Clay cartridges

Cass

Evening all,

Just out to pick your brains again. Using Eley Olympic 28g 7 1/2 cartridges for clays. Have tried the occassional box of other shells such as RC and GB ( or KB can't really remember so that'll show the brilliant effect they had on me). Anywho, most dealers i go to recommend the Eley i'm using but just curious has anyone got a better choice that is as freely available as Eley.

cavan shooter

I dont get hung up on the cartridge and use the following

GBs, Express,Prima, Hull intercomp and have shot Eley blues in the past presently shooting a gamebore cartridge cant remember the name all 7.5's all 28grm

jwshooter

i like the GBs i shot them for 4 years with out changing won my share with them.

Cass

Didn't like the GB's. Alot of miss fires with them. Although the shells were dirty looking (literally)and to be honest were probably older than me so i didn't really give them a fair outing. What are the hull like. Usually get my shells from 1 of 4 dealers but never seen them on the shelves. Was told of a cartridge by a lad at a shoot one day and for the life of me can't remember the name of them. He originally got them from England but told me they were available here. Just fancy trying some new cartrigdges.

The midlands got a pallet of new clays and i'd say a .338 round at 20 metres wouldn't break them. Was missing so many i got fed and stopped shooting. It wasn't until the lads went down range during a ceasefire and brought up some unbroken clays that i seen the problem. The clays were in fact hit with holes through them but not broken. I took one from the box and kept hitting it of the side of a steel container. It took 18 strikes, each one harder in intensity, to break the clay.

Not to say they can't be broken but with a normal clay if you are dead on you see only dust. Not with thes bad boys. Some smart arse at the clay plant coated them in Kevlar.

Anyway was just looking for a few suggestions for a new shell. C/Shooter you were saying 28g in express. Any difference between these and others. Have used express 36g 5's for game and like them a lot so if the 28g 7 1/2''s are as good might give them a whirl.

cavan shooter

The latest express I used are D+J, very good, I never get hung up on the make etc, pull the trigger, if your on it youll hit it;)

Cass

Obviously if you're on it you'll hit it. Not getting hung up on make. While we are going through the unbreakable clays i wanted to try some different cartridges. As said before i retrieved clays that i thought were missed and found holes through them even though they were still in one piece. Its just a experimental thing. When we get back to the old clays i'll switch back to my Eley. Was hoping for some suggestions to try out. Thats all.

target

ezridax wrote: »

The clays were in fact hit with holes through them but not broken. I took one from the box and kept hitting it of the side of a steel container. It took 18 strikes, each one harder in intensity, to break the clay.

Not to say they can't be broken but with a normal clay if you are dead on you see only dust. Not with thes bad boys. Some smart arse at the clay plant coated them in Kevlar.

Hi ezridax, just a bit curious as to the brand of clay that you were using?

There is quite a variance between manufacturers with the English made Clay Pigeon Company/Laporte/CCI and for instance the Italian manufactured clays such as ItalTrap.

pullandbang

I've used Diana for the past few years and found them quite good and a reasonable price. They are however, quite dirty leaving a layer of black sh1t down the barrells.
I'm now using RC2 24g and I have to say they are a great shell - fast and hard hitting. They are also very clean and don't cost the earth.
I suffer a little with a bad back and the lower recoil from the 24g load makes a huge difference. The kills are as good as I've seen, even the second barrells at 60 yards are well broken.

jwshooter

is shot the GB s and never had a miss fire i must have shot 30,000of them .

the best shell on the market is the RC 3 and RC 4 for more punch

gofaster_s13

I use the Hull dtl 300 and find them to be very good, find a brand and stick to it, it gives you one less thing to worry about.

Cass

Hey all,

Thanks for all the suggestions. jwshooter was not criticising the GBs. A lad gave me 50 rounds, and even as i was loading the shotgun i noticed that the shell itself was dirty, rusty looking and did eventually misfire. As i said before i never tried anymore after that simply because i haven't seen them stocked in the dealers i go to. I wouldn't be closed minded to the idea of using them again. The ones i fired were probably sitting in his cabinet for a good while.

I've seen the RCs around. Must get a few boxes and try them out. As previously stated have been using Eley for some time now and am happy with them but no harm trying others eh. Wouldn't mind trying the Hull either. Most winners i see in magazines are quoted as using them. Like everything else, try everything, stick to one thing.

Oh and Target, Italtrap are the ones we normally use. I don't know the name of the new clays but they have a pigeon design on the clay itself. Will find out the name and post it here when i do. Don't know if they are all like these ones. They are not unbreakable that is just a figure of speech. We are dropping a good few. Last week one of the lads fired at one, hit it and it didn't break but it did change direction, so he fired the second barrel and again it hit the clay which changed direction again but still did not break. Thinking of starting a new discipline where you have a ring at the end of the range and see if you can get the clay through the ring with the least number of shots.

