Like lettuce but lethal

Richard Negus tests the latest ‘eco-cartridges’ and is highly impressed

- Richard Negus

Margaret Heffernan, the writer and entrepreneur, said: “For good ideas and true innovation, you need human interaction, conflict, argument and debate.” Shooting has had this in spadefuls of late, largely on the topic of cartridges. In February 2020, the British shooting organisations unanimously voiced their support for the phasing out of lead shot and single-use plastic in ammunition within five years. The British cartridge manufacturers responded by pouring cold water on these aspirations.

They argued such innovation was impossible in the time frame. It appeared that shooting was at an impasse and our collective cheeks reddened when the mainstream press picked up on it. In the midst of this rancour a lone voice sought to tell anyone who would listen that he had the solution. That voice came from Nick Levett-Scrivener, who owns Shooting Star Ltd, a wholesale cartridge company based in the depths of Suffolk. As the sole UK distributor for Spanish brand BioAmmo and French Jocker, he knew that the two companies had made great leaps in non-lead shot and biodegradable wad technology.

Nick had given me prototypes from the two ‘loaders’ over 18 months ago; I wrote about my early findings in the Shooting Times last season. Curiously, Nick appeared to have been largely ignored by British organisations. However, over the months we have maintained a correspondence, Nick keeping me up to date on the developments in Spain and France.

Last week, I received a phone call. An ebullient Levett-Scrivener invited me to his farm. In his store now sat pallet upon pallet of the Jocker in both game and clay steel loads. Alongside these lay slab after slab of BioAmmo.

The cartridges