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Are RIO shells under powered ?


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Testing several different brands of ammo in a new SG today.

Win AA 1145 fps

Federal bulk 1200 fps

Rio 1280 fps, first time ever shooting Rio, so results were kinda surprising.

Also some 1320 fps, I forgot the brand

The Rio felt the weakest,lightest recoil, also wouldn't cycle the gun reliably.

Win AA's cycled almost 100%, occasionally wouldn't lock open on last round

Federal cycled nearly the same as the AA's , more noticable recoil, and locked open most of the time.

1320's ran everything 100% as expected. 1300fps is recommended for break-in.

I have always heard Rio was a quality shell, but they were noticably lower power than even the AA's which were supposed to be 135fps slower ? ? ?

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Shooting a MKA 1919 we built for a customer, he likes Rio's so we got some to try out (their not available around here).

They were very noticably the least amount of recoil, also wouldn't cycle the gun, the bolt looked very sluggish/slow as well, which would be why they didn't cycle.

They also didn't knock down the plates like the others did.

We really need to get a chrono, a big difference as the old "butt dyno" or in this case "shoulder chrono" ;) sure seemed to feel a difference.

Just wondering if others had noticed this difference.

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As European shells (they are now also made in Tennessee though the plant had an explosion recently), listed velocities are chronoed at the barrel, giving higher velocities than comparable U.S. shells which are chronoed a few few from the barrel.

Were the shells 1 oz. loads? The 1280 FPS Rio game loads that I shot in a sporting clays lesson yesterday were 1 oz. loads: they should have less recoil and energy as compared with 1 1/8 oz. loads of comparable speed. Can't see an advantage in 1 oz. loads through a semi for 3-gun, but in an over-under I like the 1 oz. Rio light trap loads at 1210 FPS for sporting clays competition if I can find 'em, which I can't.

:cheers:

Curtis

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I use the Rio 7.5 target shells as my primary 3-gun load. (This may change when I burn through the ones I brought when I moved from TX - no local vendor sells them here in my part of VA.) I haven't had any issues with them in my CZ-712.

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Shooting a MKA 1919 we built for a customer, he likes Rio's so we got some to try out (their not available around here).

They were very noticably the least amount of recoil, also wouldn't cycle the gun, the bolt looked very sluggish/slow as well, which would be why they didn't cycle.

They also didn't knock down the plates like the others did.

We really need to get a chrono, a big difference as the old "butt dyno" or in this case "shoulder chrono" ;) sure seemed to feel a difference.

Just wondering if others had noticed this difference.

They're available here but yes I had a similar experience. They didn't run well in the MKA.

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They also didn't knock down the plates like the others did.

I should have stated, we weren't expecting to knock down the plates, at the distances we were shooting, just having a target to shoot at.

however the others did knock many down, I noticed the Rio's didn't.

They fed fine, everyone went bang, just seemed much lighter than I expected with the fps stated on the box.

Other than that they seemed to be a quality shell, I guess if a guy wanted to shoot them, buy about 150 fps faster than Winchester, Federal, you should end up with about the same performance.

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For what its worth my MKA runs about 100% With Estate 1200 1 1/8 loads. I wondered about the RIO and have seen the hulls but never seen them on the shelf.

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Another for what it's worth. I've shot RIO's 1145 7.5's since I got my gun from Firebird. Stage 10 @ STI TX , shot AA 1145 in 23 rnd mag. reload, finished far targets with RIO's from behind fault line 1 for 1 on farthest steel

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FWIW, I've had issues with RIO's in the past, especially in the cold. Their powder composition didn't seem to always give consistent velocities when subjected to cold weather. We had to keep shells in our hotel room overnight in order to keep them igniting properly during a match. This was across many makes and models of shotguns. It was an odd issue to have, and I haven't seen it with any other shells. Personally, that made me swear off Rios for competition shells, especially in cold climates. I'd assume if they see a velocity drop in the cold they also may see a spike in the heat.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Also in the catagory of whatever it's worth: For less expensive ammo look at Fiocchi - Target Load - 1200 Velocity - 7 1/2 shot - 1 1/8oz. They sell for about $3.00 a box less then AA's or Nitro 27's, they also have a really nice flat primer to help ignition on a light or off center strike and recoil is similar to the AA's. I've only run 4 or 5 boxes so far at 100% reliability so more time will tell.

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I haven't had the pleasure to try any of the lower powered RIO rounds yet, but I've had great success with the 1350's in my SX2. I don't run them all the time since the recoil is heavier, but for stages with 1 or 2 plates at the end of my choke range but everything else up close I'll throw the 1350's in for the little extra energy without having to choke down and being a little too tight for the small close plates. I've also tried their buckshot and slugs. Nothing that wowed me but I have not had any problems with any of them running my SX2.

I saw mention to 1oz. shells earlier in the thread and I'll admit I carry them in my bag depending on the day. I've been to matches with a lot of clay birds on a stage or small plates fairly close that a 1oz. is more than enough for. No sense fighting the extra recoil from a 1-1/8oz. when I can take the softer shooting round and speed up my splits. Some matches I know I will barely use them, so they stay at home. Some matches I know I won't see anything far so the 1350's stay home. Some matches vary month to month so I take a couple boxes of hotter loads and light loads and decide what goes in the bag and what stays in the car after I walk the stages.

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