16ga.com ~ View topic - Winchester-Chedite hulls?

Are the Winchester red straight wall hull and Chedite hulls the same thing?
Just curious about reloading them. Our Wal-Mart started selling the shells for for a little over $7/box. I didn't know how they reloaded and if data for Chedite hulls could be used for Winchester hulls.

Member Joined: 15 Mar 2007 Posts: 601 Location: Virginia

Lyman's latest edition has data for reloading the new Winchester hulls.

DanLee

Guest

The current Winchester hull is a Cheddite or Cheddite clone and the load data is interchangeable.

Member Joined: 16 Aug 2004 Posts: 317

Yep. modern Winchester Super X loads are interchangable with published Cheddite data and our group's cheddite data. Essentially it is a cheddite hull without cheddite markings on the base. The factory primers are cheddite too.

For all practical purposes, you can also include the Fiocchi, and the new type Activ hulls. There are some other brands also using the Cheddite hulls as well. It would prove usefull to learn to reckognize these widely used generic hulls by the apearance of their interior. They are now the most commonly used hull around.

Guest

"In 1997, Kent purchased the Activ Cartridge factory in Kearneysville, West Virginia. This gave Kent a home base in the heart of wild and wonderful West Virginia." From Kent Cartridge facts page (see Google).

The new Activs are or were loaded in generic Cheddite hulls unlike the original one piece all plastic hull. I've not seen any recently. I'd heard they were also offering 16 ga ammo, but never saw any. Perhaps Kent shelved the name after they acquired Game Bore of England. However, if they did load Activs in 16 ga, prior to the Gamebore acquisition, it would also be in the Cheddite type hull.

The simplest test is to take one and carefully cut it exactly in half top to bottom. Do the same with a Cheddite or any other Cheddite type hull. you can then comare the inside contours and get a good idea of the similarities. If they look identical, they will interchange for most moderate loads.

It is my understanding that Cheddite or their clones have stars marked on the bottom of the brass. I use Cheddite and they have these stars. I am not certain about their clones because I do not use them. I have only read posts as such.

Brian

The standard Cheddite headstamp has 4 stars alternating with the gauge marking. However, Cheddite will for an additional charge press custom headstamps for a customer. This means that a Cheddite hull may have the standard stars/gauge marking or any custom marking ordered by a customer.

If it has the stars - it's Cheddite.

If it doesn't have the stars - it could still be Cheddite.

That really makes it clear as mud.

For moderate loads in modern guns I cut the hulls in half and if they compare the same I load them as Cheddite.

For my 1866 Lang I only use exactly the hull that I've sent to Tom Armbrust for testing. Currently that is the RST and it has the stars/gauge marking of standard Cheddite hulls.

a few years back, I did a careful volume test on a 1/2 dozen each of several very similar hulls including the newest Winchester polyformed hull, the Fiocchi, and the Cheddite. All the preparations and testing were done in a lab using certified equipment.

The shells were carefully prepared by cutting them all to an exact, uniform height and squareness. I filled each test hull with water to the top and carefully brought the miniscus up to the edge. I then weighed each filled hull. I then emptied and thoroughly dried all the hulls before weighing them empty. The weight of the water in each hull was recorded. The results for each 1/2 dozen were averaged.

I then compared the average weight of the water for each hull type. The differences between them was less than .3%. This difference is smaller than the difference from lot to lot of each hull type. For all practical purposes, these three hulls will interchange for any acceptable, safe load.

A careful visual comparison of the bisected hulls showed all were so similar as to be considered identical internally. So as has been said, if the carefully bisected hulls look identical internally, they are safe to use for a common load. The difference in internal volume should be less than 1.5 percent.

This amount of difference will not affect ballistics adversely for any moderate load. If the load you choose is a max load, then simply stay with the specified hull type. This simple percaution will guarantee your max load will still be as safe as the moderate loads.

This is not rocket science folks....well actually it is Laughing

, but it's simple rocket science. Simply use some common sense, reasonable percautions, and good loading habits. If you do, you will never get into trouble. Your greatest tool is your brain. Use it, learn the ropes, and stay safe.