Bundled scopes

[Garry_S]

Hello Airgunnation,

New member here with my first post so be gentle as I have thin skin just kidding!

This September I picked up a Gamo CFR .177 as my first real air rifle, mainly to help with a squirrel infestation and some backyard plinking.

The bundled scope seems ok but I’ve noticed reviewers will always swap them out for a better one. I’m wondering if what I’m seeing in some of my groups could be a problem with the stock Gamo scope?

Some groups are nice and tight, 5 shots within .625” at 30 yards, and then some will be spread out horizontally or vertically over 1.5 inches. See photos hopefully 

Is this a scope issue or something else? All shot at 30 yards with H&N FTT .177, 8.80gr. FYI this was the best pellet in this gun out of the 20 I’ve tried. I must have over 500 rounds through the gun so it should be about broken in

Thanks in advance for any suggestions 

 

[Imold]

More likely just the pellets those look like nice groups, just make sure the scope is staying tight on the rail.

 

[Imold]

There are other things that can effect shot placement like trigger weight, how you shoulder the airgun, how tight you hold the airgun,psi,reg or un reg plus a few other things but for now your groups look good, just make sure the scope is tight and your holding the airgun the same each shot, might want to try another pellet weight or manufacture and see where that takes you.

 

[sonny]

That looks like some pretty nice groups Imold's advice sounds great!

 

[LDP]

Horizontal stringing can be caused by your trigger pull, rear bag and or front rest. Vertical stringing can be caused by velocity, front rest/bag. I believe parallax can cause vertical and horizontal. Make sure you are not applying side ways pressure as you pull your trigger. Be sure to not push the rifle in any direction as you are shooting by contacting the rear bag or other support. Make sure you are doing all the basics correctly and that your front rest and rear bag are setup good and consistently. Make sure you have the parallax set correctly by moving your head around to see if the reticle is moving on the target or staying in one place. I have seen some guys make the mistake of just setting the parallax to the distance they are shooting but not check to see if the markings are accurate or if they still had parallax.

 

[crittahitta]

Hey garry welcome to the forum. half inch group at 31 yards with a springer isnt bad. I had the original Gamo CFX in 177 and it was the perfect underlever springer. I put a new "gold trigger in it and it was even better. But like an idiot i sent it away to get tuned and it ruined the gun. Lost FPS and accuracy. My Honest opinion is, with that rifle you have to rest it on your hand no matter what (even when bench shooting) and you always have to have your hand in the same spot. When you do this your groups will get even better. That gun is amazing and if you can afford a better scope, all the better and get a scope "stop" or rings with a screw that will stop scope creep and you will be golden. Also have you tried Crosman premier 7.9 grain pellets in the brown box? With those pellets it was more accurate than my $600 AA tx200. Dont give up on it. I still think about getting a new one.

 

[Garry_S]

Thank you everyone, some great information there.

The scope has no parallax adjustment that I am aware of. I have noticed it’s not perfect at that distance. I’ve tried to compensate by being as consistent as I can with hold, eye position, and trigger pool. I will continue to practice in refine.

I have modified the trigger by replacing the second stage adjustment screw, the second stage was VERY long out of the box. It’s much better now and has made the gun much more fun to shoot.

My set up is shooting off homemade sandbags on a quick and dirty rest, off the back deck. It seems solid enough but there is room for improvement!

Of the 18+ pellets I’ve tried H&N FTT power 8.80’s seem to be the most consistent but I haven’t tried the Crosman Premier, I’ll give them a try.

 

[Greyhaven]

Garry, Welcome to the group! I must say your results so far, are quite impressive. Your organized approach to pellets and consistent shot hold will pay off. Are you inspecting your pellets that are shot for your accuracy test for defects? H&N and JSB I have found to be very good as far as Quality Control, but without inspection you can waste a lot of time chasing QC issues. An inexpensive ( under $15.) digital scale can help you compare apples and apples when testing also. Separating test pellets from plinkers should be done to save time. You seem to be well on your way to intelligent marksmanship.

 

[John "spysir" Blount]

You said non a/o and somewhat out of focus at your primary range.

Most of those bottom budget scopes ( the old bundled goldfunger package had an $8.00 scope mounted ) you can simply ( carefully and a little bit does a lot ) unscrew the locking ring on the front lens , spin the lens to a focus range that suits you and lock it back down. I'm sure if you surfed a bit there is information on this here. Eliminating paralex somehow will be required to really know what up with your rig.





John

 

[LDP]

I may be wrong but the pic with the scope looks like it has an AO. There appears to be white hash marks on the bell for yardage indicators. 

 

[Garry_S]

LPD 

The scope does have a focus adjustingment, for distance but no parallax adjustment.

According to the artical below they are not the same???

https://www.eabco.com/Reports/report01.html

As I said I’m new to all this so could be way off base.

 

[Cherokee140]

You are very smart going with that sample pack, something I preach. 



I have one rifle that with RWS superdomes, a good pellet, just flat will not keep all 10 on a sheet of paper...they are just horrid, but JSB's it will put them in an area the size of your thumb.



Airguns are more picky about ammo then a 22 rimfire.

 

[LDP]

That is the parallax adjustment on the objective. Some people refer to it as a focus but like the article says its not a focus. So I am going to guess that you have been adjusting the parallax as if it was for focusing. If thats the case you may very well be shooting with parallax errors. 

I would test for parallax at your next shooting session and verify if the scopes yardage marks are true for removing parallax at the given ranges. If the marks are off and you have parallax it could cause the problems with your groups. 

Like others already said the groups are good. If you have parallax errors and you remove it then the groups will be even better and more consistent.