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Fellside

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Posts posted by Fellside

  1. I don’t think there is a significant difference between cheap / expensive clay cartridges in clay breaking terms. This is simply because they contain a huge number of pellets - e.g 450 size 8 in a 28 gram cart’. Even if the lead is soft and the velocity too snappy, average clays are still broken with poor patterns. With game or pigeon cart’s the quality difference is more telling, as the shot count is far less. With only about 290 pellets in a 30 gram 6, there is more chance of a poor pattern wounding or even not touching the bird. I have come across some real stinkers in budget pigeon cart’s over the years (poor in the field and on the pattern plate) so now use good quality game cart’s for all live quarry. 

    I’ve gone off piste a little in referencing game cart’s, so for what it’s worth, my favourite clay cart’ is Fiocchi Fblu in 24 gram. I just like how smooth it is - and not a crazy price. Gamebore Evo is a close second. Weather their velocity is 1250 fps or 1350 fps I honestly don’t know, or mind, as the difference in all practical terms is irrelevant. 

  2. Sounds like you know your own gun fitting requirements - as we all do eventually. Comb raisers are OK and there are plenty of choices, but if you really like the gun then having an adjustable comb is the ultimate solution. If carried out to a high standard by a good smith, it will not negatively affect the value either. 

  3. 18 hours ago, Gungoesbang said:

    So I have a few 12 bores of different guises, and a 20 bore o/u. However, I have an itch for a tiny, light 410 or 28 bore side by side. I don’t find the 20 bore too much worse than the 12 - maybe 10% lower scores on average. However, seen there are 410 championships and seen people struggling online - just worried I won’t hit anything at all! Would I be better off just getting a 20 sxs? 
    Also is 28 bore going to be able to cope with steel shot, as in my understanding 410 won’t really? 

    Lots of good insights above. However, one of the key reasons why people often struggle with a 410 has little to do with ballistics, but gun weight. They have all of their timings and muscle memory etc typically tuned to a 7 1/2 lb 12 bore O/U - then pick up a 5lb 410 which ‘rushes to a stop’ all too easily. It takes a while to become familiar with this little garden cane, but when our brain ‘recalibrates’ so to speak, the 410 can become a magic wand and is a great joy to shoot. My advice is to buy one that fits (properly) and just enjoy getting used to it. 

    Re chokes and cart’s, I know everyone has their favourite formula, but here’s mine for what it’s worth:

    Eley Trap 14 gram 7 1/2 for clays 

    Hull High Pheasant 18 gram 6 for pigeons and driven. 

    Both through cylinder and quarter.

    I find the unchoked barrel is efficient from about 15 to 25 yards and the choked barrel out to about 35 yards. 

    Hope that helps. 

  4. I shot at a sporting ground every Sunday for years. It was once in the countryside far from the madding crowd. No longer. It is now half surrounded by housing estates. One of them has back gardens literally overlooking the ground. The club receives complaints regularly and so do the police, but the club was there first so no complaints have ever been a problem. The club is still going strong. This one in Cumbria just needs to stand firm. 

  5. Excellent work Conor. Clearly there are several important economic benefits. However, the biggest gain has always been difficult to express in monetary terms, and that is gains to ‘public goods’ via the preservation and enhancement of key habitats. This appears to have relevance which is more emotional than monetary. 

    (I must apologise for not having read the assessment - time pressures etc. perhaps net gain to public goods gets a mention…..?)

  6. 6 hours ago, rbrowning2 said:

    The F3 are part of fiocchi English traditional line of cartridges so are supposed to have u.k. shot sizes not Italian so they are u.k. 7.5 or 2.3mm if that really makes any difference.

    The Fblu’s are not part of the English tradition line so are italian 7.5 or 2.4mm shot.

    The ones I bought were dedicated clay cart’s, called F3. They are red (which of course makes them hit more…🙂) and they have 7 1/2 and 2.4mm stamped on the box. I think they cost about £300 ish now. I’m sure they do an F3 game range also - I hear good things about them but have not tried any yet. 

  7. 4 hours ago, martinj said:

    I suppose they would be apart from the plastic wad which are discouraged where I shoot 

    Fair point MartinJ. There is always the fibre F3 for clays and real pigeons. Same thing re UK 7s. Last time I bought them - about £280 / thousand. Probably a tad more now. Quite like these Italian jobs. 

  8. 2 hours ago, martinj said:

    Then I'll keep it short, FBlu's are Italian 7.5 shot (English No. 7) hence slightly more energy at range.

     

    Re the bumps (Old-Un) yes they look well defined with a nice lead-in so quite deliberate for some reason

    I meant I (myself) was in danger of cartridge rambling…..!

    Yes UK 7s - I find them to be great on real pigeons as well as the clay type….. 👍

  9. 1 hour ago, martinj said:

    They definitely look as if the bumps came from a mistake in the production tooling. If they were added to centralise the cartridge in the chamber for instance, there would probably have been three per cartridge.

    Thumbs up for FBlu's although you might find that they pattern on the tight side, I use them for long targets and am amazed at what can be broken with FBlu's and a half choke.

    Agreed re FBlues. I tend to use more open chokes - and then patterns are fine. I think high antimony shot does just pattern tighter generally. 

    Anyway, I should stop there otherwise a long cartridge ramble may ensue…… 🙂

  10. 23 hours ago, Jim Gunner said:

    Any good recommendations that'll do good job breaking clays and not the bank? I'm always up for trying something new :good:

    Everyone will have their favourites. I can only tell you what mine is: Fiocchi F Blue. In terms of price they appear to be a cheapie, but they are a quality performer made with good components. 

  11. You could try WD40, also tap the outside of the barrel on the choke area with a wooden tool handle - say a file handle or similar. Gently does it. Your just causing vibration, not a proper impact. Also over tighten the choke along with trying to loosen it. I’ve only ever done this once and it worked. If it’s really solid it’s the diesel option. Good luck. 

  12. 58 minutes ago, Fargo said:

    Anyone a rough value for one of these I’m looking to move on

    28” multi game spec 

    Just had a £220+ vat service

    Around 10 years old

     

    I have little knowledge of the 20 bore side of things. However I have just bought a used Silver Pigeon 12 bore sporter, in pristine condition for £1,300. 5 yrs old. That may give you a rough idea. Mine was from a dealer so included the dreaded VAT. Perhaps have a look on Gun Trader. 

  13. 23 minutes ago, Fargo said:

    I hated it .. too heavy and just wasn’t for me.

    Got to admit my thing is lighter long barrelled 20’s mostly now with sensible loads. Despite being a heavyweight I struggle with recoil and like using 26g cart through 20 & 12

    Don’t tempt me. There are some nicely balanced 20 bores out there these days. 

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