16ga.com ~ View topic - RGLs Hulls, a solution to poor reloadability

I have a bunch of Remington Black Game Load hulls, over 300 of them. I find they do not reload easily. The biggest issue is that the crimp peddles get very stiff and brittle and worse, they remain 3/4 closed aster firing. This makes wad insertion a real pain.

I used to cut them down for 2.5" roll crimps. That gave two reloads at best. Well, now I have a solution. My PW 375 is fitted with a Creative Reloading Solutions depriming rod. This rod has a built in expander at the top. This alone will not save a stiff RGL. I needed to soften and recondition the peddles.

What I use is a Spin Dr. case conditioner in my electric drill. I use a small BP hull vice, the same one I use for roll crimping. I insert the Spin Dr. and spin it on high speed for 15 or so seconds. This gets it hot and relaxes the case mouth. This in combination with my CRS decapper, makes RGLs load easily.

At present I use 21 grains of Universal, a Fed primer, a Remington GL wad, 1 oz of 7.5 shot.

I spin the case mouth, smear a small amount of Imperial sizing wax on the brass (I like it to eject smoothly) and size the case. Then I decap and prime. I move it over to the powder drop and add powder. I lower the ram and insert the wad. I then add shot, move to pre-crimp and finally crimp and taper.

I can do 3 boxes an hour like this with zero rejects. The crimps are as tight and pretty as factory. Once the peddles are worn out, I'll trim the case for 2.5" loads. I use Longshot in those for low pressure loads.

I do not like the RGLs but I have a mess of them. Once they are gone, I will use low brass Cheddite or Fiochi exclusively using the SG wad.

Joined: 09 Mar 2016 Posts: 754 Location: Mn.

I have the spin doctor also and when my Cheddite and Federals start to close down on me will grab a bunch and while watching the news on the idiot screen open them up. First bought one ~20 years ago when I was loading really light loads in the 12 and the mouths wouldn't open all the way, or at least stay fully open after being fired.

Have the CRS deprimer for the 16 MEC 9000 as well. Haven't installed it yet but have installed the CRS deprimer for the 12 ga. 9000 that is hooked up to one of Jim Benn's first automate. It works well and IMO is well worth it. One of these days I need to break down and move the automate to the 16. Now that 12 ga. shells are available at a "somewhat" decent price I don't load them anymore. If I look at the replacement cost of components it isn't worth it to reload the 12 once again. And would rather save my components for the 16.

Joined: 16 Jul 2015 Posts: 2126 Location: Hudson,Wy

I cut all mine to 2 1/2" because they vary in length so much anyway. I do shive the hull mouths afterward. If I don't the plastic is so thick that wad insertion is a lot more difficult.

Recently I switched to a 12 ga. powder ram tube on my Mac 650 16 ga. setup. It goes in a bit snug and stretches the hulls out nicely. This has greatly improved wad insertion with RGL's and I don't need to do any time consuming case mouth prep anymore. I was going to make a board with a bunch of taper tipped pegs to put hulls on, but now I don't need to. I just loaded up several hundred rounds with no more fuss than Cheddites.

Personally, I'm liking RGL's. They don't have fitment/powder leakage issues with any wad/ powder combinations.

Joined: 04 Mar 2019 Posts: 1841 Location: Central ND

I get 2 maybe 3 reloads from 16 ga. Remington black RGL's. They do not close up enough that the standard deprime punch on my 9000G or on my Sizemaster causes problems.

Once they crack at the crimp folds, out they go.

From my POV they are hulls not family heirlooms, I don't spend a second of my time or any money trying to resurrect them.

After you folks mess with the RGL's, how many more reloads do you get with them?

Boy, they do vary in length! sometimes almost a 1/16". I wouldn't fuss with them if components were easily available. A couple of years back we had all of the low brass Fiochi we wanted. Those were glory days! Now, not so much. So, I make the most of what is available.

I stumbled onto several boxes of primed Federal paper hulls a few years back. Sadly, they get 1 maybe two loads and then pinhole. To be honest, the 16 ga. is the redheaded stepchild of shotgunning. Since it's not used in competition, components are not a priority.

Just happened to be sorting out some RGL hulls according to length last night. They varied from 2.60" to 2.75", over an eighth of an inch difference!

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

RGL case mouths would hang up a bit on my press, a PW progressive, but with Remington and Winchester wads they made up good loadings. The DR 16ga wads were a disaster though, and rather than fight with them I just loaded what worked for a while then gave the remainder away. Haven't loaded 16s for several years now, when I got back it'll be Cheddite and Winchester hulls, but good to see folks have worked out some of the issues along the way.

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

I don't use RGL's in cold weather----Other than that load and go.

Joined: 06 Jan 2017 Posts: 88

I only reload RGL, did a test and was able to get 6 reloads before they were too cracked to use, if they do not open up all the way I use the pointed ram that is used to prime on my mec jr, then deprime and size on the mec jr, then load on my mec 650. I only use 17 grs of universal, maybe thats why I get a few more reloads.

Joined: 08 Feb 2009 Posts: 1310 Location: Western WA

The RGL is a very useful hull, particularly with the Rem SP-16 1 1/8 oz wad, for which it is an ideal fit. The euro wads (SG 16, Z16) are not well suited for RGL hulls.

The RGL plastic doesn’t have the longest lifespan but a deeper crimp helps keep the load from unfolding.

The nice thing about RGL hulls is they provide the 16ga shooter with an excellent option for the 1 1/8 oz load. I keep a batch of RGL hulls and SP-16 handy when that combination is needed. Nowadays we 16ga shooters need to create and use recipies on an as needed basis, and the RGL has a role in that lineup.
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