Neville Jay, Essex Gun owner, urges us to go premium

Neville Jay

Neville, together with his son Chris, runs Essex Gun, a well-loved retail business with branches in Rush Green and Braintree. Established from modest beginnings just over 40 years ago, father and son have grown it into a go-to retailer for shots in the South East who value great service and reliable product advice.

Arguably, Neville is better known as one half of the duo who dreamt up the modern phenomenon that is the Essex Masters. This hugely successful 200-bird event was conceived 20 years ago by Neville and legendary course setter John Dyson. Essex Gun have remained the main sponsor ever since, and it continues to attract hundreds of competitors every year, including many of the world’s top shooters.

Like most retailers, Neville’s core cartridge sales are dominated by middle-market ‘club-day’ shells like Gamebore’s Velocity+, Hull’s CompX and Eley’s Select. But he urges shots to consider some of the premium shells for competition use.

“These days, all cartridges, across the entire spectrum of brands, are made to such exacting standards,” says Neville. “The consistency from shell to shell is incredible - there really isn’t a bad cartridge out there. However, the premium shells do excel at long range, recoil management and uniform patterning. There really is a difference in ammunition - it’s not just marketing hype.