by B.B. Pelletier
Let’s take the Gamo Whisper to the range, although the day was not good for shooting. I also tried to shoot some 75-yard groups with the Air Arms S410 sidelever, but a 15 mph gusting wind ruined that attempt. I haven’t given up, but I do need to adjust the scope mounts before returning for a second attempt on a calmer day.
However, I do have more to report on the Whisper, because this day I had a gallery of four other airgunners to watch me shoot and handle the rifle. To a man…even though one was a woman, they liked the light weight. She was surprised by the light cocking, so it wasn’t just my imagination.
One person, who is in advertising, was most impressed with the TruGlo sights. He said he would feature them plus the light weight in an ad, but he would avoid mentioning the one thing the gun isn’t, which is quiet. Not that it’s noisy, mind you, it’s just not that quiet. It sounds like most other spring guns in its power class, though perhaps on the quieter side of all of them.
I tried to sight-in the rifle, and I had it on at 10 feet, but at 20 yards the wind blew the pellet clear off the paper. It’s not fair to the gun to report the groups I got, so I’ll return on a better day. But from what I saw at 10 feet, my gut tells me this rifle can shoot.
Trigger not so good
Remember that trigger I’ve been praising? Well, off the bench it’s positively bad! Too much second stage for any hope of good work. It’s not particularly heavy, breaking at between 5 and 7 lbs. I know, I know…Charlie Da Tuna. Give me some time.
Velocity was a pleasant surprise!
Gamo advertises the Whisper at 1,000 f.p.s. with light lead pellets and 1,200 f.p.s. with PBA Gamo Raptors. So, I shot it with Crosman Premiers (7.9 grains) and Raptors (5 grains), and I’ll be darned if it didn’t get pretty close! Raptors went an average 1175 f.p.s. and Premier lites went 918. So, Hobbys might go 950 or so, and that’s pretty close to the advertised velocity.
The powerplant now buzzes more than it did, and that’s where the bulk of the noise is generated. I’m not going to tune this rifle, but if it were tuned to be quieter, then the muzzle reduction might begin to matter, as it does with the TX 200.
In the next installment, I’ll scope the rifle and go for accuracy. After all, you guys don’t care how lousy a shot I am with open sights.
T.G., (Off topic) Would you please recommend a couple scopes for me and my RX-1? One around $100.00 the other around $200.00 If this is not the place, I understand. From savagesam
Savage Sam,
I can’t speak for BB, but I would look at the Leapers scopes. I have a 3×9-50 (less than $100)that I like very much. The reticule (crosshair) is finer that most so it works well on tiny targets without covering up what you’re shooting. Also because of its power it makes a good hunting scope. If you’d like to spend a little more, perhaps the 8×32-56 would also give you the best of both worlds, leaning more towards a target scope, again because of its power. My experience with the compact or Bug Buster scope is that the reticule is much more coarse and can cover up small targets, especially at a distance. I guess that’s why we call them Bug Busters.
Another group of scopes to look at would be the Centerline Scopes, and I believe Crosman sells those. BB will probably tell you that most optics come from China nowadays, and I can only vouch for the two I’ve mentioned. Either represents a great bang for the buck, and would look great on your RX-1.
Michael in Florida
is there a way to calculate hold over/under when shooting at a high or low target, say a pigeon up on a roof? if so, what is it?
Thomas,
I believe that an actual formula probably exists, F=ma, however, science sometimes takes the fun out of things.
As a general rule of thumb, your rifle will shoot above its “level” point of impact when shooting at an up or down angle. That new POI will be farther away from its level POI the steeper the angle up or down. That’s because gravity is acting on the mass of the pellet at an accute/obtuse angle, rather than at a perpendicular, as when firing level. The more you shoot your gun, the better intuition you’ll have as to where to aim. Go for the percentage shot, ie., aim low on the target/kill zone.
Michael in Florida
maybe I need to see a picture. I’m just mainly asking if I need to aim high or low with the scope.
Thomas,
Try this link.
http://www.arld1.com/trajectorydynamic.html
Play around with the angle of the rifle. The range is limited, but it may show you the relationship between the line of sight of the scope, the line of the bore, and the trajectory of the pellet at different velocities.
Michael in Florida
thanks for the link!
Thomas,
B.B. did a blog about this awhile ago but I can’t seem to find it to give you the link. I’ll try my best to explain. Lets say your aiming at a pigeon which is 20 yards up a tree. You figure that since you have your gun sighted in at 25 yards that you should simply aim as if the bird is at 25 yards out on the ground. You end up doing this and missing. What you need to do is aim as if the bird is at the distance to you and the base of the tree. Say your standing 15 yards from the base of the tree, aiming up at the bird that is 20 yards up in the tree. You really should be aiming at the bird as if it is only 15 yards away. I know its confusing but hopefully B.B. can give you the blog link.
Hope it helps, Kyle.
B.B.
I went to the show today and had a great time. A few days ago you gave me a couple of recommendations on my next gun, and what do you know, Pyramyd had one of them there, the RWS54 in .22 just like I was looking for. Got a sweet deal on it and a separate scope. I haven’t mounted the scope yet, but I tried it just now with the open sights at 10 yds in the garage, and 3 of the first 5 pellets went thru the same hole. Considering how fuzzy the sight picture is with my farsightedness, I’m pretty darn excited. I think I’m going to like this gun. Can’t wait to try it with the scope.
Thank you, thank you!
