NSI Multi Target Cartridges

Nobel Sport Italia (NSI) are renowned the world over for good value shotgun cartridges offered in a wide variety of calibres and loadings, so far to date, they have produced more than 3,500,000,000 cartridges.

However, in the UK they are less well known. This is a great shame as they have a lot to offer, not only for the competitive clay shooter but the hunter too. As they make all the components themselves inhouse, they are able to keep a very close eye on quality control and thus performance. They even make their own powders and if you are a rifle shooter then some will be familiar to you. They include the excellent Vectan, SIPEn, S4n and TECNAn powder ranges.

The MultiTarget 12-gauge cartridge on test consists of a 28-gram loading of #7.5 shot, so is great as an all-round clay cartridge.

Construction

NSI cartridges always come nicely packed in 25 or 250 piece cartons. The actual cartridges themselves are very well made and have a uniform appearance to them, a good start. The case is 70mm in length and is clear/translucent with silver writing describing the components within. The ammunition shows a larger or longer 16mm brass head section and the closure is a precise and tight six-star crimp system.

NSI cartridges are designed to be soft on the shoulder and so ideal for training and long periods of competition shooting. This range of cartridges form part of the T3 cartridge family and are known for their success on clays such as Sporting, DTL, Universal Trench, ATA Trap. However, you can use the MultiTarget shell for any formal or informal shooting as it’s a delight to shoot.

Internal components

The MultiTarget consists of a classic 28-gram (1oz) loading, primarily for the disciplines mentioned above. The lead used is available in #7.5 or #8.5 shot sizes and is made using the drip casting and mould pressing procedures by NSI. It comes from recovered lead sourced from old batteries. It is worth noting that the shot size is Italian #7.5, which equates to a diameter of 2.40mm compared to the English equivalent #7 shot size at 2.41mm diameter. The shot is graphite coated, making it more uniform or concentric in shape and this also has the benefit of hitting harder at longer ranges.

Powder wise, NSI has used their own Nobel Sport Vectan C7 powder, which is known for high consistency, ballistic superiority and clean-burning performance. Shooters can expect an approximate velocity of 1328 FPS from a standard 28” barrel, which should result in excellent results in medium to long distance shooting situations.

NSI use their Nobel Sport primers for maximum precision and these help to guarantee that maximum velocity is maintained and not only that but consistency too. Also, they ensure even acceleration down the barrel so that the best possible patterns are achieved.

One important point of this MultiTarget cartridge is the NSI GT plastic wad system is made from polyethylene and of a length that totally encapsulates the lead shot. This achieves a better or tighter pattern down range and helps stop the lead shot for deforming when travelling down the barrel and through the choke. It also forms a very good seal behind the shot column and thus maximises the powder combustion gases for consistent and optimum velocity.

In the field

We used the tried and tested Browning Black Shadow 12-gauge over-and-under shotgun for the field tests plus pattern boards set up at 30 yards. While using the ½ choke we had some lovely patterns from the NSI MultiTarget cartridges and I have become very fond of using this brand, as they always seem to produce excellent patterns. I don’t know why I am surprised, they make the powder, shot and primers plus these are used in a lot of our British cartridges too!

After firing at the pattern board, the total number of hits from the 28-grams of #7.5 shot was 225, which is really nice and healthy for a 1oz loading. The impacts were well distributed with very few holes at all and showed a superb, almost even inner sector hit rate. The inner 15” sector is split into four equal portions and this cartridge achieved a hit rate of 68 pellets split 18, 18, 16 and 16 per sector. The remaining 157 pellets were distributed around the remaining 30” circumference. A lot of that has to do with all the component parts working well together and that plastic wad keeps a nice dense and tight pattern down range. I know fibre wads are more eco friendly but sometimes performance comes at a cost and judging by those patterns the GT wad is indeed helping to keep the pellets concentric down the barrel and thus retain more energy down range and produce those lovely patterns.

The MultiTarget rounds are smooth to shoot and recoil for a 28-gram loading does indeed seem quite mild. When cleaning the barrels, they were much cleaner than expected, another good trait if you are going to shoot a lot of these cartridges.

Conclusion

The NSI range of cartridges offer competitively priced shells and judging from the performance in the guns tested over the years, they still prove to be excellent performers.

I like testing new cartridges, although NSI has been around for years but are not very mainstream here, hopefully, that will change with RUAG behind the helm. NSI offers a huge array of cartridge options, not only in the differing cartridge types but calibres too. If the performance of the MultiTarget is anything to go by then I look forward to the next cartridge test.