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RedFeather · Member

They are kind of utility guns. Not fancy but get the job done for the money. The 220/440/Shadow 1000 line can be made into a fairly decent rifle for not a lot of money. The GTX trigger greatly improves them. The CFX is an excellent underlever, having been derived from the BSA underlever when the companies merged. The 1250's made in Great Britain are very nice magnum rifles.

A lot of folks dismiss Gamo's because they hold them up to more expensive guns which, of course, are more refined in finish, triggers, et cetera.

I have several Gamo's. Would I buy a Gamo rifle in the $150 range? No, because you can find a Diana or RWS 34 for about that and it is a better rifle all the way round. Again, the exception is the CFX which is a fine gun for the money.

super6 · Member

I have two Gamos, an older 440 and a BSA made Hunter 1250. I think the newer Hunter Extreme is a fine "magnum" class springer and my old 440, tuned, is a nice gun.

My biggest complaint about Gamo is their refusal to sell parts. It is their corporate policy to not support home tuners such as myself and most definitely "professional" tuners. Gamo is a case study in poor marketing in every possible way.

Fortunately Gamos (except the 1250's and Extremes) are easy to tune and there are aftermarket parts available. The more attractive models are priced in the same range as RWS 34's thus I find it hard to recommend them except the CFX. Rich in Mich has a simple trigger fix of his own design...I won't comment on the other. You can still find new 220's and 440's for less than a Big Cat, which I find more attractive with far less plastic. They have the same powerplant as the newer models.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

BBGun Bob · Veteran Member

Its a nicely made rifle from Spain.I have never tuned it or done anything to modify it.It is a hard shooter with a nice trigger but also a hard cocker too!! You could leave this one around children and never worry about an accident.They couldn't cock it,my 14 year old grandson wanted to shoot it so I said if you can cock it your welcome to shoot it. I laughed my azz off watching him try to pull the cocking lever down far enough to engage the sear.Even with the butt on the floor and two hands on the cocking lever with me steadying the rifle it would lift him off the carpet at about 3/4 cock.I don't know what this thing has in it for a spring but it is a stiff one to say the least.And recoil ! ! ! it will shake your fillings out of your teeth.
I chronied it last summer thinking as hard as it cocks and all the recoil this thing has to be shooting near 900FPS, how about 760's with a deviation in a 10 shot string of 12 FPS not to bad but it is a crude sucker to shoot.

BBGun Bob
SE Mich.

Gamo Stutzen in .22 caliber

fritz · Silver Status Member

thepaladin · Senior Member

There are some good ones, like anything else. I can't go along with a blanket condemnation of Gamo. They really screwed up in the "killing the hog" incident (and for some reason don't seem to agree with us that it was a mistake as they keep refering to it) and the market the PBA pellets too hard. They tend to be misleading in their adds ( the wholr "super sonic" pellet thing is rediculious as the pellets become wildly inaccurate). All that being said I have a Stutze too and it's a fine rifle. it hits where it's aimed and with a scope stop hold reliably, I like it. I might go so far as to say it's my favorite .177 rifle.

Gamo is in general simply another mid-range rifle with some good points and some bad...mostly depending on each rifle probably.

broommaster2000 · Moderator

Sadly, Gamo does produce some rather good rifles. That being said, being made by BSA. I shot the 1250 at 50 meters and it does rather well apart from cocking (worthless, a real BSA is easy to cock but still has a very reasonable amount of power left), it's heavy, and has a nasty kind of recoil that doesn't make it easy. Shocked

The price ain't to shabby either.