Vintage Eley Grand Prix.

[oldypigeonpopper]

4 hours ago, bishop said:

I recall walking back one afternoon back   up the  fields from my favorite oak tree on a sown field  and asking the farmer for some paper eley cartridges i could buy off him.he used to give me them free!!   ahh changed days indeed

Hello, you were lucky, tight farmers where I grew up 🤔

[London Best]

12 hours ago, TOPGUN749 said:

Yes,and Grand Prix weren’t the cheapest at £1.15 a box in 1974, others were £1 or less.Not many could afford to buy in bulk with 1000 costing around £35,(2 weeks take home pay in many cases) Today despite VAT being double we get more for our money.

And people are STILL moaning about the cost of cartridges.

[bishop]

baikals/record  were cheapest here in the late 70's very early 80's. £8 a hundred i think--cheaper by the thousand of course but i didnt have the cash for that.Bringing back memories now  i recall a winchester round-- red waxy solid plastic case they were.cant recall their name.We used them a lot when they were available cheap  Think it was these here.

[London Best]

Baikal Records were £67/1000 in the mid seventies. I used thousands of them. Likely why I’m so deaf! 
I switched from Baikals to Winchester GB’s. They seemed a very smooth cartridge after the Russian stuff!  I think the GB’s were a good cartridge, overall. 

Edited June 25, 2023 by London Best

[marsh man]

8 minutes ago, London Best said:

Baikal Records were £67/1000 in the mid seventies. I used thousands of them. Likely why I’m so deaf! 
I switched from Baikals to Winchester GB’s. They seemed a very smooth cartridge after the Russian stuff!  I think the GB’s were a good cartridge, overall. 

We must have bought the Baikals a lot earlier than the mid 70s or you were far better off than we were , we had an ole boy in the village where I was born who used to sell me a box of 10 for 5 bob , he always reminded me of Wentworth Day as he walked through the village with a double 8 bore under his arm and turned up thigh boots , in all the years I lived there I had never seen him shoot anything and that might because I had never seen shooting , his house was called Curlew and his surname was Scott , so he might had some wildfowling connections .

Back to the price of Baikals , when we were shooting a lot of Pigeons we were then buying them by the 1000 , these came in a wooden crate and the early ones were £40 a 1000 , ( Some might remember Bazoka of Beccles ) this worked out at 4p each and a few years later when they had gone up a bit we were getting 40p each for fresh Pigeons and 35 / 30p for frozen so even a average shot could get most , if not all his cartridge money back after selling off his bags .

[London Best]

42 minutes ago, marsh man said:

 

Back to the price of Baikals , when we were shooting a lot of Pigeons we were then buying them by the 1000 , these came in a wooden crate and the early ones were £40 a 1000 , ( Some might remember Bazoka of Beccles ) this worked out at 4p each and a few years later when they had gone up a bit we were getting 40p each for fresh Pigeons and 35 / 30p for frozen so even a average shot could get most , if not all his cartridge money back after selling off his bags .

That’s right, delivered in a wooden crate, but I don’t remember ever paying less than £67.  That was delivered to the door though. 
George Hull?? at Boston was paying .40p for pigeons and they did briefly hit .45p. I remember once taking in what I thought was a fair lot in a short wheelbase Land Rover, when a chap came in with a long wheelbase and a double horse box, both full to the roof.

[Velocette]

I always wanted to try the Record cartridges in my several Baikals and recently got hold of a couple of boxes of 32g no.5

and fired a few at dusk at some crows !  Its all true about the gouts of flame and smouldering confetti. I'll save the rest for special occasions. 

[bishop]

2 hours ago, Velocette said:

I always wanted to try the Record cartridges in my several Baikals and recently got hold of a couple of boxes of 32g no.5

and fired a few at dusk at some crows !  Its all true about the gouts of flame and smouldering confetti. I'll save the rest for special occasions. 

Pizzin myself here. i often wonder if the younger lads here think we older blokes are telling tales when we discuss the russian cartridges.They were indeed interesting to use especially on the shore at dawn or dusk.The BB round was predictably impressive on greylag i recall.

