Gamo Whisper - Can't get a good group with a Scope

I was having problems getting a good group with the factory Gamo scope.  I believed it was a parallax issue so I purchased a BSA 3-12x44 scope.  When i mounted it on the receiver, the first shot was about 5 inches to the left and 8 inches low at 25 yards.  I adjusted it up and right to what I thought was dead on.  My gun shoots all over the target!  I can't get a group of less than 4 inches at 25 yards.  I have a .22 Marlin long rifle and a Bushnell scope that I can get 1/4 inch groups with at 25 yards!  What am I doing wrong with my .177 cal Whisper?  

I see so many people posting pictures of super tight groups with their Whisper.  I've seen all the reviews and Gene was getting super small groups at 30 yards.  I saw a video on youtube of some guy shooting his Whisper at 100 yards and hitting a metal spinner!  Why can't my Whisper get good groups!  I am getting so frustrated...

I am shooting from a bench at 25 yards.  Sometimes I notice that it groups well for 2 or 3 shots, then it will start drifting and then it's all over the place.  Looking at the way the Whisper barrel breaks, I don't honestly see how it could possibly be accurate.  When you close the gun, what makes sure that it's always in the same spot when you close it? If you shoot with the open sights, it has no effect because the sights are fixed to the barrel.  When you use a scope, the scope is mounted to the receiver and the barrel should close to the same spot each time, but I'm really not sure that it does.  I noticed that you can wiggle the barrel a few thousands of an inch to the left or right when it's closed, so that seems like that's all it would take to throw the pellets off course. I'm starting to wonder if it's because I'm left handed or something!

Has anyone else experienced this, or am I the only one getting bad groups?

[SGTMEATSAUCE]

More importantly, what ammo are you using, Springers generally like one or two different pellets. The Whisper likes pellets around 8-8.5g. If mine is dead one if I shoot a Raptor it is off 3-4 inches...

I've tried all of the Gamo (Raptor, Match, Hunting), none of them work good.  A week ago I was using RWS Superdome with no significant improvement.  This week I'm using Miesterklugen (not sure how to spell it).  They are supposed to be top of the line, but I'm not seeing any improvement other than they punch a really nice hole through the paper...

Jason, I'm no expert, but if you can feel any play in the barrel lockup, then it wouldn't surprise me if your Whisper is giving you trouble grouping shots because of it.

Just to convince myself, a few minutes ago I checked the free play on my 3 mainline break-barrel springers by placing my right thumb and forefinger on either side of the barrel hinge joint touching both the barrel and the hinge part, and tried to wiggle the muzzle of the barrel with my left hand up and down and back and forth. I didn't feel any play at the hinge, nor did I notice any movement at the muzzle end.

If you feel any noticeable play in that joint, that could be your trouble.

Bryan

We ordered a Whisper for my boy and it arrived this past Monday.  1st thing I did was drag some patches soaked in a gun cleaner/degreaser through it until the patches came out clean.  10 minutes later it was grouping very nicely using 7.9 gr Crosman Premier pellets.  It has held it's zero as well.  
  I'm technically right handed but shoot left handed whereas my boy, a new shooter, is right the opposite.  He is left handed but shooting right handed.  I can get the gun to group quater sized group at 30yds give or take.  But my boy who doesn't know how to shoot, without using a mouse/keyboard or an Xbox controller, has the kind of results you are seeing.  
  If you are new to air rifles know this.  You do not have to hold the gun to get it to group.  Hold it as lightly as possible without gripping the forestock.  Just lay the barrel end into your palm and slowly squeeze the trigger until she pops.  If you quickly yank the trigger you'll never group well.  If you find the stiff, long-pulling trigger to be your problem, Charliedatuna here makes some really nice replacement triggers that everybody raves about.  I had my replacement trigger in hand before I had my Whisper.  I intend on chronying the gun and shooting groups with a number of different pellets, with the stock trigger and after the GRTIII trigger replacment.  I'll put my findings up here for everyone to see.

http://www.charliedatuna.com/index.html

[Big_Bill]

Hello Jason,

First, did you do a good cleaning of your barrel when you got it home form the store ?

