How old are these Eley Kynoch 16 bore cartridges?

Pine Marten

Well-Known Member
Hello everyone.

I bought some 16 bore cartridges in the sealed bid auction at Holt's, and they appear to be, shall we say, vintage. In the red William Evans box are paper cased Holland & Holland cartridges with Eley Kynoch headstamps called "the Dominion" and "Super Sixteen". Then there are several blue boxes of plastic cased Eley Grand Prix Waterproof cartridges. The box refers to Imperial Metal Industries (Kynoch) Limited. Any idea how old these are?
 

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Does it matter? They should still go bang! --- Although it looks like there is a bit of corrosion on the head of one of them - they may have got damp & be squibs! - Rub off the corrosion with wire wool so they don't mess up your chambers. - They don't look that old so they probably don't have corrosive primers - I'd clean the gun well after using them to be sure your shotgun doesn't rust. -- All part of the fun!

Ian
 
Those Grand Prix cartridges look similar to cartridges from late 1970's to early 1980s - they then started putting pictures on the boxes. They smell wonderful and bring boyhood memories.
 
As above, but see if they are collectable first mty, the phone number on the W-E 0171 was replaced in 1999-2000 to the 02 prefex so pre 1999 /2000 and fax was from late 1970's but that started in japan ! most well known Company's in the uk were using them by mid 1980, so a ball park is making them 1975-99 at a guess , AS for the Eley Gp around the same time but could be wrong :oops: . Shame to use them as they may be worth more in years to come in the box !!I have a large collection of pre ww1 and 2 , from anti balloon to anti parachute ones ,home guard stamped, interstate wild fowling distress 12 flares as well, just all types from full brass to paper in 410 ,16,12,10 bore inc some nice boxed 20g FN ally foil one's, been offered lots and been offered peanuts by the more discerning collectors , but they will stay in one place for now, safe and sound locked away.
 
I'd say the grand prixs are 70's and would not use if I was you. Mate got given a carrier bag half full of multicoloured shells, some ancient some not so. First two shots at a high pigeon had it spinning out of the sky. He felt substantial recoil, opened his gun and two brass caps popped out minus rest of shell. These were plastic Raker shells and probably late eighties/ nineties, so beware!
 
PM, you do have some adventures!

I suspect the cartridges will be fine. They've probably been sitting at the back of a cupboard all their lives, in a shop or gun room, and if the boxes show no sign of having been damp at any point then I think there's little to worry about.

I would check whether there's any collector value to them, though, as if so they may turn out to be a better deal than they seem to be at the present moment.
 
Mr. Gain, I think it's fair to say that I go looking for these adventures. If anyone has any interest in these cartridges for collecting purposes, please let me know, I'm open to working something out or swapping. Otherwise I'll use the blue ones for clays if no-one's interested. I'll keep the paper ones though, they're nice.
 
raker P #6 were the best :D he had a work shop in Basildon , he would give us his latest developments to try out and his pigeon #6 were the best by far in a box of a 100 , Now the nice chap in kent and member of SD has the name , but not the carts sadly .



I'd say the grand prixs are 70's and would not use if I was you. Mate got given a carrier bag half full of multicoloured shells, some ancient some not so. First two shots at a high pigeon had it spinning out of the sky. He felt substantial recoil, opened his gun and two brass caps popped out minus rest of shell. These were plastic Raker shells and probably late eighties/ nineties, so beware!
 
I bought a nice Bonehill 16 some 10-12 years ago. It is now my go to game gun in the winter. When I had got the licence issuedto me I went to collect it from the owner.
He threw in some 400 cartridges. Some of these were from the old IMI factory in Galway which closed in 1973. Some plastic cased,some paper. So they are at least 42 years old. I shoot a box off each season for nostalgia.
they work perfectly apart from the plastic ones tending to split lengthways ��
 
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