Like lettuce but lethal

Richard Negus tests the latest ‘eco-cartridges’ and is highly impressed

Margaret Heffernan, the writer and entrepreneur, said: “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument and debate.” Shooting has had this in spadefuls of late, largely on the topic of cartridges. In February 2020, the British shooting organisations unanimously voiced their support for the phasing out of lead shot and single-use plastic in ammunition within five years. The British cartridge manufacturers responded by pouring cold water on these aspirations.

They argued such innovation was impossible in the time frame. It appeared that shooting was at an impasse and our collective cheeks reddened when the mainstream press picked up on it. In the midst of this rancour a lone voice sought to tell anyone who would listen that he had the solution. That voice came from Nick Levett-scrivener, who owns Shooting Star Ltd, a wholesale cartridge company based in the depths of Suffolk. As the sole UK distributor for Spanish brand Bioammo and French Jocker, he knew that the two companies had made great leaps in non-lead shot and biodegradable wad technology.

Nick had given me prototypes from the two ‘loaders’ over 18 months ago; I wrote about my early findings in the Shooting Times last season. Curiously, Nick appeared to have been largely ignored by

British organisations. However, over the months we have maintained a correspondence, Nick keeping me up to date on the developments in Spain and France.

Last week, I received a phone call. An ebullient Levett-scrivener invited me to his farm. In his store now sat pallet upon pallet of the Jocker in both game and clay steel loads. Alongside these lay slab after slab of Bioammo.

The cartridges

The Jocker uses a recycled cardboard cup and wad, the base cap is made from sustainable cork. The case is

yards, the Jocker Bio Iso Steel in 4 and Bioammo Lux Steel in 3 and

5. We used Darren’s Bettinsolli X

Trail and Browning Maxus with full Carlson chokes and my Hatsan Escort Magnum using ½ choke. We used the Eley VIP 3s steel as a comparison cartridge. On a 30in plate the following was seen:

• Bioammo 5 full choke 193 pellets, consistent pattern slightly blown left

• Bioammo 5 half choke 254 pellets, perfect pattern

• Bioammo 3 full choke 123 pellets, good pattern

• Bio Ammo 3 half choke 145 pellets, good pattern and slightly elongated

• Jocker 4 full choke 164 pellets, pattern blown markedly left

• Jocker 4 half choke 169 pellets, pattern slightly blown left

• Eley 3 full choke 105 pellets, holes at the top of the pattern

• Eley 3 half choke 115 pellets, good pattern

Darren is an experienced home loader and has a good grasp of ballistics – and he is not easily impressed. His comment that: “The Bioammo are impressive, I’d buy these,” is something that the Spanish firm should take to the bank, it is high praise indeed. Later that day, using the Bioammo Lux Steel 3s in his Maxus, he shot a triple of rooks, the furthest more than 60 yards away.

We did note that the Jocker wad became ‘confetti’ on occasion with

The knock-down ability of all three offerings means they should work well on a driven day

Setting up the field test using decoys over an area of wild bird seed mix