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New Year, New Gun. And its my first Gamo

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TC724

TC724

Member
Nov 26, 2021
309
366
New Castle PA, United States
I recently sold off the last of my Pcps (except one) and have only my TX200 in .177 remaining. This left a gap and I wanted to fill it with a springer in 22cal but I needed it to be powerful. I do all my small game hunting with air rifles and I am lucky enough to have access to over 180 acres of pristine private hunting land. On this land the coons have been slowly getting a little out of control due to my wife feeding deer like we were hired to do so... So I decided to pick up my first ever Gamo and grabbed a Gamo Magnum 22 swarm Gen3i.

Reasons for Gamo purchase:
Weight (if you ever owned magnum springers you'll know what I mean) This rifle is super light compared to any of the others I have owned.
Stock- I am a sucker for thumbhole (pistol grip) stocks and I have realized they are my preferred grip for shooting accurately.
Power- This thing packs a punch
Ease of use- I have had many airguns, and I have lost interest in pcps. I love self-contained guns and this thing is able to hit hard but still be self-contained.
Gas ram- As i stated I due all my small game hunting with air rifles and its so nice to be able to leave it cocked for hours with no worry. Also being as powerful as it is, I can only imagine a Gamo spring at that power level being almost unbearable.
Accuracy- This was a gamble on my end but I must of gotten a good one. This thing loves Crosman domed 14.3g pellets out to 35y which is the average distance I shoot my game so its perfect. Its far more consistent than I saw on the youtube reviews and I am using the bundled optic.
Magazine- At first I wasn't too worried about a magazine-fed springer/gas ram break barrel but wow what a difference. Although its not the easiest to cock, having those 10 shots fed from a mag instead of your cold or fumbling fingers is a huge improvement. You can keep your eye on game if you missed or got a nice shot on it and need to track its movement, but still cock the gun without looking at it. That's a really big feature for me, and the ability to pop in a mag, not have the gun cocked and then toss a spare mag or two in the pocket makes for some really fast follow-ups when out in the woods.

Overall I am impressed as I have never been a Gamo fan, but I also never owned one so maybe that was just me being numb to their practices but its a great gun. The stock feels fantastic and the included optic is great (if it lasts) but seems very well built for a bundled gamo scope. My wife shoots this gun off-hand at 35y with no hold sensitivity issues and I haven't noticed any either. The shot cycle is abrupt and fairly quiet with reasonable recoil. I would say I have no regrets for this purchase and I am glad I can not smack squirrels with 26ftlbs and not need a pcp to do it! As I stated, the big reason I went with this gun and not other magnums is the stock shape and the rifle weight. To me you just can't beat it and it doesn't break the bank either.


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TC724 said:
I recently sold off the last of my Pcps (except one) and have only my TX200 in .177 remaining. This left a gap and I wanted to fill it with a springer in 22cal but I needed it to be powerful. I do all my small game hunting with air rifles and I am lucky enough to have access to over 180 acres of pristine private hunting land. On this land the coons have been slowly getting a little out of control due to my wife feeding deer like we were hired to do so... So I decided to pick up my first ever Gamo and grabbed a Gamo Magnum 22 swarm Gen3i.

Reasons for Gamo purchase:
Weight (if you ever owned magnum springers you'll know what I mean) This rifle is super light compared to any of the others I have owned.
Stock- I am a sucker for thumbhole (pistol grip) stocks and I have realized they are my preferred grip for shooting accurately.
Power- This thing packs a punch
Ease of use- I have had many airguns, and I have lost interest in pcps. I love self-contained guns and this thing is able to hit hard but still be self-contained.
Gas ram- As i stated I due all my small game hunting with air rifles and its so nice to be able to leave it cocked for hours with no worry. Also being as powerful as it is, I can only imagine a Gamo spring at that power level being almost unbearable.
Accuracy- This was a gamble on my end but I must of gotten a good one. This thing loves Crosman domed 14.3g pellets out to 35y which is the average distance I shoot my game so its perfect. Its far more consistent than I saw on the youtube reviews and I am using the bundled optic.
Magazine- At first I wasn't too worried about a magazine-fed springer/gas ram break barrel but wow what a difference. Although its not the easiest to cock, having those 10 shots fed from a mag instead of your cold or fumbling fingers is a huge improvement. You can keep your eye on game if you missed or got a nice shot on it and need to track its movement, but still cock the gun without looking at it. That's a really big feature for me, and the ability to pop in a mag, not have the gun cocked and then toss a spare mag or two in the pocket makes for some really fast follow-ups when out in the woods.

