Are plastic wads doomed?

[Iggy]

Up until recently I’d never used fibres for no rational reason....I avoided them as I’d read they were expensive, dirty and thumpy.

However I bought a few slabs so I could visit a local independent, but decent ground and guess what....they are a ‘bit’ more expensive (although the ones I bought - Eley Select - were cheaper than my regular plaswad), they are a bit dirtier but the tubes clean fine and they don’t feel any different to me in the shoulder. 

They do ‘seem’ to pattern amazingly well through my fixed (1/2 & 3/4) choke Guerini.....so when my current stash of plaswads run out I’ll seriously consider swapping. 

 

[ChrisPackham]

Why do people put end/end off as if they think somebody is actually taking any notice of the instruction or that they have authority over what you think...delusional i guess

Because there’s really no need for plastic and ‘end’ gives trolls or losers with nothing better to do something to whine about as they try desperately to attract attention on the internet..

 

[Cosmicblue]

I've swapped to fibre, put a couple of thousand down the tubes now - zero difference.   The legislation will come to ban single-use plastics and I can't see plaswads surviving, maybe in the not so distant future we will be taking our spent fibre-wad cart cases back to our cartridge suppliers to be recycled too??

I'm about as far as you can get from sandal wearing ecological save the planet type and do more than my fair share of global warming activities but the mounds of empty cases and oceans of plaswads you see at shooting grounds isn't exactly sustainable with the risk that someone influential with time on their hands is going to make it a headline we don't want.

 

[schmokinn]

Because there’s really no need for plastic and ‘end’ gives trolls or losers with nothing better to do something to whine about as they try desperately to attract attention on the internet..

So your answering a question that i didn't ask,why?

 

[LarsJ]

Could you expand on what this "Danish" discipline is Lars?

I will do that, will make it in a seperate thread, so we don't clutter this one. 

 

[Garwood]

Plaswads within the restricted area of a clay ground are, one would argue, an acceptable use. At present there are many man made products & even more behaviour attitudes that cause far more “plastic” pollution. 

That is a well balanced view...sadly the shooting sports rarely get the benefit of well balanced treatment from the establishment .....

 

[Geordieboy]

No need for plastic wads in the UK at all, end.

They recoil more and have confetti and make a funny bang.  They also cost more!  I beg to differ.

 

[jwpzx9r]

No need for plastic wads in the UK at all, end.

Says who ? And on what does "who " base their assertion ?

Not the UK so forgive me drifting the thread but nobody and I do mean nobody shooting at any ground I have shot at in France uses fibre / felt wadded cartridges... in fact I have some and took them along to the shooting ground on day and most of the shooters had never even seen one before!

On another subject entirely it never ceases to amaze me that anybody far less a shooter would think in any way that shooting with plastic wads is contributing to plastic pollution! The use of these cartridges is taking place in a controlled environment and can and sometimes is collected and recycled. If on the other hand this plastic was to be dispersed over  an area other than controlled areas I could see why it could be called pollution. Strangely enough though some of the very best cartridges available down here are paper cased... weird in'it .

I tend to agree with Charlie some sort of easily degradable paper shot cup of compressed paper would be favourite... but costs may rise. Plastic wads are so easily produced and the quality  of the product is also assured. The thing is in the scheme of things plastic wads are not a major contributor to the pollution of our lands. Game shooting is a different thing altogether though  plastic wads out with the controlled area... still a fraction of the sh*t thrown from cars on the way through the countryside any day of the week though  

 

[MartynB]

Some things just should never have evolved .  The smell of cardboard cartridges and the smell of Castrol R used in bikes should have been made mandatory years ago .

However , can bet that the day plastic wads are banned that the trade will find no difficulty in loading “‘ fibre” wads efficiently . Any producer investing in production lines in the last 5 years who did not consider the subject is crackers . It’s not a case of plastic v Fibre , it’s a case of good cartridges v poor ones .  

 

[Wonko the Sane]

Some things just should never have evolved .  The smell of cardboard cartridges and the smell of Castrol R used in bikes should have been made mandatory years ago .

That statement is nothing less than inarguable

However , can bet that the day plastic wads are banned that the trade will find no difficulty in loading “‘ fibre” wads efficiently . Any producer investing in production lines in the last 5 years who did not consider the subject is crackers . It’s not a case of plastic v Fibre , it’s a case of good cartridges v poor ones .  

The trade had no difficulty doing so for manymanymany decades prior to the intro of the plastic shot surrounds - which still had fiber wads BTW and how much of a PITA would THAT combination have been to manufacture?  I wouldn't expect any price adjustments other than up since few places restrict plastic and the market is quite small.  GB may be at the fore but you're mostly alone so far.

 

[schmokinn]

Some things just should never have evolved .  The smell of cardboard cartridges and the smell of Castrol R used in bikes should have been made mandatory years ago .

However , can bet that the day plastic wads are banned that the trade will find no difficulty in loading “‘ fibre” wads efficiently . Any producer investing in production lines in the last 5 years who did not consider the subject is crackers . It’s not a case of plastic v Fibre , it’s a case of good cartridges v poor ones .  

