Best and Worst Cheap Pellets

[Sawney Bean]

Just wondering what everyone's experiences have been. What have you found to be a bargain, what should just be melted down for lead and what are they selling for per pellet?

I've had very good luck with H&N FTT's in .177, 8.64 gr. and .22 Baracudas in 18.1 gr. I get great accuracy out to 50 yards and beyond with them. All prices here are after factoring in the 4th free tin at Pyramyd. The H&N's are 2.1 cents a shot in .177 and 3 cents in .22. Not super cheap, but not bad either and almost all of my guns like them.

Lately I've also been shooting .22 Norma 15.9 grain pellets at 2.25 cents a shot and 14.3 grain Crosman Premiers at 1.7 cents per shot. No complaints so far, but I haven't really done any bench rest shooting with them either.

One variety I had very bad luck with and now avoid are the Crosman pointeds. I'm not sure what I paid for them, but I got two tins with varying head sizes. Some would easily slip into the breech of my HW30 and others had to be forced in smashing the skirts in the process. They are one of the cheapest pellets out there, but in my experience they still aren't worth it.

I recently noticed that after discounts .177 Norma pellets are less than a penny a shot and I'm planning on buying a few thousand of them.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

Just wondering what everyone's experiences have been. What have you found to be a bargain, what should just be melted down for lead and what are they selling for per pellet?

I've had very good luck with H&N FTT's in .177, 8.64 gr. and .22 Baracudas in 18.1 gr. I get great accuracy out to 50 yards and beyond with them. All prices here are after factoring in the 4th free tin at Pyramyd. The H&N's are 2.1 cents a shot in .177 and 3 cents in .22. Not super cheap, but not bad either and almost all of my guns like them.

Lately I've also been shooting .22 Norma 15.9 grain pellets at 2.25 cents a shot and 14.3 grain Crosman Premiers at 1.7 cents per shot. No complaints so far, but I haven't really done any bench rest shooting with them either.

One variety I had very bad luck with and now avoid are the Crosman pointeds. I'm not sure what I paid for them, but I got two tins with varying head sizes. Some would easily slip into the breech of my HW30 and others had to be forced in smashing the skirts in the process. They are one of the cheapest pellets out there, but in my experience they still aren't worth it.

I recently noticed that after discounts .177 Norma pellets are less than a penny a shot and I'm planning on buying a few thousand of them.

.177 JSB Hades, by far the worst pellets I've tried. They never group in anything I put them through and always have varying head sizes

 

[Stubbers]

Crosman piranha .177 10gr. It's like I have 2 different pellets from 2 different dies, because I get 2 entirely different POI's 9/10 times. Otherwise, if they tightened up their operations, they would shoot amazing.

The new H&N Barracuda 15.89's shoot great from my .22, 1 hole all day, I need to try the 18.1's. Likewise these aren't super cheap at 3~ cents a pellet but I would KILL to have a pellet produce 1 ragged hole at 1-2 cents. I'm still looking for a good cheap .177 pellet comparable to the Barracudas.

-Matt

 

[Shuggoth]

For the money I think the RWS Superdomes and Hobbies are a great deal on quality pellets. To me the worst may be the Gamo domed pellets.

 

[L.Leon]

My go to sub 50 yards pesting or plinking pellets … CPHPs hundreds of pests would testify to their effectiveness… Over 10K and continually stocking up on them. All my BRKs send them M.O.P. (Minute of Pests) out to 50 yards.

 

[Moog]

The worst and the cheapest pellets I ever had were the Daisy wad cutters and pointed pellets (.177).
They would not shoot well in anything I have except for my Beeman P17 pistol.

The best cheap pellets I've used are the Crosman Primier hollow points in both .22 and .177.

 

[Sawney Bean]

The worst and the cheapest pellets I ever had were the Daisy wad cutters and pointed pellets (.177).
They would not shoot well in anything I have except for my Beeman P17 pistol.

The best cheap pellets I've used are the Crosman Primier hollow points in both .22 and .177.

I'll have to try CPHP's out. I know they're the most common pellets you can get, but I've never once used them. The Crosman pointeds soured me on Crosman pellets in general and I've been mail ordering pellets for so long that I just switched to H&N's when I wanted something cheaper than JSB's.

P17s just seem to shoot remarkably well. I put a 4-12X scope on mine and shot it off a rest at 10m last weekend and I got one hole groups from it.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

For the money I think the RWS Superdomes and Hobbies are a great deal on quality pellets. To me the worst may be the Gamo domed pellets.

