The Gamo Expomatic is my "Holy Grail" of airguns and today I'll tell you why...
Like most of us Shooting Sports enthusiasts, my childhood was filled with time spent outdoors and an obsession for air rifles which eventually lead me to powder burners. The Expomatic represents a missed opportunity of something I wanted but just couldn't afford at the time... Coming on forty years later and I can't count the number of times I've lamented the fact I didn't own a Gamo Expomatic when I was a kid, let alone today and I always regarded it as a mistake. And so air rifles are stoutly anchored in my psyche as it's where the 'addiction started'... So much so that my last range visit included my Gamo Swarm, Gamo Expomatic and, my Sauer 100 XT Classic in 9.3x62!!!
As kids, all of us ran around the neighbourhood with air guns prior to society being socially engineered (brainwashed) with anti-gun sentiment. In fact it was completely normal to see a group of kids walk down the street with their air rifles in hand... And none of us caused any trouble with them because doing so would mean that they'd be taken away! Looking back on it, that's how we were taught to be responsible and we behaved.
But back to the Gamo Expomatic! If I close my eyes I can go back to the exact moment I first saw a Gamo Expomatic. My friend Mike had just bought it from Canadian Tire and was walking home, stopping alongside the road to load and shoot the repeating air rifle as cars whizzed by and no one took notice of a kid having fun shooting his air gun. I joined in, marvelling over the Expomatic's tube fed repeating ability and the speed with which you could fire follow up shots. Now, we all had air guns & they were a mix of inaccurate bb guns (repeaters like the Daisy) but most had single shot break barrel 177 pellet rifles which were more accurate, but slow in comparison to the Expomatic. And that repeating function came at a price, so I never bought one and some years past and I moved on to powder burners.
CGN's Equipment Exchange has "entered the chat"... Now, in my defence I was only innocently cruising around "window shopping" just before Christmas when an add popped up titled: GAMO EXPOMATIC 2000 Air Rifle .177Cal (495FPS)... Naturally, my jaw hit the floor and I typed a pm as quickly as I could enquiring about shipping & followed that up with I will take it.
Having secured the purchase & curious about this particular Expomatic's history I asked the seller for some insight & here is what he said:
So much of the seller's history aligns with mine with the exception being that he had a Gamo Expomatic in absolutely MINT condition. Short of not having the original box & manual, it was essentially a time capsule, and I might as well have walked into Canadian Tire and bought it new! And just holding it brings me back to being a kid, standing there with Mike shooting his new Expomatic alongside the road. Can you tell I'm now reminiscing and not lamenting? And the smile on my face, yup... It means that much to this aging Shooting Sports enthusiast!!!
Flash forward a couple months & I finally found time to hit the range with the Gamo Expomatic and shoot it for the first time. While I normally sight my air rifles in at 20m, the Expomatic is only 495 fps and I set a target up at 10m OR, typical pop can distances lol... With the first few shots I discovered it was shooting low & adjusted the rear leaf sight, marvelling over it's flawless mag tube feed system. After a couple iterations I printed the following 5 shot group with my aging eyes...
I was impressed with the old girl! And I'm so glad to have one, it is an absolute keepsake!
And without further adieu, here she is in all her glory, my MINT Gamo Expomatic and holy grail pellet rifle!
Cheers
Jay
Like most of us Shooting Sports enthusiasts, my childhood was filled with time spent outdoors and an obsession for air rifles which eventually lead me to powder burners. The Expomatic represents a missed opportunity of something I wanted but just couldn't afford at the time... Coming on forty years later and I can't count the number of times I've lamented the fact I didn't own a Gamo Expomatic when I was a kid, let alone today and I always regarded it as a mistake. And so air rifles are stoutly anchored in my psyche as it's where the 'addiction started'... So much so that my last range visit included my Gamo Swarm, Gamo Expomatic and, my Sauer 100 XT Classic in 9.3x62!!!
