The cost of cartridges

I've just been to visit Charles Bull who runs justcartridges.com, near Oxford. We stood in his warehouse, stacked with over a million shells of every bore and shot size imaginable, and had an interesting chat about the price of cartridges, which has been rocketing this year - some say due to the demand for lead in China.

Whatever the reason, it's causing concern for some shooters, particularly those who get through a good few shells each week.
Charles doesn't think it's going to make a big difference to the number of people shooting, though. As he says, the cartridges are a tiny fraction of the cost for a game shooter. And even for clay shooters, the increase is relatively small in proportion to their investment in guns, clothing, membership fees and the like.

For those who are looking to cut their costs, Charles offers this advice: "Cartridge manufacture is so high-tech these days that there really isn't such a thing as a bad shell. For most shooters, they won't notice the difference between a cartridge that costs £200 a thousand, and one that's £120 a thousand."

So if you want to dent the cost of your shooting, buy cheaper shells. Simple. And guess what, Charles sells some! Check out his prices online at www.justcartridges.com. You might want to turn off the speakers on your computer first though, as the site has a maddening series of ricochets as the front page loads!