Am I just being a tight git ?

[Deerhunter22]

Ive only recently gotten my certificates and I have private grounds with some clay throwers to have fun with so I don't spend the mark up on clays like at a clay ground, though you can't beat a proper clay ground in my limited experience for a good day out and some good variety of different types of shoots.

But have Shotgun cartridges always been these prices ? Fiocchi TT1 seem the be the cheapest I can find per thou and thats at £277 which to me seems bloody expensive considering you can easily shoot a hundred with not much effort. Will cartridges ever come down in cost ? when you see the old threads on other forums at £90 a thou some 10 years ago even it seems absolutely absurd it could cost this much only 10 years later ? what's it going to be in another 10 years ? £600 a thou ? Or is this to be blamed on Putins war and now Donalds little venture in Iran to ? I watch a few YT channels who keep bleeting on about "we need more people in the sport and to grow it" and while I agree with the sentiment strongly I can't see how the everyday man or women with a normal job who's bills for simply existing are reaching unfathomable levels is meant to afford to blow money out the end of a barrel with prices the way they are ?

Thoughts ?

 

[enfieldspares]

Cartridges contain lead, despite the best wishes of BASC in February 2020 that they didn't. Lead alas is about as heavy as you can get and carriers charge by weight. So with petrol and diesel being not cheap the retailer unless getting their delivery carriage free (for a certain quantity ordered) will pass that cost on to you. Here in Leicestershire Melbourne Tackle and Guns sell TT1 at below prices. Fiocchi prices went up in February this year.

 

[Heym SR20]

Cartridges have always been expensive or bloody expensive. Indeed shooting of any type is expensive.

But in many ways cost of cartridges is not as high as they have been - have a read of:

Cartridges then & Now

Cartridges then & Now

www.vintageguns.co.uk

 

[Tim.243]

Ive only recently gotten my certificates and I have private grounds with some clay throwers to have fun with so I don't spend the mark up on clays like at a clay ground, though you can't beat a proper clay ground in my limited experience for a good day out and some good variety of different types of shoots.

But have Shotgun cartridges always been these prices ? Fiocchi TT1 seem the be the cheapest I can find per thou and thats at £277 which to me seems bloody expensive considering you can easily shoot a hundred with not much effort. Will cartridges ever come down in cost ? when you see the old threads on other forums at £90 a thou some 10 years ago even it seems absolutely absurd it could cost this much only 10 years later ? what's it going to be in another 10 years ? £600 a thou ? Or is this to be blamed on Putins war and now Donalds little venture in Iran to ? I watch a few YT channels who keep bleeting on about "we need more people in the sport and to grow it" and while I agree with the sentiment strongly I can't see how the everyday man or women with a normal job who's bills for simply existing are reaching unfathomable levels is meant to afford to blow money out the end of a barrel with prices the way they are ?

Thoughts ?

The cheapest part of shooting is the cartridges....
Last day on the marsh was around 10 shots with a nice few hours with a mate and the dog.
Cant see what you are moaning about.

 

[Deerhunter22]

Cartridges contain lead, despite the best wishes of BASC in February 2020 that they didn't. Lead alas is about as heavy as you can get and carriers charge by weight. So with petrol and diesel being not cheap the retailer unless getting their delivery carriage free (for a certain quantity ordered) will pass that cost on to you. Here in Leicestershire Melbourne Tackle and Guns sell TT1 at below prices. Fiocchi prices went up in February this year.

View attachment 463900

Of course I mean nothing in life is free, but the cost of cartridges now just seems absurd from what ive read even pre Covid etc. Just a shame, I know everything is gone up generally and I know the Pandemic is a cost we are still suffering aswell as these wars but its just seem so excessive, like everything you can't help but wonder if there's some opportunistic profiteering going on I guess,

 

[Deerhunter22]

The cheapest part of shooting is the cartridges....
Last day on the marsh was around 10 shots with a nice few hours with a mate and the dog.
Cant see what you are moaning about.

Well of course its going to be cheap if your firing ten cartridges for a days wild fowling, But if your a Clay pigeon kinda person or like shooting em now and again you don't just use 10 cartridges.