Mmmm...Castrol R 

 

[Garwood]

Mmmm...Castrol R 

Castrol aaahhhh! Lovely!

 

[westley]

No need for plastic wads in the UK at all, end.

Use Bismuth, simple... It’s better anyway, Steel is crap

Those will be the 'Bismuth' at £1693/ 1000 then, will they  ?  THAT seems like a good way to introduce youngsters into the sport, especially Wildfowling.  I really can NOT see a paper round funding that, somehow   !    :fie:  

 

[SmeGHeaD]

I think that the danger is that the current idea that all plastic is bad will inevitably mean that all single use plastics will become scrutinised before long, so could become a point that we are critised for - even though we do shoot in small and tightly controlled areas. Shooting is an easy target as general public opinion is that ‘shooting is for the elite’ and tends to get a little flak from mainstream press...

You rarely see any articles about the fact that the bulk of oceanic plastic waste comes from the ships that sail the seas, as fisherman and cargo ships aren’t easily lambasted, but those that use throw away straws are, so you hear that straws are evil, whilst discarded nets go largely unreported.

There is a remote flip side though. If we find ourselves in a crazy world where plastic production is banned (like we are looking at with Diesel engines) we may be sat on a goldmine with all of that readily recyclable empty cases in tonne bags hanging around grounds.... you’ll have to start locking them up for fear of theft!

 

[schmokinn]

Can't remember which one but there used to be an American cop show on TV and the beginning showed barges of rubbish being towed out of San Francisco to be dumped at see....i would imagine one equates to the yearly UK waste from shooting.

I would imagine that the amount of waste we create is so infinitesimally small to be immeasurable on a global scale.

What i do think is us discussing it and people suggesting there is a problem is providing research material for some sad F*** to collate and use against us.

We all now that the media need diddly squat in the way of proof to sensationalise something into a global catastrophe.

It isn't a problem,it will never be a big enough amount to be a problem,if wads are collected as they are at some grounds it stops being a one use plastic and there are many good reasons for using plastic wads for clay shooting.

The reality is there is no part of a cartridge that is not recyclable.

So lets make it a positive instead of being negative about it!

 

[ChrisPackham]

Says who ? And on what does "who " base their assertion ?

Not the UK so forgive me drifting the thread but nobody and I do mean nobody shooting at any ground I have shot at in France uses fibre / felt wadded cartridges... in fact I have some and took them along to the shooting ground on day and most of the shooters had never even seen one before!

On another subject entirely it never ceases to amaze me that anybody far less a shooter would think in any way that shooting with plastic wads is contributing to plastic pollution! The use of these cartridges is taking place in a controlled environment and can and sometimes is collected and recycled. If on the other hand this plastic was to be dispersed over  an area other than controlled areas I could see why it could be called pollution. Strangely enough though some of the very best cartridges available down here are paper cased... weird in'it .

I tend to agree with Charlie some sort of easily degradable paper shot cup of compressed paper would be favourite... but costs may rise. Plastic wads are so easily produced and the quality  of the product is also assured. The thing is in the scheme of things plastic wads are not a major contributor to the pollution of our lands. Game shooting is a different thing altogether though  plastic wads out with the controlled area... still a fraction of the sh*t thrown from cars on the way through the countryside any day of the week though  

How can you possibly thin it doesn’t?

Those will be the 'Bismuth' at £1693/ 1000 then, will they  ?  THAT seems like a good way to introduce youngsters into the sport, especially Wildfowling.  I really can NOT see a paper round funding that, somehow   !    :fie:  

f*** me, how many wildfowl are you shooting every year? After all it’s free... let’s say you shoot every weekend , that 1100 quid ish (you are being done) will last 10 years..

 

[westley]

How can you possibly thin it doesn’t?

f*** me, how many wildfowl are you shooting every year? After all it’s free... let’s say you shoot every weekend , that 1100 quid ish (you are being done) will last 10 years..

I am NOT, I gave up shooting ducks after the lead ban. I tried a few alternatives, but was not happy with the result so just stopped shooting wildfowl. I had shot enough over the years anyway  !  The prohibitive cost of some alternative shot forces a lot of shooters to use steel,  especially the young guns. You are lucky if you find FREE wildfowling, most is controlled by clubs/associations for which you need to be a member, although some offer day tickets.

 

[ChrisPackham]

I am NOT, I gave up shooting ducks after the lead ban. I tried a few alternatives, but was not happy with the result so just stopped shooting wildfowl. I had shot enough over the years anyway  !  The prohibitive cost of some alternative shot forces a lot of shooters to use steel,  especially the young guns. You are lucky if you find FREE wildfowling, most is controlled by clubs/associations for which you need to be a member, although some offer day tickets.

Sorry, it might cost you 120 per year, if you go every weekend call it 4 quid per trip and you’ll use 5 quid of cartridges.. so ten quid in all, pretty much free.... if that’s pricing people out then they won’t afford the fuel to get there..

However I agree, Steel shot is sh*t

 

[El Spavo]

Why?

 

[Salopian]

PP, your sums are a little exaggerated , where can you go wildfowling every weekend?

I believe Bismuth prices have dropped in the USA ( Kent Gamebore) this could be due to being propped up by UK Gunners.