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Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Posts: 1358 Location: Twin Cities, MN

It seems that various Cheddites have different thicknesses in the plastic. It appears to me that the primed Cheddites are the thickest, the Winchester/Cheddites the next thickest and the Herter's the thinnest. Has anyone noticed a difference in the number of reloads you can get from these various hulls?
Thanks,
Jeff

I don't think there is much if any difference.......I think it is an illusion due to different colors. I bet if you measured the wall thickness there isn't any difference.

Member Joined: 08 Nov 2005 Posts: 3438 Location: Illinois

Like any other hull a few die out early and some last for quite some time.As far as the AVERAGE number of reloads I would say they are about the same.Never noticed any major difference in thickness--there will be some variation +/- in manufacture but very little.

Understandably, and regardless of who makes them, all plastic shot shell hull walls must be plenty thick enough to withstand the forces of firing regardless of the expected forces of the loads being manufactured. In fact, these same hulls must occasionally be used for extra high pressure research and proof loads if any meaingful results are to be obtained. So I think we can safely assume the plastic hull walls in any given hull used by any manufacturer will stand up to a good many reloadings without ever failing. It is almost always the fold creases at the hull mouthes which fail first.

If we have a chance to examine the hull mouthes of virgin generic Cheddite type hulls, I think we will find they are unskived and without any fold creases. So I also think we might find that the different ammo manufacturers who use these generic Cheddite hulls skive (taper) their hull mouthes to different degrees. The fold creases might also vary in how deeply and/or sharply they are formed. More than anything else, I think we might find these two factors help partly explain why these generic Cheddite type hulls fail at different rates.

Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Posts: 1358 Location: Twin Cities, MN

Makes sense. Think I'll just load them all and shoot them!
Jeff

Joined: 03 Feb 2008 Posts: 830 Location: Adirondak Mtns

[quote="JNW"]Makes sense. Think I'll just load them all and shoot them!
Jeff[/quote]

I agree, good decision. Not really any options are there?

Member Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Posts: 1257 Location: Nebraska

Could be a difference in the makeup of the plastic between varieties. Are the shells loaded in Europe and the shells loaded in Australia made of the same material in the same plant?

I suspect the Herters are not as robust as Winchesters imported from Australia, only way for me to know outside of material analysis is to reload them side by side. I've struggled to get my progressive press working smoothly with the Herters hulls, collapsing several as 2 3/4". I've cut a bunch down to 2.5" but only recently modified my crimp starter to where I think it needs to be for an effective crimp on the shorties. A possibly heavier-than-ideal starting crimp on shortened Australian/Win Cheddite hulls has worked in the past but with the shortened Herters not so much. We'll see.

I've already gone on record that i suspect all of these various Cheddite type hulls are generics manufactured in Asia for export to the various ammo manufacturers around the globe. It is entirely possible there are a number of Asian hull and component manufacturing plants in several Asian countries. This might help explain some of the minor differences in wall thickness and elasticity or how malleable they are.

Regardless, all of these Cheddite type hulls are designed specifically for single load use. Design specs probably change from lot to lot with fair rapidity as prices and availability of suitable materials frequently change. So I doubt we will have much success in sorting them all out. Perhaps it is best for us to adapt. Otherwise, it is the tail trying to wag the dog IMO.

Joined: 15 Jun 2010 Posts: 1358 Location: Twin Cities, MN

Greg,
Don't measure any more as it will just mess up your analysis!