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Cartridge choice


Paul Ekins
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As someone new to clay pigeon shooting I am faced with a bewildering choice of cartridges, firstly 24g or 28g, is a lighter load a benefit or disadvantage? then shot size, are 7.5's or 8's a better choice? finally we have price, do higher priced cartridges generally perform better and if so why, or are the lower cost cartridges just as good?

If any one can give some guidance based on experience I would really appreciate it.

 

Paul

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As someone new to clay pigeon shooting I am faced with a bewildering choice of cartridges, firstly 24g or 28g, is a lighter load a benefit or disadvantage? then shot size, are 7.5's or 8's a better choice? finally we have price, do higher priced cartridges generally perform better and if so why, or are the lower cost cartridges just as good?

If any one can give some guidance based on experience I would really appreciate it.

 

Paul

 

 

Hi Paul

 

Yep, I agree very bewildering. I have a very scientific approach to it. I use whichever cartridge I can buy 1000 for under £100. This is normally Eley Olympic trap 7 1/2s 28g. :P

 

You'll get some complicated replies no doubt on this subject.

 

Jonsey

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As someone new to clay pigeon shooting I am faced with a bewildering choice of cartridges, firstly 24g or 28g, is a lighter load a benefit or disadvantage? then shot size, are 7.5's or 8's a better choice? finally we have price, do higher priced cartridges generally perform better and if so why, or are the lower cost cartridges just as good?

If any one can give some guidance based on experience I would really appreciate it.

 

Paul

 

I shoot the 24g 7 1/2 as it is a decent size for all targets and lower recoil so not so tiring on a 100/200 bird day.

 

As to how much? We pay £2.50 a box at our club as the club buys them in 10,000 batches. They are RC cartridges.

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I'm pretty new too.

 

So far I've used D&J's (they're a bit dirty, ie. leave a tad more dirt in the bore after a days shooting, but otherwise OK), Eley Blues (a guy at one grounds called them 'killers' - I hit my first two clear 10/10's with them!), and Pro Comps.

 

Whenever I ask for cartridges, I normally get 28 gm 7 1/2 or 8's (in 70mm cases), and to be really honest, at my level I ain't noticed a blind bit of difference between any of them!

 

I know of some people who change chokes and cartridges depending on how the clays fly at each stand. Well, I ain't that good. If I point and get it right, I'll break the clay, if not, I don't! Simple as that.

 

Someones scientific approach is under £100 / 1000. My scientific approach is whatever the shop/shooting ground sells cheap on the day!

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If you are sticking with one size, I would buy 28grm 8's. Eley, Victory are all £100 per 1000 or cheaper. D and J are really made by Rio and marketed by Express. Plastic seem okay, but felt wads are filthy and take a lot of cleaning. I will not shoot them even if they are free.

 

AJ Smith - former World Champion made a remark about the worst cartridge being better than the best shooter - he wasn't that far out. For local sporting shoots, any brand is probably good enough. Try them all until you find one that you have confidence in and stick with it. Some shells suit some guns better. I have a Browning GTi 32" 3/8 and 3/8 - Eley Olympics seem to give better results than Gamebore and Victory in that gun.

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Gordon's advice is spot on, don't get too hung up about what type of cartridge / shot size etc.

 

Some are definitely better than others, I switched last year from Gamebore to Express and my scores improved, I've now switched again to Viri, which I'm also getting good results with, but don't follow my example and keep chopping & changing..!!

 

As Gordon says, steer clear of fibre wads if you can.

 

Cat.

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I suspect that a lot of time and money is wasted on cartridge choice, I was lucky in being told in my early days to find a cartridge that you like and stick with it, if (when!!) you have a bad day at least you can think "I've done well with these in the past so it must have been me" instead of throwing the toys out of the pram and casting round for a new "Brill cartridge"

If you look at the top shots they mostly go for simplicity as it is one less thing to worry about, I heard George Digweed say that any sporting target can be broken with 1oz of No 8 shot and he's in a good position to make such a statement!

Just my two penny worth.

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Yes, but George's cartridge load of choice is not a 1oz load, he uses specially loaded 35gram bombers whenever the rules allow, based on the theory that the more lead you can get in the air, the more chance you have of breaking the clay.

 

The winner of last years Essex Masters, a 200 bird Sporting event, used 36gram loads.