Overall I am impressed as I have never been a Gamo fan, but I also never owned one so maybe that was just me being numb to their practices but its a great gun. The stock feels fantastic and the included optic is great (if it lasts) but seems very well built for a bundled gamo scope. My wife shoots this gun off-hand at 35y with no hold sensitivity issues and I haven't noticed any either. The shot cycle is abrupt and fairly quiet with reasonable recoil. I would say I have no regrets for this purchase and I am glad I can not smack squirrels with 26ftlbs and not need a pcp to do it! As I stated, the big reason I went with this gun and not other magnums is the stock shape and the rifle weight. To me you just can't beat it and it doesn't break the bank either.


View attachment 327617
Click to expand...
Good to hear that you like your Gamo. I've been air gunning for 22+ years, I usually don't hear anything positive about Gamos.

Keep us posted about longevity.
 
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My mach 1 been good now for 4-5 years of hard use ,/ high shot count shoots ad good as a hw , But saddly someday somthing will fail and there you sit.. gamo is not user parts friendly and thats the shame. Like take the seal thats the 33mm.. lol.. like cas Australia is it. Gamo usa will be too bad sooo sad but let our gunsmith look at it.. i think thats where gamo fails in opinion of them most in dont seem to want you to selfmaintain there gun

Anyway that s the biggest shame about them , if it breaks it's send it in or throw it away pretty much or hope some overseas place got somthing for it.
 
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The Gamo equation: As an owner of all three Gen 3i Gamo air rifles in .22 and having put well over 10.000 rounds through them I will say that they are Adequate for the average small game hunter and or plinking and informal target shooting.
The most accurate one of the bunch is the Gamo Fusion Gen3i and consistently shoots one inch or smaller groups at 50 yards. It is also the least powerful of the three so it stands to reason just like in all things learned about air rifles, low to moderate power rifles will always trump magnums.
Both the Gamo Fusion and the Gamo Bone Collector love red fire pellets. A close second is the H and N FTT.
As for the Magnum it likes the Air Arms 16 grain yellow can pellets.
The Bone Collector (almost as hard to cock as the magnum) and the Magnum will group one inch or smaller at 35 yards. This is adequate for small game, plinking and informal target practice. At 50 yards even on a good day a two inch group is average.

The trigger, a feller asked about that. Well most of us use a longer sear screw just rear of the trigger and reduce the trigger pull to around 1.5 pounds and we pound on the rifle butt with a rubber mallet, give the stock a few sideways smacks also to be sure the rifle will not fire itself, which it will do if you get it set too light, as the rifle wears in, it is prone to fire itself also, so once you mess with the trigger, a mindset to be cautious should prevail. Once you have around 1000 rounds or so though a rifle you can set it how you like it and forget it. It will hold without issue. As for wet, cold, freezing conditions and triggers and the loading mechanism, I have had mine so wet I have to take the action out of the stock and let it dry, oil it good and so on to prevent trapped water from rusting it. And like all guns air rifle or powder, if in Wyoming where you must build a bonfire, let it die down and pitch your tent on top of the coals and leave the rifles outside to prevent scope fogging etc, and when you wake up the action has a layer of ice on it, nope most likely will not work. Grin!! Otherwise it will function fine, never had a problem with the 10 shot loading system, unless I myself caused it. Some pellets you do have to load them properly, and you learn that by doing.
So accuracy has been discussed. It is adequate, not fantastic, but adequate.
Parts from Gamo USA is a huge issue. They have almost nothing and volunteer no assistance at all. However all is not lost, as you can get parts from Spain, the main factory over there does sell parts and if they have them, takes a couple weeks to get them. Parts are available if you need them, just email the factory in Spain and they will tell you what you need. A lot of Gamo rifles sold in other countries carry a different name, same rifle but sometimes confusing which model part you do need. So email them and they will gladly help.

Scope issues. First the package scope is awful. Nuff said.
Any good quality springer rated scope will fit on the Magnum, no problems. It has a long compression tube and plenty of room.
However both the Bone Collector and Fusion have been engineered for only the packaged Gamo scope that is appox 12 inches in total. Any standard scope , a good one such as an hawke amx that is 13 inches or more, will not fit as there is only the one retaining pin hole and it is far foward and the compression chamber so short that the scope will interfere with the loading system and you will not be able to break the barrel.
The only solution for most I have found is a dovetail to picatinny offset adapter and a set of picatinny rings so you can mount the scope with decent eye relief and not block the barrel. Caution if you decide to use only offset rings, the retaining ring in all, I repeat ALL off set rings is in the ring without the offset and the offset ring mounted on the rear does not have a retaining pin, unless you drill and tap one. I have done this as I have also thrown the so called recoil reducing rail away and machined things my way. However for most the offset dovetail to picatinny will do fine. Just be aware without additional expense and modification quality scopes will not fit.

