Thread: Rio, 12 Gauge Royal Mini Magnum cartridges

I have acquired a quantity of these and I have a limited knowledge of the word 'Magnum" and their use, apart from the obvious not to be used in an antique / damascus barreled shotgun I have . They are described as

70 long,
300 m/s
42 gr
3 No.

No mention of "steel" so presumably lead shot.

Are there any scenarios or shotgun types / chokes they should not be used in / with?

Thank You

Been using Rio Mini Mags for years, excellent cartridges, shoot well, kill real well. Yes they're lead.

Originally Posted by mimms2

Convert that to old-speek, which you may be more familiar with.

2 3/4 shell
980 FPS
1 1/2oz
#3.

Slow and heavy payload for short shell.
I wouldn't be too concerned shooting them in any gun (not damascus) at anything you'd normally launch #3 at... close geese is all I can think of.

no to close or ypou,l be useing a net for retrieving them

listed online as 1280 fps so not a light load!

Well someone's telling porkies as 300 m/s is 970 fps and 1280 is 390.

Originally Posted by Marty Henry

Well someone's telling porkies as 300 m/s is 970 fps and 1280 is 390.

"Ooooops. " Mea culpa, mea culpa. This stupid Boy wasn't wearing his gig lamps...390 ms NOT 300 ms is the lablel.

A few years back I shot my way through several slabs of the Rio Mini Magnum #3 and 4's, on hares and possums in open country. Recoil was not too bad in my Remington 11-87 using imp cyl. or mod. choke.
A clean burning shell and excellent performer out to 45 yd. on those tough critters.
I was getting them for around $160/250 round slab which was a great deal. When the price shot up I changed to Falcon SP40 #3's.

I used to shoot those on parries and goose in #2's (along with their big brother 'Magnum'). They were really good. I used I/C and Mod chokes and never had any problems, given that they are lead I can't see there being any issues using full in a modern shotgun.

geese,hares,possums,wallabies......#lead is a great shot size. parries and mallards over paddocks....heck there isnt much you cant do with them.its a big payload for 2 3/4" shell,load is nearly identical to what Kieth Daper swore by for waterfowling.

My Thanks for the guidance Chaps.

I can now see a use for the leftovers after "working in" my cloned Benelli M3.

Have used these on and off for the last 20 yrs including in my great uncles very old side by side. Have ploughed through a fair few on the geese and parries this year and last year. Can pack a punch if you're using an older gun