I think the point with boxed Prems is that it used to be that the ones in tins came from a mix of dies, but the boxes came from a single die, marked on the box. So FT types would work out which die shot best in their rifle and stock up.

These days, it’s I think either the case that the boxes now contain pellets from a mix of dies, or that the dies are so worn that there is no significant difference in accuracy between pellets from different dies.

To return to the original question, I am old enough to remember (early 80s) when the best pellets were Mount Star/Beeman Silver Jets and Jets (if you could find the latter), Eley Wasps, and RWS Superpoints.

No wonder there was space in the market for the likes of Normay/Bimoco Vipers (I went through a phase with them, believing that a pellet shaped like a toadstool must be a good idea; it wasn’t), Sabos, Prometheus, etc etc.

The 80s progressively saw the arrival of increasingly high-quality pellets, responding to demand from FT and serious hunters.

The arrival of Premiers at the end of the 80s/start of the 90s seemed an important moment, like a new level of consistency had been reached. Suddenly it seemed like all the serious shooters used them.

I’m not honestly sure that today’s high-quality pellets are significantly better than those early Premiers.

In summary, over the last nearly 40 years, the best pellets have hardly got any better (and the worse ones are still rubbish). Which is a bit sad.

Except I’m pretty sure that any advance would have to go hand in hand with changes to rifles’ pressure curves and (especially) barrel twist rates. You’d have to re-engineer the “weapon system” not just invent a better projectile.