Lyalvale Cartridges

Lyalvale Express is a long-established British company from 1983 and are one of the leading manufacturers of clay and game cartridges in all calibres in this country.

The company is based in Staffordshire and is run by experienced shooters who know what works and doesn’t and thus strive to achieve the best cartridges for any discipline possible.

The game range is used by thousands of satisfied loyal customers and game shoots and estates around Britain and the clay range continues to bring home medals as well as wining the only Olympic Gold medal for a British cartridge.

Whether you order one or one hundred boxes, Lyalvale guarantee trade customers next day delivery to anywhere within the UK. So, if you fancy trying the latest box of cartridges pop into the gunsmith and next day you can try them.

Lyalvale meticulously design their cartridges around sourcing the best components from around the world and them “blending” them together to get the best performance. All cartridges undergo a stringent in-house quality control regime to ensure consistent and high performance from every cartridge line. This ensures you get consistent ballistics and even spread patterns across each individual cartridge range and so every time you buy your favourite Lyalvale cartridge each shell from the box performs exactly the same as you expect.

Varying blends of propellant allows for custom made to ballistics across the entire cartridge range which has the benefit of minimising recoil, enhancing down range performance as well as consistently even and dense patterns. lyalvaleexpress.com

Supreme Game £9.75 per 25

The Supreme Game is Lyalvale`s flagship cartridge as it has a long pedigree for ultimate performance in the fields under real world conditions. It always consistently performs above average tight and consistent patterns even at extended ranges. It uses a black plastic case with a high brass head and is loaded with a single base progressive powder for high velocities combined with moderate recoil.

This cartridge is the twice winner of Best Game Cartridge at the Shooting Industry Awards and the Supreme Game cartridge is a firm favourite with game shooters.

This is a 65mm cartridge that is designed for all guns with a minimum chamber length of 2½-inch chambers. The range is available in shot weights from 28- to 34-grams and shot sizes between 4 and 7, with a fibre wad and fully biodegradable card. The lead shot in the Supreme Game range is specifically formulated for Game shooting to ensure clean hits on the fields.

Tested here is the 28-gram load with No 6.5 shot size and fibre wad. Wow, lovely patterns on the boards with very mild recoil. A total of 281 No 6.5 pellets struck the 30-inch boards with 117 inner and 164 outer hits. The patterns were both dense and very even spread, excellent game load this one.

English Sporter £6.35

This is really designed for Sporting clay use but also doubles as a great all-round vermin 70mm round. The English Sporter round is a really consistent cartridge with a velocity of 1350fps that delivers quality in an all-round cartridge specifically engineered.

Designed for club shooters I like this round for squirrels and close game, rabbits etc as its consistent and mild to shoot easily. The lead shot is made to Lyalvale’s spec off-site but it is made to be as near perfect in shape i.e. spherical to ensure better down range ballistics.

Available in plastic or fibre wading either provide a consistent power for consistent results., plastic wad has slightly tighter patterns. Only available as a 28-gram loading you do have a choice of shot sizes in 7.5, 8 or 9 shot.

It’s really made to combine quality and consistency with a competitive price and the low recoil so excellent for clays and good for young shots on small game. Vermin.

Tested here is the 28-gram load with No 7.5 shot with fibre wad. As expected, a superb number of hits with the smaller No 7.5 shot size with a total of 338 hits distributed with 103 evenly spaced inner hits complimented with 235 outer hits. It may be a clay load but it’s great for close range vermin too.

Super Game £10.40

This cartridge is designed specifically for 12-gauge 2¾-inch chambered guns and is made to achieve good even patterns and velocity, even at distance. It uses a single base progressive powder being low recoil yet still achieving high velocities.

The lead shot hardness has been regulated for game shooting in shot sizes between 1 and 7, so good for large, small high or fast game or quarry species. It is also available in SSG, AAA or BB. It also has a huge range of weights available from 32-, 36- to the mighty 40-gram loadings so no game is too large or far for this cartridge!

The Super Game cartridge can be used in normal shotguns and semi-automatic and is available with a plastic or fibre wadding. In the fibre wad load, there is a 4mm waxed over powder card and this ensures that optimum pressure, efficient powder burn generates a good velocity.

Tested here is the No 6 shot size in 32-gram loading with fibre wad. Again, really good even and dense patterns from the ½ choke which is very impressive. A very good inner strike rate of 121 pellets and 146 outer hits for a total of 265 pellets making the Super Game a great all-rounder.

Special Game £8.85 per 25

The Special Game range is Lyalvale Expresses best value cartridge as it is designed to perform as an all-round game cartridge. It is specifically engineered to satisfy the traditional game shooter as well as rough shooter. The lead shot is made to ensure uniform and even patterns and penetrate to produce a humane shot. The primer is matched to the single base powder, so you have best performance for mid to long-range distances combine to less recoil. This allows less fatigue and longer shooting session. Shot sizes include 4, 5, 6 or 7. In loadings of 25-, 28-, 30- and 32- gram weights dependent on which case you choose.

Wadding is either fibre or plastic and tested here is the fibre wad loading in 28-grams of No 5 shot size. This is quite a light load of larger No 5 shot and that is represented in the total pellet count of 172 with 64 inner and 108 outer hits. A bit sparse in places but mild recoil and nice smaller species game load.

Pigeon Power £7.20 per 25

This cartridge is as good for pigeon as it is for game with the correct shot size and loading. It’s a powerful, hardhitting cartridge being designed for extended ranges yet still be lethal. The Pigeon Power is also a competitively priced round as pigeon shooters shoot a lot of shells.

The traditional 2¾-inch case has a low brass head and a fibre wad so good for environmentally sensitive areas and functions well in semi-automatic guns too. It has a velocity of 1450fps and is available in shot size No 6 only and 29-gram loading only, although a plastic wad option is available. Tested here is the 29-gram cartridge loaded with a fibre wad using No 6. As the name suggests it packs a punch and is good for semi auto use too. I had on the pattern boards a good overall pellet count of 246 No 6 shot with a healthy 106 inner hits and 139 outer strikes. Good all-round pigeon load for all types of shotgun mechanisms.

Conclusion

Lyalvale Express make some really good, dependable shotgun cartridges that have a true loyal following, sometimes the packaging can be a bit understated and samey but the actual cartridge design and thought put into manufacturing is excellent. Dependable patterns and velocities make the whole cartridge range a choice for vermin as it is the game shooter alike.