Why high brass/ low brass?

[.Dirty-.30]

If I load 1 1/4oz 12 gauge loads to match my store bought field loads, why can they be loaded in a low brass hull when factory comes in a high brass hull?
Seems like all the videos online only show low brass hulls be reloaded and noen of the high brass like the Remington Express factory shells I usually shoot, does the MEc 600 have a problem resizing hulls of this length brass?
BTW, I am new to reloading shotshells and that may explain if my questions make no sense!   

[Graybeard]

No real reason to it. High brass has just always been associated with heavier loads of shot. There is no ballistic advantage offered by it. A company called ACTIV used to use all plastic hulls. The only metal in the case was a thin metal waster in the rim area of it. They loaded those hulls with a full two ounces of shot in 3" 12 ga loads. Back when my shoulder could take the recoil I loved them for use on crows. Of course shooting all those heavy loads I have in the past might be why I'll soon be having surgery on the shoulder or at least that's the result I'm expecting after the MRI.

[AtlLaw]

No real reason to it.

+1 
 
Back in my skeet shooting days I loaded all my huinting loads in Winchester target load hulls.  What were they called?      Double A's?      red, low base things...

[spruce]

"red, low base things" - Sometimes called shotgun shells?

[dakotashooter2]

Marketing..........High brass led many to believe if the shell had to have higher brass it was more powerfull................

[omegahunter]

There is a difference in my shells.  I load my 12's with an ounce of #5 in high brass and 7/8 ounce in low brass; both at 1200 fps.  I have a lot of federal high brass in the 20 gauge that I have set aside to load with REDUCED loads for my daughter when she gets big enough for the 20.

[powderman]

Marketing..........High brass led many to believe if the shell had to have higher brass it was more powerfull................

 
BINGO, and like GB said, those activ hulls are great. Activs my favorite, AAs next. You can load some pretty heavy loads in the 2 3/4 in activs, lots of room in them. POWDERMAN. 

[darkgael]

There is a difference in my shells.  I load my 12's with an ounce of #5 in high brass and 7/8 ounce in low brass; both at 1200 fps.  I have a lot of federal high brass in the 20 gauge that I have set aside to load with REDUCED loads for my daughter when she gets big enough for the 20.

That visual difference is the only usable difference between the two. Functionally, one is as strong as the other. That a reloader chooses to make them different is a convenience, not a necessity.
It is a neat idea in any case....the 3/4oz in one and the ounce in the other.
Pete

[flmason]

Back when black powder loads were common, wouldn't the higher brass, when used with heavier loads provided a little extra protection against the powder burning through the hull?

Granted, not a whole lot, but I have read that black powder burn through is a problem, though possibly morese with modern plastic shells.