BruiseLee
Member
I just bought a Big Cat 1200. I've only shot it for a day, but here's what I think so far.
I sighted it in at 10 yards. At that range I was able to keep 5 shot groups within 1" with the right pellets. Ya, I know sub 1" groups are no big deal for a good rifle at 100 yards never mind 10 yards, but oh well.
Best accuracy was with Predator Polymags. Beeman Kodiak .177 were good. Crossman Premiers weren't bad. Gamo Rapots were not accurate. I'm guessing that since they are supposed to chrono at around 1200 fps, they are breaking the sound barrier. I'm guessing since they only weigh, I dunno, 6 grains or less, maybe the pellet gets bounced around like Chuck Yeager in the X1. I dunno.
To me, the gun was easy to cock. I don't think any reasonably strong man would have a problem cocking this rifle.
The gun was light. I thought it handled well. If you can manhandle an 11 plus pound 7.62 NATO rifle with an Aimpoint and flashlight mounted on it, this will be a breeze.
I didn't have any issues with the Gamo scope. I don't have much experience shooting with scopes, pretty much everything I own has iron sights. I will say I think the scope has a good exit pupil (?), I found it very easy to get a good sight picture. Easier, in fact, than the more expensive 3x9 variable on my friends much more expensive Benjamin Marauder (more on that rifle later).
The trigger seemed heavy at first. But, I got used to it quickly. It was no match trigger, but it really wasn't an issue. I never liked working rifles with hair triggers, anyway.
Noise level was moderate. It wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be almost as bad as a .22 rifle. It wasn't as quiet as the Benjamin Marauder, it was about the same as my Webley Hurricane .177 pistol.
You can definitely feel the spring recoil when you fire it. The first few times you fire it you notice it, but after that you just get used to it and don't even think about it. I like it because it feels more like you are shooting a real rifle.
Shot a steel can for a performance test. At first, we thought I missed it because the can didn't budge. A closer look showed I nailed it dead center, but the pellet just zipped through. So, we switched to the Predator PolyMag pellets. That moved the can, resulted in a much bigger exit hole, but the can still did not get knocked over. My friend, who I bought the Gamo from, said the Big Cat will penetrate 1" of wood. It is definitely not a toy.
At this point, I'd like to say a bit about my friend's Benjamin Marauder. First of all, it costs way more, I think about $475. It is much quieter than the Gamo Big Cat, even though I believe they both shoot at about the same velocity. It is super accurate. At 25 yards, I had 4 out of 5 shots touching!
I haven't bought an air gun since the late 70's, so this gun had new tech for me. You actually pump it up like a tire. I think it has an internal air reservior in the forearm that holds enough air for about 35 shots. It has an easy to load rotary magazine like a Ruger 10/22, 10 shot capacity. But, it operates like a bolt action rifle.
Amazing gun. A real pleasure to shoot and own.
I just wanted to add a few more observations about the Big Cat now that I've had it awhile. First, my 3 friends and I can routinely nail a target the size of the bottom of a water bottle at 25 yards offhand. Second, the click adjustments on the scope are too fine in our opinions. We literally clicked the scope adjustment like 80 clicks before we saw any noticeable change in the point of impact. Third, the recoil from the spring is very noticeable when you try to stay on target looking thru the scope. You can't stay on target, the gun jumps too much. In a way, this is not a bad thing, as it mimics the recoil from a real gun.
A friend of mine bought a Gamo Whisper and we shot both Gamo's head to head. All four of us agreed that the gun's performance was virtually identical. The Whisper did have click adjustable iron sights, which is a definite plus. It also had a slightly nicer scope with variable power, another plus. Although I found I had to lift my cheek off of the stock to get a good sight picture, a definite minus.
However, the one thing that really disappointed me was the Whisper's "silencer". None of us noticed any real difference in the noise levels between these two guns. I would say the silencer is a complete fail.
