Did we have rifle weight MK pellets in the 70's?

[abellringer]

From memory I have to agree that we had three choices RWS; H&N; and Eley Match. I started in 1971 with an Or 65 then moved to a FWB 300s in '73 or 4, then like most of my club members added a second 300s [one for 6yds & one for 10m] saved sight tweaking or changing when shooting multi distance comps back to back. There were as far as I can recall only 3 flat head pellets available at that time RWS; H&N & Eley Match, I still have some of each of them and several containers are still unopened. There were no specific 'micro' sizes or weights back then and all of our guns shot equally well with these flat nose pellets and the famous Eley Wasp for Bell Tgt. I think the Eley Match were a little later than the German ones in making an appearance and many people thought that they were indeed H&N but this was always denied in the trade. It seems that guns of that era were less pellet fussy than modern PCP's, maybe spring target rifles are just more 'stable' in the way they react to ammunition, but I don't seem to recall people who moved to Walther LGR's had any more problems with ammo either. Also looking at old gun ''users manuals'' the test groups seem every bit as good as anything on sale today; my Tesro seems no better than my 300s, but it seems more pellet fussy.
abellringer

[RobinC]

The modern guns are no more pellet fussy that the old ones, its the targets that are pellet fussy. Forty years ago a ten was twice the size at 1mm, since 1989 its now 0.5mm, and then a ten was a ten, and now its also scored in tenths, 10.1, 10.2, 10.3,.......10.9.

Accuracy has moved on, both with the rifles and the pellets, but you need some very sophisticated kit to prove it. The world record with a 300S was 393 ex 400, that would not make the top twenty now in a Junior ladies international.

But the biggest advances are in ergonomics of the modern rifles, and I believe very significantly in shooting and training techniques, the Scatt has raised standards as much as any development in modern shooting.

[zooma]

I think the Eley Match were a little later than the German ones in making an appearance and many people thought that they were indeed H&N but this was always denied in the trade....

abellringer

That is a very interesting topic you have raised there Ray - does anyone know for sure if the Eley Match pellets were made by H&N ?

This has always been a topic of some mystery and it would be good to know for sure WHO made these pellets.

[RobinC]

It was officialy kept quiet at the time, but was a fairly open secret, my wife was in the GB squad at the time, and no wanted to use the Eley as they were an unknown quantity, and I remember an Eley man saying they were made by H&N. The most we had were free hand outs, and I don't remember even buying any.
I only ever saw the square tins of 200 individualy packed, I never saw a tin of 500, which logically does not make comercial sense for a manufacturer to do, I'm certain the were H&N repacked.
And they did not last long, if they had been Eley they would have not recovered the cost on the tooling.

[zooma]

It was officialy kept quiet at the time, but was a fairly open secret, my wife was in the GB squad at the time, and no wanted to use the Eley as they were an unknown quantity, and I remember an Eley man saying they were made by H&N. The most we had were free hand outs, and I don't remember even buying any.
I only ever saw the square tins of 200 individualy packed, I never saw a tin of 500, which logically does not make comercial sense for a manufacturer to do, I'm certain the were H&N repacked.
And they did not last long, if they had been Eley they would have not recovered the cost on the tooling.

Interesting - I still have some of the round tins of 500 pellets but never saw the square tins of 200 individually packed Eley Match, but I did see the square tins of 200 H&N individually packed - maybe they used the same tins but just printed them with the Eley logo ?

[RobinC]

Sounds like I never saw the round tins of 500 because we never bought any! The 200 square tins we got given free. I still have a square tin but no pellets, its used to keep my 6 mm cleaning patches in.
I think it was the Eley Guru Ernie who told us they were H&N.