Drapers Now Stocking Lyalvale and soon Fiocchi!

Fiocchi Group has announced the acquisition of Lyalvale Express which has got us at Drapers Gun Centre very excited! Following our recent change of name over the weekend we are now officially stocking Lyalvale Shotgun Cartridges which was picked up by Rebecca and Christopher Draper personally earlier this week this comes as a change as for the first time in the our small shops history we will be moving onto stocking firearm products but don’t worry Airguns and Airsoft will still continue in the shop alongside our new range.

Fiocchi Group, the worldwide leader in the production of small calibre ammunition under Fiocchi Munizioni, Baschieri & Pellagri and Fiocchi of America brands, announces the acquisition of the entire share capital of Lyalvale Express, the historical British manufacturer established in 1983 in Lichfield, United Kingdom, and specialized in manufacturing and distribution of premium game and clay shotshells.

Closing of the deal occurred April, 6th , 2022. The acquisition of the manufacturing platform of Lyalvale Express in the United Kingdom has the strategic objective to further consolidate Fiocchi Group’s leadership in the game and clay target shooting segments, not only from a manufacturing point of view but also through the expansion of the Group’s product portfolio, offering to consumers a complete range of premium and super-premium products.

Unique to this sector, Fiocchi Group will benefit from four manufacturing plants in two continents: the historical Fiocchi Munizioni plant in Lecco (Italy), Baschieri & Pellagri’s centre of excellence in Bologna (Italy), the manufacturing platform with two plants in Missouri and Arkansas (United States) and the newly acquired Lyalvale Express plant in Lichfield, north of Birmingham (UK).

In addition, the strong complementarity of the brands’ product range, coupled with the unparalleled innovation footprint – the latest example being the biodegradable shotshell components launched within the Green Core project – will allow the Group to enjoy an additional, significant growth in the global markets thanks to the unrivalled commercial network the Group has consolidated over the years.

“We are excited to announce this transaction, which has a significant strategic value. Lyalvale Express becomes part of a Group with an unbeatable historical heritage and will benefit from outstanding innovation capabilities and from a large production platform which will generate important synergies” proudly says Maurizio Negro, Group’s CEO.

Stefano Fiocchi, Group’s President, highlights that “it’s with great pride that we welcome Lyalvale Express to our Group. We will benefit from another historical brand which will further contribute to strengthen and develop the Group’s leadership”.

James Rose, Fiocchi UK Managing Director, will become Managing Director of the new Group’s UK entity: “I’m extremely thrilled by this transaction, I’ve always respected Lyalvale’s high quality and positioning as a UK manufacturer, so I’m absolutely sure that together, we will be able to strengthen and further develop our market”

Drapers at the Shooting Show

As many of you have probably seen from our post Last Week Team Drapers went all out at the Shooting Show last Sunday. We saw a few familiar faces from the shop and it was lovely to meet you all as well as getting to know some of our suppliers so we thought we’d let you all know how our little trip went.

Starting on Saturday we closed up a little earlier than usual to make sure we all had enough time to get down to the show, the Team quickly getting changed out of their uniforms into something more show worthy. We sadly didn’t catch any of the show Saturday but arriving at the hotel we heard nothing but good things making us excited for the coming day.  That night we went out for a meal with the folks at Sportsman Gun Centre, who had kindly offered to show us around their stall the next day. We all enjoyed some wonderful food, the lads a little annoyed at there being no ribs but quickly switched to burgers instead, and had some great conversation before retiring for the night. 

Waking it up it was a quick hotel breakfast and then off to the show. Starting off we first made our way over to Edgar Brothers, as their wood panelled stall always stands out in a crowd, we were intrigued by their .22lr Rifles, specifically the GSG STG44 and Model 16 both of which offer a nice semi auto 22 at only a £450 price point. They also had a new model of the Hatsan Factor available with a shortened barrel which offered a large capacity and tactical stock for the same price as an entry level PCP, not a bad offering given the looks.

Moving on to what Sportsman had to offer and there was a lot. Given our current interest in shotguns as our licence changes over we all had a good look at the ATAs which we were absolutely shocked at the quality to price difference with these Turkish bad boys offering Italian Level Craftsmanship at American level pricing! Sportsman have even acquired CZ so the Czech are getting in on the action with lots of bolt actions on the way. Sportsman also revealed to us a new Pard Scope along with automatically upgrading the ones we already had on order to the new ones, talk about speed, meaning that Drapers Gun Centre will be among the first to see what this new 008 has to offer.

