This paper presents the results of experimental investigation, numerical calculation and theoretical analysis on axial compression ratio limit values for steel reinforced concrete (SRC) special shaped columns. 17 specimens were firstly intensively carried out to investigate the hysteretic behavior of SRC special shaped columns subjected to a constant axial load and cyclic reversed loads. Two theories were used to calculate the limits of axial compression ratio for all the specimens, including the balanced failure theory and superposition theory. It was found that the results of balanced failure theory by numerical integration method cannot conform the reality of test results, while the calculation results by employing the superposition theory can agree well with the test results. On the basis of superposition theory, the design limit values of axial compression ratio under different seismic grades were proposed for SRC special shaped columns.