THE BEST PELLETS FOR A GAMO BIG CAT

[gamo2hammerli]

Ron, welcome to the GTA forum and family. I think this is the first post I've seen from ya.

[Rontier]

Yes it's my first, I've got a Quest 117. 1000 or about that fps.
And a Big cat that I was hoping to get a better gun over all?
I have scopes on both Simmons & Bushnell ..
The gun shop told me the best to expect from eather gun was a 3" group at 30ft.
Mike at the gun shop pre Him a scope is over kill on both guns?

With me at my age Ike was presadiant, & My Eye surgury did not go very good!!  So a Scope is the only way I can see, I told Him!
But I still love to shoot, & more like to modify them, as in cutting down & adding 1 1/4" to the stock on the Quest, & added a stainless plate in the stock for the cocking Roller to ride on
it had allready worked into the stock and the roller is flat on one side! thinking of making a new roller, but I'll see how this works with moly 60 on it??
RD

[gamo2hammerli]

I have a Crosman Storm XT and Sierra Pro.....both guns are clones of your Quest 1000.  And a Gamo Big Cat also.  All my air rifles are not tuned.....and they all have less than 3/4" groups out to 10 yards......sometimes I get 1/4" groups (10 shots) if I'm really lucky.  I think the shop owner told you to expect 3" groups so as to not raise your expectations.

First thing to do is get rid of the original trigger....and install a GRT III trigger from Charlie Da Tuna.....that will shrink your groups immediately.  Get used to shoot your airguns the same way....how you hold it, where you hold it and how firm (Most say to hold it loosely....let the airgun do it's stuff).  Shoot a tin of pellets....or more, to season the barrel and smooth out the innards of the gun.  Then you'll need to try out a few different pellets to see which one's your gun(s) like.  Some airguns settle down early....most of my airguns needed only about 200 shots and they begun to group well.

Make sure the scope mount and scope are not moving....that'll really mess with the accuracy.  And when you find the pellet(s) that shoot well with your airgun and suddenly the groups start to spread out.....maybe you'll need to clean the barrel.  Search the threads here.....there's a few describing how to clean a barrel.

Later on.....when the gun is well used....she might like a different diet of pellets.  Hope this helps.

Oh yes....just re-read your post; The Bushnell scope is most likely airgun rated.  Not too sure about the Simmons though....unless it's a high-end scope.....even then, it could still be not airgun rated.

[Rontier]

hello, there I just got time to talk airguns Thank you for the info, The Storm has the Simmons 4x32. 30-30 rated, the GRTIII I have just put them on & so far I'm not sure about them it's like if you blow on it ! WOW it go's off, take some getting use to! & I've took the storm & the Big cat down & working the stock some just to smooth them up a little. hope to get them back in working order in a few days, I Build Bycyles for a living. & have just a little time for the shooting/Sanding /Staining.. The Big cat stock is now a walnut brown!
still cutting the grip on the storm some, to fit a lifty/south paw shooter.
regards
RD

[gamo2hammerli]

Ron, that's the thing.....even an expensive and/or excellent scope rated for a magnum firearm might get "broken" by a puny airgun. Most firearm scopes are made to withstand recoil one-way.....airgun recoil is forward and rearwards. Search the threads here on GTA.....you'll see that alot of long-time airgunners will say to stay with an airgun rated scope for mid and high recoil air rifles. Some of the brands that have airgun rated scopes would be Leopold, Bushnell (I have a few Banner models and a Trophy) and Hawke.

I have a Simmons 3X12-50mm scope......low end I would presume since it was only $80.00U.S. I had it on a springer......then when I checked on the net.....it's not rated for airguns or not. I immediately took it off and put it on a PCP air rifle (No recoil).

[Rontier]

I gess the guy at the gun store don't know what he's walking about then I may try to take it back & trade for the bushnell 3x9 42.
I'll do some looking here first, the Bushnell cost as much as the gun? hoping for one around 60 or so.
Thanks for the info
regards
ron

[gamo2hammerli]

Oh yeah, a few of my scopes cost more than the airgun it's on.  Just for plinking....any ole scope will do.....but when you start to get serious about accurate shooting....you'll appreciate the higher quality scopes.

[pindog2000]

looking at a leapers or centerpoint for my buddies upgrade from stock.