After talking with both Sportsman and Edgar Brothers we had a chance to wander around a bit for ourselves seeing what everyone else had on offer. BSA had once again put their historical foot forward showing off both the BSA of the past and the BSA of the future. We got a quick look at the new RAWS guns, the new breed of Theobens, definitely something to be on the lookout for those of you wanting to upgrade your old Rapid 7. Umarex had some interesting offers for those out there wanting accurate HK replicas with their blowback PSG1 being an almost exact copy of the real steel variant but at almost a 3rd of the cost of the real thing!

Finally we got to sample some of the smaller stalls, and their cakes!, before Josh had a go on the Tactical Training Scenario although he might need a few more tries to beat the top score. Overall we had a fantastic day out and hope you all did too and we can’t wait to see what next years British Shooting Show has to offer.

Great British Shooting Show

Here at Drapers Gun Centre we are all getting excited to be at the Great British Shooting Show this weekend, which you can catch us at on Sunday. We just love to see all the familiar faces coming together once again to celebrate this great hobby so we thought we’d tell you a little about what’s going on for those of you out of the loop.

What is the Great British Shooting Show?

As stated on their website the Great British Shooting Show is an opportunity to educate and inform. Everyone wants to keep the sport alive and this is an opportunity for all of us to become more knowledgeable on all the different aspects of shooting, helpful for us with our current move into Shotguns and Shotgun Cartridges!

It’s also a good opportunity to get out there and see what companies have on offer as the show offers a fantastic platform for companies to announce new products, just earlier this month we got to have a sneak peak at a new offering from Hawke so be sure to look out for their stall if you get the chance.

And finally it’s for conservation and inspiration with the BASC coming to the show there is an emphasis on wildlife preservation while we all enjoy the hunting side of shooting it is important for us to maintain a low impact on the environment and wildlife so that we can keeping shooting available not only for ourselves but also future generations of shooters.

Who’s going?

As we said earlier there are going to be lots of familiar faces at the show. Not only are all the regulars going to be there such as Hawke, Air Arms, BSA, Edgar Brothers, Elite Optical and so on but also the whole Drapers Team so don’t be afraid to say hi if you catch one of the lads drooling over what new Airsoft guns are coming out or Karen getting lost in a crowd!

We’re also looking forward to seeing those outside of the show having organized to meet up with the great people at Sportsman Gun Centre and John Rothery Wholesale and being able to have a chat and some food with like minded people at the event.

Most importantly we’re also looking forward to seeing you our customers, some of which we know are going and others going to be a friendly surprise, not only on the Sunday when we’re there but also on the Saturday for those of you coming round our way before or after the show since we’re still open usual hours.

For those who can’t make it

For those who can’t make it, we are sorry to miss you but we have some good news! As part of Team Drapers going to the Great British Shooting Show we will be filming and picturing the whole of Sunday to really give you the highlights of what went on, and be sure to keep an eye out on the video side for some fun secrets coming later in the year…

Finally we’d like to thank everyone who has already gone to the Great British Shooting Show not only as fans of shooting but also suppliers, shops and friends we’re all looking forward to going here at Drapers Gun Centre and can’t wait to see what’s next.

New for 2022.

Exciting times ahead! Here at Drapers Gun Center we have got an amazing Year in front of us, this year we have got many changes in the pipeline all for the benefit of you guys out there. 

So what are we up to?

Shot Guns and Ammunition

Coming soon we are changing our registered firearms license to incorporate the ability to sell Shotguns and Shotgun shells of different gauges to suit, as you may be aware from our previous Blog the Drapers team visited the Lyalvale Shotgun shell factory, this was to experience the making of the shells along side giving our team some valuable hands on knowledge in preparation for when our customers visit or call the shop, in order to assist in any queries or sales to make the transition smooth and pleasant.

We cannot wait to be making our first order and to get things moving and growing in the area of Shotguns, We are currently making provisions for our “classic room” to incorporate a full range of Shotguns that customers will be able to come in store to view, and providing you have the correct up to date license required, purchase.

Keep an eye out on our Website/Blogs/Facebook/Twitter/instagram for up to date news on this great new venture!

Website

Next to change this year is the website, the Drapers team have worked extremely hard to come up with a brand new layout, new ideas, easier access, to make the website a much better experience and more user friendly, including up to date stock information, new and exciting offers, easier ways to shop through the website itself.

We here at Drapers are aware of the ever changing internet needs and feel now is the right time to get fully up to speed. 

Utilizing outside agencies we have spent months preparing and going over ideas and readdressing issues we feel can and may have caused customers and staff problems with purchasing online and hope to eliminate a lot of these to make your experience with Drapers through our website be taken to a whole new level.