[Old farrier]

Better add to the thread 

paper 20 bore 

they still work 😂

[TIGHTCHOKE]

3 hours ago, Velocette said:

I always wanted to try the Record cartridges in my several Baikals and recently got hold of a couple of boxes of 32g no.5

and fired a few at dusk at some crows !  Its all true about the gouts of flame and smouldering confetti. I'll save the rest for special occasions. 

Best saved for the weddings of Goths!   

[ditchman]

when i was skint and couldnt afford eley......i used to by a packet of 10 sellior& Belliott.............bloody awful   ...they were stuck together with wax...and every packet had at least one dud in it.............

[Shambam1962]

I found these today amongst the other cartridges I have in the cupboard.

 I know I never purchased them, so must have been given them.

[marsh man]

7 hours ago, London Best said:

That’s right, delivered in a wooden crate, but I don’t remember ever paying less than £67.  That was delivered to the door though. 
George Hull?? at Boston was paying .40p for pigeons and they did briefly hit .45p. I remember once taking in what I thought was a fair lot in a short wheelbase Land Rover, when a chap came in with a long wheelbase and a double horse box, both full to the roof.

The little boxes of ten were nothing like the ones below , if I remember rightly they were Green boxes with cross guns on , these were packed in a 100 and I used to put my empties in the polyphene bag that they came in , the gun shop never asked you what size shot you wanted as each cartridge held a little of everything from dust shot to BBs , that again didn't bother us as they killed Pigeons as good as any other cartridge.

I couldn't find a advert on the cost of the Russian shells but I know we were paying 12/6d a box for Yellow Wizards in the mid 60s and when we could afford it we were paying £12.50 for Richardsons Style and they were delivered to the nearby clay shoot , I was 15 when the advert below from William Powell were selling ( general ) cartridges 1-1/8 oz for the grand sum of £2-18-6d per 100 , your brain is a lot better than mine so what do that work out a 1000 , by the way , a 1000 is free delivery 

[London Best]

2 hours ago, ditchman said:

when i was skint and couldnt afford eley......i used to by a packet of 10 sellior& Belliott.............bloody awful   ...they were stuck together with wax...and every packet had at least one dud in it.............

My experience exactly! 
Some folks loved them.
I only ever tried a couple of boxes, but never killed a single thing with them.

[ditchman]

2 minutes ago, London Best said:

My experience exactly! 
Some folks loved them.
I only ever tried a couple of boxes, but never killed a single thing with them.

i shot at a rabbit once and it died of coughing its guts up....

[Old farrier]

51 minutes ago, ditchman said:

i shot at a rabbit once and it died of coughing its guts up....

I set fire to some gorse bushes shooting rabbits with them 🙄😱

there nostalgic memories for plenty but to be honest I’m glad we have moved on 😂

[TOPGUN749]

10 hours ago, marsh man said:

We must have bought the Baikals a lot earlier than the mid 70s or you were far better off than we were , we had an ole boy in the village where I was born who used to sell me a box of 10 for 5 bob , he always reminded me of Wentworth Day as he walked through the village with a double 8 bore under his arm and turned up thigh boots , in all the years I lived there I had never seen him shoot anything and that might because I had never seen shooting , his house was called Curlew and his surname was Scott , so he might had some wildfowling connections .

Back to the price of Baikals , when we were shooting a lot of Pigeons we were then buying them by the 1000 , these came in a wooden crate and the early ones were £40 a 1000 , ( Some might remember Bazoka of Beccles ) this worked out at 4p each and a few years later when they had gone up a bit we were getting 40p each for fresh Pigeons and 35 / 30p for frozen so even a average shot could get most , if not all his cartridge money back after selling off his bags .

Yes I remember Bazooka gun shop in Beccles,I often went in there during school lunch breaks! Unfortunately they weren’t there for long. I got Baikals and Sellior Bellot in boxes of 10 for 40p.Also remember when the French were buying Wood Pigeons for 35p,that’s like £8 today!