 

[Tikkat1x]

you will find they go up every time you buy some, same as everything else, everything is a king joke, i used to shoot about 300 a week with clays and pigeon shooting,
dont bother with clays anymore thankfully, im more with the rifles nowadays and pigeon/crow shooting, but can nearly blaze through a slab at the weekend when the birds are coming in,
but in that situation its more than worth it, 2 good days rather than a couple of hours clay shooting,

 

[Deerhunter22]

you will find they go up every time you buy some, same as everything else, everything is a king joke, i used to shoot about 300 a week with clays and pigeon shooting,
dont bother with clays anymore thankfully, im more with the rifles nowadays and pigeon/crow shooting, but can nearly blaze through a slab at the weekend when the birds are coming in,
but in that situation its more than worth it, 2 good days rather than a couple of hours clay shooting,

I agree, I enjoy my clay shooting but I have a lot more joy in hunting wildfowl and shooting less cartridges. I enjoy the clays though its great fun but its becoming very unaffordable for the average Joe, much the same as game shooting I can't honestly believe the prices, just aswell im a half working gun in a small pheasant syndicate. Can at least get the enjoyment of some game shooting and some meat for the table at non stupid prices.

 

[enfieldspares]

Fifty cartridges (Eley Select 28 gram plastic wad) and fifty birds on seven stands with someone walking around with you to button for you cost me £30 last Thursday at my local clay ground and a cup of tea before and two afterwards. But yes that's £120 a month.

In comparison membership of the eighteen hole golf club in the village is £1400 annually. For a visitor the green fee is £70.

 

[Deerhunter22]

Fifty cartridges (Eley Select 28 gram plastic wad) and fifty birds on seven stands with someone walking around with you to button for you cost me £30 last Thursday at my local clay ground and a cup of tea before and two afterwards. But yes that's £120 a month.

In comparison membership of the eighteen hole golf club in the village is £1400 annually. For a visitor the green fee is £70.

Don't get me started on gold ahahahaha, neighbours over the road are keen golfers and I know just how much they spend on hitting a ball while going for a walk per year lol. They're in our local semi big club at 1600 a year and they live abroad half the year in Dubai and Australia so you can guess what they spend golfing hahahah, when you think of it like that the cost of cartridges isn't soo bad I guess lol

 

[Pedro]

Anything hobby or recreation-wise is expensive, comes with the territory. I do think that shooting in a lot of it's forms isn't overly expensive though. Of course you can spend as much as you want on it, but you can get by with an old but good shotgun and/or rifle, sticks from B&Q for steadying your aim, old army surplus waterproofs, don't buy the top of the range ammo and you'll not be reduced to eating beans on toast every night. Hopefully.

 

[Bo Diddley]

Horses and clay pigeon shooting... some people can afford it, and most can't.
I can't. I used to spend quite a lot on it when I was young and foolish. Enjoyed the craig, and have good memories.

 

[Deerhunter22]

Anything hobby or recreation-wise is expensive, comes with the territory. I do think that shooting in a lot of it's forms isn't overly expensive though. Of course you can spend as much as you want on it, but you can get by with an old but good shotgun and/or rifle, sticks from B&Q for steadying your aim, old army surplus waterproofs, don't buy the top of the range ammo and you'll not be reduced to eating beans on toast every night. Hopefully.

For sure not very many hobby's that aren't staring at 4 wall comes without a cost, but certainly I think the cartridges are getting to be somewhat stupid priced for what it is, costs have went up but surely not that much that you up £150 in a lot of cartridges types. Anyhow I agree with your sentiment, I do think shooting overall is an affordable sport and you can get a lot of gun for not much money in fairness. Ive a side by side which I love which was dirt cheap but I like it so thats all I care for and yup you can buy equipment pretty cheap too, don't need to buy boots at 400 to walk some hills. Different if its your job I guess

Horses and clay pigeon shooting... some people can afford it, and most can't.
I can't. I used to spend quite a lot on it when I was young and foolish. Enjoyed the craig, and have good memories.

