Lateral Barrel Play in Gamo Viper

[dnttech]

Several weeks ago I began to notice a great deal of lateral barrel play in my son's Gamo.  Obviously, this translated into the pellets going pretty much wherever they wanted when he pulled the trigger.  I contacted a couple of folks who know Gamo's and really couldn't get a definitive answer on how to get the problem resolved.  The POS torx bolt Gamo uses at the barrel pivot point sure didn't help.

As a last ditch attempt to salvage this rifle...my son is pretty attached to it, I wrote to our own CDT and asked his opinion.  He wrote back and told me to call him so we could speak about the problem.  Well, I sort of covered that conversation in another post...I was totally impressed with Mr. Werner during our conversation, and I don't impress easily.

Bob simply said to send the rifle back to Gamo...it should be covered by their warranty.  Well, surprise, it was.  I received a letter from Gamo yesterday telling me the rifle was repaired...and oh yeah, send em 29.95 to cover the broken sping which WASN'T covered under warranty.  Damn, she broke another one.  lol  I sat down and actually counted the number of springs which have been in this rifle....6.  The original, 4 JM Tarantulas..2 of which broke at the first coil...the other 2 just flat wore out, and now a new Gamo spring.  That one will be taken out the moment I open the box when it gets back from Gamo.

The moral of the story is to make sure you send in your owner's warranty card...it saved me a 39.95 charge they would have billed me had I not registered the rifle.

[Magnum]

I had a similar thing exept was te lock up spring...Nice of Gamo to help you out that is impressive:) Wow thats alot of broken springs, maybe some dry firing or wrong weight pellets? Tony

[kp4att]

Robert I had a Benjamin Super Strake .177  last year and I had 3 broken springs in less than a year.  The problem was I DO NOT KNOW, because I had 3 rifle replacement for new ones in that year.  When I get the third new Super Strake .... I PUT  the RIFLE ON SALE, fast and furious!!!

[dnttech]

Tony, I only use JSB 7.9's or Predators in that one...Problem is, my kids (and I) have put roughly 25K pellets through that rifle.  A lot of shooting and a lot of springs.  Cheap to fix and they have fun...Now that we have a few more rifles to shoot, the Gamo won't be seeing as much use (abuse) as it did in the past.

[gamo2hammerli]

Yikes, 25K pellets thru her....that's sure alot.  6 springs would be normal.  I average about 3000 to 4000 shots per spring also.  Glad you got her fixed....the Viper is an accurate hard shooter.  I also had side to side barrel movement on my new to me G1 Extreme.....but it was an easy fix.....I just cleaned up the excess oil/grease off the threads of the bolt and Loc-Tited and tightened it.

[CharlieDaTuna]

It isn't that easy on a Gamo. The pivot bolt is chemically locked in and very hard if not impossible to remove without damage with few exceptions and especially on the new composite stocks..

[gamo2hammerli]

I've read about that. Seems like extreme heat might be needed to burn that pivot bolt off.....or at least used to loosen whatever cement they used.

My Big Cat's barrel have abit of lateral movement....but not excessively so I'm not going to try to loosen and tighten that bolt yet. Maybe never since I don't want hot heat near those plastic parts.

[dnttech]

Even though I normally speak very poorly of Gamo, (trigger, scope, workmanship, etc.) one positive thing I can say about the Viper...with that many shots through her, i really can't complain about how she's held up.  She's actually turned out to be a pretty good value for the money.  As far as the added cost of a tune, scope, trigger, etc., I do that (with the exception of the trigger) on a normal basis anyway.  As far as accuracy, 6-shot strings at 50 yards typcially measure 1/2" to 9/16" ctc.

[gamo2hammerli]

Yep, those not too expensive Gamo and Crosman air rifles are great.......once you get a good one and find the pellets they like. All of mine can knock down 7 to 8 spent shotgun shells out of 10 shots at 40 yard distances.....off a rest. If the scopes that came with their package lasts 500+ shots....then they've done their job....time to get a better aftermarket scope. A GRT III trigger will greatly improve their accuracy when shooting off-hand that's for sure.

[RussL]

A freind of mine is on his second viper the first would not group and with this one you can wiggle the barrel in all four directions!!!! It has not been fired, came out of the box that way. He is going to send it back with a letter of discontent.  He is not happy as he paid 17.95 to ship the first one back and then they charged 34.95 to send him a new one and that one is no good. Now it will cost him to return it again.
Russ

[gamo2hammerli]

Sorry to hear about that. I only have 3 "recent" Gamos; Viper, Whisper and Big Cat.......they all are very accurate although the BC is losing abit of it's accuracy due to barrel wiggle. I shoot the BC the most, maybe that's why the barrel is loose. The Viper and Whisper's barrel are wiggle-free. I've read that because of the plastic covering the metal barrel....it might wear out after alot of use.