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Gateway To Product Reviews => Air Gun Reviews => : doc1310 June 27, 2009, 03:29:02 PM

: Whisper .177 review Long
: doc1310 June 27, 2009, 03:29:02 PM
Gamo Whisper .177 Review

  UPS dropped off my new Whisper .177 Thursday. It came double boxed and all seems to be in order. This is the Gas Spring version from Pyramyd Airgun Mall. They even included the original spring from the gun in the box.
  The rifle comes with a Gamo 3x9x40 scope and a one pc mount with a stop pin. I purchased the 10 shots for 10 dollars and they included the chrony tape.
  I took the rifle out side and fired a few rounds. It cocks smoothly but there is no slack, it's right to the point all the way down until the barrel clicks into place. It's not hard, maybe 35 pounds of effort. My RWS 34 Pro was a lot harder until it broke in, this effort will stay the same all the time however. Still it's an all day shooter.
  The trigger was not bad at all. If I had not already bought a GRT III, I would have left it alone. It was a lot better trigger than my Gamo Varmint Hunter which I returned several months ago before I found this great forum. The trigger is steel, not plastic which I had heard. It had a good first stage and a little longer 2nd stage but broke crisply. They seem to be working on their triggers.
  It smoked, cracked and dieseled all day giving off that burnt smell. Using open sights I couldn't hit a thing. I noted when trying to adjust the rear sight it was loose, taking it up stairs I tried to tighten it up and found that the hinge pin did not go all the way through like it was suppose to. As you can see in the picture, the hole wasn't stamped all the way through and there should have been a c-clip at the end.
It's not enough of a problem to send it back, but I will try to contact Gamo for another...if I can get through their poor customer service.
I put down a towel and removed the stock, which by the way feels good. It came to my shoulder well and just fit right. The rifle weights 5 pounds w/o scope on my bathroom scale and feels balanced.
I opened my computer and brought up CDT's guide for installing the GRT III trigger. I had to turn the rifle over so I could get to the c-clip, using a pair of needle nose pliers opened just slightly I pushed the c-clip off the pin.......where did it go?? There was no pop, I was very careful...I swear! It was gone......just gone! I looked in the trigger housing...lots of grease in there...I used several different lights and magnifying glasses....looked on the floor.....on the towel....under the towel.....all around the desk......$#%^#@@!!!!  DANG!! It was gone. Since I wasn't going to use the rear sight I took one off of there, It seemed to be the right size.
I removed the trigger according to CDT's instructions...very carefully...I moved slowly....once the trigger was free of its housing....springs and pins flew everywhere! DANG, DANG, DANG!!!! So far I'm having a rotten time with all of this. I tried to figure out how to put the trigger back together when I realized that I didn't need to since I had the GRT III. I finished following the instructions and put everything back together. Er!....whats this part? On the cocking arm there is a round black plastic part, which looks like a spacer that had come off......so off comes the stock again, spacer put back on, blue locktite on the threads, tightened each bolt until it smoked and then backed off a quarter turn! LOL!! Army humor!
  Using the Gamo Hardware I installed a Centerpoint 4x12x40AO which looks great on this rifle. Taking it outside I lined everything up down range and slowly tightened up all the screws using the supplied allen wrenches
  Since the crony at Pyramyd used 7.9 gr pellets, that's what I had on hand. I started with Crosman Destroyers because they make nice round holes in the paper. The first few shots didn't even hit the paper at 20 meters. 30 clicks up elevation finally got me there but the pellets were scattered all over the place. Figuring that its a new gun, I just need to get a bunch of lead down range, but I still thought it would group somehow, but it didn't.
  After 20 to 30 shots I switched pellets. All this time the rifle is spitting smoke and cracking. Looking at the breech I wipe off a glob of grease near the chisel ( that sharp looking thing which locks the barrel closed.) Anyways, this chisel goes right past the breech seal, I sure the clearance is OK but if a pellet should be hanging out of the loading port just a small bit, it's going to tear the seal. Bad design I'd say.
   Switching pellets didn't solve the problem. This rifle is scattering shots all over the target face. After one shot, something hits me in the arm. Looking down I see it's a c-clip. So that's where it was, it was stuck in the grease after all. I put it aside and kept trying to get even a small group going with this rifle. After shooting another ten pellets, again something hits me in the arm, looking down I see another c-clip! OH NO! That means that there is really nothing holding the trigger in the rifle..( at least that's what I'm thinking.)
  Apart comes the gun again and this time I use the smaller c-clip on the GRT III trigger. Still, shots are all over the place.
  Here is another post I had before writing this  http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=18138&posts=14&highlight=new%20shooter%20in%20town&highlightmode=1#M147941

  I like the rifle, Its lite weight, its powerful and strong, no twang just a solid thunk. Its most likely hold sensitive. Every time I get it to group well, the next ten shots will be all over the place. At times, it seems like the rifle needs to warm up. I'll shoot 10 to 12 pellets that will hit all over then it will settle down and shoot well for the next 25 or so. I'll go change the target, shoot again and find pellets all over. Maybe it is my hold, I just don't know. I'll switch pellets to heavy ones and find the same things, nothing is consistent. It's easy to say that its me and my shooting style. I shoot off of a rest, trying to take as much of me out of the process as possible and still its a wild shooter.

  As of this date, 06-27-09 this rifle has destroyed 3 scopes and I've had it lest than a month. The supplied Gamo scope didn't last long and the two centerpoint 4x16x40AO from Walmart lasted a little longer. One I think was defective. The turrets became loose and refused to turn after awhile. The other was fine and then suddenly lost its focus after during shooting. Walmart was great and took them back. This time I got a 3x12x40AO Bushnell from them. So far all is well.
  This rifle does kick, has lots of recoil and is at least a 1000 shot rifle before it breaks in. If it could become accurate, it will be one killer rifle. I hope it happens soon.

Thanks for listening,