Eley Olympics Quality

Witcher

Anyone read the article in this months Irish Shooter's Digest about the quality of Eley Olympics. Author opened a few and tested the shot size, number of pellets, patterns and the wads.

Didn't end up too good for them, shot size measured out to '6 3/4' as the author put it unstead of 7 1/2 so they had 323-326 pellets in each one instead of 390 or so as it should be according to the article.

Patterns were patchy in places and out of ten cartridges fired only 2 wads opened correctly. I was actually a bit suprised by them, I know they're nearly the cheapest shell you can get but I would have expected a bit more from Eley really.

Haven't used them myself in a while now but I would have chosen them over any equivalents in the price range given the opportunity. Have been using other cartridges for a while and don't think I would change back to Eley now..at least for the Olympics, all clay cartridges around the same price are probably performing the same but the doubt is in my mind now:pac:

rowa

Are these the ones that appear to have chinese writing on the box ? Tried them and thought them so - so.

Witcher

They're these lads;

It wasn't me!

Eley makes plenty of muck level stuff too. On the rifle side, they've made their name with Tenex, and a lot of the Match stuff is, depending on your rifle and the batch in question, pretty similar to identical to the results obtainable from Tenex. They make plenty of stuff lower down the food chain than that though, and having shot quite a few thousand rounds of various lower level Eley stuff, it gets down to the level of goesbangandrecoilsandnotmuchelse pretty quickly. Their rifle stuff has historically had a history of being awfully primed. A lot of us got very sick of having two or three rounds in a hundred go click and have to be fired again. However, we tested with them about a month ago now and in about 1000 rounds fired that day between two of us, not a single failure to go bang on the first shot, so maybe things are looking up? Certainly both IRLConor and I got a batch each of Tenex that shot rather well.

Snakezilla

Have never liked them Eley Olympics. Theyre that price for a reason.... I remember a few years ago I shot a crow about 40 yards directly over my head and all I did was knock feather outa him. This happened with a good few crows. They have no power for killing.

Eley Superbs are a totally different story. Theyre about €1 more per box than the Olympics but they're top class.

Chopperdog 2

I'm not surprised that you only shook feathers on him, Regretfully.
You are working at 40 yards which is deemed to be a shotguns maximum killing range. You were using a trap shell with a hardened lead as opposed to a softer hunting shot, and using a 28 gram loading. We don't even know what choking you were equipped with or even your shooting ability.

There are many other factors involved here outside merely of the manufacturer.

Basically, these are not a hunting load, were not designed for it and should not be used for it. Trap shells for trap, hunting loads for the field.

Cass

I last used them about three years ago. They were on the ball, and great for some cheap shooting at the clay range when it was only a "fun" day and not a comp day. I always used Superb for comps and for serious practice sessions.

However it wouldn't surprise me that the quality is down a little. They have remained the cheaper of the cartridges and this reduced price must be maintained via some means. I'm not saying it was done purposely, it most likely is accidental, but perhaps quality control is not as strict and money is saved via this means on production costs.

I'm sure if letter were sent to Eley themselves they would address this because, as It wasn't me said, they have a good reputation for other brands/types, and it doesn't take much to ruin it.

Snakezilla wrote: »

I remember a few years ago I shot a crow about 40 yards directly over my head and all I did was knock feather outa him. This happened with a good few crows. They have no power for killing.
.

Chopperdog 2 wrote: »

I'm not surprised that you only shook feathers on him, Regretfully............................. Trap shells for trap, hunting loads for the field.

Absolutely agree with Chopperdog on this. They are a light competition shell and not designed for or suitable for game especially at those distances. It only takes a few pellets to break a clay, but a lot more and a stronger shot/pellet size to cleanly and effectively take down game/vermin.

cookimonster

I don't compete in clay shoots but out of season I shoot clay regularly. Due to price increases I changed from Eley to FOB but have gone back to Eley Olympics as I just didn't like the FOB. Now in this case its the man behind the gun that's at fault when it comes to shooting performance, but on a personal note I found the FOB dirtier and more likely to jam in the auto.

As to hunting, well up to last forthnight ago I would be saying the same as many here, 28g 71/2 way too light for anything but clays. Not now, went decoying pigeons and after some reading, debating on the subject of clay cartridges for such I decided to bring out a bag of Eley 28g 7 1/2 along with my usual '32g 6'.
The plan was to try the 71/2 out and if I felt they were not up to the task use the 6's. The only change to my routine was I used a Mod instead of a IC choke. My distance to center of patten was approx 25 yards. Well I shot approx 104+ cartridges (all 71/2) and picked up 48 birds. I had no more wounded birds than I usually do with 6's . I don't shoot overly long shots regardless of my load as I like to air on caution with my abilities.
I found the Eley well capable of killing 'pigeons' over reasonable distanced 'decoys' but would limit them to this or the orange ones.

My only problem with Olympics is that I have watched them steadly increase in price over the last three years from €45.00 to over €55.00 a slab.

J.R.

cookimonster wrote: »

As to hunting, well up to last forthnight ago I would be saying the same as many here, 28g 71/2 way too light for anything but clays. Not now, went decoying pigeons

The only change to my routine was I used a Mod instead of a IC choke. My distance to center of patten was approx 25 yards. Well I shot approx 104+ cartridges (all 71/2) and picked up 48 birds. I had no more wounded birds than I usually do with 6's . I don't shoot overly long shots regardless of my load as I like to air on caution with my abilities.
I found the Eley well capable of killing 'pigeons' over reasonable distanced 'decoys' but would limit them to this or the orange ones.

My only problem with Olympics is that I have watched them steadly increase in price over the last three years from €45.00 to over €55.00 a slab.

I found the same.............decoy pattern about 28 yards out......if good pattern and well camouflaged then will get most shots from 30 - 35 yards......clay shell well capable of a clean kill at that range with half (modified) choke.

cavan shooter

Ive used them for years and no complaints. Yet my clay gun doesnt like GB's

rowa

Can anyone recommend a fibre wad cartridge for short chambers (2 1/2") thats decent in performance and not hugely expensive (like some of the eley game range) ?

landyman

RC professional game 65mm shell 28gm fibre wad I ordered them from local dealer lovely shell for sbs very popular with lads around here