Howdy there folks, I hope you all have a great shooting weekend!
I'm back with another spring-piston driven, break barrel airgun review. This is my second review, in which I'll touch one of the more common Gamo airguns, here in Europe, which is the Big Cat Model 1000-E. This is an airgun that I have in my inventory since early 2019, and so far I've probably shot this gun over a thousand times and had my fair share of ups and downs with it. I'll try to keep this review a fair bit shorter than the last one, but then again, the last one probably deserved to be that long, because it portrayed something you just don't get to see everyday, hell, maybe even in a liftime. The gun cost around 180 euros back in the day and the price tag pretty much remained the same to this day, at least in my country. Nowadays I feel, that the tag was and still is a bit overpriced, given that the gun is a budget springer and not even some mid-end, gas-piston driven break barrel, or an underlever for that matter. So with the intro out of the way, let's begin with the details, shall we?
As I've already stated, I got this springer brand new, back in early 2019, half a year after my Cometa 300 blew up and as soon as I got it, I put a Gamo RRR (Recoil-Reducing-Rail) on the dovetail and on it, a UTG-Leapers 3-9x42mm scope. I already knew by then, that the UTG scopes are very robust and nearly all of them are springer rated, but just in case, I also decided to put the Gamo's RRR on it, so that the zero would truly be 100% unaffected by possible hardware malfunctions caused by the two-way recoil. Anyway, over time I took the RRR off, as it only raised the POI beyond the scope's extent of adjustment. It really made no difference at all in relation to the longevity of the scope, the scope still works to this day...
I hear people, such as the "Cyclops" hate on the UTG's scopes all the time, because of their "monochromatic offset" and "non-linear" adjustment/tracking, but the fact of the matter is, that they're decent entry level scopes, that hold their zero firmly! And that is also all I wanted from an airgun scope;
Sure, it's no Hawke, but it HOLDS ITS ZERO!!!
I've had my scopes eaten up by springers and the Leapers scope was and still is, the one that still holds its zero, even though I've had it on 3 different guns already, that have together shot in-excess of 3000 pellets. Alright, enough about the scope... Here are some pictures of the gun:
The gun is chambered in .177 / 4,5mm caliber, I initially wanted a little flatter trajectory, cheaper & more accesible ammo, and so I've gone with a 4,5mm caliber.
Here are also a couple of photos of the sight picture, through the UTG 3-9x42mm scope:
Excuse me, but I unfortunately forgot to which level of magnification I had the scope set to:
Now, the stock on the gun is quite alright, the synthetic/plastic material is quite tough and the rubber pad is comfortable enough as well, at least it was for me. However, the stock has to be retightened every once in a while, but is unlike some other Gamo stocks, like the ones on the Black Bear/Black Knight-Swarm, not too hold-sensitive and thus you can make quite good groups with this gun provided, that the piston seal isn't chewed up... Which in turn brings me to the internals of this gun, the piston seal on this Gamo didn't really make sense to me, as it is contoured all-around the edge up front and doesn't follow the traditional V-shaped, cone pattern, that most other airguns have - i.e. Hatsan, Crosman... et cetera. I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about the Gamo's piston seals. In my honest opinion their seals have a design flaw and from my own experience I found out, that the seals of theirs are also oversized, practically 0.6mm - 0.7mm, that's 6-7 tenths of a millimiter oversized... while they should probably be some 0.35mm over the diameter of the cylinder, at most. After a while, I lost my nerve and pulled the seal off the piston and grinded it down some fair bit and then properly lubricated it with some silicone oil, a little bit only, and only on the sides, not up front where the face is, with its trough.
This is what happened after some 500 pellets were fired through the gun, the seal got chewed up completely and had to be grinded down due to wear & improper dimensions - Note that these "groups", if you can even call them that, were shot with open sights, that I actually quite liked, because of their slimmer profile...
...And this is how the gun performed out of the box with JSB Exact 4.52mm & 4.53mm pellets, at 15 meters:
Note that before I started experiencing issues with accuracy, and before I de-tuned the gun to 12 Joules, I was able to shoot beer cans 90+ meters away with ease! Now the gun's effective accuracy in regards to hitting a 12 oz. beer can is somewhere in the 60-70 metre range, beyond that I don't think I'd be able to hit it anymore.
