In this series of reviews we look at some fast (above 1200fps) 1 ounce 12 gauge shotgun shells that would be a great choice for FITASC sporting. Of course they would also be an excellent choice for English sporting clays as well. All of the clay shooting shells we look at in this series are of the "premium" variety and cost bracket, though they are all very popular among sporting clay shooters who swear by their high quality components and hard shot.
Gamebore White Gold
I have to mention my bias right up front in this post and say that the Gamebore White Gold is my favorite clay shooting cartridge currently available in the U.S. market. I am also lucky to have the U.S. Distributor IntaSport LLC as a sponsor of this blog. I guess the ultimate testament is the number of top sporting clay competitors around the world who choose to shoot Gamebore cartridges. There is good reason for this too, Gamebore makes a quality, consistent shell. In the thousands of them I’ve shot, there has never been a FTF, blooper or malformed shell in the bunch. They all go bang consistently and reliably, smash targets at all distances and do it with little perceived recoil.
The U.K. made White Gold is a shell that has been around a while. You could argue that shell technology has moved on, cases, wads, powders etc. but the White Gold is a case of not fixing what isn’t broken. It’s a work horse for sure pushing 1oz. of high antimony Diamond Shot at 1330fps. It has a mild perceived recoil no doubt due to a wad with a huge cushion section. It patterns excellent through my .740 bore gun with both Briley Spectrum and Muller chokes.
I shot the White Gold 7.5′s in many competitions this year including the TargetLine Cup at Fossil Pointe Sporting Grounds in Slidell, TX. With me throwing the best moves I had at the Steve Schultz/Tim Miles targets I managed a third in class only three targets out of the win. The point of shooting a shell you trust is you know it’s going to do the job if you do yours. You just forget about it and get on with the job of breaking clays and the White Gold does this for me.
Gamebore Blue Diamond
The Blue Diamond is one of Gamebore’s newer shotshells that feature the Gordon System hull from B&P. This hull is supposed to ease felt recoil by the use of a plastic base wad crush zone. When fired, this base wad is supposed to crush and soak up recoil. The Diamond Shot payload has about 50fps less velocity than the White Gold but it really felt about the same to me. It patterns equally as well as the White Gold through my gun and the difference I guess really lays in the price. The Blue Diamond’s are generally a bit cheaper.
I would have no problem shooting this load in competition and I did. I felt it to be a really similar load to the B&P F2 Mach, just a hair slower in velocity. I really enjoyed shooting it and I guess if I couldn’t get White Gold’s this would be my go to Gamebore shell.
Gamebore Black Gold
The Black Gold is Gamebore’s premium high-velocity target shotshell. The labeled velocity is 1,500fps and it feels like it on the shoulder even with the Gordon System hull. I have to say that this shell, of all I tested, was the worst performer pattern wise. My gun and chokes just did not like it. Shooting through a Muller U4, which is a Full+ choke equivalent, was useless. The patterns were completely blown at 45 yards. It didn’t even appear that half the pellets made it on the plate. I was better off shooting LM or M at that distance. Still the patterns didn’t look that great.
Here is the thing with pattern testing. What you really need to find out is which shell gives you the densest patterns through YOUR chokes and YOUR gun at the appropriate yardages. The Black Gold did not pattern well for me through my tighter chokes but we know the shell is a good one because it has been used to win world championships including the 2010 World English. I used the cartridge in competition in the FITASC event at the 2010 Arizona State Championship mostly 7.5′s and a few 8′s. I stuck with a more open choke, a Muller U2, because the patterns were better for it especially at distance. I tied for class first. If I had not done any pattern testing and used my usually tighter chokes, I would have been at a disadvantage.
If you are looking for a top quality shot shell Gamebore has got you covered with a range of offerings. The White Gold is a trustworthy classic, the Blue Diamond is a great shell and if you must shoot a heavy target load you might try the Black Gold. It’s heavy on the shoulder for sure but not as bad as others in this velocity range. You would be wise to pattern these shells in your gun today and find out how good they are.
Next time we’ll have a look at the Vinci lineup.
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