The final verdict. Would I buy another one? Nope not at all. Gamo is steadily coming up in price. They now cost on average of 320 dollars and that is just too high. You can purchase an HW95 for around 400 dollars and less than that on sale. It is for sure the ultimate springer ever made and takes very little experience to shoot well. These Gamo rifles do take lots of experience and you need almost flawless technique to shoot them well. So Gamo has priced themselves out of the market compared to the ever present HW95.

Gamos are adequate, for small game, plinking, etc within 35 yards. They take experience and good technique to shoot. They are rising in price to the point they are now getting close to known excellent springers that perform much better.

I bought them to learn, that was the goal. I did learn and I do like the little light Fusion and use it quite a bit. The other two now sit in the closet and that is where they will stay. With shipping now hitting 90 bucks, they are not even worth selling. So they have became closet clutter.

Cheers
Kit
 
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uglymike said:
Talk to us about the trigger. Have you hunted in foul weather with it? Rain, snow, freezing temps, heavy brush? I'm curious how that magazine thing holds up under real world hunting conditions. Snow, below freezing temps, will it still feed pellets?
Click to expand...
Hey Mike, I have not used it in snowing or raining conditions but I’ve had zero mag issues. I’ve got over 100 shots through it now with zero issues. The trigger in stock form is long no matter how you adjust it but the pull weight is fine. I grabbed a Airgun Detective screw and took all the slack out and now it’s great. Overall I’m still very satisfied and I will keep updating as I go.
 
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KitCarson16 said:
The Gamo equation: As an owner of all three Gen 3i Gamo air rifles in .22 and having put well over 10.000 rounds through them I will say that they are Adequate for the average small game hunter and or plinking and informal target shooting.
The most accurate one of the bunch is the Gamo Fusion Gen3i and consistently shoots one inch or smaller groups at 50 yards. It is also the least powerful of the three so it stands to reason just like in all things learned about air rifles, low to moderate power rifles will always trump magnums.
Both the Gamo Fusion and the Gamo Bone Collector love red fire pellets. A close second is the H and N FTT.
As for the Magnum it likes the Air Arms 16 grain yellow can pellets.
The Bone Collector (almost as hard to cock as the magnum) and the Magnum will group one inch or smaller at 35 yards. This is adequate for small game, plinking and informal target practice. At 50 yards even on a good day a two inch group is average.

The trigger, a feller asked about that. Well most of us use a longer sear screw just rear of the trigger and reduce the trigger pull to around 1.5 pounds and we pound on the rifle butt with a rubber mallet, give the stock a few sideways smacks also to be sure the rifle will not fire itself, which it will do if you get it set too light, as the rifle wears in, it is prone to fire itself also, so once you mess with the trigger, a mindset to be cautious should prevail. Once you have around 1000 rounds or so though a rifle you can set it how you like it and forget it. It will hold without issue. As for wet, cold, freezing conditions and triggers and the loading mechanism, I have had mine so wet I have to take the action out of the stock and let it dry, oil it good and so on to prevent trapped water from rusting it. And like all guns air rifle or powder, if in Wyoming where you must build a bonfire, let it die down and pitch your tent on top of the coals and leave the rifles outside to prevent scope fogging etc, and when you wake up the action has a layer of ice on it, nope most likely will not work. Grin!! Otherwise it will function fine, never had a problem with the 10 shot loading system, unless I myself caused it. Some pellets you do have to load them properly, and you learn that by doing.
So accuracy has been discussed. It is adequate, not fantastic, but adequate.
Parts from Gamo USA is a huge issue. They have almost nothing and volunteer no assistance at all. However all is not lost, as you can get parts from Spain, the main factory over there does sell parts and if they have them, takes a couple weeks to get them. Parts are available if you need them, just email the factory in Spain and they will tell you what you need. A lot of Gamo rifles sold in other countries carry a different name, same rifle but sometimes confusing which model part you do need. So email them and they will gladly help.

Scope issues. First the package scope is awful. Nuff said.
Any good quality springer rated scope will fit on the Magnum, no problems. It has a long compression tube and plenty of room.
However both the Bone Collector and Fusion have been engineered for only the packaged Gamo scope that is appox 12 inches in total. Any standard scope , a good one such as an hawke amx that is 13 inches or more, will not fit as there is only the one retaining pin hole and it is far foward and the compression chamber so short that the scope will interfere with the loading system and you will not be able to break the barrel.
The only solution for most I have found is a dovetail to picatinny offset adapter and a set of picatinny rings so you can mount the scope with decent eye relief and not block the barrel. Caution if you decide to use only offset rings, the retaining ring in all, I repeat ALL off set rings is in the ring without the offset and the offset ring mounted on the rear does not have a retaining pin, unless you drill and tap one. I have done this as I have also thrown the so called recoil reducing rail away and machined things my way. However for most the offset dovetail to picatinny will do fine. Just be aware without additional expense and modification quality scopes will not fit.

