win.

In my youth I recall ....

10 ga = brown
12 ga = green or red
16 ga = purple or blue
20 ga = yellow

I started hunting with a 20 g. shotgun in 1959. My first box of shells was Peters and they were blue. I shot Winchester they were red. Remington was green. Some time after that they made 12 g/ red, 16 g/ purple, and 20s yellow. I sold all my 20s about 1962, and went to a 12. By the time I went back to a 20 around 1971. Shells were yellow..

From past experience, the Rem RXP was the cat's meow. Because Win AA target ammo was cheaper, the AA pretty much overwhelmed the empty hull market.

The old reloaders of my day would argue all day long that paper hulls (Peters) were the very best.

If I were going to reload, I'd try and find AA hulls, but that's just my OFS.
I'm not aware that Win ever made 16 gauge AA hulls! 🤔

I have a couple hundred of the red AA 20 gauge hulls. I got them from the estate of 1960's Skeet All-American, and a good friend, Gary B Smith from Meridian, MS. I plan to to load a hundred and shoot them at the next MS State Skeet shoot.

The yellow 20 with the red text replaced the red hulls.





In the 1990's Winchester loaded Dove & Quail, Upland and Super-X field load 16's in compression formed (AA-type) hulls. The same time period of the Winchester AA-type wads.

Right on the money mag410 i've got about 700 left of the old compression formed 16ga hulls. Thousands of the old 12's. The new ones suck. Mb

When Winchester came out with compression formed hulls for their shot shells it was revolutionary. They reloaded better. The 20ga hulls last longer reloading. For me Federal and Remington 410 hulls reloaded longer. 28ga hulls never lasted as long for me in any brand. AA12 reloaded well. When I shot Skeet we practiced with 410 because it was cheaper and I shot a lot of it.

I think it became industry standard in the U.S., and possibly elsewhere.

It is a good idea that should remain, from a safety standpoint alone. That a 20 gauge shell will stick in a 12 gauge forcing cone, allowing a 12 to be loaded and fired behind it is the main reason. There are gun clubs and gun shops across the country that display the remains of 12 gauge guns because of this as a reminder to not mix the shells.

I knew they made some red AA's and wish I had picked up a few off the ground at the skeet range when I saw them.
I would like to have a few just to have and display with some of my old ammo boxes.

I just so happen to have a full case of those stuck back for a rainy day. Mine are high brass 7.5s.

Back in the early 90's I bought several boxes of 16 gauge Winchester ammo which was sold as a Dove and Quail load. It worked very well for clay targets. By all accounts other than the stamping on the hull they were AA hulls. I think I still have several hundred of them if I could just find them. I haven't loaded 16 ga in 30 years or so.
Take care all,
Rick

My 20's look just like the 16's and 12's.

Yes gumgully.com has clear ones for sale right now.

Shot the clear shells in Argentina a few years ago. First time I’d seen them. Thought they were really neat.
Haven’t seen them since then. May investigate the above post

so much for the universal safety idea.
I guess the new generation will have to blow some more guns up to get the point of them being made yellow for a reason.
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