A view of things to come....I've been preaching to the 5mm followers over the last years, but maybe this will wake them up.
While Pyramid Air is not the end-all/know-all of airgun sales, they are likely the largest online dealer.They currently have 5 types of 5mm lead pellets for sale. Nothing really wrong with that, but considering what there once was...it's "carp" for a selection.
https://www.pyramydair.com/a/Ammo/Airgun_pellets/384/calibers_0_2
Of the 5 pellets offered, the two best bets are the H&H F.T.T. for lower speed/lower power airguns and the 13.4 JSB's. Once in awhle you'll find a tight 5mm barrel that likes the "black tin" Benjamin Cylindrical, and the Poly Mag can shoot well in some guns.
But if you are a 5mm shooter and want to keep on shooting 5mm, either already have a large stach of 5mm pellets, or order some while you can (and not spend the day looking for out-of-stock stuff on Ebay at "? iffy ?"prices).
If you've a good fast 5mm PCP...the heavy weights are gone (other than old-stock). If you didn't listen a couple of years ago, and are out...plan on detuning your 5mm PC to some speed more reasonably for the liter weights.
I still have a lot of 5mm guns. Even before JSB came onto the scene all you really needed were FTT or Kodiak/Barracuda. Barracuda won out 90% of the time with magnum springers/rams. They do sell them on amazon. The prices are not the best, but at least you can acquire them for a few dollars more per tin. I've even seen some "used" .20 Barracuda tins for around $10 each.
Were a few hot rod 5mm PCP's, and they did need heavier than what is offered today. 11-13.4gr. pellets are fine for moderate power (lets say 20-26 foot pounds), but if you have any of the old 5mm 'beasts' you'll miss the 23gr. EunJins.
The other side of this is that the pellet markers don't normally give us a warning when they are going to stop production....it just kind of suddenly happens. Which could be any of the ones that are shown.
Understand the process. Limited production time...have to balance the cost of making new pellet dies for a low production item, when you could be using the effort for increased production of high selling/higher profit pellets....so it it ain't selling, it's just not going to keep producing the "orphan" pellets when more money is to be made by making.
Yep...for a few years can scrounge the want-to-sell ads or Ebay…..will keep you going a tin or two at a time.
Not to contradict anyone for sport, but as someone that is, by the definition of this forum, a "Member of Trade", I can tell you that JSB has no plans on discontinuing the 13.7, and even has plans to come up with a new offering towards the end of the year.
Likewise, H&N has no plans to drop the Baracuda Match, nor the FTT. I might even convince them to offer another one in the caliber.
Please consider that European companies are radically different from American companies (they do not answer to Wall Street). I am not saying one style is better than the other, NO. What I am saying is that they are different. JSB and H&N will not treat us like Crosman did when they discontinued the 0.20" Premier. I even doubt that Crosman would do the same today. Back in those days the head of the company was ONLY interested in the short term profits. The new structure/leadership clearly wants to develop a longer view of the market.
As airgunning grows in its own right, we airgunners will see more and better things.
Whether you believe it or not, we ARE living in a golden age for airgunning.
Keep well and shoot straight!
HM
I love my .20's and shoot Barracudas mostly. There are a few tins of super heavy Eun Jins in the safe but I resprung my 707 and my Hatsans to shoot the lighter stuff.
The 'Dan loves the JSB 13.7s so as long as those aren't going anywhere, I'm good.
I treat .20 like a heavy .177, imagine a 13-15 grain .177 that wasn't too long to fit in your magazines ... bingo
I just sent back a tuned RWS 350 with a .25 caliber barrel conversion the other day. It loved the .25 FTT at about 21.5 FPE. It had a noticeably-chopped barrel or it probably would have shot faster.
Anyway, it occurred to me that--this being a ballpark figure--that at least something like 1/3 of the spring rifles out there would probably suffer from much less accuracy if we didn't have the FTT pellet, no matter the caliber. Remember when we had to buy them with a "Marksman Field Target Special" label on the tin? Also "Diana Domes" when it came to .25 caliber? They are truly a stellar pellet--maybe the closest thing to a one-size-fits-all air gun pellet that we have.
Those F.T.T.'s are really well geated to springers (in all calibers) and do think they are popular enough to merit contiunation (and really aren'[t bad in old Sheridans either). Aren't all that many NEW offerings in 5mm springers, but there is still a pretty good demand for them from I can can see.
Do shoot springers (including a 5mm "cheapie), one 5mm co2, and a pair of 5mm PCP's...so it's not an anti-5mm ramble.
Was thinking about it as I took out the old "Pot-Belly-Pig" (5mm Webley/Hatsan Raider):
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Call this just another wake up call...every year for the past several years, fewer and fewer 5mm pellets offered....a good sized stash of your favorite pellets would NOT be a bad idea (and good pellets do not tend to DECREASE in cost).
I have an HW77K (carbine) in .20 that I bought from an estate sale... normally, I would have avoided buying the .20, and would prefer the .177 or .22... but when you find a nice air rifle at a good price, it's hard to resist.
I think the original owner must have bought it when Dr Beeman was promoting the .20... he may have had a Beeman "super-tune" done to it, because this thing really shoot nice and accurate... I love it !
Years ago when I bought, I was advised to stay away from the heavier pellets, like the .20 Crosman Premiers that I had for my Career 707 cabine and Sheridan Blue/Silver Streaks... someone suggested the Beeman Silver Bears, so I pretty much stayed with those.
But several weeks ago, I got the HW77K out to shoot, since it has been sitting for a few years... I had removed the scope that I had on it, and transplanted that to a different air rifle... found an older Bushnell Trophy 4-12x scope on ebay, and bought it... I have a couple of these Bushnells on other air rifles, and they work great and hold up great... so far !
I got concerned when I realized that I only had a few 200 count tins of the Silver Bears... couldn't find any online... so I bought a tin of the .20 H&N Sport Field Target Trophy's (11.42 gr, seemed ideal).
The FTT's shoot great, so bought a few more tins... I'll be buying some more !
I do love this old HW77K !
That pellet is likely to be in the line up for a long time (although I'd build up a stash of them now rather than rely on that later) as it's nearly a perfect weight for springers and a well made pellet.
