Gamo PT-85 Tactical Part 1

Gamo PT-85 Tactical Part 1 Part 2

And now for something Spooky

By Dennis Adler

What could be better for Halloween than a 4.5mm pellet-firing airgun that is nothing short of spooky (as in spies, ghosts and spooks); a tactical model that has every base covered from optics, to light and laser, a full length faux silencer, blowback action, and a double action/single action trigger. It’s the Gamo PT-85, a Beretta PX4 Storm-based design worthy of any 00 or CIA man in the field. It has been around for awhile but is now the last pellet-firing air pistol to offer all of these features in a single package.

This is the kind of gun you see in spy movies carried by individuals who “live in the shadows” a turn of phrase familiar to those who know James Bond films, and this special version of the double action/single action Gamo PT-85 fits the bill perfectly as a versatile, modular pistol for operatives who demand stealth, accuracy, and when need be, a light and laser to illuminate and pinpoint a target. The Gamo PT-85 Tactical Series gives you all the tools of the spy trade in a CO2 powered, blowback action 4.5mm rifled barrel semi-auto. And the Gamo holds a few secrets of its own. For one, this version of the Gamo PT-85 model introduced in 2010, has the capability of being exceptionally accurate because the realistic-looking faux silencer hanging off the end (this is old school trade craft so let’s call a silencer a silencer this time) has a full length extension of the rifled barrel shrouded inside, and thus this PT-85 has an internal barrel length of 12 inches! Combine that with an average velocity of well over 450 fps and at 21 feet this pellet-firing, rifled barrel semi-auto can be optically dialed in to produce sub 1-inch groups.

The Gamo has a secret, a faux silencer that shrouds a full length rifled barrel that increases the internal length of the barrel from the standard 5.0 inches to 12.0 inches. You might call it the Buntline Special of semi-autos!

The red laser that comes with the Tactical set can also be used to get pinpoint accuracy at 10 meters but the multi-color 5 MOA (red, green or blue) optical dot sight really puts the PT-85 on the bullseye. The tactical flashlight that comes with it is 80 lumens, which isn’t bad but as tactical flashlights go it is a little under par. Good tactical flashlights are around 120 lumens and up, but in a low illumination room it would certainly help light up the target. Both the light and laser also come with on-off pressure switches which can be used in place of the push-button rear caps. The pressure switch for one of them can be hook and loop mounted on the frontstrap for immediate activation when gripping the pistol. Personally, I prefer the manual switches.

First and last of their kind; the c.2005 Umarex Beretta XX-Treme Tactical model with Walther red dot scope and tactical light, and the current Gamo PT-85 Tactical pistol with red (green and blue) dot scope, tactical light and laser. Both have rifled barrels, faux silencers, optical scope mounts, and shoot 8-shot rotary pellet magazines. The PT-85’s advantage is in its blowback action and reversible dual 8-shot rotary pellet magazine based on the Umarex Beretta PX4 Storm design, introduced in 2007. The Gamo is currently the only pellet-firing blowback action airgun of this type. (The Beretta 92FS XX-Treme was not a blowback action.)

Last of its kind

The underlying design for the PT-85 Tactical goes back to one of the first Umarex rotary magazine pellet models, the Beretta 92FS XX-Treme, which I reviewed for Guns & Ammo back in 2005 when the special 92FS version was introduced. This model was manufactured until 2013 and was the ultimate in 4.5mm tactical air pistols. Built for Pyramyd Air, the XX-Treme was developed by company president Josh Ungier, and manufactured by Umarex Sportwaffen GmbH in Arnsberg, Germany. It remains one of the most coveted of all Umarex Beretta pellet firing models.

The PT-85 is double action for the first shot (unless you manually cock the hammer as shown) and then fires single action. The gun comes with fixed white dot sights and a removable accessory rail that holds a multi-color 5 MOA dot scope. The backstrap is removed to insert the CO2.

There was also a similar CP99 version sold by Umarex, and a Beretta version of the PX4 Storm known as the Recon built during the same period. The Recon was discontinued in 2015, but none of them had a full length barrel inside the silencer, and that is what gives the PT-85 Tactical its edge.

Very much like the Beretta PX4 Storm, upon which the PT-85 is based, the CO2 model uses an almost identical manual thumb safety on the right side of the frame. Pushing it down sets the gun on SAFE, to release it, the serrated catch on the side of the safety must be pulled back and the safety pushed up at the same time.

There’s a lot of the Beretta PX4 Storm air pistol in the PT-85, including similar but not interchangeable dual 8-shot rotary magazines, a molded in (inert) thumb safety, and nearly identical manual, frame-mounted safety on the right side of the gun. Both have the same style double action/single action trigger system, but the Gamo currently remains the last gun standing in this unique category of blowback action pistols and why this spooky looking semi-auto has landed its spot in Airgun Experience for October 31^st. Boo!

In Part 2 the PT-85 Tactical weighs in and heads to the 10-meter target range