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rio shells- how are they?

4K views 15 replies 13 participants last post by  skeet_man 
#1 ·
looking for opinions, info about the quality of rio shells...thanks in advance...milt luther
 
#3 ·
Between myself and a couple of my shooting partners, we have gone through several pallets of the Rio Top Traps. We have been very pleased with the performance, and have never had any issues with the reliability of them. As far as the lower end Rio's, I'm not much help. I've shot a case or two of them, but not enough to give a good opinion on them.
 
#5 ·
Shootilithurts, Yes Rio's shells are a pretty good shell for the money. The cost has now gotten to the point where I will not buy anymore because of the US dollar VS the Euro problem. I have both the blue one's (3% antimony lead)and the top trap also sporting clays as well in green hulls (5% antimony lead). The other difference seems to be that the green one's are a little better resized than the blue's. Some shooters in the colder climates have had problems with the shells not going off in the cold weather (bloopers), other have not. Maybe due to fact some will leave shells overnight in the trunk in the weather, others do not. I do not now that for sure. I live in great climate and never had a problem with that. In some of the higher grade guns these shells can have a problem with ejecting, or even getting stuck. Try a box or two before you buy in large numbers for this reason. If you can get them at a good price!! Go for it. Pretty clean burning as well. All Good. Break-em all. Jeff
 
#6 ·
There are some shooters that swear by these shells and others that swear AT them. I'm from the latter group. The cold weather performance, base wad migrations, and other issues just didn't make sense for me to use them. Many flats are used daily and they seem to work for some people. I won't shoot them myself, until I'm certain that they have corrected some issues. The single based powder is horrible for performance in cold weather. The company manufactures shells under many different brands and for other suppliers. Kemen is one that comes to mind. I will say that I don't know of any gun that was damaged by these shells, nor can I say that any shooter has been injured by them, according to personal knowledge. I did send some samples of once fired hulls with migrated basewads to Kemen and never heard any more about it. I shoot an auto and don't need to have even the remote chance that a basewad would exit the hull and become lodged in the barrel. I'm sure there will be some contrary posts by the usual characters in response to an honest answer to your question.
 
#9 ·
I have a few pallets of Rios that I laid in for our local trap teams. They have been given first chance at buying these shells. A number of high school teams here in Nebraska will shoot Estates, Rios, Super Targets, or even Federal shells in shoots. I have personally sold pallets of them with no complaints so far. Your mileage may vary especially in real cold weather. If you are interested call or email me. Practice has started and competition will be here soon. They will all run out to shells sooner or later. IMHO Omaha
 
#10 ·
Rio shells work well for many shooters. They are a little more temperature sensitive than most other shells. I do not know if the powder used in Rio shells is a single base or a double base. I can't tell by looking at the powder. In the few shells I tested, the shot was not impressively uniform. Velocity, as measured by an inductive chronograph, of shells marked 1200 ft/sec were: -20 F- 845; 70 F-1140; 120-F 1210. These numbers are from one sample and other samples could produce different results.

Discount shells are loaded with the lowest priced components available at the time. There an be variations among different lots. Many good scores are shot with shells that do not meet my personal standards. This might indicate that my standards mean little. Shooting well appears to be much more important than shooting the best shells available.

Pat Ireland
 
#12 ·
" I do not know if the powder used in Rio shells is a single base or a double base. I can't tell by looking at the powder."

You don't have to look at the powder, Pat. Rio tells you that they're single base on their web site under the chart on the left side of the page:

"PSB and CSB powders are single-based propellant explosives manufactured from high nitrogen content nitrocellulose which has been properly gelled and stabilized."

Morgan
 
#13 ·
I bought a bunch at $38/flat before the price went up. I don't care for their warm weather performance let alone cold weather. I've been selling them off at $38/flat. I'll use up what is left during the first doubles marathon of the year. I won't be buying more.

As for other "less expensive" brands. I just got a batch of Gun Clubs that cannot be reloaded. A standard STS209 primer cannot be inserted in the deprimed hull. Pressure literally caves in the bottom of the hull, rendering it unusable.

I reload, so I'll just make a little more time and roll my own. If I were to venture out to buy discount shells again, I buy a single flat of Federal Top Gun and try them. If I liked the performance, I'd buy more from the same lot. They are too variable to simply trust the brand name. Same with Gun Club.
 
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