Received yesterday the two refurbished Gamo 890s I order from Cabela's a few days ago. This afternoon I tested one of the guns and thought some of you may be interested in what I found. First, both guns show some marks on the wood, metal, etc., as one should expect from a refurbished gun. If one is interested in a showpiece gun, refurbished is not the way to go. Included are a few images of the gun. Generally speaking it looks good to me with a few scratches here and there which are of minor importance.
http://www.bwgriffin.com/airguns/gamo890/gamo890a.jpghttp://www.bwgriffin.com/airguns/gamo890/gamo890b.jpgThe 890 appears to be a Gamo 440 with the sights removed and a plastic muzzle break added. Cabela's on-line advertisement/listing for this gun was unclear about which scope came with the rifle. Both 890s I received came with BSA 3-12x50 adjustable objective scopes. The one I used today seems to be nice, relatively clear, and certainly very functional across the entire range of adjustment from 3 to 12 magnification. The scope comes with screw-in lens covers. This was a very nice bonus because Cabela advertised earlier a fixed magnification scope for this gun. So I was surprised and pleased with the 3-12x50 scope.
To mount this scope, the 890 included high, two-piece mounts. While the scope is nice, these mounts should be replaced with something that will stay put on the scope rail. I'll be ordering a one-piece high scope mount in the near future. Since the BSA scope has a 50mm lens, high mounts are required. I tried Accushot medium mounts and they did not provide enough clearance for the objective lens of the scope to be adjusted. Also, it appears this particular 890 may have some "barrel droop" whereas my 440 did not -- I'll have to check this further with a better mount. Below is a picture showing a problem with the scope mounts; note movement backwards. You may also notice I shimmed the rear mount with paper to correct for the "barrel droop" issue.
http://www.bwgriffin.com/airguns/gamo890/gamo890scopemovement.jpgFor me the more important point is the functioning of the gun, and that I can report is well for the one I tried today. I shot a total of about 70 pellet today (Crosman Premier Hollow-point 7.9gr). The last 25 or so shots were over a chronograph. The 20 shots I recorded show these FPS:
918
934
936
927
931
939
919
924
917
935
915
937
927
931
925
935
928
913
926
925
Mean (average) FPS = 927
standard deviation = 7.74
FPE = 15.08
Max FPS = 939
Min FPS = 913
As a comparison, my Gamo 440 from Natchezss (also $99) had demonstrated these figures:
Mean FPS = 930.71
Standard deviation = 9.86
FPE = 15.20
Max = 943
Min = 921
The results, as one can see, are very similar. To give some indication of accuracy, I shot 10 hollow-point pellets at 20 yards and the results are shown below. First let me state that I am not an accurate shot compared to a number of folks on this forum. Some report shooting 2" targets at 50 yards and hitting them regularly. I cannot see a 2" target at 50 yards, even with a nice scope. So while accuracy is relative for everyone, I am very pleased with the grouping of the shots below especially considering these represent about the 35th to 45th shot fired from this gun by me. You can see two fliers in the grouping. The far left resulted, I think, from movement by me. The upper shot on target was the first shot I took at the target and my bearings may have been off somewhat for the first shot. In short, the fliers could be due to the gun, the pellets, or most likely me.
http://www.bwgriffin.com/airguns/gamo890/gamo890shotgroup.jpgOverall, if one is looking for a solid .177 rifle, it appears the $99 refurbished Gamo 890 from Cabela's with the BSA 3-12x50 scope is an excellent buy. The scope alone is half, or more, the cost of this gun.