Jocker's no-nonsense steel shot cartridges

Over the last three years or so a remarkable number of developments have taken place in the field of steel shot cartridges, most notably when it comes to wad and shot-cup systems. Cartridge companies compete with each other to produce an alternative to both plastic and fibre that protects your barrels, gives good patterns and doesn’t damage the environment or endanger livestock. 

Amid all of this, there are claims and counterclaims of how fast these high-tech wads break down or decompose, and under what circumstances. Meanwhile the French cartridge brand Jocker, distributed in the UK by Suffolk-based Shooting Star, have eschewed fancy space-age bio-wads and have turned to a pair of more prosaic materials for their patented eco-wads; paper (cardboard) and cork.

The most biodegradable wads around?

Anyone who has ever dropped a book in the bath or retrieved an Amazon delivery from a ‘safe place’ on a rainy day will be able to attest to the rapidity with which card breaks down when wet. According to Jocker, their recycled cardboard shotcups will have disappeared from the environment in three weeks or less, perhaps the fastest we have seen claimed. Of course, cork is a naturally occurring material and can be sustainably sourced, so has sound eco credentials.

These papery shotcups have currently been loaded in Jocker’s Bio ISO Steel Game in two 12 bore loads: one high performance steel cartridge and one standard steel cartridge. Both loads are currently only available in shot size 4, which is the equivalent of a 6 in lead shot. 

The standard steel variant is a 27g load in a 67mm case, making it suitable for those with post-1954 side-by-sides which are in good order and are nitro-proofed, and for guns with shorter chambers. With a muzzle velocity of 1350/fps there’s plenty of power there. 

The HP variant is a 32g load in a 70mm case. As is true of all HP steel cartridges, these should not be used unless the gun is stamped with the Fleur de Lys symbol or ‘STEEL’. 

Neither cartridge should be used in a gun with chokes tighter than half, according to advice from the Proof House.

How does Jocker's paper and cork wad system work?

With the vital statistics and disclaimers out of the way, we can look at the really interesting bit, namely the very clever wad/cup system. This is effectively a two-part affair. Slotted into the plastic case is a paper tube, which contains the steel shot pellets and forms the shot cup. As with the eco-wads from the other manufacturers, the paper tube keeps the steel (actually a soft iron) from coming into contact with the barrel walls, preventing any scoring. 

Beneath this tube or cup, glued in place, is a cork wad, the depth of which can be adjusted to accommodate different weights and shot sizes. Next comes a card disk, followed by a gas seal obturator skirt.

The combined effect of all of this, say Jocker, is a very good gas seal, meaning that there is minimal leakage of the pressurised gasses generated by the combustion of the powder, protecting the shot from clumping together and ruining the pattern.

The paper tube is scored on the inside, which means that when the cartridge is fired the tube splits into ‘petals’ as it leaves the muzzle, ensuring that it doesn’t interfere with the flight of the shot and that the cartridges give good patterns. 

Put it all together, and what do you get? Well, according to the bumph: “the benefits of a fibre wad with similar performance to a plastic wad.”

Just the beginning

Owing to high demand, we’ve not yet been able to get our hands on any of these interesting alternatives to the high-tech bio-wad cartridges offered by some of the other cartridge companies, but we look forward to giving them a try at some point soon!

We understand that Jocker will be bringing a variety of updates to their non-lead range for next year. First up will be an improved version of the paper wad (the MKII), which will have a thicker tube for even greater barrell protection. They will also be launching versions for all calibres from .410 to 10 bore. The .410 will be a 10g tungsten load, 28 bore will be available in tungsten and a 3” steel load, and 20 bore will be a 3” steel load.

Jocker will also shortly begin loading cartridges with the same alloy that is used in Bio Ammo Blue, a blend of aluminium, bismuth, tin and zinc.

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