Pigeon shooting - for the rich…

[Foxyboy43]

Nearly mid-day and I haven’t had a rant, must be mellowing.
Soooooo just returned from our local RFD to purchase 12 bore cartridges for a day’s crop protection at the pigeons - £84 for a slab of 250!!! I cannot remember the last lot I bought but think it wasn’t that long ago and it was £50ish for the same 250 - so someone somewhere is having a laugh - at my expense! So bought by the thousand that would be c£336 or call it £0.33per pop and given my increasing age and the kill-to-cartridge ratio of say 1 to 3 ( up to now I picked only testing shots) that is a quid per bird shot and over standing crops where not all are gathered, even more!
For about the same price per round I am reloading my .222 so methinks the air rifle and sitters is the future…..
I feel better for that already.

 

[Liveonce]

£84 a bargain just wait until they are steel shot and biodegradable wads then more like a £100.

Cartridges just like primers, powder and bullets have shot up in price over the last year or so.

 

[Acm]

Nearly mid-day and I haven’t had a rant, must be mellowing.
Soooooo just returned from our local RFD to purchase 12 bore cartridges for a day’s crop protection at the pigeons - £84 for a slab of 250!!! I cannot remember the last lot I bought but think it wasn’t that long ago and it was £50ish for the same 250 - so someone somewhere is having a laugh - at my expense! So bought by the thousand that would be c£336 or call it £0.33per pop and given my increasing age and the kill-to-cartridge ratio of say 1 to 3 ( up to now I picked only testing shots) that is a quid per bird shot and over standing crops where not all are gathered, even more!
For about the same price per round I am reloading my .222 so methinks the air rifle and sitters is the future…..
I feel better for that already.

Just stop and think about the energy consumption in making cartridges, I’m pretty sure no one at any stage in the supply chain is having a laugh. Inflations hitting everything, and field sports isn’t immune to it. You paying 33 pence per shot instead of 20p per shot pales into insignificance compared to the price hikes in every day items.

 

[shakey jake]

if the farmers wants a service doing get him to pay for the cartridges

 

[enfieldspares]

Just stop and think about the energy consumption in making cartridges, I’m pretty sure no one at any stage in the supply chain is having a laugh. Inflations hitting everything, and field sports isn’t immune to it. You paying 33 pence per shot instead of 20p per shot pales into insignificance compared to the price hikes in every day items.

And for steel that energy bill will be through the roof! And that's even before its been put on a ship or "belt and rail" train to arrive in the UK. Lead in comparison uses maybe not even one quarter of the energy. Someone needs to do a comparison!

 

[Bo Diddley]

if the farmers wants a service doing get him to pay for the cartridges

I know a chap that gets all the pigeon shooting on an estate, and he is allowed to put all the cartridges on the estate account , lucky sod! He's only a mildly keen pigeon shooter as well, you won't see him sitting out on the rape when it's getting difficult....

 

[sako85708]

Where are these "hordes" of Deer ?, certainly not on the 2000 acres I help farm and stalk !!. This time of year I am at work dark till dark and only ever see 6 or 7 at most, or maybe I'm just blind !! Sorry wrong place posted !!

 

[VSS]

if the farmers wants a service doing get him to pay for the cartridges

Exactly this ^^^
There's no need to be out of pocket as a result of doing someone's pest control for them.

 

[Cottis]

Just stop and think about the energy consumption in making cartridges, I’m pretty sure no one at any stage in the supply chain is having a laugh. Inflations hitting everything, and field sports isn’t immune to it. You paying 33 pence per shot instead of 20p per shot pales into insignificance compared to the price hikes in every day items.

That is a 65% hike. Hardly in line with CPI. I mean even Derv has not gone up that much.

 

[User00047]

Exactly this ^^^
There's no need to be out of pocket as a result of doing someone's pest control for them.

There’s always an eager beaver willing to provide their own cartridges for that kind of thing. You’ll soon find that the farmer let’s someone else do it to try and save money.
I don’t consider £84 for a day’s sport excessive in 2022.
Inflation is out of control. Everything is looking expensive. You’re lucky the missed pigeons aren’t charging you for shooting at them.

 

[JTO]

Morrisons pack of 5 doughnuts have gone from 50p to 79p !!!!!!!!!

 

[Acm]

Exactly this ^^^
There's no need to be out of pocket as a result of doing someone's pest control for them.

Shooting pigeons after harvest isn’t pest control, if anything they are doing a good job cleaning up potential volunteers from next years crop by eating what the combine blew through. I’m not against it by any means but it has next to no impact on next years flocks and should be enjoyed for what it is, sport.

That is a 65% hike. Hardly in line with CPI. I mean even Derv has not gone up that much.

Last year I was paying 45p a litre for red, now I’m paying £1.20.

 

[JTO]

Exactly this ^^^
There's no need to be out of pocket as a result of doing someone's pest control for them.

