Shotgun Forum banner

Remington Gun Club Hulls

4K views 19 replies 13 participants last post by  geometric 
#1 ·
Hooray. Thanks to the many posts in the past by Curly and others I was well aware of the issue of possible problems seating W209 primers in GC hulls. I had accumulated a few thousand GC hulls but had not really needed to reload them as I had plenty of the rest of the Rem hulls to support my color coded loading, plus both gray and red AACF hulls. Several years ago I did try loading a few on my 762 Grabber and indeed had problems seating the primers. I reamed out the primer holes as suggested and then they loaded fine. I loaded only a couple of boxes.

Since I had other hulls I chose not to go through the process of drilling out all those hulls.

I am getting low on #8 shot for my main 1 oz load (for which I use the gold Nitros) so I thought I would try some of the Gun Clubs for a 1 oz #7.5 shell. I ran about 20 once-fired (not drilled out) samples through my 9000/Automate with the indexer turned off to see how it would go. Much to my relief, they loaded fine. I reconnected the indexing arm and loaded about 200 without a hiccup.

Good deal. So now I have 5 Rem. color codes and 2 Win AACF color codes to work with. I do not load the AA-HS.

Tom
 
See less See more
#2 ·
I reload the 12ga. green and older black Gun Club and 20ga. yellow Gun Club hulls on both progressive and single-stage MEC reloader. I use Winchester W209 primers and have no problems with priming. What primers are you using?
 
#3 ·
Your luck is subject to change because the plastic on the top of the primer hole is quite variable. At least now when the press stops, you will have a good idea what the problem is.
 
#4 ·
I've never had a problem seating primers in those green GC's.
And this is with a wide variety of primer makes domestic and foreign.
The problem I have is their hull length QC has gone to pot.
It can go from a gaping hole in the middle to a massive swirl on the next.
The old black Remington Sport hulls I stored are a thing of beauty along with STS hulls.
I have enough of those that I no longer bother with the green GC's.
I even now prefer to reload AAHS over the green GC's.
 
#5 ·
I have loaded over 100K Gun Clubs with Win 209s and have never had an issue on either a MEC single stage, 900, Grabber or RCBS Grand.
 
#7 ·
wrfish said:
oneounceload said:
I have loaded over 100K Gun Clubs with Win 209s and have never had an issue on either a MEC single stage, 900, Grabber or RCBS Grand.
Same results here. Although I just load on a MEC 9000. In many years of reloading I never seen this issue
That does not indicate that it cannot happen nor that others have not had it happen.
It is a real thing.
If you take the time to read this topic, you can see why it can and does happen.

https://www.shotgunworld.com/bbs/viewto ... 3&t=194368
 
  • Like
Reactions: shaynec
#8 ·
Thanks for the feedback guys. By the way, I use only W209 primers. I know how to fix it if the issue crops up for me. Of the five Remington hulls I keep, the GCs will be 5th on my choice to reload, and 7th if you also include the two AACF hulls I have. And I have noticed some of that length variability but so far no holes big enough to leak shot. I did not adjust any of the crimp settings from the Nitros I was running.
Tom
 
#10 ·
wrfish said:
oneounceload said:
I have loaded over 100K Gun Clubs with Win 209s and have never had an issue on either a MEC single stage, 900, Grabber or RCBS Grand.
Same results here. Although I just load on a MEC 9000. In many years of reloading I never seen this issue
Same here. Load only Remington and primarily GC on a 9000E for years. Guessing the Automate's power is the reason for no problems.
 
#11 ·
SDV said:
wrfish wrote:
oneounceload wrote:
I have loaded over 100K Gun Clubs with Win 209s and have never had an issue on either a MEC single stage, 900, Grabber or RCBS Grand.

