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RIO Shells

19K views 57 replies 42 participants last post by  starjcb 
#1 ·
I've come across an ad for RIO shotgun shells, a division of UEE. They are inexpensive shells but I've never heard of them before. Does anyone have expierence with these? Are they OK? Are they trash?
 
#5 ·
+3 and then some! Get 'em while they are hot. Natchezz shooter supply offers them by the case. I have shot them for a long time now and I cannot complain. Very clean, consistent, and nary a failure to fire or feed. You will be pleased. Cannot comment on the reloadability however as I don't reload.
 
#7 ·
They are a good inexpensive new shell. I will, from now on, reload them only when I can't find AA's, REM's or Federal's. They are good for 1 reload and then the folds split.
I called Kevin at DownRange about testing some loads and he said they are crap.Nuff Said
 
#13 ·
I've shot about 2,500 of the 1 1/8 oz. sporting clays loads in 12 ga. I think that they perform really well. However, they sometimes cause problems with my autoloaders. I am pretty sure that it is the shell and not the gun because I have never had any other hangup with any other shell, and I have shot a lot of them--AAs, Federal Promos, Winchester Universals, Game Loads, etc. However, for my o/u, they work great.

Elliott
 
#15 ·
I have shot at least 20,000 Rio shells, probably more, and I have never had a problem that I can blame on the shells (which is not true of the Winchesters, Remingtons, and Federals that I have shot).

In practice, I use Rios because they are cheap. In competition I use Rios because they perform well.

The only thing I could criticize Rios for is, in cold weather (anything below 50 is cold to me) I sometimes get an off-sounding shell, but they still break targets. Also, they sometimes flash fire out of the ejection port of an automatic - other brands will do that, but Rios seem to do it more often. I don't consider either of those "problems" to be serious.
 
#16 ·
My uncles and I use Rio's for sea duck and turr hunting. Usually go with the 3", #4 and 5 lead loads and haven't had any major issues at all in the few years that I've been at it. 4-5 boxes per trip is the norm, and I average about 20 trips out a year (the uncles get out a lot more than me) so that's quite a few shells. I use a Browning BPS and a Mossberg 835, the uncles have 870 Wingmasters and BPS'...depends on if we're decoying and shooting from shore or staying in the boat. I might've had a few mis-fires, and I don't recall the uncles mis-firing at all; you know how it is when the shooting starts :D

We start in October with Turrs, and Eiders end the 3rd Saturday in February, so all the hunting is in cold, windy, rainy, snowy conditions. The shells usually get wet because we're always either on the water or laying on shore very close to it, but surprisingly the number of issues are very few.
 
#18 ·
sernv99 said:
are the Rio hulls junk for reloading?
Called a kemen dist today about some ammo he said he has RIO now and they are made by Kemen I have reloaded kemens in 28 ga before but only once maybe twice if your lucky the brass doesn't hold up well after one or two loads. I shoot kemen all the time and have no issues with them. they run 55-57.00 per cae for the 12's and 75-78.00 per case on the 28 ga.
 
#19 ·
sernv99 said:
Called a kemen dist today about some ammo he said he has RIO now and they are made by Kemen ...
That's not true. You could say Kemen is made by Rio, but actually Rio and Kemen are both made by UEE. Rio is UEE's "house brand" and Kemen (and a whole lot of other brands) are made by UEE under contract.

http://www.ueec.es/Ingles/AcercaUEE/UEECartucheria.htm
 
#20 ·
Big Shooter said:
+3 and then some! Get 'em while they are hot. Natchezz shooter supply offers them by the case. I have shot them for a long time now and I cannot complain. Very clean, consistent, and nary a failure to fire or feed. You will be pleased. Cannot comment on the reloadability however as I don't reload.
Natchez doesn't ship to Tenn, Alabama, and Georgia.

Any other online retailers?
 
#21 ·
Seamus is correct, Rio is the UEE house brand. Having shot many thousands of Rio shells I can say they are as good if not better than the next shell. I actually prefer them over the Kemen - Im not sure why :roll: UEE - loads shells under many names - Vinci, Wolfe, and others.

As Texas Ton is fond of saying, "They are ALL better than any of us could ever hope to be"

RTA48
 
#22 ·
I have 20 or so flats of them in the garage right now, the only complaint I ever get is the off smell the have when fired, and only a couple of people complain. Oh 1 more, the boxes sometimes fall apart when you take them out of the flat, looks like the boxes don't get any glue on them sometimes.
But hey, buy 50 flats or so and if you don't like them, I'll save you the trouble and expense on disposing of them - Just send them to me and I'll take care of them for you - That's just the kind of guy I am, always looking to help out!
 
#23 ·
rta48 said:
Seamus is correct, Rio is the UEE house brand. Having shot many thousands of Rio shells I can say they are as good if not better than the next shell. I actually prefer them over the Kemen - Im not sure why :roll: UEE - loads shells under many names - Vinci, Wolfe, and others.

As Texas Ton is fond of saying, "They are ALL better than any of us could ever hope to be"

RTA48
I've seen Wolf made by SAGA (is that a UEE company?) and also from Tula cartridge works in Russia.
 
#25 ·
Seamus O'Caiside said:
sernv99 said:
Called a kemen dist today about some ammo he said he has RIO now and they are made by Kemen ...
That's not true. You could say Kemen is made by Rio, but actually Rio and Kemen are both made by UEE. Rio is UEE's "house brand" and Kemen (and a whole lot of other brands) are made by UEE under contract.

http://www.ueec.es/Ingles/AcercaUEE/UEECartucheria.htm
Whatever just what the man told me today when I priced them through him. One in the same sounds and looks like to me. Either way I have shot case after case of Kemen with no troubles in the 12 ga or the 28 ga.
 
#26 ·
We have a supplier here locally and thousands have been shot around here for the past few years only complaint I have is I have seen some bad crimps and bent hulls but not to many compared to what AA and remys sell for

You could try these guys I dont know how much shipping is but the price of the shells is good I am just glad I can will call

http://www.bargainammunition.com/

ask for JW they will do what they can
 
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