I have been using my 20 ga. for grouse hunting. I normally use the Winchester Super X which are cheap but effective. Last year I bought an $11 box of Remington " high brass" . I started using them and ended up missing quite a few shots. Well, I went back to the cheap ones and used those for the rest of the season. This year I started using the high brass ones just to use them up. I noticed that they seem to hold a tighter pattern and reach farther, but it was harder to hit anything with them up close. I was using #6 shot for both types.

Can someone explain the term " high brass" and what exactly it means as far as shooting performance?

Normally, the term " high brass" is applied to an ammuntion company' s maximum standard load. It has more powder and more shot than the inexpensive loads you are used to shooting (7/8oz vs 1oz) and produces higher velocity. The shot used is probably harder as well. All of these things combine to make the pattern tighter...forcing more shot down that slim little barrel, making that shot exit the barrel at a higher speed, and less pellet deformation because of the harder shot, which means they will fly straighter (and tighter). These same things may indeed make your shot string longer, as well, meaning that less shot may actually arrive at the target at a given moment than you would get with the lighter loads.

For most grouse hunting I' ve done, the lighter loads seem to work better. For chukar, huns and the occasional pheasant (longer shots at tougher birds), high brass loads get the job done with authority.

So-called " magnum" loads will magnify this effect even more. I have always thought that if a hunter needs a magnum load for a 20-bore, he should just go out and get himself a 12-bore and call it good.

st recently found a really good reason for high brass. I have a drawer that I dump my extra shotshells into when I' m done hunrting or trapshooting- you know, the 2 or 3 rounds that don' t have a home or box. Last weekend when I went goose hunting, I went through my drawer to pick out the steel hunting shells and it was amazingly easy since the lighter loads were low brass and the ones I wanted were high brass.[8D]

Umm, maybe it' s obvious but I' ll say it anyway. " High Brass" rounds are called that because the brass section of the shell is " taller" than in standard loads.

For a really good discussion on the pros/cons (mostly cons) of high brass loads, pick up a copy of McIntosh' s " Shotguns and Shooting" . For upland bird hunting, they are largely unneccesary.

Here and upland you never know if they' ll bust right under your feet or distance away. I have found that for upland the cheap(low brass) shells work with 1oz for them close busters and 1 1/8 for the longer shots. Since it is impossible to tell, my former combo was the 1oz as first shot and 1 1/8 oz for the long shot, with a7 1/2,7 1/2 & 6 combo. Confused!!!! So was I, now I just use 1 1/8 oz 71/2 or 6' s, if they bust early I just hold a little longer. Basically I have found the low brass to be a better choice for grouse and huns. When pheasants are on tap I like the higher brass. For waterfowl high brass.

I just use winchester AA' s loaded with 1 oz and #6 shot for grouse and pheasants. No need for high brass at all, though as I pointed out in my last post, it makes it easier to seperate the heavier waterfowl loads from the lighter lead loads.

Ammunition companies learned years ago how to market to " Joe" hunter. The high base on a shell means nothing as to the integrity of the shotshell but they are used so the average guy thinks he is getting a super duper factory load.Though already stated, the high base shells are loaded with heavier shot charges and/or higher velocities. Shotshells such as the Win. AA and Rem. STS can be reloaded with the same pressures/velocities/shot as a......... say....a Rem Nitro 2 3/4" turkey load.


DoubleA

Well I just found two boxes of High Brass that I didn' t even know that I had!! Will try them on squirrel this weekend and see what happens.

Thanks, guys! Now I know the true difference. While I did notice they seem to reach a bit farther than the low brass, for most situations I find the cheaper ones are actually better suited for the type of hunting I do. No more $11 boxes of shells for me!