Hmmm...what's wrong with this picture?

[reidnez]

Well, CG flipped my image...but both shells are standing vertically on a flat surface. On the bottom is a "Rio Royal Buck" 00, 2 3/4" 12 ga. On the top is a Remington Express, 00, 2 3/4" 12 ga. Something tells me one of them is mislabeled.
Sure enough, only four of them will fit in my magazine, vs. the usual five.

The "Rio" shells were quite cheap and not a brand I'd ever heard of, but this really makes me wonder about the quality of these rounds...if they can't even tell the difference between a 2 3/4" and a 3" shell!! I'm not mad about it, just a little annoyed because I would not have voluntarily bought 3" shells. Definitely range ammo and not something I would rely upon in my HD shotgun. Yikes.

Anyone else have a similar experience?

[gun toting monkeyboy]

What picture?

[reidnez]

What picture?

Sorry, it's up now. Had to edit the post.

[jaandrade3rd]

maybe they consider it 2 3/4" because of the amount of projectile it contains.

[hermosabeach]

Great question-
2 3/4" shells are measured from the base to the tip of the open petals- after it has been fired

S&B choose not to have petals but a longer case with a roll crimp holding a flat insert to seal the shell

That is why most 00 buck is 8-9 pellets and other is closer to 12-15 pellets

-
One can chamber a 3" round in most 2 3/4 chamber guns as the petals are folded into the crimped position. If fired the gun might blow up due to higher pressure and most likely will not extract as the petals are now swaged into the forcing cone

[hermosabeach]

Notice the top of the shell. It does not have the traditional crimp

[reidnez]

Ahhh...well thank you! That makes perfect sense. That is exactly the case with these shells, as well: roll crimp with a flat piece of plastic in the end. So I guess, they still technically are 2 3/4" shells...but I'm basically getting the reduced magazine capacity of using actual 3" shells, without the benefit of the added punch (which I don't think necessary for an HD application.) So, it's still annoying (though not really a big deal). Maybe it's cheaper to make them this way or something. But they market this load to law enforcement, whom I'm sure would not be happy about losing magazine capacity in their shotguns.

Great question-
2 3/4" shells are measured from the base to the tip of the open petals- after it has been fired

S&B choose not to have petals but a longer case with a roll crimp holding a flat insert to seal the shell

That is why most 00 buck is 8-9 pellets and other is closer to 12-15 pellets

-
One can chamber a 3" round in most 2 3/4 chamber guns as the petals are folded into the crimped position. If fired the gun might blow up due to higher pressure and most likely will not extract as the petals are now swaged into the forcing cone

[cgates]

yep, those are pretty long for what they offer. The wad is rather tall

[gun toting monkeyboy]

lol. I use those S&B ones for HD. Of course my HD also includes coyotes raiding the chicken coop. But those shells work just fine through my shotguns. I'll have to see how many I can stuff in the magazine. Normally I just keep the 4 in the sidesaddle mount and don't stress about it. If I run into something that needs more than 4 rounds of buckshot, I brought the wrong freakin' gun.

-Mb

[aippi]

What weapon are you using? Doesn't matter in an 870. If it is a four shot mag you can get four of either brand in the tube so there is no lost capacity.

[Spyder]

Just fyi also, they are good ammo. I've shot a whole lot of Rio buckshot and never had a single problem with them.

[hermosabeach]

If your ammo is 9 pellet and not the 12 pellet variation, I get your frustration

Other than capacity, how does it work for you in your set up?
Does it pattern well at 10 yards and 20 yards?
What is the purpose of use and how does it pattern at that range?

With buffered ammo, the crimps will leak buffer(so I have heard) if the rounds ride around ina patrol car. I do not know if the roll crimp is better for mositure / keeping the round sealed.

If the ammo does not work for the intended use- train with it and then switch to another load that works for your use.

[reidnez]

Aippi: It's a Weatherby PA-459. I can almost cram that last shell into the tube, there is only about 1/4" of brass sticking out (as you'd expect.) I would wager that the 870 has a slightly more generous magazine, which would be nice. I am most likely going to put a +2 extension on this gun, anyway. So I'd probably be able to load 6 of these rounds, or 7 of a regular-crimped round. Depending on how long the extension is, I might even be able to fit 7 of these...we'll see. Either way, not a huge issue. Like monkeyBoy said, if I'm ever in a situation where I anticipate needing more than 4-6 rounds, I'll probably just grab my AR .

hermosabeach: I haven't gotten a chance to take this gun to the range yet, as I only picked it up on Tuesday. That is on the agenda for this weekend, though. I will pattern this buckshot and compare it to two other brands I have. I have seen crimped shells leak a little bit of the buffer media, what you're saying makes a lot of sense in a weapon that is jostled around in a car all day. I imagine that enough "buffer" in the magazine could eventually cause a malfunction of some kind? So, perhaps this is a superior design in that respect. I'm not sure.

jeffrice: I got it from CheaperThanDirt. It was $0.40/rd, by far the cheapest 00 buck I found. Most of it was around 60-68 cents per.

[L84CABO]

I've experienced similar with Federal Tactical 00 w/Flight Control - 9 Pellet. It's not quite as dramatic as your picture but it is just slightly longer than the 8 Pellet version. And it's enough to limit my capacity (by 1 round) in my Benelli M4. Most frustrating.

[mikajo39]

Great question-
2 3/4" shells are measured from the base to the tip of the open petals- after it has been fired

S&B choose not to have petals but a longer case with a roll crimp holding a flat insert to seal the shell

That is why most 00 buck is 8-9 pellets and other is closer to 12-15 pellets

-
One can chamber a 3" round in most 2 3/4 chamber guns as the petals are folded into the crimped position. If fired the gun might blow up due to higher pressure and most likely will not extract as the petals are now swaged into the forcing cone

This
They're 2 3/4", for the price the Rio Royal buckshot is pretty good stuff. Not the tightest pattern but it's a nice full power load to train with or just blast with.