I reload both 12 and 20 gauge shells and I prefer to use either winchester AA, or the remington hulls. However a guy I work with keeps giving me federal hulls. I'm pretty sure the other two have a solid one piece plastic case. And the federal looks like the bottom inside is like a fiber or almost cardboard material. I'm just wondering what the preferred hulls would be and why. I guess I would also like to know if the federal hulls are worth reloading and their expected lifetime.

most of the guys i know if the shoot them toss them. I prefer the oldWinchester AA compression hulls when reloading my 28 ga and STS in my 12 ga. I can get 8 loads out of the AA's and 5 or 6 out of the STS hulls. The AA hulls are getting harder and harder to find.

You can load the Federals -- I load them once and let the wife shoot them in her auto. I would not try to get more than 2 loads out of them -- the paper basewad has been said to let go and plug the barrel on occasion.

However, make absolutely sure that they never got wet. You'll also need a straightwall wad to match the hull. FWIW, Dutch.

The paper base wad can also hold moisture and cause misfires/squibs if they are not allowed to dry properly before reloading.

I use a 28 ga. Mec Jr. to load AA and STS hulls. I find that I don't get but a load or three at the most out of the STS hull but will get maybe twice that amount out of the AA. Now when using the AA and STS hulls in the 12 and 20 ga., I get many reloads out of the STS and fewer out of the AA. Any thoughts on why the 28 STS is not as good as the AA in the 28 but the reverse is true when using the larger bores?

I'm sorry, I seem to have hi-jacked the thread. But I do find the above thoughts on the paper basewad hull to be right on the mark.

I shoot alot of the federal shells both 12 and 20ga. I dont have time to load shotshells so I leave them lay. 2 of the guys that I shoot skeet with pick them up.

They love 'em. Seems that they had some issues getting them to crimp decently at first but soon as they figured that out they load only those hulls.

Nothing wrong with loading Federal hulls. I don't ignore them, but keep them in the repertoire along with AA's and STS's. I think more people would load them if the wads were more commonly found. If you get a chance, try some Federal Champion paper hulls. They load sweetly. (And the freshly fired empties smell good too!) I have never heard of a fibre base wad lodging in a barrel. A quick poll amonst my shooting buddies (combined shooting years= over 200) revealed no one who ever heard of it. I suspect it may be another urban myth.

As for the 28 gauge hulls, it's all about pressure. The STS's in all gauges have the case mouths heavily skived (thinned). At least the ones in my possesion do. The 28 gauge operates at a much higher chamber pressure than the 12 and I feel that is why the 28 STS's case mouths get pretty funky pretty quickly- from burn-out.

I shoot maybe 6000 rounds a year, pretty evenly divided between 12 and 28 gauge. My 28's are mainly AAs as I get pretty frustrated with dealing with STS's after about 3 loadings, although I did find if I could get past the pre-crimp stage they kept on working fine. Usually with a butt-ugly crimp though.

Do a search on trapshooters.com, and you'll find several first hand accounts of blown barrels attributed to Federal paper wads letting go. FWIW, Dutch.