[Evo|ve_S|66]

Leapers and Centerpoint are "almost" the same thing. It's just that one brand is cheaper than the other, and they have the close to identical line of scopes. Anyway, don't quote me on that! =] However, from what I've seen. Leapers is a good brand for scopes.

Also in regards to your pellet question, the best thing you can do is to test out a few and see what it likes. From me personally, it liked the RWS Super Points and the Crosman Premier Hollows

-Jarred

[Rontier]

Hey all,
Got my Big cat put back together with the GRTIII Trigger. & with a little ajustments it shoot good.
Back to the Pellet, so far the Gamo's Pellets are not good for anything!! with mine I got the 4 pack of Gamo & they all hit very low,They
are a dry pellet no oil like the croseman. & some were very thght some very loose! $ 10.99 down the tube
But the Match they were all over the paper could not get close to 3" but the Hunters were 2", the Magnums were 2 1/4 groups
& putting them up to the crosman Hunting point that did 1" or less .there is no matching the Crosman Hunters in the Big cat.
I would like to try the Crosman dome ones &see how they do.
Was going to use the Gamo's for can bustin but I don't think they will excaped at a close range 15yards or less,.
So with I expert test at 30yards ..HA-HA. and a tin of crosmans, & my used med bottles filled with water cap on tight & at 25yards
blasted to bits..
Ron
aim high & may get lucky  

[gamo2hammerli]

Here's some pellet choices that my Big Cat likes and dis-likes. All ten shot groups indoors at 9 meters distances.

7mm center to center group: Crosman Wadcutter and Hunting (Both cheapies in 1250 count milk cartons), Crosman Premier Hollow Points and Copperhead Hyper Velocity

10mm c.t.c group: H&N Diabolo Baracuda, Gamo Match

11mm c.t.c group: RWS SuperDome, Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum and SuperPoint

19mm c.t.c group: Daisy Precision Max Wadcutter

21mm c.t.c group: Gamo Tomahawk

It is important to note that an airgun might like different pellets afterused for awhile.

When I first tested my pellets with my BC she had 12mm c.t.c groups with the Crosman Wadcutters and 24mm groups with the Crosman Hunting pellets. After 1500 shots those two pellets are number one in my BC with 7mm groups.

Btw, the Crosman Premier SuperPoints are the worst pellets I've got, none of my airguns like them......the 11mm group I got above was pure luck....usually those pellets give a 25 to 30+mm group!!!!

Be aware that the H&N Diabolo Baracuda and Crosman Premier Ultra Magnum are heavy pellets....over 10.5 grains. There's a consensus that heavy pellets will shorten the life of the airgun's spring. I only use them for testing....and only use a heavy pellet if they happen to shoot excellent for the GTA Shooting competitions.....i.e., my Gamo Viper using .177 Beeman Kodiaks (10.6 gr) for the 30 yard distances matches. I go back to the 7.9gr pellets for general plinking.

[Evo|ve_S|66]

For some reason, the GAMO pellets for me aren't good....in any way. That being said, probably the only pellet from GAMO that performs pretty darn well is the Rockets, now that's a surprise. They are my favorite .177 cal pellet. I now want to see how the .22 cal Rockets will perform, hopefully I can get some soon. GAMO's regular pellets seem to be very cheaply made. Even cheaper than the Daisy's in my book. And the accuracy is horrible at 20+ yards. Now this is the GAMO sampler pack that I was using...... Even so after seeing the RWS pellets, nothing even comes close to great quality besides Crosman =]

-Jarred

[Rontier]

For me the 4 pack was an test on the Big cat, all are aroud the 7.87 gr- 7.56 gr.
And out of the 4 tins I got 1 that I'll shoot!! :[..

well next is the Quest 1000 it is being restocked, of sorts, sanded, stained, cut down, :]..
Ron

[larspawn]

I noticed a few recommended the same that I've found shoot the best...Crosman Premier Hollow Points from Wallyworld.  I've tested all sorts of pellets and CPHP is the favorite of my Big Cat.  Also, if you are looking for a decent scope check out http://www.dealextreme.com  I put the 6-24x50 IR on mine.  It is only $56 or so and I used the cheap $4 rings.  The scope says Tasco on it and it works fine.  For the price it is a great scope and I've had no creep with the rings.

Andy Wong aka larspawn

[Rontier]

With mine a pellet liter then 7.50 will fly all over the paper!
so the crosman wads, Hunters, & hollowPoint work very good. at 25 yards. & I put a 3x9x40 Bushnell on works very good.