OP, in reading thru your posts, I'm not seeing any description of exactly how you're shooting, except you did refer to a 'rest' early on. I can tell you from personal experience that not using the right hold, or a decent rest, will lead exactly to the frustration your experiencing! And these springers certainly use a different technique than firearms!
Early on, I used a camera tripod equipped with a 'Y' rest that worked real well...I shot from a folding camp chair, and I found that I was all over the place too...until I anchored my shooting elbow onto the arm of the chair! That made just a huge difference! The buddy that I shoot with stubbornly refused to anchor that arm when he shot...he's one of those that knows everything better than I do...and he was shooting shotgun patterns too! One day, he anchored his elbow, and Voila! Shooting like a rifle again!
I've further developed my technique and got an MTM shooting table, Caldwell tripod rest, and I anchor the butt of the rifle by curling my off arm back and around the butt of the rifle, and use that to adjust my aim. So far, that's the most steady way to hold my rifle for the shot. But like others have said, it's hard to describe this stuff on the World Wide Web, and much better to find an experienced local shooter to coach you! I was fortunate in that my dad taught me how to shoot as a kid, and I'm just recycling that knowledge late in my life, but to describe it in words? Maybe it takes and maybe it doesn't!
Another couple of things that I've found affects accuracy is cleaning the barrel when you first get the gun, and keeping all the screws tight. I use the technique that Tom Gaylord and others on this forum espouse...I will coat a brass brush with JB Non-Embedding Bore Cleaner, and will make twenty down and back passes thru the barrel. About halfway thru the job, you'll notice that it gets easier to push and pull the brush...after those passes, you swab the barrel with your choice of cleaner... I use Hoppes #9...you can use Ballistol, Goo Gone, whatever you believe in...to get the muck out, then clean patches until your satisfied. If there's any manufacturing detritus in there, this will get it out.
Then there's the matter of keeping all the fasteners tight. A lotta guys use blue Loctite 242 on the fasteners, so do I, but on some vibration-prone rifles...my vintage Beeman R1, for example...the blue Loctite doesn't work, and I'm NOT gonna use red, because I'm going to need to take things apart from time to time, so for that particular rifle, I just make certain that I check torque before shooting, and periodically during my shooting session, and also once I'm done. So, my suggestion to you, is check ALL the fasteners, make sure they're snug, and you don't necessarily need a torque wrench to do the job...although it does help.
Another thing I'll suggest for you is...read read read about this subject! None of the ideas I've trotted out are my own creation! When I first got into air gunning, and it wasn't very long ago, I just got on the World Wide Web and absorbed a LOT of knowledge! I picked and chose what made sense to me, but it's never been easier to research any subject that might be on your mind! And there are a LOT of opinions out there...some valid, some not so much, but it doesn't really matter, you're gonna develop your own opinions. One of those opinions might be just how you clean the barrel of your rifle...there will be many out there that will disagree with the method that I referred to, and many will tell you to NEVER use a rod to clean a barrel, and NEVER clean from the muzzle! Those are valid opinions, and if that makes sense to you, by all means, do what feels comfy to you! I've gleaned so much from this and several other forums, and continually learn new things every day!
Long story short? I don't believe there's necessarily anything wrong with your current rifle. Like another fellow who commented, I also have a Gamo Swarm in .22, and it's dern near as good at the ranges I shoot at as my much more expensive TX200 and the R1 I referred to earlier! It took me a while to get it to that level, but it just involved development of my shooting technique, and maintenance of the air gun. That's all. I sold my first Swarm to a neighbor who shoots consistent 6" groups at fifteen yards. Before I did the deal, I made certain that it could shoot consistent 1/2" groups. And he is using my same equipment to shoot off of, as well. So right there is a good example of what technique will do for a guy! Hang in there...I wouldn't throw a lot of money at a new rifle until you are certain you have the skills to justify it! You'll just get frustrated, maybe angry. You don't need that!
Good luck to ya!
