What’s the Difference: High Brass vs Low Brass Shells?

No, high brass shotgun shells don’t always have more power than low brass shells. So what’s the difference?

by posted on June 15, 2025
** When you buy products through the links on our site, we may earn a commission that supports NRA's mission to protect, preserve and defend the Second Amendment. **
Deering High Brass Vs Low Brass Shells 20250611 153726
Manufacturers use a wide variety of brass height these days—it’s mostly a cosmetic decision, although in most cases, high brass does still correlate with a higher-pressure shell. From left: A Winchester light game load, a Federal target load, a 2010-era Remington turkey load, and a Rio waterfowl load.

The brass at the base of a shotgun shell has an important job: It holds the primer and helps ensure safe, efficient firing, and it gives the extractor something to grab onto. When the primer goes boom and sets off a tiny little explosion/fire that will create pressure and propel the payload down the barrel, the metal base of the shell helps hold that explosion in its proper place.

At one time, particularly when hulls were still made of paper, higher-powered shells like those used for hunting used slightly higher metal bases to better contain the slightly larger tiny explosion of the more powerful shells. Target shells, which generate less pressure, could get away with less metal. Thus, hunting shells became synonymous with high brass and target shells became associated with low brass.

With modern shell technology and materials, that extra brass simply isn’t needed to contain the pressure of high-powered shells. But many manufacturers are still putting higher brass bases on hunting shells and lower bases on target shells anyway. Why?

It’s all about marketing and perception. Brass costs money, so back in the day, more brass meant manufacturers could charge more for the shells, and hunters have been conditioned for decades to associate high brass with “better,” more powerful, more expensive shells. Perception being reality, manufacturers continue to use high and low brass simply because that’s why buyers expect to see.

Now, it’s true that most of the time, when you see a shell with high brass, it’s going to contain more powder and be a more powerful shell than an average shell with a low brass base. But this is simple correlation, not causation as it was decades ago when shotshells truly needed more brass for safe firing. Today, higher-pressure shells can be made with low brass and lower-pressure shells with high brass (although why would they be, as it’s more expensive), so you can’t make assumptions based solely on brass height. As always, you should read the specs on a box of shotgun shells when evaluating what to use for a particular purpose, as the height of the shell’s brass is not a reliable stand-alone indicator.

In short, the technical answer to “What’s the difference between high brass and low brass shotgun shells?” is that there really isn’t one you can rely on other than the obvious cosmetic fact that one has more brass than the other.

 

Latest

Deering Retention Holster Istock 2171689382
Deering Retention Holster Istock 2171689382

Understanding Holster Retention Levels

What do the different levels of holster retention mean, and which level is right for you?

New Guns 2025: Smith & Wesson M&P Shield X Series

The new iteration of the Shield series was designed with CCW versatility in mind.

Muscle Memory: Is It Real?

When physical tasks associated with shooting become easier after a lot of repetition, we call that “muscle memory.” But is it really?

Ode to Offal

If you’ve been avoiding organ meat from your wild game, you might be missing out.

Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California’s Background Check Requirement for Ammo Purchases in NRA Backed Case

The Ninth Circuit applied the text-and-history test set forth in the NRA’s landmark Supreme Court victory, NYSRPA v. Bruen.

Women's Interests



Get the best of NRA Women delivered to your inbox.