FIBRE WADS

I can’t help but think Tom Payne missed a significant point

(Fibre wads? It’s a no-brainer, 2 January). We shoot a lot of earlyseason duck and, to comply with the law, we are obliged to shoot them with non-toxic loads; the Guns use steel cartridges.

Invariably when working with guns chambered to 2¾in (70mm), there is no option in either 12-bore or 20-bore other than to use cartridges with plastic wads. While we pick up as many wads as we can, inevitably thousands are lost every season.

The use of plastic wads with steel cartridges seems contradictory to the raison d’etre for using steel in the first place.

As far as I’m aware, only one manufacturer makes a steel cartridge with a fibre wad but only in a 3in (76mm) case. These fibre wads mimic plastic wads, encapsulating the load until it exits the barrel. But it can’t be beyond the ability of the manufacturers to develop a fibre wad for steel pellets in a case a mere ¼in (5mm) shorter. I appreciate bismuth cartridges are available for all chamber sizes but, at five times the price of steel, are they really a viable alternative for the average Gun?

C. Murray, Cheshire

‘‘The wildlife of today is not ours to dispose of as we please. We have it in trust. We must account for it to those who

come after.’’ King George VI