[ Back to the cartridge reviews index ]

Lyalvale are rather particular about the description of their alternatives to plastic wads and there is a difference.

We can be a bit sloppy with words sometimes. A word or phrase may be used incorrectly and, with regular repetition, passes into common usage. A good case in point is the term 'felt wad'. You see it all the time with grounds advertising 'felt wad only' shoots and it has become interchangeable with 'fibre wad' as a catch-all description of natural biodegradable products. Most people don't think (or care) too much about it, but Mumtaz Al-Daftary, the boss of Lyalvale Express, is definitely not one of them.
 
He has gone so far as to base an entire advertising campaign around the fact that felt and fibre are not the same and to inform shooters that they can buy true felt wad cartridges from his company. So what is the difference and why the fuss? It is easy to forget that the plastic wad is a relatively recent invention, so total has its domination of the competition market become. For decades the felt or fibre wad was the only sort used and a wide variety of materials was tried in an effort to improve performance.

It is worth recapping on the role of the wad in cartridge design. The wad sits over the powder and below the lead shot and keeps the two components separate. Its prime function though is what is called 'obturation', keeping a gas tight seal on the powder as it ignites, allowing the correct operating pressure to build up for optimum performance. Plastic wads do this supremely well. They often have complex collapsible sections which act rather like shock absorbers and allow loaders to fine tune components to quite precise standards.
 
Natural wads are less efficient and less consistent, which is why the plastic wad is so successful, but environmentally plastic does have serious disadvantages. Fibre wads have remained in demand for use in sensitive areas and that demand seems to be growing as 'green' issues come to the fore. Most manufacturers report increasing sales for fibre and now of course the CPSA are to allow 'fibre only' registered shoots. Two types of natural wadding are generally available — the Diana fibre used as standard by many loaders and a felt/cork sandwich type. The latter is the better performer in terms of obturation but is significantly more expensive. Which brings us back to where we started. Express believe cartridge labelling should tell the shooter what type of wad is being used and get a bit miffed when rivals describe fibre wadded cartridges as felt.

The current Express line up contains three loads of interest to Clay Shooting readers — High Velocity, Pro Fibre and Super Felt — as well as a selection of game loads. The three clay loads correspond to their equivalents in the Express plastic range. The first two we can consider together because the specification is very similar. The primary difference is that the High Velocity is loaded in a 65mm case, the Pro Fibre in the more common 70mm type. The shorter case is suitable for older guns with 21/2 inch chambers. Inside, both have Vectan C7 powder married to 3% antimony shot and the Diana wad coupled to a 4mm overpowder card. This is used as an additional aid to obturation and is thicker than the 2.5mm sort used by many loaders. The only difference between the two cartridges is the longer wad to take up the extra space in the Pro Fibre case.
 
These cartridges have long been favourites with shooting schools for their relatively low recoil and attractive price. Many club shooters choose them for the same reasons. The fibre versions do a good job of matching the performance of the plastic wadded loads, giving muzzle velocities around 1400fps and modest pressures. They have performed well in previous comparative tests and at around £100-£103 per thousand offer decent value too. Incidentally, where noise or recoil are particular problems, Express can offer a fibre version of their Magnasonic subsonic load which retains surprising clay busting ability. Which brings us to the star of the show: the Super Felt. This is the top specification Express competition 'green' load and is the equivalent of the hugely popular Super Comp, which is the first choice of thousands of shooters as a top performer at an affordable price.

The same components are present, notably Vectan A1 powder and 5.7% antimony shot with added hardeners. In keeping with this product's competition winning aspirations they have splashed out on one of the aforementioned felt and cork wads in order to give these other quality components the chance to give of their best. Muzzle velocity is up to 1450fps with pressure at 580 bars, giving top line performance without excessive recoil. If you need to comply with a 'fibre only' rule this can be used with confidence.

[ Back to the cartridge reviews index ]