JSB is still the king of pellets...no takers?

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fe7565

fe7565

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Oct 13, 2015
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VA, United States
JSB has been the reigning king of pellets for many years now, as illustrated here:
"Interestingly, there’s almost complete unanimity on pellet choice among the competitors at the 2022 FLFT Grand Prix shoot. No less than 84% of the competitors were using pellets manufactured by JSB."
hardairmagazine.com

2022 FLFT Grand Prix Shoot Results - Hard Air Magazine

The 2022 FLFT Grand Prix Shoot was held in up-state New York on July 16/17. This was a quality event with top-rank shooters present!
hardairmagazine.com hardairmagazine.com

Yes, slugs recently are taking a huge bite out of the airgun ammo business, but it is still surprising that no other company in the world decided to make consistent JSB-quality pellets. Yes, there are some batches and names here and there, but cannot think of a single brand that is associated with quality and consistency at the level of JSB throughout their entire product line and mass-production range. Affordable mass-production technology is not sacred cow anymore. And demand for ammo seems to be there.

Selling 20 tins of pellets reaches the selling price of a low end PCP airgun. Selling 50 tins is about the selling price of a good mid-level PCP. And selling 100 tins takes you into the high-quality PCP range. Seems like a lot more low-tech than putting an airgun together with higher profit margins. No takers....manufacturers?
 
My Marauder loves 25 cal Kings better than all others. We shall see if the new Hatsan does but I like H&N pellets for hunting at the modest ranges I shoot at. They offer different hollow points etc that JSBs don’t. If I were to shoot long range I probably would go with JSB heavies or slugs. I would definitely give the heavy Baracudas a try.
 
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I think I get what you're getting at, you are asking the industry to get competitive and step up, or for someone new to start making pellets that can meet or beat JSB. H&N is very close already and in this economy is probably the only one who could do it. They have been coming out with new pellets and slugs at a much brisker pace lately too. That's probably the result of F/X adding an almost auto-industry-like new product cycle every year.
 
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A lot of the other brands like AA and FX (at least in the past) use JSB made pellets that are just slightly different in weight or diameter. I like H&N also and they have been around, but although their quality seems consistent...their various model types do not perform as consistent as JSBs.

@PumaCarl you summed it up pretty much. I love my JSBs but only competition between manufacturers can improve or broaden our pellet selection. It's not healthy for airgun advancement that near 90% of shooters are using the same brand. I was actually aiming at Crossman to step up and offer a pro-line product in addition to their Walmart-market. They are the only large makers in the US that would be able to absorb the tooling up costs. But I think it would pay off on the long run. Their Crossman Premier is pretty close to being as good as the JSB, but it's always dirty and falls just short of the same quality.
 
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So you're asking anyone to step up to the big dog pellet maker, when pellets are on a downward slide to slugs? How much cash outlay is required to startup a pellet business? That's like saying someone step up to building springers 10 years ago when PCPs were on the rise. Pellets are the exception to me now (10M, .20, or Korean guns such as the Career). So its 80% slugs 20% pellets. Two years ago it was the opposite.
 
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sonnysan said:
So you're asking anyone to step up to the big dog pellet maker, when pellets are on a downward slide to slugs? How much cash outlay is required to startup a pellet business? That's like saying someone step up to building springers 10 years ago when PCPs were on the rise. Pellets are the exception to me now (10M, .20, or Korean guns such as the Career). So its 80% slugs 20% pellets. Two years ago it was the opposite.
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Pay attention. I pointed to Crossman, et al not some Mom and Pop place. i.e. THE "big dog" pellet makers. Also, if you want to stir up things about pellets being on their way out, recommend that you post a thread about that and watch the replies... :) Thank you for your personal opinion.
 
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sonnysan said:
Crosman was in JSB's market position for a decade, if not more. If they wanted to stay on top they could of easily done so.
What I'm trying to say is the airguns are getting more and more powerful, lending themselves to heavier projectiles such as slugs. it's a natural progression of the industry.
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You have a point about the progression towards slugs, no-one doubts that's the case. But completely phasing out pellets in the airgun hobby is not going to happen anytime soon. And the general public does not even know about slugs yet.

Crossman may have decided to stay with their "general-public" pellet quality either because they never thought about assessing the market-demand for pro-quality pellets, or they found it cost prohibitive? Either way, JSB's quality moved the hobby forward accuracy and consistency-wise more than anything I can think of. Previously "lousy" airguns suddenly performed exponentially better. Sad that we may never find out if it could be even better.
 
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Actually it was H&N that moved the hobby forward towards accuracy and consistency. Beeman brought them over the pond in the late 70's and rebadged their entire product line, selling them for decades under the Beeman name. Guns such as the Daisy and Crosman suddenly performed exponentially better with H&N pellets.
JSB didn't get a foothold until the early 2000's when Tim Johnston was bringing them from over the pond, asking members for orders on the old yellow forum.
Crosman overlapped this time period (late 90's - late 2000's) with their premier line, sweeping competitions across the globe, mainly FT at the time.
 
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sonnysan said:
So you're asking anyone to step up to the big dog pellet maker, when pellets are on a downward slide to slugs? How much cash outlay is required to startup a pellet business? That's like saying someone step up to building springers 10 years ago when PCPs were on the rise. Pellets are the exception to me now (10M, .20, or Korean guns such as the Career). So its 80% slugs 20% pellets. Two years ago it was the opposite.
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I really gotta disagree here. I think the cry's of "SLUGS, SLIGS, SLUGS" are a squeaky wheel getting the grease kinda thing. Lots of noise but not necessarily an accurate sign of the pulse of the industry.

Lots and lots and lots of guys still shooting huge volumes of pellets.

With all the shortages and back order and preorder statuses on the major pellet retailers websites, I feel like a company that could come out with a line of quality pellets that were as accurate and had BCs at least as good as JSBs(bonus points for even higher BCs).....they'd sell a bunch of them. Enough to pay off their investment and then be profitable? That I dunno, but potentially.

I think NSA would be a company that could probably get into the precision pellet game and give JSB some serious competition. They've already got the logistics of supplying lots of slugs to lots of shooters figured out. They've got a reputation for quality. Nick comes across in the vids that I've seen as somebody that not only understands airguns but enjoys shooting them. They've got various partnerships in place already, selling their line of slugs through numerous websites and airgun industry retailers, as well as the business agreements that have us seeing their slugs with rebranded names for other companies (just like JSB). Now, I have no idea if the interest is there on their part, but they've already got lots of pieces of the puzzle in place.
 
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It makes no sense for a company to go backwards. Bullets are superior to a diabolo design with room for improvement. Diabolo design has reached a ceiling for many years now.
Does anyone one remember in the early 2000's when PCPs were the "dark side"? Yes, up to that point rams and springers dominated the market. Only PCP options were 3K for a home compressor or fill at a scuba shop.
We should all know what occurred in the coming years.
Projectile development is no different. Bullets will always offer a better BC, and it's only a matter of time until more and more people realize the benefits that a superior projectile offers. There is no way I'd want to dabble in antiquated technology when I'm leading the industry, such as NSA.
 
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Pellets are still the best option for me when shooting at the dairies. Slugs have too much energy and range to be safe. I may have hit a cow with a pellet at a dairy. I don't think so, at least I've never witnessed it. No owner or heardsman has ever said anything to me. I would be worried about a slug penatrating a cow's skin.. I'm not against slugs but not for where I shoot.
 
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