GAMEBORE BLACK GOLD DARK STORM

[NickB65]

On the way out shooting I visited the Country Store to pick up some cartridges and I thought I would give a couple of number 5's a try as well as my normal Gamebore Clear Pigeon 32g number 6. I like GameBore as they cycle well in the A612 so I went for BLACK GOLD DARK STORM which sounds like some Arni B rated movie and the price was just as bad. But I fancied a go so at £82 for 250 I got a slab of each.

 

I will write up how the day went in the relevant section but I warmed up with the Clear Pigeon and then tried the BLACK GOLD DARK STORM..... Very different cartridge and needed a more lead but boy did they hit hard. Anything too close was shredded so while they were coming in close I had to switch back to the number 6 but when they were not committing as much I went back to the number 5's. I found that I could extend my shooting further hitting birds I would have thought twice about and dropping them with one shot. High birds also were easier knowing you had that reach.

 

What did I think? Well they certainly hit hard and I shall keep the remaining 200 for the game season but for the pigeon I think they are a little too strong. I also had three fail to clear the semi which was strange as I shoot 28g and 32g and never had an issue but three times the DARK STORM either stuck halfway ejecting or did not even go back far enough to even get partially clear. Now you may say the gun m=by now may have been a little dirty but when I put the number 6 in the gun never failed to cycle.

 

PRO : Hard hitting heavy load - never knew the difference between a number 5 and 6 was so big both in weight and size.

 

CON : The Price and they are not for my semi auto.

[rovercoupe]

The brass/steel head is quite large on the dark storm, try them after a clean and see if they cycle. I was told that gamebore had some issues with heads over expanding but wether this was just to sell some different carts or not I do not know as not tested the new ones yet!

[henry931]

Strangely Fiocchi Golden Pheasant doesn't cycle at all well in my auto either which is supposed to be a premium game load.

 

I wonder if they use slower burning powders with a longer pressure curve, but lower peak pressures for these upmarket game loads for 'smoother' recoil in OU/SBS and they don't work so well in gas operated autos

 

I rember trying the black storm and the muzzle report definitely sounded like a deeper BOOM than the BANG you get from a normal pigeony type load.

[rimfire4969]

I think I am right in saying that the loads in Black Gold are european sizes so a 5 is a English 4 or 4 1/2. I am sure someone will confirm or not fairly soon.

[henry931]

http://www.gamebore.com/products/59/12g-black-gold-game-dark-storm

 

Yes it mentions it on their website - "Continental Shot Sizes"

[HunterJoe223]

I have the same trouble with those cartridges in my Maxus and my dad's sx3 and it made no difference after them being cleaned

[DazzJo]

Cracking cartridge I use them on the pheasants throughout the season also picked up 500 for £150...

[henry c]

I think I am right in saying that the loads in Black Gold are european sizes so a 5 is a English 4 or 4 1/2. I am sure someone will confirm or not fairly soon.

 

I think it's a bit misleading, as if you're shooting a shot size bigger, it's bound to hit hard.

[Wasabi]

Brilliant cartridges. I patterned GB dark storm 30 gram no.6 (5) fibre against 3 other 30 gram 5 shot fibre loads. Eley VIP, Express Supreme game and Hull high pheasant. The dark storm patterns were visually more even with hardly any double or triple strikes. The others were more patchy and had a lot more double and triple strikes.

[Ears]

A friend of mine gave me 100 Black Gold game shells on a pheasant shoot couple of years ago they were not the storm,s though. personally i did not like them very much, they seemed to kill alright with not to many birds escaping. Next time out i was glad to get back on shooting RC Sipe a lot better and cheaper in my opinion.

[pestcontrol1]

On the way out shooting I visited the Country Store to pick up some cartridges and I thought I would give a couple of number 5's a try as well as my normal Gamebore Clear Pigeon 32g number 6. I like GameBore as they cycle well in the A612 so I went for BLACK GOLD DARK STORM which sounds like some Arni B rated movie and the price was just as bad. But I fancied a go so at £82 for 250 I got a slab of each.

 

I will write up how the day went in the relevant section but I warmed up with the Clear Pigeon and then tried the BLACK GOLD DARK STORM..... Very different cartridge and needed a more lead but boy did they hit hard. Anything too close was shredded so while they were coming in close I had to switch back to the number 6 but when they were not committing as much I went back to the number 5's. I found that I could extend my shooting further hitting birds I would have thought twice about and dropping them with one shot. High birds also were easier knowing you had that reach.