Airsoft

As some of you may already be aware in the last year or so Drapers has expanded into Airsoft, we will be expanding this even further over the coming months, We will be actively advertising and adding to our current stock and welcome feedback from fellow airsofters should you visit the shop, The gents here at Drapers currently attend regular Airsoft Games and have an extremely good level of knowledge and experience, whether to just have a good chat over new or existing Airsoft equipment or to guide any new starter on the best route to take or practical Equipment needed to start you off on this exciting sport.

Shotgun Cartridges: A Simplified Guide

Following our tour at Lyavale last week we thought that this week would be a good time to cover Shotgun Cartridges as a whole rather than one specific company. Being new to Cartridges ourselves it can come with it’s own set of jargon completely unrelated to air gunning. Words like Bore, Load and Wad can seem a bit confusing at first but hopefully after reading this blog we can all be a bit more knowledgeable on Shotgun Cartridges.

What’s in a Shotgun Cartridge?

Shotgun Cartridges are typically made out of the following components:

Primer - The ignition cap for the Cartridge

Powder - The propulsion component of the Cartridge

Wad - Usually either a fibreglass or plastic housing that protects the Shot from the Powder

Shot - The lead (or lead free alternative) that will be fired from the Cartridge

Case - The housing for the Cartridge usually coloured Red, Yellow or Blue depending on Gage and cost

What is Bore and Gauge?

The gauge of a firearm is a unit of measurement used to express the inner diameter (bore diameter) of the barrel. Back when shooting meant loading up a cannon full of shot and chucking it at any enemy of the crown it was common to deal with Pounds of lead, for example an 8 Pounder Cannon would fire 8 Pounds of Lead, so when the concept of Small Arms was being introduced it was weighed against this Pound of Lead so a 12 Gauge shotgun shell is 1/12 a pound of lead cannon ball, the same is true with 28 Gauge 32 and so on. The only exception to this rule in modern shooting is .410 Bore, which would be hypothetically 67 Gauge.

Can I shoot steel shot?

Steel has become a popular alternative to lead, along with bismuth, due to its reduced impact on the environment when shooting. As we all work towards making changes in our lives to reduce environmental damage so too has the shooting community been coming up with their own ways of keeping sport alive along with the Planet. But do be carful when picking up steel shot as some guns may not be designed for its use (If you are unsure of what your shotgun can fire look for a fleur-de-lis stamped on your gun to see if it is steel shot ready)

In conclusion there are many different aspects of Shotguns and we’ve only really covered the very basics on this post as with any other firearm or air rifle we always recommend double checking with a shop or supplier if you are unsure about what cartridges your gun uses and if you are making the right choice in ammunition not only know but in the future with all the changes.

Lyalvale Express Factory Tour

As part of our current move towards the expanding of our Firearms Certificate we were invited by the lovely people at Lyalvale Express for a tour of their factory in Staffordshire so that we could learn more about Shotgun cartridges in the hopes of stocking them in the future.

Established in 1983 Lyalvale has had a long history with Shotgun Cartridges and pride themselves on being able to deliver Gold Medal winning ammunition at a competitive price.

Our journey begins with the outside of the factory, split between two buildings. Lyalvale really gets into the nitty gritty when it comes to cartridges, sourcing the best casings, powder, and wadding all from various places across Europe to make sure that every cartridge they produce is of the highest quality. The sheer size of the storage room alone would have many people in shock but what grabbed our attention was the fact that the whole room would only last Lyalvale just a few weeks of Cartridges at most! Moving on to the lower floor we watched each of the cartridges being put together with their large machines making quick work out of an afternoon's worth of reloading to the casual shooter. Each batch of cartridges is tested and changed to make sure that the same level of consistency is across all their range, no need to go hunting for batch numbers now.

Moving onto the main storage building we were met with what seemed like a mountain of boxes of all their different kinds of cartridges, from the entry level English Sporter to the more bespoke Ultimate Steel, Lyalvale seemed to have it all, even a friendly rat protector. In this building many different orders are put together on palettes ready to be shipped all across the UK and we hope that very soon they’ll be adding Drapers Gun Centre to their growing list.

Overall we left Lyalvale with not only the information we needed on Shotgun Cartridges but also the knowledge that the team at Lyalvale would be there to help us and our customers with anything we needed as we expanded our Shop Licences. We’d like to thank Lyalvale Express for the wonderful tour of their factory and look forward to working with them in the near future.

- Team Drapers