16ga.com ~ View topic - Federal Purple Hulls, any good for reloading?

Joined: 02 May 2006 Posts: 1 Location: Alameda, California

Hello Folks,

I'm new to this board, and I've already got a question.....

I bought (and fired) a bunch of the Federal Purple hulls over the past year, which I'm saving to reload when I have time. However, I've heard that the paper basewads can dislodge and end up in the barrels (with obvious consequenses), and that the steel bases don't resize well.

Are these hulls any good for reloading (1oz & 1 1/8oz loads)? If so, any suggestions of where to order these loads cheap on-line?

Member Joined: 17 Jan 2005 Posts: 138 Location: Parma, OH

It's just something you need to watch for, like looking for splits in the hull, etc. It is worse if the hull has gotten wet and the fiber base swells when it absorbs moisture. Other than that, the Federal hull crimps well and makes a good base for a low pressure load.....

Mike Doerner

Member Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 317

The purple Federal (Estate) hull is very good for larger payloads in the 16 ga. This hull has the most internal volume of the 16 ga. hulls available today. It crimps well and lasts for 5-6 loadings. Once the crimps go, you can shorten the hull for roll crimping and use it some more.

Fiber base wads (and plastic base wads) can separate from the hull. This happens with the best of them (Ex. WAA HS 12 ga. hulls during their introduction). As Mike suggests, you must check all base wads for potential separation. If the fiber wads get soaked and dry, they can crack and separate from the brass. But this is a rare occurance. Just make sure its not in your gun. Check the condition of the base wad before you load any two or three piece hull.

I suggest you use either the Gualandi or B&P (Trap Commander) 16 ga. wads with the Federal hull for best gas seal. Russ

Member Joined: 02 Feb 2006 Posts: 602 Location: western pa

I never had any basewad trouble, but I sure buckled the side walls on a lot of cases on the federals. Finally gave up on them and went to Win. and Rem. hulls. Federal is agood factory round but I just pitch 'em once fired.

Fred let me be the first in line for those pitched hulls. I would even pay postage. Cool

I use the Ponsness warren 375 press and have no chance of crushing a hull. I have found with all the paper and plastic base wads I am now checking every one by pressing a dowel into the case. So far only the Federal 12g promo and the Win. AA have been tossed because of a base wad moving. So far my 16g Federal have been perfect.
Best,
Ron

Member Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 317

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

I've loaded the Federal purple hulls recently too. Never had any problem with the 1 oz. loads of #9's with Green Dot and Winchester 209 primers.

Joined: 26 Dec 2005 Posts: 79 Location: Round Rock, TX

I load Federal hulls from 7/8 to 1-1/8 oz. I've never had problems resizing or crushing them. I'm up to about three reloadings on some of my stock (I've got about 1,000 of them) and they're still in great shape. I like them better than the Remington hulls because a) I have a lot more of them and b) the Remington hulls split on me after 1-2 loadings.

Just recently experienced the first problem I have ever encountered with wad seperation in the Federal purple hull. I shot trap with the sixteen and about ten of the hundred shells were Fed. When I returned home, I remembered the good advice offered up here and checked those ten rather than just throw them into the empty box as I normally would do. Much to my dismay, five of the ten had the base wad pushed away from the rim. And, were definitely unsuitable for reloading the second time. Being the inquisitive type, I carefully dismantled the bad ones and discovered that when I seated the W209 primers, the primer pushed the wad away from the rim when I rammed the hull down onto the primer. That was very evident because I couldn't push the wad back into place until I removed the primer. I agree that the purple hulls are excellent for a few reloads, especially for larger, high-volume loads, but from now on I will use F209 primers and perhaps even start them by hand prior to seating with the reload tool, just to make sure they are started straight into the hole.

Can the Remington SP16 wad(1000+ on hand) be used with the Purple Federal hull?

I have Win209s and lots on Unique. Looking for low pressure and 1165fps +-.

Keith B

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

Keith what payload do you want?????

You can load a 1 oz. load with the SP-16 wad in a Federal case by simply adding one 28 ga. 1/8" thick card wad into the shot cup under the shot. Any charge of Unique from 19-22 grains will work if your gun is suitable for full pressure modern ammo. Your FPS of course will go up with the charge as will pressure. You can also now use CCI 209 primers with all Federal cases. It is the same size and shape as a a Federal 209A but milder. I'd recommend it instead for all but the heaviest charges of the slow ball powders. Alliant owns CCI and Federal.

Use a 1/2 inch dowel cut flat and square and with the edges rounded over evenly and a bit as a base wad checker. Insert it into a sound once fired, resized, unprimed case and put a witness mark around it at the shell mouth height. Now reprime with ththe primer you will regularly use and mark the dowel again once you are certain the wad has not been pushed. Using the dowel will make any raised or loose base wads readily apparent to your eye. Discard any cases that show base wad damage.

Also automatically throw out any shells with fiber base wads that have gotten wet. Do not try saving them by drying them out. The base wad will shrink back too much and will be loose. Using any once damp cases with fiber base wads will be a recipe for disaster for certain. Its simply a matter of time.

Virtually all modern 16 ga cases have steel or brass washed steel rims. The best way to resize them is with an adjustable collet type resizing ring like on the MEC grabber and Size master. If you must use a simple ring sizer, have a 20 ga. resizing ring machined at least .005 under the standard 16 ga resizing ring on your press. A little graphite will help ease using the tighter ring. This will ensure the tougher steel rims will get squeezed down to usable size.