Cartridge prices

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Well, I have heard it all now.

Speaking to a cartridge retailer today he was telling me that Eley, Diana, Rio and numerous other makes were all made by Maxum of Spain.

Where on earth is the sense in having numerous products at different price structures using similar components undermining a British Manufacturer?

If only Maxum marketed their own various cartridges through Eley it would save confusion and cost.

 
They do Salop....this is old news. Maxam is a massive group.

Eg Vinci....fantastic cartridge ....brought in by Eley.......but 'made' in Spain.

Rio....'made' in Spain but sent everywhere. A very close pal deals with introducing them in to Aussy.

 
I thought it was just the components that were made by foreign manufacturers and folk like eley loaded em in good old blighty.

 
I thought it was just the components that were made by foreign manufacturers and folk like eley loaded em in good old blighty.
I thought the same.  I was told recently that Eley used Maxam powders (understandable as Maxam owns Eley), Fiocchi wads, not sure about the shot, but then assembled them here.

 
Yes you are correct Nicola & Guys, that is exactly my point. Why would a parent company have all the issues with a British manufacturing plant red tape and H&S. But then send over practically identical ready made cartridges retailing cheaper?????

The whole cartridge industry and marketing strategy seems complex and geared to confuse.

 
This is an expensive Sport/Hobbie, get over it. It isn't the 1980's anymore, when shooting was cheap. I talk to shooters of that era and they were shooting three, four shoots a week. a couple of registereds on a sunday, and loads of practice in the summer weekday evenings. Brilliant!

Those days are gone I'm affraid. Unless like a lot of the top shots in this Country, you have a few quid or rich parents.

The "Let's Boycot  Manufacturers" Brigade are, in my opinion, as bad as the "Let's ban Guns" Bellends. They can never tell you how much a Cartridge Manufacturer makes on a thousand shells. Yes, they make Profit. Greed isn't another word for Profit. They don't make nearly as much as you think. I know.

Now, for every Cartridge I pull out of my Skeet vest, there is a Clay I'm going to shoot, or in most cases, miss. Now when I look at that Cartridge, a mid price, mid range shell, and I work out the price of that single shell, let's say 15, 20 pence, and I think about what goes into making them shells. The Case, the Brass head, Primer, Powder, Wad, lead, Ink, The inner Box, the outer box, Labelling, the Machine operator and energy to run the machines. Transport, Logistics, Admin staff, Rates, Taxes, Insurance, (Waste disposal, which has to be paid for) Staff wages, Vehicles, Retailers, the list goes on.

Does that amount of cost/work go into a Clay? I doubt it. I never give the cost of them a second thought when they fly off into the distance.

There is a hell of alot of cost that goes into making a Cartridge. That is a fact.

Let's Boycott Manufacturers, If these firms were to disappear, I believe with all the red tape, they would not be replaced. That's great. what the f*** do I do on a Sunday then?. Read the Bible and go for a walk? f*** that. Do you think the firms on foreign soil will send us free Cartridges? Nope.

There are to many People in this Country who would like to stop me from Owning a Gun and Making lots of noise on a Sunday morning with it.. Why don't you worry about them than the price of the Sport?

I dislike paying £150, £200 for anything, especially something I'm going to throw in the bin. But when I work out the positive things about Shooting clay targets, the friendships, the excitment, the getting out and about all over the country, and, in this Sport, being able to stand behind and compete against some of the Greatest shots in the World, then in my opinion it is a price worth paying.

I wish it was cheaper as I would do more of it. As I'm sure every other shooter in this Country would.
This is an excellent post. Staying with the positive attitude. I don't consider clay shooting expensive compared to other sports I am to old to be competitive in. The reward of another personal best on a Sunday make it cracking value in my book. I wish I had found the sport 10 years ago. I am currently spending  £160.00 per thousand Express High Velocity.

 
Six years ago lead was the cheapest component in a cartridge, now the most expensive.
There is no powder, wad or case manufactures in the Uk, all the components are imported, haulage has risen by 75% in 3 years, diesel in Italy is now more expensive than the UK.
The £ is worth 20-30% less than 10 years ago against the Euro, personally I think you are lucky that shells are still as cheap as they are!
I used to pay £85 per 1000 for Eley Olympic Trap in 1977, and at that time vat was almost nowt.
If you do he sums shells are still cheap.
Some of you should listen to this guy, he kinda is an expert on this subject. None of the heads of any UK company are on here, but here we have the main guy from Clever Mirage UK giving us some time.
 
I know for a fact the former MD of Gamebore developed a wad making facility in Hull, and not all components are imported judging by some of the signatures in their visitors book (they do own their own 'Shotwell').
 
 Glad to know all the old lead flashings I collect over the year go to good use and the Scrap Man pays for my Christmas booze :D   
Yes they do but do they use it when it is cheaper to import with foreign manufacturing incentives available, lots of folk deserted Hull when they started selling rebranded Diana's.

 
Many many excellant points made on this thread.
Good post by Don and food for thought from Hamster.
I am sure that the manufacturers know their customers, for instance why would Eley make VIP Game a premium price game shell and also make Imperial Game with a paper case and copper plated shot? Obviously because of market research and a demand.
Trap shooting will necessitate a quality shot with hardness to assist the shots passage through choked barrels to help maintain pattern density for down (long) range.
Sporting and Skeet  disciplines possibly do not require such highly technically developed cartridges due to the majority of closer range targets.
The majority of cartridge manufacturers are Italian where their major shooting discipline is Trap .
Perhaps here in the UK we could have a dedicated budget cartridge sufficiently good enough for Sporting and Skeet utilising soft lead shot and low brass cases.
In fact I am sure we already do from all of the manufacturers, but as with everything else once there is something bigger and better we all migrate towards it.
As I said earlier, I doubt prices will ever come down and in the greater scheme of things they are a relatively cheap part of the equation.
But we are British and we do like a good moan.
We do have such a superb shell it is the Clever Mirage Supertarget, I am sure if you order a slab of 250 and do not like them, all you have to do is look at yourself for the problem, for I can assure you this shell does all any target needs to break in Sporting or Skeet.
 
We do have such a superb shell it is the Clever Mirage Supertarget, I am sure if you order a slab of 250 and do not like them, all you have to do is look at yourself for the problem, for I can assure you this shell does all any target needs to break in Sporting or Skeet.
Can anyone tell me where to get these near Gainsborough, Lincs??

 
Well yesterday i was shooting my normal eley olympics which i quite like but was given a few Fiocchi cartridges to have a bash with and they seemed a nice cartridge and cycled well in my semi-auto !

How ever I havent seen anyone selling them locally to me sadly so will be sticking with the eley olympics.

 
Good man, you know it makes sense  :)

 
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I thought they were very good.

I used them at westfield the other week,good breaks and little recoil,pity we can't get hold of them locally.

Robo shot some T1's at the weekend and i don't think he was to impressed with them though.

 
GavB shot T1 24g at Southdown and I thought his breaks were pretty good. I used them in my sxs and did well last summer! I have never tried the 28g.

My head is locked in and confident with the T2, probably more to do with having shot a lot of them than ballistics.

 
 Nowt wrong with T1's ,I thought there wasn't a lot of difference from Olympics to be honest ? The last time I used T1's was in the Mirook and was impressed with them through 1/2 & 3/4 fixed chokes ;)

 
It's availability and price which dictates a lot of our choice, can find Olympics everywhere and pretty keenly priced

 
i tried some express super comps last weekend... phenominal recoil properties i.e., none but shoite impact down range. immediately went back to FBlu and FBlacks. 

 
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