Reloading Winchester 28 gauge HS Steel shot hulls with lead?

PoorRichRichard · Feb 6, 2021

I have a few boxes of 28 gauge Winchester Super X hulls stamped "HS" on the bottom of the shell (picture linked below). These were factory loaded with steel shot. They look identical when placed side by side with Win. AA/HS factory loaded lead shot hulls. My questions are as follows:

1. Are these standard Win HS hulls that have the same dimensions as Win AA/HS hulls that are factory loaded with lead?

2. If question #1 is true, I should be able to follow a standard book recipe for using these hulls to build some lead shot reloads, correct?

I know 28 gauge loads generally develop fairly higher amounts of pressure than the stuff I load in 12, so I just wanna make sure I'm not gonna do anything that accidentally blows up my gun- or my pretty face...

I've tried to contact Winchester for an answer multiple times to no avail...

High resolution picture link via flicker:

Any help/guidance would be greatly appreciated.

PoorRichRichard · Feb 6, 2021

Nothing?

painter* · Feb 6, 2021

I'll bite...

If the bases are non magnetic, I'd consider them the same as AAHS. If not, cut one of them open and post a photo.

Steve Y · Feb 6, 2021

PoorRichRichard said:
I have a few boxes of 28 gauge Winchester Super X hulls stamped "HS" on the bottom of the shell (picture linked below). These were factory loaded with steel shot.
They look identical when placed side by side with Win. AA/HS factory loaded lead shot hulls. .

You seem to have some of each. Cut one of each open and compare. If they look the same, load one of the "steel" hulls with your lead load and compare how it loaded to a known lead HS hull load, rattle/shot height, crimp depth etc.

Steve

PoorRichRichard · Feb 6, 2021

YevetS said:
PoorRichRichard said:

I have a few boxes of 28 gauge Winchester Super X hulls stamped "HS" on the bottom of the shell (picture linked below). These were factory loaded with steel shot.
They look identical when placed side by side with Win. AA/HS factory loaded lead shot hulls. .

Click to expand...

You seem to have some of each. Cut one of each open and compare. If they look the same, load one of the "steel" hulls with your lead load and compare how it loaded to a known lead HS hull load, rattle/shot height, crimp depth etc.

Steve

Why the hell didn't I think of that?... Thank you Steve.

Dave in AZ · Feb 7, 2021

They are the same. Load them up however you like your win aa hs.
We load steel shot into lead winaa hs all the time. My buddy does the reverse as you are asking. They just make the one hull.

Reloading Winchester 28 gauge HS Steel shot hulls with lead?

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