I’m sure there was profit to be made in pellets since they are consumed on a regular basis. But there is some logic to the 20 cal. The basic Crosman 22’s and the Benjamin 20’s are the same weight 14.3 so the slimmer 20 would seem better in flight? They certainly are less fiddly than .177?
“Master of none” could be turned to the best of both worlds? Adjust the pellet weight to the task with one gun? But impossible to buck a 100 years of tradition.
But the lack of pellet choice kills them. Bottom line is there is so little difference that the companies can’t justify a similar line of pellets to a narrow market.