Eley Olympic Blues
Load: 24 or 28gm Plastic or Fibre 9 shot
Case Length: 70mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1400 fps
Price: From £194.50 / 1,000
We have reviewed the Olympic Blue range before, but frankly it is the ideal club and competition shell. With reasonable recoil and an all-encompassing range of loads and shot sizes, allied to its low cost, this is perfect for just about everything. Its popularity is testament to this.
Lyalvale Express Super Comp
Load: 28gm Plastic 9 shot
Case Length: 70mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1450 fps
Price: £249 / 1,000
Super Comp has been around for ages, and remains one of the most popular specialist clay shooting cartridges. We looked at the Pro Skeet last month in 9½ shot, but the Super Comp is more often used, especially for English Skeet. Its price point indicates its higher performance, and it is entirely suitable for top level competition work.
Hull Pro One
Load: 24 or 28gm Plastic 9 shot
Case Length: 70mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1500 fps
Price: From £240.50
The Pro One range has also been around for some time, and sits above Hull’s Intercomp in 24gm in terms of versatility and performance. Ideal for Olympic and English disciplines, it is a top level competition product. With manageable recoil and speedy performance, it’s not the cheapest, but you get what you pay for.
Hull Pro Piston
Load: 28gm Plastic 9 shot
Case Length: 70mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1475 fps
Price: £261
The Pro Piston was introduced a year or two ago, and is not strictly a Skeet cartridge per se. It has a Bior-type wad, which is a shorter version of the full cup wad meaning you get a greater spread of pattern sooner.
Hull recommend this for close range work, ie 25 yards or less, so suitable for Skeet as well as close range Sporting targets.
Gamebore 28 gauge Target Load
Load: 21gm plastic 9 shot
Case Length: 70mm
Muzzle Velocity: 1400 fps
Price: £279 / 1,000
This is about your only option for NSSA Skeet in this bore size, so there’s not much to compare it against! More than adequate performance and about 430 odd pellets means you still have about as many pellets as a 28gm load in 8 shot, which puts it into perspective. Not cheap, but it is the one and only mainstream choice.
Gamebore .410 Target & Eley .410 Trap
Load: 14gm Plastic 9 shot
Case Length: Gamebore 65mm; Eley 67mm
Muzzle Velocity: Gamebore 1350 fps; Eley 1375 fps
Price: Both £259 / 1,000
There’s slightly more choice with the .410 for NSSA, and gratifyingly they are the same price. The Eley is the slightly faster one. They may be a small load, but with about 290 pellets both will do the job.
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