Historically the company has produced a broad variety of ammunition, but today specialises in .22 Long Rifle cartridges for competitive target shooting.

In 1837, the company added percussion caps to their range and though William was killed in an explosion in 1841, his three sons helped carry on the business.

His eldest son William Thomas forged an alliance with Samuel Colt, the two patenting a skin cartridge for use in the latter's revolvers.

[2][3] The key aspect to this patent was to better fix the cap into the case and prevent the pin from flying out of the case on detonation.The growth of business accompanied by moves to the Grays Inn Road in 1864, and by the development of the Boxer cartridge designed by Colonel Boxer - Chief Superintendent of the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich - and adopted by the government in 1866.

In 1894, the company transferred production to enlarged premises at Angel Road which included a tramway to its wharf on the nearby River Lee.

Twice the War Office removed the company from their Approved List of suppliers due to poor quality .303 British ammunition, much of it returned from abroad as unusable.

This led to natural links between the two countries, and in the 1920s Eley went into partnership with Fabrique Nationale (FN), buying out the Belgian firm of Cartoucherie Russo - Belge.

The shotgun cartridge business was separated out as "Eley Hawk" and sold to Spanish firm Maxam Explosives.

In 2014, Eley became independent as a result of a management buyout backed by private equity firm LDC (part of Lloyds TSB).