possible reasons for a shell component change

[BigPeck215]

all this hubbub got me thinking

maybe EM produced last years batch of 7's with super premium components so that they would produce big numbers and stir a lot of interest and then when everyone was dying to get the 7's this year they produced them with cheaper components to increase their bottom line

or

maybe they realized that last years shell which was putting up 270-300's all day long was too good and too expensive and realized that they could change things to lower costs and still produce a shell that only puts 200 in the 10" ring (which is still twice as many as needed) at a lower price.

or

maybe they changed their shell to produce the best patterns with their line of hevi shot chokes in order to promote  their own choke line, which has by the way been less than successful IMO

[SKFOOTER]

Or maybe they weren't content with a great load and possibly decided to tinker with it like they did the 20 gauge #6's a few years ago??   I sure hopes that's not the case.