Is there a great Gamo option?

[billday]

All the big box retailers around me have Gamo Whisper models (Wildcat and Swarm especially) on sale for Black Friday this year. I hunt squirrels with a 22 away from town, but for backyard pest control, I’m thinking about getting an air rifle. If you have experience, good or bad, with Gamo Whisper models, I’d appreciate hearing about it. Thanks, and good hunting this Fall!

 

[Te Hopo]

Did you end up buying one?
I reckon its hard to go wrong with a Gamo on special.
I haven't used either of the models you listed but I really like the Gamo CFX which is a fixed barrel with under lever cocking.
It's very accurate, great power and a reasonable weight.
Only thing I'm not a fan of is the mushy feeling trigger which admittedly I haven't tried adjusting too much

 

[billday]

Did you end up buying one?
I reckon its hard to go wrong with a Gamo on special.
I haven't used either of the models you listed but I really like the Gamo CFX which is a fixed barrel with under lever cocking.
It's very accurate, great power and a reasonable weight.
Only thing I'm not a fan of is the mushy feeling trigger which admittedly I have tried adjusting too much

I didn’t buy one yet, been out hunting and need to do a little more research before I do

 

[Laelkhunter]

Old post, but anyway Gamos are decent. Biggest complaint is the crappy trigger. If you get one, look into an aftermarket trigger from "Charliedatuna.com". It costs about $35, you can install it yourself in about 10 minutes, and makes a world of difference. Accuracy is very good with lead pellets, I would avoid the "alloy" pellets due to excessive wear on the barrel rifling.

 

[Gen273]

Old post, but anyway Gamos are decent. Biggest complaint is the crappy trigger. If you get one, look into an aftermarket trigger from "Charliedatuna.com". It costs about $35, you can install it yourself in about 10 minutes, and makes a world of difference. Accuracy is very good with lead pellets, I would avoid the "alloy" pellets due to excessive wear on the barrel rifling.

That's good information, I have been wanting a decent pellet or BB gun for small-game and such.

 

[NRA4LIFE]

Not a Whisper, but I have had a 440 Hunter for 20 years now. Still taking care of the pests.

 

[Wapiti1]

I got a Gamo Swarm for my grandson. For all the plastic and flash on it, it's a really good air rifle. Easily shoots dime size groups at 40 yards with Crosman Premier 14.3gr pellets. Shooting them at roughly 750fps and it will swat squirrels and starlings with no issue.

As for the CAT trigger. I replaced the second stage screw with a longer one (M2.5X10mm) and that takes it from stupid long pull with lots of creep to short pull with little creep. Breaks at 2.3lbs, but feels decent. Not match grade, but decent. Good enough for an 8 year old to shoot the bullseye out of the target at 30 yards in my back yard.

Really fun, and he likes it better than my Airforce because it has a magazine.

Jeremy

 

[bespain]

I'm shooting the .177 Whisper. Very accurate. Much quieter downrange than at the gun.

 

[JeffP_Or]

Gamo Swarm Whisper here; .22 cal - for just under a year. I'm about 180 pellets into it and the accuracy improved quite a bit. Only shot Gamo Hunter (15.4 gr) thus far. The magazine works flawlessly so far - as long as I remember to put it in.....
So called scope got replaced right away [but I expected that going in] and agree the trigger is no good. To be fair, I hate two-stage style triggers anyway but this one is bad. Indefinably bad to my thinking.
Sound seems loud at the gun to me but have little real experience; no downrange input. I did specifically get this one due to it shooting just under 1000FPS and 'expected' it to be much quieter. I don't think it stands out to anyone else as noisy though.

ETA: grabbed the thing on sale as well - I feel it was worth the $140-ish even with having to ditch the plastic viewfinder right away.

....I replaced the second stage screw with a longer one (M2.5X10mm) ....

Thanks for this - my next step for sure. Been looking into the replacement noted in post #4 but will start with your suggestion.

 

[RMM]

Look into compressed air guns. So much better than springers. I have an Umarex Notos in .22 cal and that little bastard is deadly. I killed a porcupine last fall with it as well as plenty of squirrels. Its also extremely quiet.

 

[Rich M]

I have a Gamo whisper something and it doesn't hold a zero - not with a scope or with iron sights. Shooting squirrels out of the bird feeder at like 25-30 feet. Last one I missed, it was shooting 2.5 inches left at 25 feet. Time before that was dead-on.

Plan to upgrade but don't know how much $ i wanna throw at an air rifle.

 

[Laelkhunter]

Rich M, when you shoot a "springer" air rifle, the recoil impulse is different than a normal rifle (firearm). It recoils forward and backward (due to the piston bottoming out in the compression chamber). This requires a different technique when shooting it. Instead of holding it tightly and trying to control it, use an "artillery hold"-google it if I have you totally confused with my description. Basically, you grip the stock as normal with your strong hand, but instead of tightly holding the fore end, just cup your support hand, and let the rifle recoil naturally with the movement freely moving to the rear when fired. Doesn't feel normal at first, but once you get this down, your accuracy will drastically improve. A better scope (I use a Hawke air rifle scope) will help if your original scope is losing zero. A scope on a springer goes through a lot more punishment than a scope on a high powered rifle. Also, try different pellets to find which is the most accurate. I found the best in my rifle was the Beeman FTS.