 

What did I think? Well they certainly hit hard and I shall keep the remaining 200 for the game season but for the pigeon I think they are a little too strong. I also had three fail to clear the semi which was strange as I shoot 28g and 32g and never had an issue but three times the DARK STORM either stuck halfway ejecting or did not even go back far enough to even get partially clear. Now you may say the gun m=by now may have been a little dirty but when I put the number 6 in the gun never failed to cycle.

 

PRO : Hard hitting heavy load - never knew the difference between a number 5 and 6 was so big both in weight and size.

 

CON : The Price and they are not for my semi auto.

What cases where they in as they did make some in a Chedite case and they had a problem with them not ejecting very well ?

[Underdog]

Are they for use on a rainy day:-/

[Guest cookoff013]

Guys,

i`d really hate to take a dump on anyones oppinion, really.

but most of these shells are just hot air and marketing hype. why dont you guys get a decent gameload as an alternate to all this "continental shotsize" discussion. do you actually buy shells because of the continental shotsizes? really? any decent gameload in 5-4 is going to beat any #6, 6.5, 6.75 conjecture. most of you know that often the shotsizes are not clear.

just for a few pounds more 36g 5# -#4 etc becomes more accessable and thats i different shell altogether. clearly there is some budgetry where gamebore DS is a upper price for game shells. for about the same money its not unheard of to make a shell as comparable, and 1500fps is not needed. infact i couldnt think of anything worse as those shells going through a sxs.

 

apart from the fantastic advertising campaign (and the DS adverts are phenominal marketing) they are just a game shell with a big pricetag.

 

if you want a decent game load or to try out some shells, buy them and burn them off. i`ve used all manor of shells. but i can say this, for ground game #4 or #2 are good, 36g loads. driven birds can be closer, so its not nessasary to have bigger loads. 1300fps is about in the right areas of shells, normal shells really. just absolute vanilla loads. 1200fps was a staple speed for 50+ years. 1500fps has only come about in the past 5 years (maybe a decade).

 

in the old days 1200fps was it with traditional charges of shot, 32g for clays, 36g for pigeon, and 42g loads for bigger (thats 1,1/8oz-1,1/4oz and 1.5oz respectively). now lighter shot charges are used and they are faster. choking changes, whereas the, old 1/4 and 1/2 was good, but only with the shells available at the time.... big slow loads.

[achosenman]

FWIW I think I'd go along with cookoff013.

 

I got a slab given to me by an RFD as compensation for a problem I was having. I chronographed and patterned them along with some local "el cheapo" cartridges produced by Lyalvale for my local RFD. They were nowhere near the claimed velocity, and by that I mean they struggled to reach 1150fps. The pattern was blown with massive holes in it. The ES was 84fps. The "el cheapo" returned 39fps more velocity and an ES 10fps. The pattern was good as well.

 

I've recently started loading for the 410 Hush Power. I've found that 21gms # 7 (UK) doing 1031 fps as it leaves the muzzle kills pigeons stone dead at 35 yds. So I for one won't ever be loading for speed. The old saying "pattern fails before velocity" is spot on.

 

Atb

[wymberley]

It is virtually impossible to accurately compare the old and new velocities because of the current vastly improved measurement technology. However, the older methods were not all that different and if we take that discrepancy into account, a reasonable assessment is possible. Fifty years ago the more common velocites of 1070 and 1120 that Eley loaded to were given as the "observed velocity" which was measured over 20 yards and equated approximately to the velocity at 9.5 yards. If we add the previously mentioned 1200 figure to these two, then respectively the MV for each would be c1350, c1500 and c1600. Converting these figures to the CIP V2.5 but staying with Imperial figures for clarity, then we get 1214, 1340 and 1400. Consequently, it will be seen that, apart from a few exceptions, things aren't all that much faster now particularly if you look at some manufacturers' figures which are given as V1 which equate to c1290, c1428 and c1525.

 

Edit: To add that the figures relate to N0 6 shot.

Edited September 21, 2015 by wymberley

[achosenman]

I think if you peel back the marketing hype, the improvements are hardly ground breaking. Enough energy and density in the pattern is all you need. Anything more goes into pounding the shooter. Hard recoiling might be macho etc. Several hundred rounds in a hot pigeon hide, or at a sporting layout, it gets old...fast.

 

Atb