Yet Will Beaseley can charge £70 - £250 for a day at pigeons. Haves and Have-nots again.
An estate owner/manager asked me how he should reimburse a pigeon shooter. I suggested he give a cartridge for each dead pigeon. Somewhere between sport and utility.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Morrisons pack of 5 doughnuts have gone from 50p to 79p !!!!!!!!!

Tesco's 4 Egg Custards have gone down from £1 to 90p , every Lidl helps apparently it's the price match promise!

 

[Cottis]

Shooting pigeons after harvest isn’t pest control, if anything they are doing a good job cleaning up potential volunteers from next years crop by eating what the combine blew through. I’m not against it by any means but it has next to no impact on next years flocks and should be enjoyed for what it is, sport.

Last year I was paying 45p a litre for red, now I’m paying £1.20.

You said inflation is hitting everything and that a 65% hike pales in to insignificance compared to every day items. They were your words. That is simply not true.

You might be paying a lot more for agri derv but I am paying the same for rocket and leafy green veg, I am paying the same for cheese and potatos. I am paying the same rent. Alcohol hasn't budged nor have cleaning products like bleach etc. I am paying the same for all sorts of stuff that I cannot be bothered to list. Of course I am paying a shed load more lots of other things. I am not saying inflation is a fallacy. Clearly that is not the case. What is fallacy is that a 65% hike in costs is in some way normal across the board for every day items. I was simply stating that this is not the case.

It would not surprise me to see some sort of profiteering going on in some industries, based on the seller's view of the purchasing power of their target audience. I would not be amazed if this was the case with shooting supplies. But then there is also the cost of metals, plastics and the energy use required in manufacturing to create these products. Good chance the cost to create shotgun carts has increased, hence a hefty rise in prices. Some might also be down to retail decisions. Bit like McDonalds recently increasing prices. This could be because some of their customers have suddenly found the ceiling in terms of available money. So maybe McDonalds average customer has slightly changed and can stomach a higher cost per item. If McDonalds are selling less stuff, they might think "well if our remaining customers can stomach a cost increase as well as our filth, then we will put prices up to help absorb the decrease in sales"

And this might explain part of the increase in some shooting items. If money is tight and less cartridges are being sold, the remaining customers might well be able to stomach a price increase. Human nature to extract as much blood from a stone as poss.

It is all a bit horrible and altering our lives for sure. Fingers crossed it buggers off as quickly as it arrives. I doubt it though.

 

[lochty]

Just be thankful you don't have to buy bismuth. Circa £330 per slab for a 16 bore.....

 

[Liveonce]

“And this might explain part of the increase in some shooting items. If money is tight and less cartridges are being sold, the remaining customers might well be able to stomach a price increase. Human nature to extract as much blood from a stone as poss.”

emphasis on the word might, for if the remaining customers cannot stomach a price increase then sales will fall further possibly to a point where the business is no longer viable. Lots of manufactures of cartridges will they all survive?
lots of consoldiation going on in the industry Beretta Holding now own Ammotec,( Ruag), Nobel Sport now own Maxam Outdoors, Fiocchi now own B&P and Lyalvale Express. So obviously they think the future is good.

I would suggest no business decides to increases prices just to gamble that it will increase profit, within their target customer demographic. Pricing an item is a key decision, either pricing too low or too high can be an opportunity missed. Big brands are good at this as the brand name alone can command a premium price.
Everything has a price point beyond which the item will no longer sell sufficiently to justify selling it or competitors take the opportunity to move in and undercut the expensive supplier.

Numbers shooting look to be falling, especially around the clay grounds, was at a local ground on Thursday just six cars parked, a very few shooting, in the past fifteen to twenty would be parked up

 

[Utectok]

I have started shooting clay shells over decoys 24gm 7.5shot just because of price. Tbh they kill very well at sensible ranges and may even produce fewer runners. Leave those passing over head birds but anything up to 35m very dead

 

[Smellydog]

I was using 21g today #7.5. No issues.

 

[Bavarianbrit]

I was in Freiburg Germany roe stalking this last week and we were at the local special gunmaker to visit, he had maybe 1-2000 rifles & pistols lying around litterally that he sells on to other countries the reason being that when the old German dodderer falls off his branch the local FEOs here pressure the widows after only two weeks to reregister them or to get rid of his stuff.
Anyway I was just there as I needed to source a really good scope, he found a Tasco Euro-Class 3 - 12 X 52 30mm tubed scope with good weaver mounts on a nice M98 and he took it off that it then did the fitting/set up onto my .50 cal for 250 Euros.
This is the point. While chatting away he mentioned that Ruag/Geco and many other euro ammomakers get many of their projectiles & primers from various US suppliers which I did not know, and the euro ammomakers are all running their productions down as these are at the moment unobtainable due to some huge lucrative war contracts being filled for the Ukraine over in the US.