Thanks everyone for your imput. Appreciate it.

pullandbang

Glad to be of help. Just bear in mind that different cartridges will pattern differently out of the same gun. When you get your new shells, it would be worth your while trying them on a pattern plate with your different chokes. It will show you where your point of aim is and the varying spreads across your choke range. Always a useful exercise.

Cass

Well lads, just a quick update on the cartridge situation. Bought a few single boxes of RC2s, GBs, Eley superb comp and another make begining with K or something. Descent results with all however the Eley superb competition were by far the best. If you look back over my previous posts i mention how hard it was to break the new clays. NOT ANYMORE. Not only did the Eley break the new clays thay dusted them each and every time. No more hits with no breakages. Moral and confidence shooting way up. At about €10 per case more not breaking the bank and as always buy them in bulk and the discount will bring the price back to what i was paying for the older make.

Anyway thanks again lads for all the suggestions and advice and if anyone else is experimenting try these, or if anyone else is already using them give me a shout with how they got on with them, :D:D

Sandyman

Hi Lads,
I shoot sporting. I was shooting Hull Soverigns 8's and 7.5's. I found them very soft on Recoil compared to the Eleys etc. Lately I have tried the Hull pro one DTL 300 and found them even softer shooting again with great kills. I think I have found my future cartridge. There a bit cheaper than Soverign at €195 per thousand. I have also noticed other sporting shooters using the Hull DTL 300's.

Regards

no12

Oh and Target, Italtrap are the ones we normally use. I don't know the name of the new clays but they have a pigeon design on the clay itself. Will find out the name and post it here when i do. Don't know if they are all like these ones. They are not unbreakable that is just a figure of speech. We are dropping a good few. Last week one of the lads fired at one, hit it and it didn't break but it did change direction, so he fired the second barrel and again it hit the clay which changed direction again but still did not break. Thinking of starting a new discipline where you have a ring at the end of the range and see if you can get the clay through the ring with the least number of shots.

I think the brand of clay you are talking about are Corsivia they are a spanish made clay and AFAIK Derek Burnett brings a few of them into Ireland. Good clay but can be a tad bit on the hard side..

target

Thanks no12, was curious to see if the "unbreakable clay" was a Corsivia or an Italtrap.

Both are widely used on the World Cup circuit and even then you have only 24gm to break them.

Cass

Original post by Target

Thanks no12, was curious to see if the "unbreakable clay" was a Corsivia or an Italtrap.

Both are widely used on the World Cup circuit and even then you have only 24gm to break them.

Lucky for me i'm not on the world circuit then. If you read previous posts you would see i explained myself properly.

Original post by ezridax

They are not unbreakable that is just a figure of speech. We are dropping a good few.

target

No criticism was intended ezridax, I know it was just a figure of speech.

My curiosity arises from the fact that the targets we shoot in Ireland are primarily made in and sourced from the UK. They are CCI or Laporte/Clay Pigeon Company.
The constitution of these clays lend to pleasing breaks or dusting with even a partial string on the target, while their Italian or Spanish made equivalents’ are generally harder in constitution making dusted clays all the more rare.

I remember a complaint made to the ICPSA several years ago at a DTL shoot that the clays being used at a certain venue were "unbreakable". The complaint made its way all the way to the National Executive of the ICPSA.

The clay was measured and weighed and all was well within tolerances. In the end the question was asked of the complainant, "So you fired at 100 targets and broke none of them?" Well of course the answer was no ......

The targets in question were Corsivia.

Cass

My fault Target. Was annoyed about another topic and vented on this thread. Apologies. Found out the make of those clays. They are Nasta- Qline. Was over at the club today and i was told that a few lads that had been at another shoot and won all around them came over to midlands and were not impressed as they could not break nearly as many.

We are down to the last of the boxes of the Nasta and have already placed an order for the cci. Never getting the other ones in again. There is a noticeable drop in the number of lads turning up for the clay shooting let alone taking part. Its not fair on the club but i can understand lads getting fed up, frustrated and disheartened when you know you are on target but they are just not breaking.

target

Thanks ezridax, I didn't know anyone was bringing NASTA clays into Ireland! They are common in the Nordic countries and in of all places Cyprus where they use NASTA trap machines. Obviously they got a good price

If come across Chinese Norinco clay targets, my advice would be to leave them in the box. If ever there was an unbreakable clay these would be the top of my list. They were used for the Beijing Olympics and also recently at the World Cup in Cairo and both occasions were notable for particularly low scores.