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Eley offers an all-encompassing range of good quality, high performance products at a sensible price.
By Charles Bull
Thursday, 19 March 2009
Eley clay cartridges: Eley clay pigeon shooting cartridges are some of the best around. Here we take a look at what they offer.
Eley clay cartridges: I bet there can't be many of us who haven't used Eley cartridges at some time or another. In fact most shooters of a certain age will have cut their sporting teeth on the likes of Grand Prix and Impax – two famous loads from one of Britain's oldest ammunition makers.
Eley is one of the best known brands in the business and is now owned by Maxam, a large Spanish conglomerate that also makes Rio cartridges. In short, it now has the backing and support to continue and expand its cartridge-making business.
As with Rio cartridges, Eley shells are loaded with components sourced within the European Union and propelled by Maxam powders. That said, the famous Eley 'Kleena' wad is still manufactured in house and continues to be used in all shells with fibre wads.
In fact it's worth remembering that Eley is the only manufacturer that offers a complete .410 and 28-bore range with a fibre wad.
Whichever way you look at it Eley sells a huge range of products across the board, encompassing all mainstream loads plus some fairly obscure ones to cover every eventuality a shooter is likely to come across.
This month we are going to look specifically at their clay range, but they have some new products in the pipeline including a new clay product and a revamped Bismuth range, which I am told will be even more competitive than the current Bismuth products.
Watch this space!
Due to the price hikes we have seen in ammunition prices Eley have produced a 21gm lead load for clay shooting in plastic and fibre wad versions. It is a quick shell and prices start at around £116 per 1,000 for the entry level First Lite.
The difference between this and other products is that a full range of clay shot sizes is offered in both versions from 7½ up to 9.
The 'First' brand continues with a full range of shot sizes and both types of wad in a 24gm and 28gm variant. The latter will always be the better seller and in response to Gamebore's Kent Velocity product featured last month, we are now able to offer the 'First' in 28gm plastic wad at £125 per 1,000 and the fibre at £135.
These are absolutely stonking prices in the current climate. 'Olympics' is the new look evergreen Olympic Trap, a stalwart clay shell since the 1980s and still hugely popular. This good performer comes with a plastic wad only in shot size 7½ or 8 for £131.50 a thousand.
In the mid range we have 'Blues' and 'Superb', the former available in all shot sizes and wad types starting at £144.25 for the 28gm load and the latter in plastic wad only in a range of shot sizes at £157.50. The Superb was developed as a competitive mid-range competition shell and represents tremendous value... shame it isn’t available in fibre wad like so many of the other products.
And so to the top of the range – 'VIP'. VIP clay cartridges weigh in as either 24 or 28gm loads to cater for whatever discipline you care to name, from Olympic trap and skeet to FITASC Sporting. The 24gm load starts at £165.50 per 1,000 going up to the VIP FITASC with blistering performance at £188.75 currently.
There is also the very useful high performance Sporting Fibre version available at a competitive £170.25 per 1,000.
The Hushpower range (in plastic and fibre wad of course) is a 28gm subsonic load in shot size 7½ for places where noise may be an issue. Yet again it represents remarkable value starting at £157.50.
So there we have it, a truly extraordinary range of products, but what is Eley's secret? In my view, they offer an all-encompassing range of good quality, high performance products at a sensible price. Happy shooting!
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