I've tried those and the premiers outdid the RWS and Hobbies, although the RWS wadcutters I have had success with.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

I'll have to try CPHP's out. I know they're the most common pellets you can get, but I've never once used them. The Crosman pointeds soured me on Crosman pellets in general and I've been mail ordering pellets for so long that I just switched to H&N's when I wanted something cheaper than JSB's.

P17s just seem to shoot remarkably well. I put a 4-12X scope on mine and shot it off a rest at 10m last weekend and I got one hole groups from it.

I tried some 10gr hollow premiers yesterday while retuning my m3 to .177 and at 912fps they were shooting under .3" groups consistely at 33yds with some light wind.

 

[Firewalker]

I've shot Crosman Premier Hollow Points 14.39gr by the thousands. Definitely the best bang for the buck in .22 pellets.

 

[Firewalker]

Do I use them for critical shots?
No, I use JSB or AEA 18.1gr pellets for that.

 

[Chris_K]

Best cheapies for me has been the Crosman Premier Hollow Points in .177 and .22. I get the occasional flier but overall they shoot well for my 50 yd and under applications.

Worst has been the Daisy.177 Wadcutters hands down because they have such inconsistent sizing which makes them unpleasant to load and have lots of fliers.

 

[beerthief]

THE absolute worst is the GAMO Raptor PBA , had to buy one card , has two tubes of gold color pellets and that is only 100 pellets , GARBAGE in any gun i tried . Best pellet i have shot is a toss up RWS R-10 and Eley Tenex .

 

[CharlieF]

Anything made by Gammo. Just wonder how much longer CPHPs will retain their quality now that Crosman has been purchased by Gammo

 

[Just Zack 2]

The best AND worst cheap pellets I've used are the newer style Daisy/Win. ~7.5gr Hollow points. Just hear me out...

They're the worst because not many barrels like them and even if they do, they don't seem to fly well beyond 40 yards at any velocity (450fps-900+fps). They just seem to destabilize even if not overdriven.

Now they're the best cheap pellet if a barrel likes them and used within 40 yards. Within these ranges you can shoot'em as fast as you want, as they'll fly true (enough) at short distances. I found starting around 975fps at the muzzle delivers satisfactory results on 'certain targets'... My old Benji Maximus .177 loves them.

 

[Treefrog]

Older CPHP pellets work very well in my guns. A friends' SAG QB78 loves old Daisy wadcutters, old Crosman wadcutters and current production Crosman Destroyers.

You just don't now until you try. That' a big part of the fun.

Cheers,

J~

 

[Firewalker]

Anything made by Gammo. Just wonder how much longer CPHPs will retain their quality now that Crosman has been purchased by Gammo

Good question, I'm buying what I can.

 

[JimD]

The last two tins of Crosman 177 domed pellets I bought were terrible. Head size was all over the head size gauge. A tin that came before them shot well. Maybe I should try the hollow point. It doesn't really expand but if it shot better it might be fine. The domed and HP in 22 have always shot fine in my Prod. I have not tried the newer "premium" Crosmans.

But H&N Baracudas shoot better in my guns than the Crosmans even if the gun shoots Crosmans pretty well. I even upgrade to the match version it is available. I find they are more consistent in weight and head size and shoot a little better. But the Baracudas would be fine for plinking or even short range hunting just not target work. My Caiman X wants Baracuda 18s which are unavailable in "match" but they are quite consistent in weight and head size and shoot well on targets. I shot a 198 17X 30 yard challenge target this morning with them, for instance. I tried sorting them but I don't think it makes a difference in my Caiman.

 

[JaceSpace1369]

The last two tins of Crosman 177 domed pellets I bought were terrible. Head size was all over the head size gauge. A tin that came before them shot well. Maybe I should try the hollow point. It doesn't really expand but if it shot better it might be fine. The domed and HP in 22 have always shot fine in my Prod. I have not tried the newer "premium" Crosmans.

But H&N Baracudas shoot better in my guns than the Crosmans even if the gun shoots Crosmans pretty well. I even upgrade to the match version it is available. I find they are more consistent in weight and head size and shoot a little better. But the Baracudas would be fine for plinking or even short range hunting just not target work. My Caiman X wants Baracuda 18s which are unavailable in "match" but they are quite consistent in weight and head size and shoot well on targets. I shot a 198 17X 30 yard challenge target this morning with them, for instance. I tried sorting them but I don't think it makes a difference in my Caiman.

I have heard this across-the-board with all crossmans.The domed are craps compared to the hollow point

 

[Sawney Bean]

I have heard this across-the-board with all crossmans.The domed are craps compared to the hollow point

It used to be that boxed premier domes were the best of the best and were what everyone was shooting in competition. Of course that was 20-30 years ago. Then JSB’s took over. Lately I hear that JTS is really good.