Challenger shot shells opinions please.

I used up the last of 4 flats of challengers last summer / fall. Two each of ...20 and 12 ga.
No issues in either of my O/U Brownings !

I've slowed down on reloading my own shells quite a bit since the price lead shot went thru the roof....that , and I'm gonna die a horrible death every time I touch it V:I:

I watch for deals at my favorite gun shop...usually grab 3 or 4 flats every time I'm there.
 
Coachgun67 said:
In my O/U , the only negative side effect I've noticed is punctured primers...didn't affect function,they all went bang with no problems to eject.

CG
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Challenger shells are manufactured with Cheddite hulls and primers. Endless discussion on many shooting forums regarding punctured Cheddite primers, more so with Browning O7U shotguns. I shoot plenty of Challenger fodder. Find them a bit snappy for high volume shooting.
 
My Win101 did pierce some challenger (cheddite) primers with the lower firing pin when I first got it. Determined that the firing pin was burred a bit, fixed that with a bit of sand paper and haven't seen the issue since. However even before the fix, this never happened with other brand shells. So based on that I will say that the challenger primers must be a bit more susceptible to it.

That said it never happened with any of my other guns including Brownings and Remingtons, and it hasn't happened since I cleaned up the offending firing pin, so I have no issue with these shells. They run fairly clean and they are cheap. The 1Oz contain a bit less than 1Oz of shot by my measurements, so maybe not the way to go for competition (neither are the other budget shells from Federal or Winchester, by that measure).
But for practice they are great.
 
my A 400 does not like the 1 oz challengers. there seems to be lots of umph in them but they sometimes hang up in the ejection port. i have some 1 1/8 to try next.
 
Claybuster said:
The owner of Challenger is an acquaintance, a good man and strongly committed to supporting the shooting sports in Canada. That should be more important to a Canadian shooter than bigotry towards the French and resentment towards the government where the company is located.
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Maybe you should talk him into putting a decent primer in his ammo and dump some money into ballistics research to make a trap load that doesn't kick like a field load. Then he may have something worth purchasing.
 
sspike said:
my A 400 does not like the 1 oz challengers. there seems to be lots of umph in them but they sometimes hang up in the ejection port. i have some 1 1/8 to try next.
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Which model A400? The 3-1/2" chambered guns sometimes hang up with lighter loads.

the spank said:
Maybe you should talk him into putting a decent primer in his ammo and dump some money into ballistics research to make a trap load that doesn't kick like a field load. Then he may have something worth purchasing.
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I agree their full speed ammo particularly the Handicap can be nasty. They have three lighter target loads. A 1-ounce "Light Load," a 7/8 ounce "Extra Light Load" and a 24 gram "International Load."

The Cheddite primer however isn't going to change. I believe Cheddite may own part of the company.
 
If you have issues with the primers, it's your gun, not the Cheddite primers.

I use the extra light load #8 and find them pretty good. As mentioned, I've seen over 12,000 of these shot this year and not one primer issue. Actually not a single issue.
 
calvados.boulard said:
RIO branded 12g and possible other gauges use Cheddites, though I don't believe RIOs are common in North America.

Thanks,
Cal.
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Rio's are quite common in the US and will. I'm sure become more common given their (relatively) new facility in Marshall, Texas, as they ramp up production.
The 105,000 sq.ft. plant employs approx. 90 and is capable of producing nearly 1 million shells per day at full operation.
They are not uncommon in Canada.

Although they may occasionally utilize some other manufacturer's components for small batch runs of some specific ammo, all their 12 and 20 gauge target loads use their own manufacture hulls, primers, powder & shot, whether originating from their plants in Spain, England, Turkey or the US. They do not use Cheddite primers.

Personally, I have been shooting both Challenger (20 years) and Rio target loads (15+ years) and have never had a problem with either, in several guns.

Like Claybuster, the biggest problem I encountered with factory loads was with Winchester AA's. Perhaps with a bad batch, but several flats, maybe 8 or 9 years ago had
longitudinal case splits on about 40% of all the cases (enough to really PO a hand loader). Problem seemed to clear up with no further splits about 6 months later.

The only cartridge I avoid like a plague ar Winchester's "promo loads".
 
the spank said:
Maybe you should talk him into putting a decent primer in his ammo and dump some money into ballistics research to make a trap load that doesn't kick like a field load. Then he may have something worth purchasing.
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No posted velocity on the one ounce challengers available locally here. I have heard they are over 1300 fps... ridiculous for a target load.
 
Shibby! said:
If you have issues with the primers, it's your gun, not the Cheddite primers.

I use the extra light load #8 and find them pretty good. As mentioned, I've seen over 12,000 of these shot this year and not one primer issue. Actually not a single issue.
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I've had issues with two different guns, and others at my club have had the same complaint about pierced primers. No issues with Federal, Winchester or Clever in my experience.
 
eurovw said:
I've had issues with two different guns, and others at my club have had the same complaint about pierced primers. No issues with Federal, Winchester or Clever in my experience.
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Same experience here. Any gun that has a hard, deep primer strike will generally pierce Cheddites. I've seen it with Browning, CZ, Beretta, Krieghoff, Fair, and Winchester. The primers are the problem. If you use a different brand, any other brand really, the problem goes away.
For those with ejection problems, I've noticed two things recently.
First is that the outside diameter of the Challenger metal rim is a bit smaller than other brands. I noticed this shooting an SKB o/u, the shells almost drop under the ejector plate. An extractor claw might not be getting a good grip on the rim?
Second, I had a few flats this past year where the empty rounds seemed tighter in the chamber than usual. One of my guns was using 1911 firing pin springs in place of the usual strength ejector springs, I had several rounds that didn't pop up as usual. The problem didn't occur with Remington or Winchester shells, just Challenger. These were 1 oz "light load" shells at 1200 fps, so not high pressure issues. May have been slightly oversize to begin with.
I've never had a Challenger fail to fire in dozens of flats, they're good value IMO.
 
the spank said:
Maybe you should talk him into putting a decent primer in his ammo and dump some money into ballistics research to make a trap load that doesn't kick like a field load. Then he may have something worth purchasing.
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Lots of trap shooters use Challenger shells and manage just fine.
 
I used to use Federal target loads for my Citori Crossover target. Bought a couple flats of Challenger when they were on sale, and to be honest I can't tell the difference.
 
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