VALUE FOR MONEY
At a specified weight of 10.5 Grains, Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets are significantly heavier than the majority of Crosman pellets in .177 caliber. Hence the “magnum” title.
As with the majority of Crosman pellets, they are priced very attractively. Online price is typically just 1.99 Cents each at $9.95 for a tin of 500 pellets. You can find even lower prices by selecting the “buy four tins get one free” offers from Pyramyd Air or Airgun Depot or by buying in-store at large big box retailers.
The graph below puts this pricing into perspective. The price of Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets compares to the average (mean) price of .177 caliber lead pellets of 2.7 cents each. That puts these pellets into the “bargain” end of the market.
And if you want to buy US-made pellets, here they are! Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets are manufactured at the company’s corporate headquarters at Bloomfield, NY.
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum .177 Cal, 10.5 Grains, Round Nose, 500ct![]()
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
Crosman Copper Magmun Pellets .177 Cal 500 Ct
TEST DATA SUMMARY
| Price per Pellet | 1.99 cents |
| Most Common Weight | 10.60 Grains |
| Pellets at That Common Weight | 18% |
| Variation in Pellet Weight (Smallest to Largest) | 2.96% |
| Most Common Head Diameter | 4.56 mm |
| Pellet at That Common Head Diameter | 16% |
| Variation in Head Diameter (Smallest to Largest) | 2.47% |
| Most Common Length | 6.68 mm 6.69 mm 6.76 mm |
| Pellets at That Common Length | 12% |
| Variation in Length (Smallest to Largest) | 2.25% |
COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS
As usual, Crosman makes few claims about their pellets. The company claims that there are 500 pellets in a tin of Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets. HAM found this to be exactly so. There were precisely 500 pellets in the tin we tested.
The manufacturer also claims that Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum have “more energy at long range”. This would be true compared to the regular 7.9 Grain Crosman .199 caliber pellets due to the heavier weight of the pellet, as heavier pellets have more energy.
But it’s particularly true due to the relatively high Ballistic Coefficient of 0.023 which these pellets have. Again this is higher than most of the regular 7.9 Grain Crosman pellets. Higher Ballistic Coefficients mean increased energy at long ranges.
However the pellets tested by HAM were rather heavier than the claimed 10.5 Grain weight, as we’ll see below.
CONSISTENCY
There were no damaged or malformed pellets in among the Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets tested by HAM.
However, the head diameters found in the pellets tested by HAM were very varied. They ran all the way from 4.45 mm up to 4.56 mm, as you can see in the chart below.
This is a very large spread of 2.47% between largest and smallest. It’s far below the average consistency we normally find when testing head sizes.
It also means that some large diameter pellets will be hard to load in a break barrel air rifle – for example – while the smallest ones will tend to fall out.
In fact, the largest head diameters were actually caused by a pronounced seam line between the two sides of the pellet. This is clearly seen in the photograph below.
This pronounced seam accounts for the 4.55 and 4.56 mm head diameters recorded in HAM testing, even though the diameter of the bulk of the pellet is less than this.
Consistency of weight was rather better in the Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets pellets tested by HAM.
18% of the tested pellets had the same weight of 10.60 Grains, when weighed on HAM’s incredibly-precise laboratory grade balance. This is somewhat above average. The variability between the lightest (10.49 Grain) and heaviest (10.60 Grain) pellets tested was 2.95%, which is about average.
However, all except one of the pellets weighed more than the claimed 10.50 Grains. The average weight was 10.64 Grains, which is 1.1% higher than the manufacturer’s specification.
Length consistency was also around average for the Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets tested by HAM. However, as with the head diameters, we do not find the expected “bell curve” shape to the chart of length variability below. Yet it’s present in the weight consistency chart above!
The most common lengths found in HAM testing were 6.68 mm, 6.69 mm and 6.76 mm.
DIRTINESS
Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets scored well for dirtiness – or actually the lack of it!
Yes, there was a fair amount of the inevitable lead dust and debris present in the tin of Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets tested by HAM. However, it should be remembered that this is from a total of 500 pellets.
In fact, the level of dirt per 100 pellets – the way we measure it at HAM – was actually quite low at just 0.552 Grains.
DOWNRANGE PERFORMANCE
The relatively high Ballistic Coefficient of Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets – 0.023 in HAM testing – gives them a relatively flat trajectory downrange. This is shown in the Chairgun chart below.
The yellow highlighted segment shows that the standard HAM test gun – a Beeman 1074 break barrel model – shoots effectively “flat” from 10 Yards to 38 Yards.
HUNTING USE
That same high Ballistic Coefficient figure means that Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets retain their energy well downrange – as claimed by the manufacturer.
The Kinetic Energy of Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets pellets remains as high as 70% of the Muzzle Energy at 35 Yards and is still 60% at 51 yards. This makes Ultra Magnums good for long range hunting if your air rifle’s barrel likes them.
The HAM soap penetration test shows the Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellet penetrating 60mm into the block. The wound channel entry hole was 7 mm diameter.
The “before and after” comparison photograph below shows that both head and skirt of the 4.51 mm (un-fired) diameter pellet were deeply marked by the rifling.
Also noticeable is that the fired pellet had expanded from 4.51 mm to 4.57 mm diameter on impact, shrinking in length to 6.47 mm in length.
This performance indicates that Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets are well suited to hunting at longer ranges on larger quarry.
BUYING AND OWNING
Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum pellets are widely available online, from big box sporting goods retailers and at your local Walmart. That makes them very easy to buy.
But they’re really, really difficult to open!
The HAM Team finds all Crosman 3-inch diameter pellet tins – including this one – to be extremely difficult to unscrew. Once you’ve got the tin open once, there’s no problem. But sometimes we’ve had to use strap wrenches to unscrew the lid! Sure, that’s an extreme case, but Crosman should set their machines to tighten the lids with a little less torque in manufacturing.
As with most Crosman pellets, these Ultra Magnums are manufactured from a rather hard lead alloy. This means that they’re unlikely to be damaged by rough-and-tumble handling, which is a good practical benefit for many shooters.
TEST DATA
For background details on HAM’s Pellet Test Review methodology, check out this link.
Chairgun is a product of Hawke Sports Optics LLC and is used with permission. Check out http://www.hawkeoptics.com
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum .177 Cal, 10.5 Grains, Round Nose, 500ct![]()
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
Crosman Copper Magmun Pellets .177 Cal 500 Ct
Understanding HAM Pellet Awards
HAM Pellet Awards come from the most rigorous, professional and comprehensive pellet testing by any independent publication. They are the result of much precise measurement and analysis using high precision measuring devices and highly-experienced testers.
Note that accuracy is a product of the complete “system” of airgun, scope, atmospheric conditions and shooter ability – not the pellet alone.
This means that no pellet test review can predict the accuracy of a particular pellet with YOUR individual air rifle. That’s why we do not measure accuracy in these pellet tests.
What HAM Pellet Awards do recognize is manufacturing consistency. Inconsistent pellets definitely will be inaccurate, consistent pellets are much more likely to be accurate.
HAM Awards also recognize value. There’s considerable variation in the price of airgun pellets. This means that an 8 cent pellet needs to score higher than a 2 cent pellet to achieve an award.
For full details of the HAM Pellet Award scoring methodology, please check out our Pellet Testing page.
For a full listing of HAM-tested Ballistic Coefficients, please see our Ballistic Coefficients page.
This entire article including scoring, data etc is Copyright Hard Air Magazine and may NOT in part or in whole be reproduced in any electronic or printed medium without prior permission from the publisher.
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