Second, check the stock screws, make sure they are tight.

Third, I would remove the scope and mount, clean off the scope mounting rails with alcohol, have a nip, clean the scope mounts,bolts andand the scope tube with alcohol. Put it all back together using thread lock blue, lightly on the threads and put some on the area of the mounting rails that the scope mount will attach. Let this all sit overnight.

Fourth, You may need to get yourself a pellet sampler of different pellets to test in your rifle. air rifles are very selective on the pellets that they like ! And after 1000 pellets or so this can change.

Bill

I'd like to thank everyone for all of the great advice!

I do have a CDT trigger.  It's much nicer than the factory trigger.  It's still a little heavy of a pull so i do have a tendency to jerk the trigger.  

I was surprised to hear that when you shoot a springer that you don't have to hold it very tightly.  I was doing just the opposite, holding it as tightly as i could.  I figured that the piston would have to slam forward before the gas was compressed/released so that the gun would 'move' before the pellet was able to exit the barrel.

I think maybe the biggest issue is that I never cleaned the barrel when I got the gun.  It came in a plastic bag so I assumed it would be clean.  Maybe they ship them with some kind of crap in it that keeps it from rusting.  I will clean the barrel tonight.

Tomorrow I am going to have someone that shoots in 10M air rifle competitions try and get some good groups with it.  He has been shooting for a little over 10 years now.  He is going to bring his competition rifle along and shoot both of them side by side.  If it still doesn't get good groups, then I guess I'm out a bunch of money LoL!!!

I'll have to post pics of the targets

How to marksman does with your rifle.

[gamo2hammerli]

Keep us posted.....I plan on getting one of those Whispers in the future.  Btw...is it really quieter than other 1000fps airguns?

I should be able to let everyone know how much quieter the Whisper is than the Big Cat and my RWS 48 probably this weekend.  I'll record all 3 guns mulitple times into my recording studio and check the db levels of each.  I could even supply you with mp3 sound files so you could listen to their reports.  Everybody got their ears own?

Ok, lets see if i can do this in some kind of logical order...

Me and my friend Andrew went to an indoor air rifle range tonight.  He is a competition shooter.

In this first picture, Andrew shot 3 rounds of RWS Meister and three rounds of RWS superdomes through his Feinwerkbau 600.  He then shot 3 rounds of Meister through my Gamo.  These shots were taken at 20 yards.  He was using peeps sights on the Feinwerkbau and a 3x12x44 BSA scope on my Gamo Whisper.  As you can see, the Feinwerkbau with the Meister pellets did the best.

This one is me shooting the Feinwerkbau 600 at 20 yards.  I am able to get semi-decent groups with the peep sights, even without the use of an x-box controller

This pic is me shooting the Gamo Whisper at 20 yards with my 3x12x44 BSA (Set to 12x).

Keep in mind that those black sections are about the size of a half-dollar.

I was taking 5 shots at each one and adjusting the scope after each group of 5 shots.

This pic is me shooting the Gamo Whisper at 20 yards with my 3x12x44 BSA (Set to 12x).

For these groups of 5, I made no adjustments at all to the scope.

This pic is me shooting my Gamo Whisper at 10 Meters with my 3x12x44 scope set to 6x.  I shot in groups of 5.  I was adjusting the scope elevation each time I shot a group of 5.  

The numbers on the paper (1 through 5) represent what order I shot the groups in.  The arrows next to the numbers indicate the changes i made to the scope for each grouping.

I'm not really sure what conclusions to draw from all of this.  It would seem that my Whisper randomly throws a pellet here and there.  It would also seem that it's decently accurate at 10 Meters.  I can't anywhere near the results that Gene is getting (from his review) but then again, my gun hasn't been tuned by Charlie.

I hope people get some type of enjoyment from these postings, I put two hours into shooting them at the range and about 3hours into preparing the pics and posting them on here LOL!