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Gamo Viper Shadow Express Air Shotgun & Rifle reviews - page 1
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- 12
Things I liked: Its light , easy to cock , points to target very well. A decent 10 yard pattern, very accurate. If you want to shoot 22cal Pellets you just drop in a guide ( that it includes!!) and of you go!!By Patti from USA on 2009-10-26 11:11:07
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Things I would have changed:In theory more power would let it be able to use more shot in each shell, Gamo could defiantly incress the power plant!
What others should know:Good all around fun gun! I think scopeing it would be a waste its accurate has a smooth bore but don't expect one hole groups!!
Things I liked:Sturdy, Powerful, DeadlyBy bruceypoo from USA on 2009-08-06 02:02:17
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Things I would have changed:The trigger is a little tough but its not really a bother
What others should know:Well the first day i got this gun it was the first week of squirrel season and i dropped one about 25 yards up in a tree with the shotshell. Everybody gripes about them but if you compact the shot more with a pen or something they throw a much better pattern for longer distance. The sights are a little different from a real shotgun. because it is a pellet gun there is a little raised black bidge type deal that makes you aim higher, with a little practice it is very easy to be accurate. I absolutely LOVE the .22 cal pellets. i hit a squirrel at about 30 yards and he was knocked backwards out of the tree. My neighbors HAD a skunk problem with their chickens and i offered to come and dispatch the pesky varmits. The chickens rest easy with this gun around
Things I liked:First off, its a shotgun... an Air Shotgun. its nice and light, the bead sight system is flawless. it will shoot where you point it. the cocking effort is easy. i like the ventilated rib barrel setup as well. it is a very fun gun.By Matt from USA on 2009-07-26 00:01:37
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Things I would have changed:introduce a model with a hardwood stock and if thats asking too much, then at least use a solid synthetic stock, the hollow butt of the gun really vibrates like crazy on firing. enable the use of different, screw in chokes for different applications. (perhaps a removable rifled choke for pellets????) gamo needs to offer more types of shell loads as well.
What others should know:Really fun gun. pellets are very inaccurate and tumble through the air as opposed to spinning. pellets also seem to really foul up the barrel worse than round balls or shot... go figure. i found that the gamo round .22 cal slugs work very well. the shotshells aint cheap but they are fun. i keep my empty hulls and reload them. multiple round lead balls or #8 shot work nicely. the gun can kill things but 15 yards seems to be the cutoff. just buy it... you wont regret it! get plenty of shells too they go fast!
Things I liked:Fit and finish are excellent. I like things that are 'all weather' and I don't have to fuss over to keep from rusting. Good weight and balance!By rbrandes from USA on 2009-04-05 07:13:25
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Things I would have changed:I wish there was some way of unloading it without firing a round or firing an empty chamber. However, this isn't a big problem. Just an old habit from years of firearms practice.
What others should know:I needed something to control carpenter bees. Smoothbore rimfire rifles are either too expensive or too scarce and the ammo is costly. Being able to reload the shot shells tipped the scales for this purchase. I have started a web page here on my progress: http://www.ray-vin.com/tech/gamoviper/gamoviper.htm
Things I liked:Surprisingly accurate for a smoothbore. Very easy to create custom shells. Wide range of hunting possibilities. Just plain fun to shoot.By sniper92 from USA on 2009-01-29 11:23:12
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Things I would have changed:Interchangeable barrels, one rifled for pellets and one smoothbore for shotshells.
What others should know:I outfitted mine with a clamp-on bipod, BSA 3-12X50 air rifle scope for when I shoot pellets, and a sling. I have yet to purchase the gas spring. I have used one with a gas spring and I HIGHLY reccomend buying one
Things I liked:This air rifle is one of the most fun pellet guns I have owned. The shotgun feature is a fun choice for plinking, but it does not really have enough punch to hurt anything, let alone kill it, but I'll talk more about that later. The accuracy of the .22 is amazing for a smoothbore. At 40 yards, I was hitting soup cans with just the bead, NO SCOPE. And with a scope, you can expect half inch groups at 10 yards. I don't know why anyone would be the more expensive Viper Express when this is basically the same thing with a different stock.By Richard from USA on 2009-01-03 20:08:43
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Things I would have changed:I would change the shotgun feature a lot. I think Gamo should offer different size shot and loads. The shotgun didn't even hit a SITTING sparrow at 10 yards; 20 #9 shot is not dense enough. Gamo should also offer a reloading kit because it is shotshell ammo is expensive and in high demand. I have also read some reviews saying how a side by side would be sweet, and it would be. What I think is more practical is a rifled .22 barrel OVER a smoothbore shotshell barrel, built on a Gamo Hunter Extreme platform, because that is powerful enough to push bigger shot and more of it down the barrel while still getting 800 fps.
What others should know:The .22 pellets through this gun are extremely accurate. I use Crosman Pointed that is sold at every sporting store, and there is probably more accurate ammo out there for it. It has the power to kill a rabbit in one shot at 20 yards (which I did), and the accuracy to hit a sparrow at 15 yards without mutilating it with just the bead (Which I also did). You will be impressed with the pellet performance, and the shotgun feature is good for plinking.
