In order to study the energy release characteristics of Al/Mg/CuO reactive shells， the images of broken process of reactive shells were observed by an ultra-highspeed rotating-mirror camera， and the shock wave overpressures of varying-sized test bombs were measured by shock wave test system. The reaction time of reactive shell under explosion loads and the effects of particle sizes of reactive materials on shock wave overpressures were analyzed， then the variation of shock wave overpressures with scaled distances was obtained. The results show that reactive shells could take part in explosive reaction and release energy in a few microseconds after detonation reaction. The shock wave overpressures are enhanced and the fireball duration increases more than one time within a scaled distance of 2.52-3.15 m∙kg^-1/3.The overpressure of reactive shell with particle size of 7 μm is 13.3%-14.4% higher than that of reactive shell with particle size of 20 μm，which indicates that reactive materials with smaller particle size can take part in explosive reaction more easily. Compared to bare charges and aluminum shells， the overpressures and impulses of reactive shells rise significantly， increasing 6%-32% and 13%-38% respectively within scaled distances of 2.1-8.4 m∙kg^-1/3.