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The injection-molded or compression-formed hull uses an integral base wad, which is the wall itself tapering to the bottom toward the primer hole so that the thickening curvature of the hull itself is what separates the powder from the base metal. Winchester’s popular AA hulls are a good example of the more common compression-formed tapered hull. (They show a cut-away of the loaded hull in some of their recent advertising.) Typically, the thicker, injection-molded shells are the choice of hull for competition loads.

At the base of a straight-sided hull is the interior base wad. It is somewhat rare that this is a loose paper wad as in days past. Subjected to the intense flash of heat when the primer explodes and ignites the powder, a paper base wad can easily detach and fall out, deteriorate or blow into and stick inside the barrel. Reloading a hull without inspecting the fiber (or plastic, for that matter) base for adhesion is careless and unacceptable.

Today, many of these base wads are plastic and look like washers. Their functions are to separate the powder from the base, to elevate the powder to the top of the primer and to help seal the bottom of the shell. You do not want a gas leak anywhere, but it can be especially disturbing around the base of the hull.