Vic Harker looks at high quality target loads that are still value for money
credit: Archant
The clay target shooting season will be well underway by the time you read this and the faithful game gun will have been carefully cleaned and stowed away. Or will it?
credit: Archant
I know many of our readers are all-round sportsmen, which can mean all year round. Whatever the case, this month I am looking at cartridges for clay shooting.
With the price of petrol and ammunition not getting any cheaper, the sport is becoming more expensive. Cutting costs on cartridges is false economy if they are the kinds that don’t perform, but this month I have selected three types that most certainly do and at the same time are very well priced.
Hull Cartridge Pro One
If you enjoy DTL shooting then you could hardly do better than Hull’s Pro One. DTL is a game that requires stamina as you are going to do a lot of shooting in a relatively short time and so you will want to start the last 25 targets feeling as fresh as you did in the first round.
I have been shooting the new Perazzi MX2000/8 Pro Trap for a gun test in Sporting Shooter’s sister magazine, Clay Shooter. It is a great gun, made even better by using Pro One 28g high performance loads. Super smooth, too, and the pattern plate revealed patterns that no clay target will escape from – all at a great price.
Expect to see a lot of Pro One Trap shooters in the prize money this summer.
Tech specs: Hull Cartridge Company Pro One
Load: 28g
Shot Sizes: 7, 7.5, 8, & 9
Case Length: 70mm 2 ¾
Price: Fibre £211.50 per 1,000
Gamebore White Gold
A cartridge that’s a legend for consistent performance among sporting clay target shooters, it possesses all the excellent qualities we have come to expect from its manufacturer. Beautifully put together with the best components, presentation is also excellent and they inspire confidence even as you load them in your gun.
I’ve been using these loads through the new Beretta 692 Sporter – another gun test that is coming your way shortly. A super gun with great cartridges, I was interested to see how White Gold performed through the Beretta’s over boring system. The answer is very well indeed, but White Gold have been producing great patterns through every kind of gun for years and at a price that allows you to keep on shooting.
Tech specs: Gamebore White Gold
Load: 28g
Shot Sizes: 7, 5 & 8
Case Length: 70mm 2 ¾
Price: Fibre £206 per 1,000
Eley Superb
A value for money cartridge that until now has somehow got under my radar, so when Eley sent me some to try, it was a nice surprise. I used them while shooting the new Boxall & Edmiston over-and-under, a superb new English gun, and this complemented it brilliantly.
That day I shot out of my skin; the gun helped a lot but it’s cartridges that break clays. It has low recoil but is highly effective at long ranges, and when I had finished shooting I retreated to the pattern plate. The reason for my unusually good form was at least in part due to the well distributed patterns these cartridges provided. Superb indeed, and especially so in terms of pricing.
Tech specs: Eley Superb
Load: 28g
Shot Sizes: 7, 7.5, 8 & 9
Case Length: 70mm 2 ¾
Price: £214 per 1,000
By Vic Harker