After some 2.5 years of use, the spring in the gun has deviated some, but not too significantly - I guess their springs are OK. Another thing on the gun that's quite alright is the finish, the black finish overall has pretty much held up over the years and there are no signs of rust or scratches on my gun whatsoever. Trust me, I've literally dragged this thing naked through fog on multiple occasions and at those times, I was almost certain, that the gun would start rusting somewhere... It did not, however.
The overall fit and finish are therefore good!
The trigger on the gun is adjustable, but I'm happy with it, as it is. It's a bit mushy, with some take-up, but it ultimately breaks like a brick through the window, which is actually quite satisfying! Over the years, the trigger had broken in and has now lost its mushines, which now only leaves it with some excess length of pull, that isn't too terrible either. The trigger has actually become very good with time. The barrel on this thing is not shrouded and fully exposed, except at the end and within the breech, which is made out of polymer and that's something I don't like! The breech should be metal, not plastic! The good thing is, that since I locktited the pivot pin screw of the cylinder, which interacts with the breech's shim, some 2.5 years ago, the barrel hasn't moved a bit. It doesn't wobble and therefore the groups are tight. One more thing regarding the mechanism, the mainspring guide has been cut down in order for the spring to be able to fully compress, and that helped a lot with the accuracy, while sadly, also decreased the gun's power. The folks at Gamo just love their space-age polymer, in fact they love it a little too much, because they've put it also where it doesn't belong and that is into the guide and of course, they just had to put it into the breech as well... It doesn't belong there! I'm kind of surprised the barrel isn't plastic as well
All in all, it's an attractive gun! I personally like it, even though I had to tune it down from the default 24 Joules/ 17.5 foot-pounds to some 12 Joules/ 9 fpe, where it now has about 700 fps/ 215 meters per second, with 8.44 grain (0.55 gram) JSB Exact domed pellets. But it shoots quite precisely now and easily make half an inch groups at 20 yards with JSBs, perhaps there are pellets out there, that'd better suit this particular gun, than the JSB variants. So far I've only been shooting JSBs through this gun, didn't even try the 10.34gr Heavies, but've yet to do so, stay tuned.
Sometime last fall, I re-tested the gun and this is the kind of accuracy this thing of mine is capable of now, after it's been properly tuned:
I've tuned it down and fixed the seal some 2.5 years ago and so far it seems to be holding its accuracy.
BTW, the vertical/horizontal stringings, that's you're seeing on the targets are due to the sudden bursts of wind, that were blowing that day...
I really should've picked a better day to go shooting. However, while it was calm, I was shooting at the targets on the right (10m, 20m on the right),
and that's where the true accuracy potential of my Gamo really showed.
...And this is the delivered accuracy at 60 meters:
Note, that the wind was starting to pick up...
The way I've had the gun set up during the zeroing process at 20 meters, was with a sandbag placed under the mid-area of the stocks' forend and with the rifle loosely nested into the bag. Then again, the way I've been shooting this gun in the field is pretty much straightforward. I've had the rifle set up and somewhat bedded into the rifle's case, which I've simply thrown over the tripod... Have a look:
Also, here is how I eventually came to customize and accesorize my Big Cat, along with a size comparison between the Gamo BG-1000-E and
the Standard Hatsan mod. 125 version in .22 (5,5mm) caliber:
The 125's receiver/cylinder is a fair bit longer, while the barrel and the stock are roughly of the same length.
Another thing that crossed my mind is, that I've only recently noticed that this particular variant started appearing on the US market or perhaps re-appearing after a long period of time, because from what I've seen, these guns were popular some 10-15 years ago, but in the last 5+ years, I've never seen anyone using this particular model in the United States. Although, I've seen a variant of this gun in the US, titled the Varmint, which isn't exactly the Quiet Cat model, but rather the closest thing to the 1000-E. The Varmint has the same stock and power plant, as the Big Cat 1000-E and Quiet Cat, but a different barrel model (Varmint barrel), which doesn't come with iron sight, so that means the scope is a must for the Varmint. So with that having been said, we're also not dealing with the "Barricade 1000-E" model, which in fact has a bit different internal components than the standard 1000-E model (the one I have), and is also offered (the Barricade that is) with different stock variants, that differ from one another in their colour. The stock on the Barricade is the same, as on the standard 1000-E, the Quiet Cat and the Varmint models, though.
After roughly four years of use and some 1250 pellets, the gun is still holding up, although it had to be serviced and patched up a few times along the way... I guess, I'll let you know when things are going to turn for the worse again with this rifle...
Till' then I'll just have to wait and shoot this thing some more
That concludes this review and I hope you all have a great remainder of the weekend!
