Just bought a Gamo Varmint Air Rifle - your thoughts?
- Thread starter Castle1
- Start date
Just curious which version you got - the PAL or non-PAL version?
My experience with Gamos have been all over the board. Have had some really weak and inaccurate rifles (Scout Recon -I think it was called - sold it over 13-14 years ago), had some that were innovative (Viper Express air shotgun/.22 combo - PAL), some that I should have never bought (Extreme CO2 pump .22 pellet - PAL - that broke on me shortly after the first few shots and unfortunately it was "Final Sale" through LeBaron. And then the one I had which I really liked, but the cocking power was too much for me - the Gamo Hunter Extreme .177 - PAL - wish I never sold that one since mine was very accurate despite how difficult it was to operate for my feeble Mr. Burns frame.
Nowadays, the selection of air rifles runs the gamut and there is more variety available than ever in the past. And of course, the price and quality run the range from budget plinker that may not hit the side of the barn, to competitive shooter quality.
My experience with Gamos have been all over the board. Have had some really weak and inaccurate rifles (Scout Recon -I think it was called - sold it over 13-14 years ago), had some that were innovative (Viper Express air shotgun/.22 combo - PAL), some that I should have never bought (Extreme CO2 pump .22 pellet - PAL - that broke on me shortly after the first few shots and unfortunately it was "Final Sale" through LeBaron. And then the one I had which I really liked, but the cocking power was too much for me - the Gamo Hunter Extreme .177 - PAL - wish I never sold that one since mine was very accurate despite how difficult it was to operate for my feeble Mr. Burns frame.
Nowadays, the selection of air rifles runs the gamut and there is more variety available than ever in the past. And of course, the price and quality run the range from budget plinker that may not hit the side of the barn, to competitive shooter quality.
My friend, don't feel that way. This is a community of varied shooting interests and as such, you will have people who will have $300 handguns to people who have handguns over $5000. I bought a precision rifle last year (Savage Axis II Precision) and it was around $1000 but then I saw all these people who had Cadex rifles upwards of $9000 and I felt like I was going to a comic book convention with Archie comics.
I have owned a number of PAL airguns and no way should you diminish your interest or feel out of place compared to anyone else. We are all here to enjoy shooting and guns, and that's the main thing.
Shoot and enjoy. Be sure to buy good quality pellets of varying weights to find out what shoots most accurately. I have a precharged pneumatic air rifle that shoots really well, but with Daisy pellets, it shoots like crap. You will never know how good your air rifle shoots, unless you experiment around with pellets. I like the JSB match pellets, but a crossman pellet is fine for knocking over plates, hitting spinners, etc. Velocity may not be your friend, and a heavier pellet might shoot better. But, who knows, you have to try.
This is an excellent point. Just like powder ammo, pellets may have a certain affinity with certain guns. For the longest time I used RWS Meisterkugeln (sp.) but on some guns, they performed better with RWS Hobby or more recently with Sig Zero. Go figure. I have a lifetime's worth of Crosman Premier pellets that are fun for plinking and training kids, etc. BUT sometimes those work better than some of the real premium stuff, so it's really an experimentation. Even two of the same model of air rifle would perform differently with the same brand and weight of pellets. Go figure.
One thing I should note about Gamos and this has been my experience whether it is break action or CO2 - they SEEM generally to be underpowered insofar as FPS goes. Over time, I ran all mine through a chrony and they have consistently performed under the advertised FPS. Yes, I understand you will never get 495 FPS on the nose for non-PAL, and for all models the velocity is an "up to ###X FPS", but my Gamos have always performed WELL under it with various pellets in various temperature conditions. This was not the case with my Dianas, Hammerlis, and even some cheap Umarex and Crosman models which were fairly consistently close to the advertised FPS. Depending on your application, it may not matter and may be a moot point, but I thought I'd mention it nonetheless
Just like most things, better can mean many things to many people, and while generally people equate price to better/worse, I can tell you that for many years I used a cheapo Crosman Phantom for any non-PAL target shooting. The gun was cheap, the barrel required a significant slap to break (don't know how many times I hurt my bony hands), but man, that thing was accurate as heck (I was part of some airgun forums back then and a few other people hated the Phantom and said it was inaccurate so it goes to show that every gun is different.
I had it for 14-15 years until I sold it last year to a fella on CGN who wanted to get his kids started on shooting air rifles. I have gone through many air rifles since I bought that Crosman and yet that thing lasted the longest of all the non-PAL options. The only other air rifle I have owned for almost as long is a PAL rated Hammerli Air Magnum 850 (long discontinued, methinks) and a much later PAL rated Diana 34 (can't ever go wrong with those). I have bought more expensive air rifles than the Phantom and some I liked, some I hated and some were meh. That $150 Phantom outlasted all of them. So when you get the Varmint try it out and please pass on some feedback if you can.
For what it's worth I bought one last week and it has a very crappy scope I'll be replacing and mediocre trigger that can be improves apparentlly by getting a m2.5 x .45 x 10 set screw to increase the adjustability of the sear. Despite this it shot well with 3 of 5 pellets I tried at 10m which is good for an inexpensive high velocity spring gun I guess. The bottom group is 4 shots.
themachinist
CGN Regular
- Location
- lower mainland , bc
If you can find a diana non-pal i would recommend. Got one about 15 yrs ago and its still hitting with simalir force as when i first got it.
The pal ones always stumped me. Youd figure hey a more humane way of dealing with rodent/pest control, but anywhere you cant shoot a 22lr, you technically cant shoot that either. Shame we have such harsh regulations on air rifles.
The pal ones always stumped me. Youd figure hey a more humane way of dealing with rodent/pest control, but anywhere you cant shoot a 22lr, you technically cant shoot that either. Shame we have such harsh regulations on air rifles.
Not sure about the rest of Canada, but in Quebec you need a PAL air rifle to hunt anything.
I currently have an Umarex 495 fps (which probably shoots around 300 fps) and I have also been eyeing the Gamo PAL rifles for their budget friendliness for hunting rabbit.
I watched a review with a pretty popular YouTuber and he tried a range of them from ~$100 -> $400 and they all basically shot the same. He could not understand why some were considered better or higher end, they all chrono-ed the same, same precision, etc. I will keep an eye on this thread and your review of the rifle... might pick one up based on your feedback.
I currently have an Umarex 495 fps (which probably shoots around 300 fps) and I have also been eyeing the Gamo PAL rifles for their budget friendliness for hunting rabbit.
I watched a review with a pretty popular YouTuber and he tried a range of them from ~$100 -> $400 and they all basically shot the same. He could not understand why some were considered better or higher end, they all chrono-ed the same, same precision, etc. I will keep an eye on this thread and your review of the rifle... might pick one up based on your feedback.
