GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Gamo Gate => : longislandhunter December 09, 2006, 08:55:38 AM
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Well, after a couple of months of periodically checking my local Walmarts I finally found one of them that is having a clearance sale on the GAMO shadows and had one in stockl. I took my daughter Christmas shopping today for my wife and stopped in at the sporting goods dept. like I always do. Sure enough there was one S1K left on the shelf marked at $74.00 for clearance.
The box was badly taped up, indicating it was a return, so I opened the box to look at it. It looked perfectly fine and I was all set to walk to the counter with it but as I held it up to look at it something caught my eye. Holding the rifle in front of me it appeared as though the barrel had quite a bit of droop in it. I realize this can simply be an illusion and the it might not really have any droop at all, but the more I looked at it the more it still looked like a bad case of barrel droop. Anyway, I didn't buy it but now I'm sitting home thinking perhaps I should've picked it up anyway. I think I'll take a ride back there tomorrow and if the rifles still there I'll just take it as a sign from the air gun gods that I should buy it. All the other Walmarts in my area also had the clearance signs up but they had sold out of the rifles.
Jeff
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May be a diamond in the rough and good karma"s a plus :)
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You can always sent it to gamo for replacement.
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Ya know,,, I honestly never thought about that option. You're right. You convinced me,,,,, if it's still there tomorrow morning I'm gonna buy it. Of course my luck being what it is I can probably bet money on the fact that it's gone by now :(
Jeff
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1) Don't expect it back soon. Took a month for me to get back my Hunter 220 (barrel angles off to the left).
2) Talk to them on the phone first. Try to get them to admit that it needs replacing. Get the guy's name and "RA" number. Include that in a letter packed with the gun when you send it in for warranty adjustment and SPECIFICALLY ASK for a new rifle as per the recommendation of the customer service guy you talked to. A week after they get it, call back, talk to the same guy, and find out if the gun's been "checked in" yet. Don't be surprised if it hasn't yet. Do it again at 1 week intervals until the gun's been taken care of.
Sound like I'm speaking from experience? Yup! 'Cause I DIDN'T do all that my FIRST time through, so I got back the original gun, unrepaired. And I had to pay to send it off AGAIN.
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To get an idea if it does have droop just wrap it in a rag and clamp it in a vice with two levels on it, one on the barrel and one on the reciver. if it has any droop you should see a difference in the levels.
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Well, took a ride back to Walmart with my daughter this afternoon and sure enough that S1K was still there. I took it out of the torn up box and looked at it closely again,,, still definatley looked like the barrel was drooping badly, but I figured if the manager gave me even enough off to cover the tax I'd buy it. I walked over to the counter and stood there for a few minutes waiting for someone from the sporting goods dept. to arrive. As I was standing there a box standing up in the corner on the inside of the counter that was partially covered by another box caught my eye. I reached over grabbed the box and pulled it out. It was brand new Shadow still in the brand new unopened box. The box didn't even have a mark on it, it looked like it just came off a truck. I ran over to one of those price scanning machines they have in the isles and put the bar code under the scanner,,,,, up came $74.00 clearance price. Oh boy !! My daugher and I made a bee line for the counter and I paid for my new Shadow.
When I got home I took the new shadow out of the box, and it's wrappings, and was very happy with what I saw. According to the serial number the gun was produced in 2006, no visual evidence of barrel droop, the bluing is deep and dark, much better than my other shadow, the front site is hooded - which I really like, the rear site is a different style than on my other shadow or the rear site on the othe shadow in walmart and again I like this style better, and it has that euro style scope stop with the screw that screws down into the receiver top - I like this better also. So, all in all I very happy with the deal/rifle I got :)
I had decided last night, after passing on the returned shadow in the destroyed box that looked like it had droop, that if I went back today and the gun was still there then the air gun gods wanted me to buy it. Well, finding that brand new pristine shadow leaning in the corner of the counter was definately a sign that I should buy it. At least that's gonna be my story if my wife finds out I bought another airgun :)
Jeff
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Now that is a happy ending!
You guys and your clearance Shadows are killing me. I can't find any in my neck of the woods.
Course, if I tried to buy one now my wife would really hurt me. I've already spent my Xmas money. Hehehehehe
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Ya there ain't crap around here either, if I found a few Shadows new for 74 bucks I would buy them all.
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Way to go Jeff...:) Now you are set... hehe........ Ya never can have enough of them Shadow's. Now think about swapping out ur barrel wiff one of Riches barrels. Very nice and easy swap for me on this last one. May be food fer thought down da line. hehe
Gene
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You read my mind Gene,,,,,right now I'm gonna leave the gun as it is but later on down the road I might want to put a .20 cal barrel on it. If I do I'll definately get in touch with Rich. For right now I'm gonna use it as a "yard gun" and plan on leaving it with the open sights. Lately I've been getting pretty good starling shooting in the yard thanks to the wifes multitude of well maintained bird feeders. Of course this shooting takes place while she's at work. I 'm gonna leave the new shadow with the open sights and leave it in a handy spot in the basement so I can grab it quick and pop the starlings when I see them. :)
Jeff