Gamo 177 and 22 Big Cat

At 100 ft, i can consistently hit a soda can with my gamo bigcat .177....

I have the Silent Cat from Gamo in .177 caliber. Without a doubt the best airgun I have ever owned and it would take a lot to convince me of anything being better. Mine has the silencer on it and it does reduce the sound by at least 50%. The pellets I like are flat nosed by Crossman and even with the silencer it still makes a distinctive crack when fired against same rifle without silencer. Accuracy is second to none, power is strong enough to shoot thru a cookie sheet that some how got out of the kitchen. At 25-30 yds it punches thru the metal easily. I have been looking at one in .22 caliber just for comparison.

I have no experience with the less expensive air rifles.

However I do have a .22 cal Beeman carbine (Webley), and a Beeman .177 cal R7.

Both are more accurate then I am.

The .177 pointed pellet shoots flatter at longer range of 30-50 yards.
The .22 flat-point pellet knocks a squirrel out of it shorts, DRT in the yard, at 20-30 yards.

With the .177, a body shot squirrel runs up a tree and changes his drawers in the neighbors yard.
While slowly dying and falling out of a tree on his BBQ grill later.

Target = .177.
Game = .22.
And never the twain shall meet.

You yourself have to decide which is more important to you?
None of us can tell you that.

PS: (If you can always shoot their eye out, it doesn't matter)

rc

I have a Remington Summit break barrell that is somewhat annoying.
It's not really that accurate with the furnished scope and it really has pellet preferences. I have to shoot it on paper every so often to make sure of it's zero. I bought the same rifle for my Grandson and his rifle is problem free.
After some on line research, I don't think I want another break barrel model though.

It's not because it's a break barrel springer.

Some of the most consistently accurate air rifles ever made are of that action type.

Both my English Webley Beeman C1 and my German Weihrauch Beeman R7 are incredibility consistent & accurate guns.

rc

rcmodel said:

It's not because it's a break barrel springer.

Some of the most consistently accurate air rifles ever made are of that action type.

Both my English Webley Beeman C1 and my German Weihrauch Beeman R7 are incredibility consistent & accurate guns.

rc

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There is a reason why this rifle dosen't shoot consistently. I may have a problem with the paralax adjustment in the scope. The scope itself ain't the greatest either. I'm told that the spring action in an air rifle could be bad news for a "normal" rifle scope. I'll keep playing though as I can "bench rest" the gun using an old ironing board in the back yard.

+1 on keeping the stock bolts on each side of the stock tight.

Also, make sure the hinge pin screw is snug but not overly tight to cause hard barrel movement when cocking.

Also make you oil the barrel hinge pin joint.

And put some good grease on whatever the lock ball or plunger detent set-up it has to keep the barrel locked shut after you cock it.

If the hinge or detent is dry of oil and/or grease, it will not lock shut in the same place every time.

And it will not shoot to the same place every shot.

rc

JohnKSa said:

Be sure to check the laws. In TX, for example, you can't legally shoot a squirrel with an airgun because it's a game animal.

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Neither ground squirrels nor flying squirrels are game animals in Texas, though some counties do have bag limits and opened/closed seasons.

- List of nongame animals in Texas
- Squirrel seasons and bag limits

I have an old Gamo, Shadow 1000, has a Winchester 3x-9x air rifle scope on it, and I use Crosman Premier hollow point ammo. I used to be able to get one inch groups at 45-50 yards, and I loved it. I have no idea if I can do that now, haven't shot it in a while. (I switched to rimfire)

I had always thought that it had great power (which it has) until I purchased a .22 pellet gun. The energy is similar in both guns, but the .22 puts squirrels down quickly. Before I switched to rimfire, I used the .22 for closer shots, but used the .177 for shots 40-100 yards away.

You are going to hate the trigger (probably) but overall it is a great gun, If the quality is the same as it was eight years ago, I don't think anybody makes anything better for the money.

Let me try to dig up the picture of the squirrel that I took a couple months ago with my .177 big cat. 35 yards through the neck.

ETA: It would appear that I actually deleted that picture off of my phone. But yes, for squirrels I am good with mine out to about 35 yards.

rcmodel said:

+1 on keeping the stock bolts on each side of the stock tight.

Also, make sure the hinge pin screw is snug but not overly tight to cause hard barrel movement when cocking.

Also make you oil the barrel hinge pin joint.

And put some good grease on whatever the lock ball or plunger detent set-up it has to keep the barrel locked shut after you cock it.

If the hinge or detent is dry of oil and/or grease, it will not lock shut in the same place every time.

And it will not shoot to the same place every shot.

rc

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Thanks much for the info. I'm sure that I can get this rifle to shoot.