Hello,

The past two months have been quite busy. First with a surge of orders following the Taofledermaus video in February, and then with several technical items that led to a voluntary replacement program — transitioning from plastic hulls to plastic-coated aluminum.

For those who received and responded to the outreach emails regarding the replacement program: thank you. The response and overall understanding have been greatly appreciated.

Approximately 80% of customers who purchased the plastic hull version responded to at least one of the three emails. For the remaining group, I assume either lack of interest or that those messages did not reach them.

If you still have the plastic version and would like a replacement, please reach out via the contact form on the site.

On Pricing

One topic that has come up a few times is pricing. There has been a claim that Ram-Shell units “used to” sell for $20 per box — I’m not sure where that originated.

The lowest pricing has always been:

• $35 for 5 units
• $99 for 20 units

Even at those levels, pricing was only slightly above production cost. There was never a point where units were sold below that.

The only possible source of confusion may have been an early placeholder listing during site development, which showed two units for $19.99 — which actually works out to a higher per-unit cost.

Unfortunately, recent changes in materials and production have increased overall costs. As a result, beginning May 1st, pricing will return to:

• $40 for 5 units
• $120 for 20 units

The 25-pack sampler is still under review but will likely settle around the $160 range.

Orders placed before that date will be honored at current pricing.

Why Pricing Is Structured This Way

Pricing has intentionally been kept as low as possible to gauge interest and make the system accessible.

For comparison, standard 12-gauge birdshot can be as low as $0.50 per round — a benchmark that is difficult to match with a reusable system manufactured in relatively small quantities.

All Ram-Shell units are produced in a small shop environment, which limits economies of scale. I did explore outsourcing production and obtained the following quotes:

• Base (US): $10.02/ea per 1,000
• Hull (US): $4.12/ea per 1,000
• Base (International): $3.52/ea per 1,000
• Hull (International): $1.73/ea per 1,000

These figures do not include plastic sleeving, assembly, or packaging. They also come with looser tolerances than current in-house production:

• Quoted: 0.03mm – 0.05mm
• Current: ±0.01mm

That difference may not be acceptable depending on the application.

Going Forward

Some changes are necessary. The focus now is on identifying ways to reduce production costs while maintaining quality and keeping manufacturing in the US.

This will take time and likely involve new tooling, updated processes, and more advanced equipment.

If successful, this also opens the door to expanding into additional calibers such as 20 gauge and .410, which have been requested by a number of customers.

Distribution

One area I continue to evaluate is distribution.

My background is in engineering and manufacturing — less so in sales and distribution. While the current website works, there may be a point where it makes sense to transition sales to a dedicated distributor or dealer.

If that’s something you’re interested in — particularly for international distribution — feel free to reach out.

Stay in Touch

If you have questions, feedback, or just want to discuss configurations or use cases, I’m always open to a conversation.

If you have not yet done so, you can subscribe (or unsubscribe) to the newsletter for future updates here:

Subscribe to the Ram-Shell Newsletter

Best regards,
Ben
Ram-Shell

Introducing the new aluminum Ram-Shell hull.

Hello,

Earlier this week we discussed reports of ruptured polymer Ram-Shell hulls occurring in certain training configurations. Since then we have completed testing of a revised design intended to permanently eliminate this issue.

The Solution: Aluminum Ram-Shell Hull

The updated Ram-Shell hull is machined from 6061-T6 aluminum rod and then plastic coated to provide both structural strength and barrel protection.

This design provides several advantages:

• Substantially higher structural strength compared with polymer (> 10x).
• Improved resistance to pressure spikes caused by hard projectiles.
• Greater consistency across a wider range of barrel bore tolerances.
• Plastic coating to prevent metal-to-barrel contact and reduce wear (color options are TBD).
• In case of over-pressure, hull deforms rather than shattering.

Because these hulls are machined metal rather than molded, the material and manufacturing cost is higher. However, we believe reliability is the most important factor in a training system.

For that reason, Ram-Shell will cover the cost difference for customers transitioning to the aluminum hull design.

What Happens Next

Early Production of the aluminum hulls is now underway with more production scheduled pending statistically significant durability testing. As units become available, we will begin shipping replacement hulls to customers who have experienced failures or who are using earlier polymer versions.

An email with replacement options will be (has been) sent to existing customers with instructions provided. If you are a customer that has an all-polymer hull and have not received our communication, please check your email's spam folder or reach out.

Additional updates will be posted in the newsletter as production progresses and durability testing concludes.

If you have questions or would like to discuss your specific configuration, please feel free to use the Contact Us Page.

Thank you again for your support and for helping us continue to improve the Ram-Shell platform.

— Ben
Ram-Shell

A technical update regarding Ram-Shell hull durability.

Hello,

Over the past several weeks we have received a few reports from customers experiencing ruptured Ram-Shell hulls. While occasional damage can occur in high-pressure systems, the number of reported cases exceeded what our initial testing suggested would occur in normal use.

After reviewing returned components, test data, and user feedback, we have identified several factors that appear to contribute to these failures:

• Higher projectile loading forces than originally anticipated, especially when harder projectiles are used.
• Variations in raw material batches compared with the early production material used during development testing.
• Loose barrel bore diameters in certain training platforms, which reduce the radial support provided to the hull during discharge.

When these factors occur together, the resulting internal pressure can exceed the structural margin of the current polymer hull design, leading to rupture or localized tearing near the base of the shell.

Examples of Observed Hull Damage

Below are examples of returned hulls that illustrate the types of failures that have been observed in the field.

In ALL cases the shell-base still contained the charge and the event did not result in secondary damage, but it is clear that the current design does not provide the reliability margin we want for long-term use.

We believe strongly that training equipment should be both reliable and predictable, and we take these reports very seriously.

Over the past week we have been working on a revised hull design intended to eliminate this failure mode entirely.

A follow-up update later this week will outline the solution and how we will support customers moving forward.

Thank you for your patience and for the feedback that has helped us identify and resolve this issue.

— Ben
Ram-Shell