otherwayup Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 Bit bored last night so I decided to open up a couple of cartridges. Gamebore Steel 3" 36gm-3s - Measured consistantly 3.55-3.60mm dia. with 189 counted, so according to the linked table in this forum they are UK 2s. - So if Gamebore make a big thing of being UK made, why are they marking them up in US sizes? - Do they do that with all their cartridges? Express Supreme Game 32gm-6s - Measured between 2.4-2.8mm, so that's ALMOST a mix of 7s, 6s and 5s in the same cartridge. - What the ? is that all about? Here's a snap of a couple from the same premium (?) cartridge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cookoff013 Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 congrats, you worked out something that i found out years ago. yup we are being lied to. smaller shotsizes. they are smaller than advertised. i wouldnt bother micrometering them just do a standard count per ounce. thats usually sufficient. i`ve been saying for ages, that some cartridges contain 2-3 different sizes, bit this by far is the most extreme variation. what are express playing at? cook. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sitsinhedges Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 congrats, you worked out something that i found out years ago. yup we are being lied to. smaller shotsizes. they are smaller than advertised. i wouldnt bother micrometering them just do a standard count per ounce. thats usually sufficient. i`ve been saying for ages, that some cartridges contain 2-3 different sizes, bit this by far is the most extreme variation. what are express playing at? cook. They must be buying it direct from Floating Chamber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Floating Chamber Posted December 17, 2012 Report Share Posted December 17, 2012 (edited) They must be buying it direct from Floating Chamber What is that supposed to mean, Andy? My shot is far superior to yours! Lol. Edited December 17, 2012 by Floating Chamber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfowler12 Posted December 18, 2012 Report Share Posted December 18, 2012 (edited) I was curious after reading this, so I cut some up too. This one was a 2 3/4' Gamebore Super Steel 32g No.3. There was 189 pellets in the load, which all looked roughly the same size. I couldn't be botherd routing in the garage, so I havn't measured them properly with a guage. But they look a little on the small size. I'm sure a UK STEEL No.3 is supposed to measure 3.6mm in diameter? This looks more like No.4. The load weighed exactly 32g. Each pellet weighs about 0.169g, so a 3' 36g load will only have 22 more pellets in a cartridge (assuming they're the same size). There is only 25fps difference in the speed between the super steel and the mammoths, is that really worth the extra £2 per box?? Either way, I still rate the 2 loads highly. And the beauty of the 2 3/4', is that they are easy to find in the dark!! Edited December 18, 2012 by Wildfowler12 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wildfowler12 Posted December 18, 2012 Report Share Posted December 18, 2012 Gamebore Steel 3" 36gm-3s - Measured consistantly 3.55-3.60mm dia. with 189 counted, Interestingly the 32g No.3 load I just opened also had 189 pellets so they are clearly not the advertised size of 3.6mm (UK Steel No.3) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cookoff013 Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 congratulations guys, you are learning that manufacturers are using there own interpretation between uk us and european shotsizes. thats one of the biggest challenges with steel shot where shotsize is critical. essentially US#2 is uk#1. with homeloading, handloading, reloading and cartridge manufacture there is always one advantage. "what you put in, also comes out" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
otherwayup Posted December 19, 2012 Author Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I contacted Gamebore and was told Lead no. 3s are 3.3mm dia. Steel no. 3s are 3.5mm dia. I thought for a while that they were trying to match the pellet masses, but the smaller lead pellets will still be about 15% heavier than the steel (I think). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Whitebridges Posted December 19, 2012 Report Share Posted December 19, 2012 I bet they all think they can get away with loading any old sh£t in in a cartridge because no sad bas&8rd would ever check and report it to Trading Standards. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest cookoff013 Posted December 20, 2012 Report Share Posted December 20, 2012 no, this is just poor interpretation of shotsizes. the cip have shotsize limits imposed on steel shells for certain criteria. its not really a trading standards issue. what you guys need to stop doing is mesureing the shot in mm or inches. pellet count / oz is the only suitable method. the issues with shot variance also includes un round shot that can screw up the shot size guestimation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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