2021 Most Popular Pellet And Slug Reviews To Date
Today we’re looking at the 2021 most popular pellet and slug reviews to date in Hard Air Magazine.
As always, this listing reflects the preferences of HAM readers. This is YOUR list and shows the models you are most interested to read about. Thank you!
In the first six months of 2020, HAM readers read a total of over 420,000 product reviews. In total, you spent nearly 30,000 hours reading HAM product reviews in the first six months of 2021.
So what have you been reading? Here’s the list of your 2021 most popular pellet and slug reviews to date. That’s in addition to the more than 1,500 hours spent looking at HAM’s industry-leading Ballistic Coefficients page.
So it’s clear that HAM readers are really, really interested in the pellets and slugs they choose for their airguns!
The most popular manufacturer is JSB. Six out of ten of your most popular pellet and slug reviews were for products from the famous Czech company. Here’s the summary…
First Place – JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy 18.13 Grain
JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy 18.13 Grain, .22 caliber pellets are well-priced and give excellent quality of manufacture. It’s easy to see why they win a coveted HAM Gold Award!
These pellets would be ideal for airgun hunting with a powerful PCP air rifle. But they’re probably somewhat heavy for a mid- or low-power springer, resulting in a rather elliptical trajectory with lower powered air rifles.
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
JSB Jumbo Heavy 18.13 Grain 250 Count
Second Position – H&N Slugs HP .22 Caliber
Gold Award! That’s the result of this H&N HP Slug review.
The 25 Grain, .217 diameter slugs tested by HAM displayed excellent manufacturing quality with particularly good weight consistency. H&N’s policy of providing Sampler Packs of multiple weights for a specific caliber makes it easy to find the configuration that performs best with your air rifle, too.
This would be a great choice for use in a powerful PCP for medium- to long-range hunting or benchrest shooting.
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
H&N Slug HP, .217 Cal., 25 Grains, Hollowpoint, 200ct 0.22
Number Three – JSB Hades Pellets .22 Caliber
JSB Hades 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets are high quality hunting ammunition for air rifles.
Their relatively light weight makes them particularly suitable for use in lower-powered breakbarrel airguns. However they will likely shoot well in many air rifles, including more powerful PCP models.
Hades pellets earned a HAM Gold Award when we tested them in .25 caliber. Just a little better weight consistency would have had the same result here. As it is, .22 caliber Hades pellets easily earn a HAM Silver Award. Recommended!
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
JSB Match Diabolo Hades .22 Cal, 15.89 Grain, Hollowpoint, 500 Count 0.22
Fourth Place FX Hybrid Slugs .22 Caliber
Our FX Hybrid Slugs test review was the first HAM test of airgun slugs. What we find are projectiles of an unique design with enormous potential for shooting at extreme range. So long as you have a very high powered PCP air rifle with a barrel that tolerates slugs…
If you have a Power Plenum-equipped FX air rifle or similar powerhouse, these are likely to be great slugs for long-range hunting.
So why not a higher HAM ranking than this Bronze Award? Well, these slugs are expensive and they don’t really match the manufacturer’s specs in all respects. But if you have an appropriate air rifle, you really need to try them!
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FX Hybrid Slugs .22 Cal
Fifth Position – JSB Exact King Pellets .25 Caliber
Twenty Five is a primary airgun hunting caliber. JSB Exact King 25.36 Grain .25 Caliber pellets are the most popular out there and it’s easy to see why from this HAM test review!
The relatively high Ballistic Coefficient of 0.038 gives these pellets good downrange hunting characteristics and the head sizes are very consistent.
This is an easy HAM Silver Award winner and – without just one short pellet in the test sample – would have achieved Gold.
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JSB Exact King 25.39 Grain .25 Cal Pellets, 150 Ct
Number Six – JSB Redesigned Jumbo Monsters
The redesigned .22 caliber JSB Exact Jumbo Monster 25.39 grain pellets featured in this review are a heavy hunting pellet for use, primarily, with high powered PCP air rifles.
At a typical online Street Price of $11.99 for a tin of 200, these Jumbo Monsters cost 5.96 cents each. This is expensive for a .22 caliber pellet, but you do get a lot of lead in every one. And, hunters shoot relatively few pellets, so it makes sense to go for quality in an airgun hunting pellet.
They easily achieve a HAM Silver Award for quality and value. Had the test pellets matched JSB’s usual standards for cleanliness and weight variability they could have achieved a Gold Award.
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
JSB Jumbo Monster Pellets .22 Cal
Seventh Place – Crosman Premier Hollowpoints .22 Caliber
Crosman Premier Hollowpoint 14.3 Grain pellets are far from being the most consistent pellets available. But they do work well in a wide variety of airguns and sometimes can match the accuracy of much more expensive pellets.
Crosman’s distribution muscle means that these pellets are available everywhere airguns are sold. That’s another great benefit, although it doesn’t factor into our scoring.
These Premiers justify a HAM Gold Award because their remarkably low price makes them outstanding value. If you’re looking for a “go to” pellet at a very low price, this is the place to start! They’re a consistent choice among HAM’s most popular pellet and slug reviews.
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
Crosman Premier .22 Cal, 14.3 Grains, Hollowpoint, 500ct 0.22
In Eighth Place – JSB King Heavy Mark II .25 Caliber
JSB Exact King Heavy MkII 33.95 Grain .25 caliber pellets combine heavy weight with a high Ballistic Coefficient and excellent control of head diameter.
This is a great pellet for the long range shooter. The tin of pellets tested by HAM did show more variation in individual weights than is normally found in JSB products, however.
But in spite of this, these King Heavies earn a HAM Bronze Award. That backs-up their outstanding reputation for long range accuracy. HAM will be including them as a standard test pellet for our high power .22 caliber PCP air rifle reviews.
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
JSB Match Diabolo Exact King MKII Heavy .25 Cal, 33.95 Grains, Domed, 300ct 0.25
Ninth – H&N Hornet Pellets .22 Caliber
H&N Hornet 16.20 Grain .22 caliber pellets are high quality hunting pellets that are likely to feed well in magazine feed PCP air rifles.
Best suited to powerful PCP air rifles, H&N Hornets would be a great choice for small and medium game hunting if the barrel of your gun “likes” them.
It’s only the extremely high price that prevents these Hornets from achieving a HAM Award. If you’re a hunter, H&N Hornet 16.20 Grain .22 caliber pellets are certainly worth checking out.
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
H&N Hornet 16 Grain Pellets .22 Cal 200 Ct
Number Ten – JSB Jumbo Diabolo .22 Caliber
JSB Exact Jumbo Diabolo 15.89 Grain .22 caliber pellets are priced exactly (pun intended!) at the median cost of .22 airgun pellets. That’s 4.00 cents each for the 250-count tin. They’re also available in 500-count tins, where the price per pellet falls to 3.8 cents.
This makes them good value for money from such a prestigious pellet-manufacturing name.
Even though the pellets tested by HAM were not the most consistent we’ve found from JSB, they still represent good value for money.