As kids, all of us ran around the neighbourhood with air guns prior to society being socially engineered (brainwashed) with anti-gun sentiment. In fact it was completely normal to see a group of kids walk down the street with their air rifles in hand... And none of us caused any trouble with them because doing so would mean that they'd be taken away! Looking back on it, that's how we were taught to be responsible and we behaved.
But back to the Gamo Expomatic! If I close my eyes I can go back to the exact moment I first saw a Gamo Expomatic. My friend Mike had just bought it from Canadian Tire and was walking home, stopping alongside the road to load and shoot the repeating air rifle as cars whizzed by and no one took notice of a kid having fun shooting his air gun. I joined in, marvelling over the Expomatic's tube fed repeating ability and the speed with which you could fire follow up shots. Now, we all had air guns & they were a mix of inaccurate bb guns (repeaters like the Daisy) but most had single shot break barrel 177 pellet rifles which were more accurate, but slow in comparison to the Expomatic. And that repeating function came at a price, so I never bought one and some years past and I moved on to powder burners.
CGN's Equipment Exchange has "entered the chat"... Now, in my defence I was only innocently cruising around "window shopping" just before Christmas when an add popped up titled: GAMO EXPOMATIC 2000 Air Rifle .177Cal (495FPS)... Naturally, my jaw hit the floor and I typed a pm as quickly as I could enquiring about shipping & followed that up with I will take it.
Having secured the purchase & curious about this particular Expomatic's history I asked the seller for some insight & here is what he said:
HISTORY
Hi, If I remember correctly, It was purchased between the year of 1990-1995 when I was in high school.
I love all sorts of air guns by the time and on one day with the most heavy snow in Toronto, I wanted that rifle so bad that I asked my classmate to drive me there even the weather is in so terrible condition. Because there are only one left in stock. Cars stuck (to the snow) on the streets everywhere.... The place was Canadian Tire...lol. I still remember I'm happily holding the rifle box hop into my classmate's car with satisfaction smile on my face and still seeing people pushing their cars just right in front of the street at Canadian Tire. The smile is the same as yours now...LOL
Since then, the Expomatic never leave my house. Not even to a back yard. Just in the rifle bag. And I think it had less than 200 pellets through it. Since then, the rifle had almost untouched as I have to go through university, and after graduated I went to overseas and work for few years than comes back to Toronto. The rifle always stays in the basement
And I'd got my PAL after I come back from overseas and able to fired real guns. Joining IPSC for 15 years now mainly shooting Open Division so the under 500FPS rifle in my safe seems less powerful.
Struggle a bit to sell this because this is one of the history of air rifle and I don't think there are any out there with this like new condition. I'm those people who buy something and keep it like new even after many years.
I'm happy I sold it to you as I know you'll take care of it as much as I do.
Hope you have a Happy New Year as well. Best Regards.
So much of the seller's history aligns with mine with the exception being that he had a Gamo Expomatic in absolutely MINT condition. Short of not having the original box & manual, it was essentially a time capsule, and I might as well have walked into Canadian Tire and bought it new! And just holding it brings me back to being a kid, standing there with Mike shooting his new Expomatic alongside the road. Can you tell I'm now reminiscing and not lamenting? And the smile on my face, yup... It means that much to this aging Shooting Sports enthusiast!!!
Flash forward a couple months & I finally found time to hit the range with the Gamo Expomatic and shoot it for the first time. While I normally sight my air rifles in at 20m, the Expomatic is only 495 fps and I set a target up at 10m OR, typical pop can distances lol... With the first few shots I discovered it was shooting low & adjusted the rear leaf sight, marvelling over it's flawless mag tube feed system. After a couple iterations I printed the following 5 shot group with my aging eyes...
I was impressed with the old girl! And I'm so glad to have one, it is an absolute keepsake!
And without further adieu, here she is in all her glory, my MINT Gamo Expomatic and holy grail pellet rifle!
Cheers
Jay
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