[Minky]

The ironmongers around here sold Eley and Frank Dyke. Then Gytorp and Winchester GB. Then Rotweil, Maionchi, SMI. and then all sorts.   As far as I'm concerned it doesn't matter what they're called, if they go bang and I put the lead on target they're OK.  But the little black club 20 by Rotweil was an outstanding performer as were the Maionchi and the SMI standard,.  And suddenly they disappeared. 

[Minky]

It's surprising that the amount of old un shot cartridges and tins of 80/82 powders are still floating about decades after they were on the market. 

[marsh man]

1 hour ago, TOPGUN749 said:

Yes I remember Bazooka gun shop in Beccles,I often went in there during school lunch breaks! Unfortunately they weren’t there for long. I got Baikals and Sellior Bellot in boxes of 10 for 40p.Also remember when the French were buying Wood Pigeons for 35p,that’s like £8 today!

Yea how things have changed , Tilneys had been about in Beccles for years and I knew Roberts father , I took a gun in there once to be Blued and if I remember rightly he didn't do a that gooder job on it , they used to say he was better at training gun dogs than he was repairing guns, we were buying cartridges from Bazooka , Richardsons and Jimmy lings , at around that time we were taking our Pigeons to Frost Game or at Jimmy lings , at Jimmy.s we would sell say a 100 Pigeons , buy two slabs of cartridges , pay for the fuel from Yarmouth and still have a few bob to put back in your pocket , Happy days .

[enfieldspares]

7 hours ago, ditchman said:

I used to by a packet of 10 Sellior& Belliott

My father, who could afford what he wanted in cartridges, shot in the syndicate he was in at Woburn Abbey and Kedleston Hall (he shot twice a week in the season in his pomp) Sellier and Bellot Mark II (paper case, 1 1/8 ounce of shot #5, felt wad) in preference to anything else as the wad was a true felt wad and far superior to the cheap builders' plaster board wad used in Eley Grand Prix. We had crates of the things at one time. In his 20 Bore, yes, he used pink paper cased Eley 20 Bore and later yellow smooth plastic Eley 20 Bore and Eley 20 Bore Alphamax. No S & B were a good cartridge he believed. Better than Grand Prix.

Edited June 25, 2023 by enfieldspares

[39TDS]

13 hours ago, Shambam1962 said:

I found these today amongst the other cartridges I have in the cupboard.

 I know I never purchased them, so must have been given them.

I have a few of them in my gun belt, I think they are AAA but may be BB. I was given them some years back.

If I was buying cartridges from the village I don't recall there being a choice, it was Grand Prix or Maximums. Had a hare problem back then and were paid a fiver a go to shoot them, only way we could afford to buy Maximums for  that job.

If you went into town Monk's had a wider selection but always tried to sell me their own brand, Grosvenor Cartridge IIRC. Claimed they were exactly the same as Grand Prix but I didn't think so. I even cut one in half just to check there was actually shot inside as I could never hit anything with them. I never was very good with a shotgun, much preferred my 22.

[enfieldspares]

14 minutes ago, 39TDS said:

I have a few of them in my gun belt, I think they are AAA but may be BB. I was given them some years back.

If they are as marked on the overshot wad "LG" then they are five balls, each of .36" calibre, in each cartridge.

[TOPGUN749]

15 hours ago, enfieldspares said:

My father, who could afford what he wanted in cartridges, shot in the syndicate he was in at Woburn Abbey and Kedleston Hall (he shot twice a week in the season in his pomp) Sellier and Bellot Mark II (paper case, 1 1/8 ounce of shot #5, felt wad) in preference to anything else as the wad was a true felt wad and far superior to the cheap builders' plaster board wad used in Eley Grand Prix. We had crates of the things at one time. In his 20 Bore, yes, he used pink paper cased Eley 20 Bore and later yellow smooth plastic Eley 20 Bore and Eley 20 Bore Alphamax. No S & B were a good cartridge he believed. Better than Grand Prix.

Late 1960’s prices!

[Penelope]

On 24/06/2023 at 09:02, TIGHTCHOKE said:

And welcome to "Old Mans Corner" where reminiscence is espoused.   

That appears to be this site in its entirety, no? 😲😉😄