Funnily enough I don't think keeping horses is as bad as you'd think it was, my friend keeps them think she said her overall cost per horse was £200 a month but if your sole hobby and interest is your horses like her then its Pennys really over the course of a year. Everything is relative I guess, I mean golf as another person said is stupid money just like some clay bashing constantly and well I do salmon fishing aswell so I can't complain ahahahah, though I tend to get onto quite a bit of river beats for not much as have a few friends who own a beat and another who leases a bit of river for penny's through a inherited deal he got

 

[Bo Diddley]

Yes, everything is relative to income, I guess.
My gf has had horses most of her life. She was lucky that her family had a few acres of grass, so not having to pay livery was cheaper, and she enjoyed hacking around the lanes.
If you have the disposable, enjoy yourself, bugger all you can do about the price of shells, you either buy them or you don't

 

[Deerhunter22]

Yes, everything is relative to income, I guess.
My gf has had horses most of her life. She was lucky that her family had a few acres of grass, so not having to pay livery was cheaper, and she enjoyed hacking around the lanes.
If you have the disposable, enjoy yourself, bugger all you can do about the price of shells, you either buy them or you don't

Agreed, not like you got much other choice, checked the costs to reload, buying new is cheaper it turns out!!

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

I shoot skeet, i’ve not done it for years but now I’ve got back into the swing of things.

got a new shotgun. I need to get used to it and the best way to do that is shoot skeet!

Now, if I want to do something and be good at it, money doesn’t come into it, I’ll go shoot a slab of an evening to shoot skeet and I won’t even blink an eyelid because I want to do it

The real question you’ve gotta ask yourself is this -

Do I want to do it ?

because if you do, you’ll find a way to do it , the price of cartridges are what cartridges are.

There’s nothing you or I can do about that so need to sit yourself down and work it out and get on with it.

 

[Liveonce]

Ive only recently gotten my certificates and I have private grounds with some clay throwers to have fun with so I don't spend the mark up on clays like at a clay ground, though you can't beat a proper clay ground in my limited experience for a good day out and some good variety of different types of shoots.

But have Shotgun cartridges always been these prices ? Fiocchi TT1 seem the be the cheapest I can find per thou and thats at £277 which to me seems bloody expensive considering you can easily shoot a hundred with not much effort. Will cartridges ever come down in cost ? when you see the old threads on other forums at £90 a thou some 10 years ago even it seems absolutely absurd it could cost this much only 10 years later ? what's it going to be in another 10 years ? £600 a thou ? Or is this to be blamed on Putins war and now Donalds little venture in Iran to ? I watch a few YT channels who keep bleeting on about "we need more people in the sport and to grow it" and while I agree with the sentiment strongly I can't see how the everyday man or women with a normal job who's bills for simply existing are reaching unfathomable levels is meant to afford to blow money out the end of a barrel with prices the way they are ?

Thoughts ?

Welcome to 2026 have shotgun cartridges always been this price no, they were once considerably cheaper many years back but then so was everything else and pay was much less also then today.

You would need to do the inflation adjusted calculations to know if they really are more expensive today.

Just wait and see what you will be paying for cartridges come April 2029, for non-toxic shot and biodegradable wads.

 

[Camdig]

Il probably spend somewhere between £500 & £1000 on shells just to shoot crows and pigeons on someone else's crops, its extremely enjoyable so I dont mind the costs.
Just started fishing again after a 10+ year break couldn't believe the price of some gear, nowts cheap theses days but you cant put a price on happiness.

 

[Mike L]

No pockets in shrouds.

 

[tarponhead]

Horses and clay pigeon shooting... some people can afford it, and most can't.
I can't. I used to spend quite a lot on it when I was young and foolish. Enjoyed the craig, and have good memories.

This was me, as well. I was a weekly clay shooter - 100 sporting with two good friends. It feels like a lifetime ago when that was just about affordable. The only cheap(er) shooting sport I can think of is Air rifle. It’s not about cheap it’s about value, for me. So I still shoot clays perhaps every 6-8 weeks or so but my shotguns will be down to just one or two that can double duty for pest control, soon. I’m happy to blow £40 in ammo at the range and quite a bit more for a stalk with meat at the end of it, but I won’t regularly spend big money any more on shooting, in my retirement and I’ll end my days still angling, long after my guns are gone.