- Triglav
I'm back with another spring-piston driven, break barrel airgun review. This is my second review, in which I'll touch one of the more common Gamo airguns, here in Europe, which is the Big Cat Model 1000-E. This is an airgun that I have in my inventory since early 2019, and so far I've probably shot this gun over a thousand times and had my fair share of ups and downs with it. I'll try to keep this review a fair bit shorter than the last one, but then again, the last one probably deserved to be that long, because it portrayed something you just don't get to see everyday, hell, maybe even in a liftime. The gun cost around 180 euros back in the day and the price tag pretty much remained the same to this day, at least in my country. Nowadays I feel, that the tag was and still is a bit overpriced, given that the gun is a budget springer and not even some mid-end, gas-piston driven break barrel, or an underlever for that matter. So with the intro out of the way, let's begin with the details, shall we?
As I've already stated, I got this springer brand new, back in early 2019, half a year after my Cometa 300 blew up and as soon as I got it, I put a Gamo RRR (Recoil-Reducing-Rail) on the dovetail and on it, a UTG-Leapers 3-9x42mm scope. I already knew by then, that the UTG scopes are very robust and nearly all of them are springer rated, but just in case, I also decided to put the Gamo's RRR on it, so that the zero would truly be 100% unaffected by possible hardware malfunctions caused by the two-way recoil. Anyway, over time I took the RRR off, as it only raised the POI beyond the scope's extent of adjustment. It really made no difference at all in relation to the longevity of the scope, the scope still works to this day...
I hear people, such as the "Cyclops" hate on the UTG's scopes all the time, because of their "monochromatic offset" and "non-linear" adjustment/tracking, but the fact of the matter is, that they're decent entry level scopes, that hold their zero firmly! And that is also all I wanted from an airgun scope;
Sure, it's no Hawke, but it HOLDS ITS ZERO!!!
I've had my scopes eaten up by springers and the Leapers scope was and still is, the one that still holds its zero, even though I've had it on 3 different guns already, that have together shot in-excess of 3000 pellets. Alright, enough about the scope... Here are some pictures of the gun:
The gun is chambered in .177 / 4,5mm caliber, I initially wanted a little flatter trajectory, cheaper & more accesible ammo, and so I've gone with a 4,5mm caliber.
Here are also a couple of photos of the sight picture, through the UTG 3-9x42mm scope:
Excuse me, but I unfortunately forgot to which level of magnification I had the scope set to:
Now, the stock on the gun is quite alright, the synthetic/plastic material is quite tough and the rubber pad is comfortable enough as well, at least it was for me. However, the stock has to be retightened every once in a while, but is unlike some other Gamo stocks, like the ones on the Black Bear/Black Knight-Swarm, not too hold-sensitive and thus you can make quite good groups with this gun provided, that the piston seal isn't chewed up... Which in turn brings me to the internals of this gun, the piston seal on this Gamo didn't really make sense to me, as it is contoured all-around the edge up front and doesn't follow the traditional V-shaped, cone pattern, that most other airguns have - i.e. Hatsan, Crosman... et cetera. I've heard a lot of complaints over the years about the Gamo's piston seals. In my honest opinion their seals have a design flaw and from my own experience I found out, that the seals of theirs are also oversized, practically 0.6mm - 0.7mm, that's 6-7 tenths of a millimiter oversized... while they should probably be some 0.35mm over the diameter of the cylinder, at most. After a while, I lost my nerve and pulled the seal off the piston and grinded it down some fair bit and then properly lubricated it with some silicone oil, a little bit only, and only on the sides, not up front where the face is, with its trough.
This is what happened after some 500 pellets were fired through the gun, the seal got chewed up completely and had to be grinded down due to wear & improper dimensions - Note that these "groups", if you can even call them that, were shot with open sights, that I actually quite liked, because of their slimmer profile...
...And this is how the gun performed out of the box with JSB Exact 4.52mm & 4.53mm pellets, at 15 meters:
Note that before I started experiencing issues with accuracy, and before I de-tuned the gun to 12 Joules, I was able to shoot beer cans 90+ meters away with ease! Now the gun's effective accuracy in regards to hitting a 12 oz. beer can is somewhere in the 60-70 metre range, beyond that I don't think I'd be able to hit it anymore.
After some 2.5 years of use, the spring in the gun has deviated some, but not too significantly - I guess their springs are OK. Another thing on the gun that's quite alright is the finish, the black finish overall has pretty much held up over the years and there are no signs of rust or scratches on my gun whatsoever. Trust me, I've literally dragged this thing naked through fog on multiple occasions and at those times, I was almost certain, that the gun would start rusting somewhere... It did not, however.
