Major Khan
AH legend
This morning ... I had the good fortune to go on a magnificent duck shikar with my good friend and fellow forum member , @Panther Shooter in the North .
As usual , I brought along my “ Old Belgian “ and 2 boxes of cartridges:
> Winchester Australia 12 Bore 2.75 inch 32 gram AAA cartridges ( Which hold 42 pellets to the cartridge) .
> Eley Alphamax 12 Bore 2.75 inch 36 gram #4 Bird Shot cartridges
We hunted 2 species of ducks :
> Chawkha ( Left of top photograph )
> Shorali ( Right of top photograph )
The Winchester AAA cartridges performed splendidly on the Chawkha ( Providing an excellent pattern out to 52 yards , from the fully choked left barrel of my “ Old Belgian “ ) , while the Eley #4 cartridges hammered the Shorali with utter impunity . I could not help but notice the superiority of these older pattern “ 1 Piece Compression Formed “ Winchester cartridges ( I mostly prefer Eley 12 Bore cartridges ) . A few years ago , I had the good fortune to trial some currently manufactured Winchester 12 Bore cartridges ( Shot size : #5 ) and I must say that I was rather unimpressed . The “ Modern “ Winchester 12 Bore cartridges do not even hold a candle to the “ 1 Piece Compression Formed “ Winchester cartridges from the days gone by . At least ... Not to me , anyway .
The old pattern “ 1 Piece Compression Formed “ 12 Bore cartridges , the humble Silver Tip and the pre 64 Model 70 ... reinforce my belief that some of Winchester Western’s older innovations , were actually their best .