CUT ABOVE THE REST

It’s always nice to have a go-to cartridge, whether for a rifle or shotgun, that you know will perform when you need it. This ensures all that’s on your mind while out shooting is concentrating on the actual shooting element, not whether the pattern is good/bad, the recoil excessive, or the barrel is being fouled excessively.
Hull produces a really good range of shooter-friendly cartridges, making it pretty easy to choose the right cartridge for your shooting discipline, as they have cartridges tailored for all eventualities.
Their Pro range of cartridges is renowned for delivering exceptionally smooth and consistent ballistics over long ranges, while also ensuring excellent patterns downrange. The cartridges include the Pro Piston (tested previously), the Pro One DTL 300, Pro Fibre, Pro Steel, and Pro Twenty, three of which my son and I use regularly.
Today, we have the Pro One on test, and this is aimed primarily at competitive clay shooters. It is both a high-performance cartridge and one that also exhibits very mild recoil, making it ideal for long days and repeated shooting sessions on clays.

Lots of options
The Pro One is only available in 12-bore with a plastic wad. The dimensions include a 70mm case length and a 12mm high brass head, and the burnt-red-coloured casing is adorned with gold lettering and shows a perfectly uniform six-star crimp. You have the choice of either 24g or 28g (on test) loadings of lead shot, with the former reaching 1,500fps and the latter 1,475fps at the muzzle. The 24g load is available in No.7, 7.5, or 9 shot sizes, while the larger 28g payload is offered in No.8 as well, which is very popular for many disciplines.
I like to think of shot sizes in real dimensions, much like a rifle bullet, and as such, the 7, 7.5, 8, and 9 shot sizes measure 2.4mm, 2.3mm, 2.2mm, and 2.0mm in diameter respectively. It’s also very handy to visualise the total pellet count, or average, that each size and weight Pro One provides. These counts are 301, 338, and 540 pellets for the 24g loadings with their 7, 7.5, and 9 shot sizes. The larger 28g loading ups the pellet count to 352, 394, 448, and a whopping 630 for the respective 7, 7.5, 8, and 9 shot sizes.
Size does matter, as a cartridge hits and kills with a combination of volume of shot, density, and striking ability. The Pro One 28g loading in No.7.5 shot size has an energy figure at the muzzle of 1.6 ft/lbs compared to the No.9 shot at 0.92 ft/lbs. Stretch that to 40 yards, and the No.7.5 drops to 0.73 ft/lbs, while the No.9 falls to a scant 0.38 ft/lbs. However, the combination of pellets striking the target en masse is what kills. If you look at the pellets individually, they are competition-grade hardened shot with a uniform surface and no visible deformations.

Wad and powder
Internally, the plastic wad has a cushioned rear section with a collapsible honeycomb midriff, similar to Hull’s Sovereign cartridges, and four individual petals in the shot cup, keeping the pellets uniform as they pass through the barrel. This design also helps to stop distortion of the pellets after the initial powder ignition, as the concertina section/honeycomb flexes to absorb some of the energy. This feature also helps to reduce the amount of recoil.
As for the powder, you get a green/olive mix that delivers very uniform ballistics downrange, which is why the Pro One range is so popular. It achieves a respectable 1,475fps at the muzzle, and as we have seen, the energy levels are quite acceptable to break clays, whether they are fast crossers or long-range risers.

Pattern test
I set up the pattern boards at 30 yards, and I installed the ½ choke into my Browning Shadow shotgun. During testing, I have to say that the recoil, as advertised, was indeed very mild, especially for a 28g loading. Also, the amount of fouling in the barrel was minimal, which is always a good sign of correct combustion.
With the ½ choke, we had a lovely, dense pattern consisting of 287 No.7.5 pellets. These were distributed with 157 outer strikes and a healthy 130 inner hits. There were no holes for clays to slip through, and the low recoil made these cartridges easy on the shoulder—so a great start.
Switching to the ¼ choke, we recorded 92 inner hits with a dense and even spread within the 15” diameter, whilst the remaining 119 pellets hit around the 30” periphery.
My son also shot some clays on a sporting clay layout, and those dense, even patterns really ‘smoked’ the clays after multiple strikes, even the very fast crossers.

Conclusions
Just another really proficient 12-bore cartridge from Hull, offering mild recoil alongside excellent, hard-hitting, and consistently reliable performance downrange. It’s no wonder it’s the choice of champions across both domestic and international disciplines. Sensibly priced at just over a tenner for a box of 25, it’s not only a great clay cartridge but also proved highly effective on the farm, swiftly dispatching several rabbits and fast-moving, resilient squirrels.

Contact:
Hull Cartridge - www.hullcartridge.co.uk