The final verdict. Would I buy another one? Nope not at all. Gamo is steadily coming up in price. They now cost on average of 320 dollars and that is just too high. You can purchase an HW95 for around 400 dollars and less than that on sale. It is for sure the ultimate springer ever made and takes very little experience to shoot well. These Gamo rifles do take lots of experience and you need almost flawless technique to shoot them well. So Gamo has priced themselves out of the market compared to the ever present HW95.

Gamos are adequate, for small game, plinking, etc within 35 yards. They take experience and good technique to shoot. They are rising in price to the point they are now getting close to known excellent springers that perform much better.

I bought them to learn, that was the goal. I did learn and I do like the little light Fusion and use it quite a bit. The other two now sit in the closet and that is where they will stay. With shipping now hitting 90 bucks, they are not even worth selling. So they have became closet clutter.

Cheers
Kit
Click to expand...
Hey Kit,

I appreciate the elaborate explanation and information! I am sure some guys will be eager to read the details. I too think the RRR is a joke however I have zero issues with accuracy out of the box. Very simple to shoot and shoot accurate out to 35y. I think the HW95 is great but not nearly as powerful, heavier, no thumb hole stock, and the lack of a magazine doesn’t really argue anything other than “a better brand”. I agree for most guys who care, HW would be a better choice. I personally don’t think it’s a good comparison though as they are totally different guns and nothing really meets the features of the Gamo which is why I bought it, not for high class machining lol. I will keep updating but thanks for your experience and I am sure some other will agree.
 
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TC724 said:
Hey Kit,

I appreciate the elaborate explanation and information! I am sure some guys will be eager to read the details. I too think the RRR is a joke however I have zero issues with accuracy out of the box. Very simple to shoot and shoot accurate out to 35y. I think the HW95 is great but not nearly as powerful, heavier, no thumb hole stock, and the lack of a magazine doesn’t really argue anything other than “a better brand”. I agree for most guys who care, HW would be a better choice. I personally don’t think it’s a good comparison though as they are totally different guns and nothing really meets the features of the Gamo which is why I bought it, not for high class machining lol. I will keep updating but thanks for your experience and I am sure some other will agree.
Click to expand...
Yep they are light, balanced and the Fusion has become one of my favorites. I love it for hunting squirrels and it is light, points well and is a dream for offhand shooting. I also like the stock and the quick reload.
As for the squirrel it matters not if the rifle shoots 3/8 group or 1/2 group at 35 yards. It is still a dead squirrel. Hence my term adequate. Only perfectionists like myself that try to shoot grapes at 50 yards demand more. I am never happy, always, always striving for better, lol.
I hate to see Gamo get the bad rap it has gotten and for most shooters they are well made and adequate rifles.
I have a Gen Two Magnum that shoots 1/2 inch groups at 50 yards, however it is far from stock, I have tweaked it, made a CNC replacement for the LDC and shimmed and remounted the receiver block. Not at all stock. It was a great base platform to play with. Oh and it produces 32 FPE with the GTO pellet and sizzles them at an average of 1150 fps and does it accurately out to around 60 yards and at that point I have to change pellets as the GTO starts to tumble.
In real world hunting conditions I will pick up that fusion over the 95 as yes it is very light, has adequate power and accuracy and is a gem for offhand shooting. It is light and I can carry it all day and I can reload it in a second, no fumbling around for a pellet.
Enjoy your new rifle, you will like it more as you get more familiar with it.
Gamo has its place and like I said, I really hate to see the negative all the time with none of the positive.
Kit
 
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Well it’s awesome your able to do all that work and tweak the guns performance for the better. I agree these guns have their place and for me, that’s exactly what I intended it for. Thanks for chiming in I love to hear what people are doing with their guns. Much better info than a paid YouTube video that’s for sure!
 
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UPDATE: So I have owned this rifle for a little while now and here is my quick update.
I loveee it. It hits so hard, it’s quieter than my TX, smooth and super accurate. I’m still shooting Crosman domed 14.3 and hitting 2” spinners at 55 yards with no issue.
I’m still using the stock Gamo scope with no issues at all. I mean I have nothing bad to say about this rifle I just love how it’s treated me so far.
I have less than 500 pellets through this so it’s not a super comprehensive review but so far I just can’t find anything to dislike. No mag issues, no trigger issues, just nothing.
The only mod I did was the trigger screw mod and honestly it didn’t need it. This is one heck of a package rifle for 300$.
 
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I’m still using stock scope no issues whatsoever. Very good shooter but ironically I can’t find a pellet it likes better than Crosman domed 14.3g lol. I’ve tried a ton and nothing come close but it shoots them fantastically. I’ll post some data soon in case anyone cares but my Crosman are doing average 915fps.
 
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