I started with a Gamo Maxxim Gen 2 in .177, back when covid was making us stay home. My experience, and advice FWIW:
- Spend a few bucks on a new scope. The one that came with it isn't very good. Make sure it's springer-capable. Also make sure it actually fits; there's not a lot of clearance between the front of the scope and the top of the gun. Get one that's too long, and it runs into that multishot loader.
- My experience with the multishot loader was mixed at best. Some brands of pellets won't work in the loader; get pinched or fall out. Frustrating. I eventually just took it off and reverted to a single shot.
- This is for all pellet guns; take some time and try different ammo in it. Mine liked the Gamo Red Fire, but they're kind of expensive. It also liked the H&N Field Target Trophy; a brand so well-known that FTT is a semi-well-known abbreviation for it.
- For me personally, I had a heck of a time getting a good cheek weld between me, that gun, and that scope. I had to practically climb on top of the stock. YMMV.
- Search on youtube for adjusting the trigger. It's pretty stiff right out of the box. Adjusting it is pretty simple, the hardest part is finding the screw. Word on the streets is that it's a M2.5-45x10. Get that or a little longer in a grub screw. Make sure to test the gun by whacking it with a mallet or banging it on the ground to make sure you didn't make it too much of a hair trigger.
- Find the absolute lightest pellet you can find. That gun can shoot it past the sound barrier (1100 fps). At least it could shoot a .177 that fast. I know (well, found out) that pellets flying that fast are inaccurate because it's close to the speed of sound (transsonic). But that crack sounds way cool!
I don't shoot it much anymore, because I fell down the rabbit hole and bought a PCP. But when I first got it I shot it so much my shoulder hurt for a couple of weeks from cocking it.
Have fun with it!
