Newbie here: AAs and their two pieces or Remington STS

[skarke]

Whatch'all think?  12 Gauge.

[Graybeard]

I don't shoot 12 ga anymore but I've always favored the Winchester AA or Remington hulls. I loaded both with equal success and really had no preference. Mostly to keep my loads separated I used Winchester for crow loads with #7-1/2 shot generally an ounce and a quarter and used Remington hulls for my target loads. For skeet I mostly used an ounce of #9 shot but some times dropped as low as 7/8 oz.

[JoeG52]

I like the old compression formed AAs the best, the STSs are almost as good. The newer two piece AAs don’t load as nicely as the older AAs and STSs.
Joe

[Graybeard]

I've not loaded any of the new AA HS in 12 or 20 but love them for 28 and .410. Of course Remington does it right and all of the STS hulls from .410 to 12 load great. These days I seldom shoot anything other than .410 and for skeet don't shoot anything else.

[Val]

I prefer the Remy STS, Remy Nitro or the Remy Gun Club over the Winchester AAs. Although the AAs work, I get more bad crimps out of the AAs over the Remingtons. This is especially true in 20 gauge.

[1marty]

I shoot skeet and do high volume shooting. The old AA's were great but the new ones seem to deteriorate very quickly. The STS is my choice for reloading.

[huntswithdogs]

To me, the Remington hulls are all the same but for the color and whether they're smooth or ridged. The cheap black hulls, that everybody else throws away, reload extremely well. Ya have to watch the crimps on them though. Some have a 6 pedal crimp while the others have the 8 pedals.

HWD

[mcwoodduck]

My answer is Both.
I have four colors.
Win AA in Red and Grey
Rem in Gold and Green.
The Win hulls are 1 1/8oz At 1200 FPS
Red is 7.5
Grey is 9's
The Gold are  1 1/4oz of 7's @ 1325 FPS
and the green are now 1 oz of 7.5. @ 1200 FPS.
When I reload I do not have to worry about labeling the Box or hulls and if I find a loaded one in a game vest or shooting vest I do not have to wonder what it is.  If it is red, green, gold, or Grey, I know
I also have Paper hulled Federal hulls and am phasing out some of the Peter's Blue majic and the Silver WAA hulls that are speciality loads now like 6's or 1 oz 9's.
But I found that those 4 colors and loads will cover 90% of my scatter gun shooting from skeet, trap, sporting clays, Pot Shoots, Upland birds, and other target shoots.

[mcwoodduck]

I also only use Green and Blue Dot as powders.
The green is for 20, 12, and 10ga light or standard loads
the Blue is for the heavier loads. 
The green works for my 45ACP and the Blue for 44 Mag.
Reguardless of what you want to load pick one speed.  for all of you loads.
Consistancy in the speed of the shot shell will make you a better shooter.
Save making the fancy pot shoot loads for later and stick to
8's or 9's, 7.5's and maybe 6's for hunting.  You do not need both 8's and 9's.  I like 9's for skeet and for fast  moving sporting clays, everything else is 7.5's for me. 
When you are breaking 22+ in skeet or trap on a regular basis then start playing with the faster or heavier loads.

[Rickk]

I just loaded a couple hundred of the new AA-HS (12 g). No crimp problems with any of them.

From what I gather reading, the crimp problems arise because sometimes the wad hangs up on the base insert and does not seat all the way. I saw a suggestion to use mica powder (Ballistic Products carries it) to make the wads slide easier.

I put about a tablespoon of mica powder into a full bag of wads and shook it up. The wads were completely covered with the stuff. They slid in place in the hull ever so nicely.

Another plus... by the time I was done I had a light dusting of mica powder everywhere important on my MEC and it seemed to work much more smoothly.

Ballistic Products claims up to 5% velocity increase if you use the stuff. I don't have a chronometer, so I can't verify that.