Welp I really like my $74 WalMart Shadow 1000, the only thing I don't care for is the plastic stock. So when I came across the Natchez refurb Gamo Hunter 220 for $79, I figured "what do I have to lose?". So I ordered it, that was tuesday, today is friday and I came home from work with a big box on my front door:)
I've never ordered a refurb anything, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Maybe a dirty return with busted sights, a huge scratched cracked stock, a gun that had been dry fired till it popped, really wasn't sure. I opened the BIG box, and pulled the smaller box out from the carton to see the words "Gamo Refurb" right on the front of the box, with no other description. Well at least it isn't a customer return! I openned the box and was surprized to find all of the normal Gamo paperwork, shooting game CDRom, etc...and a nice looking wooden stocked gun, wrapped in a plastic bag, one small piece of styrofoam to keep things snug...thank goodness for the huge second box it came in that was filled with "styro peanuts".
I gave it the once over, nothing obviously messed up, bluing looks good, small handling marks and one thin scratch on the stock(not bad enough for a return, we all know I'll refinish it anyways:) no big deal. Since it was dark when I got home, and raining the only functional tests I could do were into the lump of duct seal in my garage. I broke it open, felt nice and smooth, loaded a pellet, unloaded into the duct seal. It's a little loud, but no spring twang, broke it back opened and saw a puff of smoke. I shot 7-8 more rounds into the duct seal, power is just like the Shadow I have...or the penetration makes it look like it is. Still smoking a little, but I'll get some heavier pellets into it tomorrow and see if I can quiet it down. All in all, if this had been a full priced gun I probably would still have been mostly happy, with the exception of the small stock scratches and a little burr I found just above the transfer port. These are all things I've found on pretty much everything I own, but only because I look at things too hard:) At $79 I am one happy man!!! I also ordered a refurb Bushnell Sportview scope 3x9x32, which came in marked "demo". It is crystal clear, but does have some really light ring marks...I think this will be a good one too, but I wont know till I get outside to shoot it.
As I said I'll most likely refinish the stock, stipple the grip, and add a nice cushy buttpad...., but this is stuff I do, it has nothing to do with the quality of the gun as it came from the box. This was an excellent deal at $79, and I would definately order another one at that price.
Dan