Same results here. Although I just load on a MEC 9000. In many years of reloading I never seen this issue

Same here. Load only Remington and primarily GC on a 9000E for years. Guessing the Automate's power is the reason for no problems.
Did not stop the problem in my experience. Even after increasing the primer seating force by a great amount. I lowered the powder drop tube enough to throw off the Bar Locking system and it still wouldn't force the primer up through the plastic in the top of the primer hole.
Mr. Drill Bit solved the problem.
 
#13 ·
#14 ·
What some of these guys don't understand is the two different methods of seating a primer between the SS and progressive Mec presses. With a SS there are two solid pieces of steel coming together so the primer is gonna seat. With the progressive the seating piece on the top is an adjustable spring loaded tube, so problems can arise if it's not adjusted with enough pressure. I personally have never had a problem with primers, or shell length, with any 12ga Remington. With the 28ga Rem I had to drill out the pocket. On one side of my reloading room there's a Jr between a 9000H and a Grabber. The Grabber is for trap loads, 9000 for skeet, SCs, and 5-stand, and Jr for any fu##ups. It may be just me being lucky, but I've never found a problem with any Rem hull.
 
#15 ·
bladesmith said:
What some of these guys don't understand is the two different methods of seating a primer between the SS and progressive Mec presses. With a SS there are two solid pieces of steel coming together so the primer is gonna seat. With the progressive the seating piece on the top is an adjustable spring loaded tube, so problems can arise if it's not adjusted with enough pressure. I personally have never had a problem with primers, or shell length, with any 12ga Remington. With the 28ga Rem I had to drill out the pocket. On one side of my reloading room there's a Jr between a 9000H and a Grabber. The Grabber is for trap loads, 9000 for skeet, SCs, and 5-stand, and Jr for any fu##ups. It may be just me being lucky, but I've never found a problem with any Rem hull.
All of my 12ga. Gun Club loading is done with a MEC 9000G. I did experience my first issue with the rammer tube slipping this year... maybe it was because of the Gun Club plastic issue? In any case, I degreased the rammer tube and clamp, re-adjusted it, and haven't had any more trouble.

The 20ga. Gun Clubs get loaded on a single Stage machine. No problems there.
 
#16 ·
I have loaded mostly Fiocchi 616 primers for years. 10+ years ago I don't remember any particular problem with Gun Club hulls. For a while now, I have been loading other flavors of hulls or Gun Clubs that I have reloaded before. Recently I loaded some new once-fired Gun Club hulls and noticed a fair amount of popping and banging when the primer was seated (I use a MEC 9000H). The primer always seated completely but it was noisy!

Maybe the hull manufacturing has changed a bit or maybe I just didn't pay that much attention to it in the past. In any case, Curly's drill bit process solved the problem. I tend to run my hulls for quite a few reloads so the extra work of cleaning out the primer pocket does not come around all that often.
 
#17 ·
Never say never! I load gunclub hulls but not in the quantities the clay bird crowd does. Since I use only sizemaster loaders, it's not likely I will experience that problem but considering Curly's knowledge of reloading, if he says it can happen, that's good enough for me! I find the GC hull to be a great loading hull & works well for loads for which it is suited. Except for exposure to corrosive conditions (primarily salt water) , it is durable. All loads don't work well in it, however. It is primarily a target hull, hence the name "gunclub". It excels as a target hull or light field hull (aka: low brass loads). Other hulls that may not be as durable work better for heavier loads & loads the GC hull can't handle at all! You don't see many in the duck blind!
 
#18 ·
The gun cub hull can hold a field load as well as a target load as long as you use the right components
 
#20 ·
" The gunclub hull can hold a field load as well as a target load".

Very true, I didn't intend to imply that some very good field loads can't be loaded in the gunclub hull. It is a matter of degrees. Other hulls are better suited for the heavier field & magnum loads. Heavy loads can probably be found for the GC hull but they are the exception to the general rule. The GC hull & other hulls of that type construction generally run higher pressure & of course are limited by their volume. However, there are some notable exceptions, like the Federal Gold Medal hull.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top