 

Most top shots will do this if the rules allow it, the downside is that they pay dearly in terms of damaged shoulder joints etc due the fact these shells kick like a proverbial mule. :P

 

Cat.

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IIRC (I like that one) they dropped the max load for some of the Trap diciplines to 24grams a while ago as shooters were suffering lower back problems from excessive shooting 100's of pokey loads?

 

Whatever anyone says, there is no way around the laws of physics.

Sir Isaac Newton knew what he was on about :P

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  • 3 weeks later...

First post ever on an internet forum, The Black Golds are a very good cartridge but i find that you need to just point and shoot with them instead of giving the normal lead. The best i have found are Lyalvale Super Comp DTL's. I shoot around 12500 of these a year. Shot 2000 Black Gold in Feb and found them awesome for DTL but poor for Compaq. First post over!.

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ooze,

 

Congrats on your first post, yes I agree Super Comps are an excellent shell.

 

The Gamebore loads can be a bit punchy, I was using their "Patriot" load for a couple of years, but couldn't get on with it so I switched back to Express.

 

Keep on posting...!!

 

Cat

 

P.S. - Fill in your profile, you'll get more replies that way.

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ooze,

 

Congrats on your first post, yes I agree Super Comps are an excellent shell.

 

The Gamebore loads can be a bit punchy, I was using their "Patriot" load for a couple of years, but couldn't get on with it so I switched back to Express.

 

Keep on posting...!!

 

Cat

 

P.S. - Fill in your profile, you'll get more replies that way.

 

Will fill in my profile now, thanks for the advice.

 

Have you tried the Gamebore Blue Diamond Competition Load?. I used them last saturday and hit 25/75 straight out. I find them to have little recoil and great dusting power.

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Hello Gordon, i think i have seen your posts on Gundeals?. I try and shoot at Rishton but i start work at 4am each sunday. i finish before 10am but it leaves you feeling drained. A good place Rishton Gun Club. Brillant targets, some over excited people and some majour pushing in lets it down. But you just have to stand up for yourself!.

 

I go to Conniston all the time, do you ever shoot there?.

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Oozelumbird

 

Never had any one queue jump on me at Rishton or anywhere else. It will not happen. Everyone queues the same as me or they don't shoot. I've had the odd one try it on elsewhere.

 

I have shot at Coniston - like the place, but last time, I shot like an absolute ****. I had difficulty picking up the orange clays in the woods.

 

Blackpool is a good shoot. Not struck on Kelbrook and Worsley.

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Kelbrook is run by a seound hand dealer, i went once and will not go again, i just thought they were after one thing and that was my wallet. A view which i find most agree with, but i know some will shoot me down for it.

 

I like rishton, its a real pitty that they got there planning application turned down.

 

As for the clays at Conniston, they can be difficult. I tried the A6 no so long ago, but the wife felt it was a little men only.

 

A very good shoot where it is genuine fun is Todmorden Gun Club, have you tried there yet?. 15 minutes from Burnley, set up on the moors, the weather is always a bit drafty but the people and clays are ace.

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Ken Grimes (Owner) - his daughter shoots at the A6 - decent shot and nice lass.

 

About three years ago, I went to Todmorden on a Sunday. No-one there. Asked one of the locals about the shoot. He said - "They shoot every Sunday". I said "It's Sunday today". He said " They're closed today". Never been back.

 

Didn't know about the planning permission refusal at Rishton - what was that for? Surprised Eddie has never had noise complaints as he's quite close to a lot of houses.

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Rishton planned on opening 6 days a week. The local residents said no and when a local school asked the kids what they could here in there bedrooms, and one of them said gun shoots, well that was the end of the application!.

 

Never been to Tod and found them closed, but i can imagine they are a little sloppy with telling people when they are missing a sunday.

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Your not too far out, he has been open for 35 years i think, although i can hear the shooting on a sunday my house has been there for 200years :/

 

hello all,

this is my first post on the forum.i have been reading the posts on clay shooting at rishton,could any body give me directions to the shoot(i live in salford,gtr manchester) thanks in advance,

 

cheers

ian

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Hi Paul, living in Dollar, I presume it's Cluny Clays you shoot at? I'm up there most weekends with a couple of mates, easily spotted since we all have black-stocked semi-autos. Send me a pm or similar if you're going up to cluny this weekend.

As for cartridge choice, try Express Pro-Comp in 28g, I use them in my auto and they seem pretty good.

 

Cheers,

Duster.

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