The short answer is yes and yes. The tears are normal and when folded they will not be seen. One thing to consider when loading shotshells is that not all 'hulls' are the same. The 'hull', the wad, the charge have to match up well to get safe and reliable ammo.
Your OOB hulls appear to be just standard high base Winchester 12 ga. One other point of fact the height of the brass has nothing to do with the actual load you can put in the hull. Low base brass hulls will handle the same loads as high base. Its just a thing ammo manufacturers do for identity.