Things I liked:A great looking gun. It is very accurate for a smooth barrel rifle. I like the ability to switch between shot shells and pellets. I have had mine for a year and never has given me any problems. My shooting partners love it when I bring it with me when we go trap shooting. Then get a real kick out of it.By Bob from USA on 2008-12-04 22:21:22
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Things I would have changed:I would try to put regular site or be able to mount a red dot scope on it. It would make it even more versatile. Also change the shot shells to make then more like a Double 0 shot load.
What others should know:Can't go wrong with this gun. Gamo definitley has a real winner on its hand.
Things I liked:Exellent handleing, (Crosman premier match pellet)1inch groups at 10yards. Has lasted about 2700 rounds. The trigger gets glass smooth. The spring twang goes down but after all those shots, it still deseils just a little. The blueing is nice. Very light weight and balanced. No overpenetration on game. Good long range power compared to .177 cal guns. Easy to cockBy kevin from USA on 2008-10-30 18:46:53
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Things I would have changed:The speed and range is low compared to other guns, the barrel shroud is plastic (nocracks so far, I think its safe), I'm on my 4th breach seal, very high profile compared to other shadow series guns. Very low penetration. Tons of spring twang with certain bullets and shot shells are smooth, but extremely loud. The shells need to come in different sizes like bird shot (#7), Rat shot (#5) and express long range (3, .20cal steel balls in a sabot.
What others should know:I'm the guy who suggested the 1250 powerplant and a gas spring sounds great, but I think both would bend the plastic barrel shroud. Clean the barrel and you can get great shell groups of about 6inch groups at 10 yards. Shot shells are near imposible to reload and I've been working on a formula for a year thats prime concern is not damaging the gun(piston slam). Nothing to match a factory shell yet. With factory shells I got aroud 6 birds so far, with pellets I have gotten 2 squirrles and a crow.
Things I liked:The gun is light weight, and does seem to point fairly quickly and naturally. It is very easy to cock, in my opinion. Once the initial dieseling subsided, the gun is fairly quiet. The most important thing to be liked is the fact that it is a shotgun, by design. I didn't notice any excessive vibration or spring noise as some of the reviewers experienced.By Steve S from USA on 2008-09-08 17:33:00
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Things I would have changed:Based on how easy it is to cock, I would have used a more powerful spring. With the individual pellets from the shot shells being so small/light, they need all the velocity they can get to have a decent level of penetrating energy at the target. I too believe Gamo should use their Extreme power plant for this gun. After reading some other reviews, I too was sure I could reload the shells. As it turns out, this can be done, but the reloaded shells do not perform as well as the factory loaded shells in regards to velocity. Velocity of the factory shells, which I found to contain between 16 and 20 pieces of #9 shot, averaged about 650-670 FPS on my chrono. To reload these shells, I used a safety razor to slice a .22 felt cleaning pellet into a 3/4 and 1/4 ratio. I used the 3/4 slice for the pusher wad, and the thinner 1/4 slice for the overwad. While these patterened nicely (10 inches at 30 feet), their velocity was only about 440 FPS with the same number of pellets as the factory load. Not taking into account the potentially slight increase in weight of the felt pellets over Gamo's plastic wads, my guess is that the Gamo shells were engineered not to release their payload until the piston had developed peak pressure, to maximize the power plant efficiency. By looking into a new and fired shell, evidence of this can be seen in its design. There is a retaining ring/overwad which is snapped into a receiving groove on the inside of the shell. This would not allow the shot column to move until sufficient pressure had developed to "break" it free. Using the felt wads, I loaded some shells with up to 32 pieces of #9 shot, which produced nice dense patterns, but the velocity drops to below 300 FPS with such a load. I also experimented with card board wads, with similar reduced velocity performance. If Gamo would use the Extreme power plant, and increase the pellet payload to at least 30 pellets while keeping 650 FPS, I would definitely buy it. A gas ram power plant would be ideal, since you could sit and wait for game without worrying about setting the spring, like when you're waiting for rats to come out from under the chicken coop. As the shells are already long enough to carry the extra pellets, there wouldn't be a whole lot of engineering or re-tooling involved for this. Gamo, are you listening?
What others should know:The shells are too expensive to have the kind of fun the gun can provide, even at its current performance level. If you're just jump-shooting grasshoppers, mice, or small sparrows, then the reloaded shells will likely work and will drastically reduce the cost of shooting. But for shooting "big" game (chipmunk, maximum), it seems you will still need to use the factory shells. Ten yards is the farthest you should expect to take a small bird, even then there is some luck involved. For what it is, it's borderline whether or not its worth the money, just don't expect too much of it. My accuracy rating is for the pattern size and velocity - about as advertised but not overly impressive. If they come out with an improved version, as described above, then I'd say go for it.- 12
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Overall rating:5 5.0
Value for money:5 5.0
Accuracy:5 5.0
See all my reviews
Things I would have changed:use a bit larger shot in the shells, make the shells reloadable.
What others should know:a fine gun as expected from gamo. so far I haven't had any repair or performance issues other than it shoots to the left with a vintage panzerfaust 2 weapon sight on it. It's best without a sight.