Buying Advice

[Trapper]

Hey guys,  I hope this is posted properly. Newbie here, been lurking awhile & still trying to figure things out. Really liking it here so far and I can see an serious addiction starting. Looking forward to sticking around this great site! Maybe someday I can help the newbie’s  lol Anyways,

I’m getting ready to purchase a Gamo big cat locally for 129.00. I'd upgrade the trigger to a grt3 and use 1 pc rings, probably later a better scope.

For the money should I be considering something else? I do want to stay with a .177
also should I consider cleaning the new barrel before firing, if so what’s the preferred method?

Thanks in advance, Tony
Roseburg, OR

[Magnum]

Tony, Welcome to GTA:)i think Gamo makes a great gun for the money they are good from get go, in my opinion ..and bonus is it can be tuned, triggered and scoped to perform even better:)  I assume price range is in the $129 to $200? not sure if your hunting or target, so will only say .177 is a good first choice. You might call Mike ask about a tuned  b-26  as an option ( http://www.airgunartisans.com/flyingdragon/ ) i know they are very accurate and similar to rws34 just a thought. Others will chime in im sure with good ideas too:) good luck on the many chioces out there, Tony.

[Brod_Man]

The B-26 is a clone of the great Beeman R9. The big cat will be a good rifle out of the box a nice rifle with the GRT-III, and an Superb rifle if you send it to Gene to get it tuned. Then you will be over $200, but it will shot as good as some $400 guns. Welcome to GTA by the way. I was a newbie once, well technically we are all newbies in a way. lol. You might want to look at a Crosman Quest. It will be the same. Good out of the box, great with a GRT-III, excellent after a tune. Hope you stick around.

[Trapper]

Thanks for the input guys! I'm looking forward to having something beside powder again to launch some lead. I had a .22 Benjamin in the 70's & couple bottom end BB guns over the years. I’m also looking to get something (Crossman 760?) that can be shot softly and discreet (2 pump dog controll) at low velocity. From what I’ve seen so far this is a fantastic site, it’s the people who make it that way!

[geewhiz380]

i agree with the above mentioned .i have a turbo tuned whisper by cdt and awsome shooter but, for the price i could have bought one already tuned in the classified section for about 200 too 300 with a decent scope .think about your choices cause they r many look at the reviews on your choices cause mike mileck does sell great rifles tuned already .the b26 is a great option i m trying now to trade a rifle for possibly a b26 which i wont lose ....good luck and nice to have u with us ....jorge....

[geewhiz380]

i have a benjamin franklin 1969.22 sweet shooter and a 1971 sheriden .20 cal blue streak  also sweet and hard hitter those r my gems ...

[shadow]

First off WELCOME to the  GTA FAMILY Tony and welcome to our addiction.   The family here has given you some good advice and the GAMO's are a good place to start and when you add a tune from Gene and trigger they will hold their own against the best of em out there. The B26's are real good out of the box and super with a tune and perform great for paper punching or hunting. Feel free to ask any questions on the shooter's and if you do any pest control post a hunt story and or pic in our Hunting Gate, us hunters here thrive on them hunting stories and pic's. Ed

[Brod_Man]

You said it shadow. If you dont want to bother with a tune. Buy a GAMO CFX. Its probably the best gamo out of the box, and then if you do tune it it will blow away all the other gamos.

[shadow]

Yup my CFX.22 is the only shooter in my collection that hasn't had a tune, slight twang but I can handle that when she's deadly accurate and put's a heck of a hurting on the Bandit's and Country Rats.   Ed

[rkr]

I don't know what's available to you locally, but one of them AR1000 versions (TF89 etc.) are very good guns for the money (~110$ here). Excellent trigger and good power. Them B26s from Mike Melick have also received a lot of praise. Nothing wrong with Gamos aither but IMO you get a bit more for your money with them chinese guns.

[larspawn]

Tony,

Welcome to your addiction!  I bought a BC at Gander Mountain for $100.  I figured I couldn't go wrong.  Brought it home shot it about 8 times and couldn't stand it.  It was so twangy.  It bucked and twisted all over and the trigger was so bad it wasn't enjoyable.  I put it away and didn't shoot it for about 8 months.  

With the help of some members here I did a home tune using Maccari spring and Apex seal.  Polished her up a bit and lubed.  Changed out to a Gold trigger and WOW!  What a different gun.  It just goes "thunk" now.  Using an artillary hold this rifle shoots the lights out!  Here's a post I made before on this rifle versus the TX200 I use for FT.  Check out the picture in Photbucket that shows a 5 shot string head to head.

Here's the thread url:  http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=17362&posts=7#M141807

My thought is that you can get lucky and get a really good inexpensive gun that shoots like nobody's business and you can pay a lot of money on an expensive rig and get a scattershot.  However what you are paying for is a bit more fit and finish, much nicer stock and better odds on getting a good shooter.  That said, the B25 I have shoots really nice and has a really nice trigger right out of the box.  I just lube tuned it today and its setting up tonight with loctite.  For $139 with an AO scope this is the deal of the century.

So here's the thing...buy a decent rifle.  Shoot the heck out of it.  Do some mods on it because that's where the fun is.  Finally, don't fret over the purchase because it won't be your last!

Andy Wong aka larspawn

[Gopher]

If you want a 760, I have one in the clasifieds cheap! along with a Gamo Delta.

[gamo2hammerli]

The Big Cats are abit light.....I already have rags stuffed into the hollow stock.  If you shoot off-hand it might sway.  Just last week I shot my Big Cat and Viper at 30 meters distance off a camera tripod....and the twang and lightness of the BC really hurt its performance.  The Gamo Viper (rag stuffed too) is abit heavier with less twang so it's groups were better.  Yesterday I opened them both up and applied heavy tar onto their springs.....and cocked the guns (compressed the spring) and let them sit for over 10 hrs.....hopefully it'll lessen the jolt and twang when shooting them later.  Hope this helps in your decision to what to buy.

[larspawn]

When I upgraded my BC to a Maccari spring the thing I noticed was that the stock BC spring was kinked a bit.  Not bad but the thought is that it compresses irregularly and thus when it decompresses it has to take some of that kink out.  I.e., translates into a bit of twang and jerk.  If the Maccari spring is more linear and compresses evenly it decompresses evenly.  Hence the smoother recoil back and not all around.  Translation is better accuracy.

If you take a kinked spring and "set" it by leaving it cocked you just get a less powerful but still non-linear spring.  You are probably right in that it is less noticable because the spring will have less energy stored.  But it still doesn't fix the fact that it is non-linear.  You are right that less power means most likely more controllable and accurate shots.  That's why lots of shooters 'detune' and why a super magnum like TF89 or RWS 350 are in general not so accurate and need a pro-tune to bring out their best.  Stock spring was shooting CPLs at 890 or so and the Maccari is about 840.  I figure what good is the extra fps if you can't hit what you're aiming at!

Well the joy of this hobby is there is so much to learn by trial and error and the worst thing that can happen is you just have to try something else.  Its not like the gun will blow up on you.  That's why I feel comfortable trying all sorts of goofy ideas that come up in my head!

Good luck and just remember its an adventure and the journey is half the fun!

Andy Wong aka larspawn

[gamo2hammerli]

Hey Andy, you're right.....all the springs that I've looked at from well shot springers (Over 2000 shots) have one or two slight bends in them. For sure those bends add to the torque and twang to the gun. I've read a few posts where the shooters left their springers cocked accidentally and then lost some fps/power after....and I said that's a cheap fix for my jumpy air rifles. Will see how it works out later in the week.