What Are The Right Cartridges For Your Quarry?

Tailor your cartridge for your quarry

Arguably not, says Robert Everitt of Hull Cartridge Company. “There’s a time and a place for every cartridge. A truly high pheasant, such as you’d find on Exmoor, or in Wales, North Yorkshire or the Scottish Borders, needs a bit more than the standard ones. The higher your quarry, the heavier your shot size should be – the heavier pellets maintain a better killing energy at distance… subject to their speed.” 

However, Robert has noticed a trend towards using heavier loads for everything, “Which is not only unnecessary, but if you are shooting at less extreme ranges can do more meat damage, so I would always recommend lightening your shot size for a day of lower birds. Using 40g of No.4 may sound like it has the most power, but a heavier payload cannot be driven at the same speed as a lighter payload. Therefore it is actually possible that a 28g of No.4 will actually be more effective. My mantra is force times mass = energy. With walked up birds, there are two factors: you are likely to be shooting at closer range, however you are also likely to be shooting at the going away bird, which will need a bit more energy behind the shot, I would recommend a 32g of No.6, this will give you a dense pattern even with a light choke.” 

To choke or not to choke… 

Choosing the right cartridge is all very well, but, says Robert, it is equally important to consider choke. “So many gameshooters today do not consider choke – admittedly many of them shoot with a fixed choke gun. However, if you do have multi-chokes, I’d always advise putting them in ‘the wrong way round’. I prefer to put my tighter choke for my first barrel and more open choke for the second, say ¾ and ½ in that order. My reasoning is this: you will most likely be shooting at the more distant target first. A tight choke will give you a concentrated pattern of shot, and will be more likely to ensure a clean kill or a clean miss. If I had to stick to one choke it would be 5/8 and 5/8, but choke is also contingent on what load you are using, so the heavier the load, the more open the choke you should use, this will mitigate some of the recoil and ensure that you don’t blow your pattern. The best advice I could give is to pattern test your gun with your cartridges as internal bore diameters do vary – half choke in one gun can be tighter than in another for that reason.”

For the truly sky-high birds

High Pheasant Extreme in 32g of No. 5 in a 70mm case length is suitable for over and unders and modern side by sides, if you need maximum killing energy at distance, switch to No. 4. For side-by-side users wanting a slightly softer cartridge, try the 67mm casing of High Pheasant in 32g of No. 5 and Imperial Game in either 28g or 30g of No. 5 in 65mm cases for use in fine English guns or the all-new 28g No. 4 which is currently taking the West Country by storm. 

Birds in the Shires

For the average driven shoot, such as you’d find in the Shires, a somewhat lighter load of 30g of No.5 of High Pheasant will do for the December and January days. The birds are in their winter feather, and that much tougher than early season ones. 

Mixed bags

For the walked-up day or a mixed bag, where you might encounter both partridge and pheasant, as well as the odd woodcock, or an early season day at partridge in the low counties, Robert recommends a lighter load of 28g of No.6 in Imperial Game. “It’s ample to have a No.6 shot for these birds. The other cartridge that I’d be tempted to use is the Driven Grouse, which is copper coated, or for those on a budget, the Special Pigeon in 32g of No.6. When you are shooting at closer quarters or at lightly feathered birds, you don’t want too heavy a load.”

Prices per 1,000

• High Pheasant Extreme RRP from £351 
• High Pheasant RRP from £330 
• Imperial Game RRP from £313  
• Driven Grouse RRP from £358 
• Special Pigeon RRP from £264  

For more information on Hull Cartridges have a look at their website.