Update on shucking Herter's Low Recoil Shotgun Hulls

[Silver Shadow]

A while back a thread was started concerning Herter's Low Recoil Shotgun Shells available from Cabela's.

 

A couple people were having trouble getting them to shuck.

 

I mentioned that I had been using them on and off for about a year, and have been very happy with them especially at a price point of $5.70 a box.

 

Recently I attended a shoot where the temperature was warmer than I have experienced since shooting these shells. The outside temperature was around 90 and, being it was a travel shoot, the shells were living in the warm car.

 

Whatever the reason, I could not get these Herter's shells to shuck reliably.

 

On the drive home I speculated maybe the heat had been the reason for the problems. So at the next weeks local shoot where the temps were 90+, I decided to test my theory by putting a box of Herter's in my cooler and see if that made any difference. Temperature outside similar, same shotgun in the same condition, humidity ?, shells cooled in the top of a cooler on ice. Not one problem with shucking.

 

My thought is that these Herter's shells don't perform well in our game at high temperatures. I don't know why for sure, maybe it softens the plastic enough to allow it to expand more, or possibly the powder, used in them, is somewhat temperature sensitive and is pressuring a little higher at high temps, or maybe a combination of both. Your guess is probably better than mine.

 

Opinion: At normal temperatures in Northern climes, I think these shells are very good option especially for the price. In Southern climes, maybe not, unless you want to use a cooler.

 

Is it worth it to me to chill these things out on a hot day? I think I'll try it(partly because I have a couple cases of these things, and also because I like the 1 1/8 oz loads over featherlites). As they say "Your mileage may vary."

 

Just my view from the road

SS

[Cheyenne Ranger, 48747L]

being at the bottom of the country (look at a map, Texas is the foundation that is holding everything else up) I might just steer clear of them for reasons mentioned above.

 

today is a cool one for us: only 99º with a predicted heat index somewhere north of 106º

 

Course I remember water skiing on the Clear Lake on Christmas Day when I was in high school, too

 

cr

[Nate Kiowa Jones #6765]

Sounds like your ammo is right at the edge of working but not consistantly.

What makes the difference is how thick/stiff the plastic is. When fired the thin or soft plastic like most of the cheap SG ammo expands or swells to the chamber but unlike the thick/stiff plastic ammo, it does not contract or shrink back causing it to hang in the chamber. This is easy to verify. Next time you are at a shoot check the trash can for some of the empty hulls and squeeze them. You will see that the Win AA's or the Rem STS's are stiffer and thicker that the cheap stuff.

[Flatbush]

The Herter's brand has a 6 point crimp. I can't get any brand of 6 point crimp ammo to shuck reliably from my side-by-side, while any brand of 8 point crimp ammo shucks just fine.