The overall fit and finish are therefore good!
The trigger on the gun is adjustable, but I'm happy with it, as it is. It's a bit mushy, with some take-up, but it ultimately breaks like a brick through the window, which is actually quite satisfying! Over the years, the trigger had broken in and has now lost its mushines, which now only leaves it with some excess length of pull, that isn't too terrible either. The trigger has actually become very good with time. The barrel on this thing is not shrouded and fully exposed, except at the end and within the breech, which is made out of polymer and that's something I don't like! The breech should be metal, not plastic! The good thing is, that since I locktited the pivot pin screw of the cylinder, which interacts with the breech's shim, some 2.5 years ago, the barrel hasn't moved a bit. It doesn't wobble and therefore the groups are tight. One more thing regarding the mechanism, the mainspring guide has been cut down in order for the spring to be able to fully compress, and that helped a lot with the accuracy, while sadly, also decreased the gun's power. The folks at Gamo just love their space-age polymer, in fact they love it a little too much, because they've put it also where it doesn't belong and that is into the guide and of course, they just had to put it into the breech as well... It doesn't belong there! I'm kind of surprised the barrel isn't plastic as well
All in all, it's an attractive gun! I personally like it, even though I had to tune it down from the default 24 Joules/ 17.5 foot-pounds to some 12 Joules/ 9 fpe, where it now has about 700 fps/ 215 meters per second, with 8.44 grain (0.55 gram) JSB Exact domed pellets. But it shoots quite precisely now and easily make half an inch groups at 20 yards with JSBs, perhaps there are pellets out there, that'd better suit this particular gun, than the JSB variants. So far I've only been shooting JSBs through this gun, didn't even try the 10.34gr Heavies, but've yet to do so, stay tuned.
Sometime last fall, I re-tested the gun and this is the kind of accuracy this thing of mine is capable of now, after it's been properly tuned:
I've tuned it down and fixed the seal some 2.5 years ago and so far it seems to be holding its accuracy.
BTW, the vertical/horizontal stringings, that's you're seeing on the targets are due to the sudden bursts of wind, that were blowing that day...
I really should've picked a better day to go shooting. However, while it was calm, I was shooting at the targets on the right (10m, 20m on the right),
and that's where the true accuracy potential of my Gamo really showed.
...And this is the delivered accuracy at 60 meters:
Note, that the wind was starting to pick up...
The way I've had the gun set up during the zeroing process at 20 meters, was with a sandbag placed under the mid-area of the stocks' forend and with the rifle loosely nested into the bag. Then again, the way I've been shooting this gun in the field is pretty much straightforward. I've had the rifle set up and somewhat bedded into the rifle's case, which I've simply thrown over the tripod... Have a look:
Also, here is how I eventually came to customize and accesorize my Big Cat, along with a size comparison between the Gamo BG-1000-E and
the Standard Hatsan mod. 125 version in .22 (5,5mm) caliber:
The 125's receiver/cylinder is a fair bit longer, while the barrel and the stock are roughly of the same length.
Another thing that crossed my mind is, that I've only recently noticed that this particular variant started appearing on the US market or perhaps re-appearing after a long period of time, because from what I've seen, these guns were popular some 10-15 years ago, but in the last 5+ years, I've never seen anyone using this particular model in the United States. Although, I've seen a variant of this gun in the US, titled the Varmint, which isn't exactly the Quiet Cat model, but rather the closest thing to the 1000-E. The Varmint has the same stock and power plant, as the Big Cat 1000-E and Quiet Cat, but a different barrel model (Varmint barrel), which doesn't come with iron sight, so that means the scope is a must for the Varmint. So with that having been said, we're also not dealing with the "Barricade 1000-E" model, which in fact has a bit different internal components than the standard 1000-E model (the one I have), and is also offered (the Barricade that is) with different stock variants, that differ from one another in their colour. The stock on the Barricade is the same, as on the standard 1000-E, the Quiet Cat and the Varmint models, though.
After roughly four years of use and some 1250 pellets, the gun is still holding up, although it had to be serviced and patched up a few times along the way... I guess, I'll let you know when things are going to turn for the worse again with this rifle...
Till' then I'll just have to wait and shoot this thing some more
That concludes this review and I hope you all have a great remainder of the weekend!
- Triglav
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