Pestbgone
Thanks Michael, That 8-32X56 How is it on close up shots? Say ten yards. I’ve never used a scope before (still have excellent vision lol) Reason I ask is it seems like it would be too much magnification for the close up shots. From savagesam
savageman,
the 8-32 is too much power in my opinion for a ten yard scope. sure it will help you see better but you will end up with tons of paralax resulting in bad accuracy. i think a 3-9x or even a 4x scope will be ideal. also you dont need a huge objective either. the leapers scopes are great quality. the 8-32×56 is more of a field target scope
Nate in Mass
kyle,
that kind of makes sense, I just need to be able to estimate how far it is to the base of the “tree” or whatever and then be able to estimate what range to actually take the shot at.
BB,
I have a couple crosman pumpers. And I change barrels on them sometimes. I notice that some barrels shoots better than others. The riflings are all good, the crownings are good as well. One barrel would shoot one hole group at 11 yards, and the other would shoot half inch. I changed them back and forth and still end up with the same result. So here’s my question. What makes a barrel accurate? Because I can’t really tell why they would perform any differently. Thanks in advance for your insight.
Thomas,
There is no easy way to calculae the holdover, however, if you can estimate the distance from you if the bird was not up in the tree, the holdover would be the same.
B.B.
Thomas,
I will draw a picture in next week’s blog.
B.B.
Kyle,
Good for you! That was the answer!
B.B.
Accurate barrels,
When YOU find out, please tell us.
Actually, iyt is things like the smoothness and uniformity of the barrel surface, which you cannot see without a magnifying borescope. Also, some barrels have stresses that others don’t.
And then there ate imponderables, which make up the majority of the answer.
B.B.
Thomas,
Here’s a better link to describe what I was trying to say.
http://www.arld1.com/targetplottrajectory3.html
Notice that the POI will be above the aim point as you angle the rifle up or down.
Michael in Florida
How does the Remington Genesis group offhand(if you have ever fired it offhand)? And if you haven’t, can I get some input from those who have? I’m assessing whether or not if the Genesis fits the capacity that I would use it in, which is 15-40 yard offhand shots at pests and plinking whatnot.
14 in Fla
14 in fla,
“shooting at pests”
hmmm. watch your choice of words. You dont want to sound cruel. I hunt but i dont shoot “at” pests.
Im just trying to help. Not be a bother.
14 in fla,
I bought the Remington Genesis about a month ago. The gun looks great but … and I mean a big but. There were a few problems out of the box. See my posts on that model, part 4. I have fixed most problems so far and its shooting better.
The rifle is extreamly hold
sensitive, and pellet fussy. As of now my best pellet is the 8.2 grain RWS Superpont Extra @ 830 FPS and 12.5 FPE. Shooting from the bench with the gun resting on stacked soft pillows I started pulling off some 3/4″ groups at 13 yards indoors. There are a few more pellets I want to try.
Back to the question: I have also been shooting offhand standing with the same pellet at 6 yards and can keep 10 shots in the same 3/4″ spot, until I get tired from holding.
Bottom line I’m still not confident in the gun, to hunt squirls yet. I have guns with less power but are more consistently accurate that I trust more at this moment. and as of now I would not use it for shots over 20 yards. Plinking is fine though.
It has been a fun project though.
Joe G from Jersey
B.B.
It would be very helpfull for a lot of people if you could do an analytical post of all the things to do for tune up a gun.
Mixalis
Try this link.
/blog/2006/08/spring-gun-tune-part-13-range-testing-the-r1-we-tuned/
Michael in Florida
I was out shooting today, and for the first time, I shot a blank! Ha ha – actually not too funny. I am shooting a rws 48, which is not suppose to be dry fired. Do you think I may have hurt anything doing this once and if so, is there something I can do about it?
Ozark
As for shooting targets that are above or below you, the most important thing to know is that horizontal and vertical movement are independent. If you zero in at 30 ft and you shoot at a target, 30 ft horizontally and 40 ft in the air you end up hitting dead on because pellet drop (effect of gravity) is already accounted for in your zeroing. After that, you already account for the height difference by aiming up at your target!
That’s the simplest way I can explain it.
Mixalis,
Michael in Fla. sent the link I would have. That’s a pretty thorough report.
B.B.
Ozark,
We have all done that with springers. I once shot a .177 pellet in a .22 R1 with the same results.
You are probably okay. Just watch the performance for awhile. This is where a chronograph comes in real handy!
B.B.
Read the comments that barrel length doesn’t have much affect on speed in a Co2 rifle. Why would you have a 24″ barrel on say a Crosman 2260 instead of a shorter one, more accuracy?
And is there an accuracy advantage to a $75 Crosman barrel as opposed to a standard $20 one? THANKS
Crosman barrels,
A 24-inch barrel looks right on a rifle, where a 16 inch barrel make it a carbine. Also a longer sight separation gives more aiming precision.
As for the $75 Crosman barrel, I don’t follow you. Where is that coming from?
B.B.
B.B.,
On one podcast “you” did a commercial for the HW50S that made me look it up on Pyramid. I have been wanting an R7, but the HW50 looks even better on paper: lower price, only 2 more Lbs. cocking effort for 120fps increase. The only thing I notice is that it is louder than the R7. Is HW50 too loud for an urban back yard? How would you compare and contrast the shooting experience of these two models as back yard plinkers?
Thanks for the blog and the podcast. I am enjoying them very much.
Regards,
Kevin
Kevin,
The 50 is a bit louder than the R7 but both are such pussycats that it really makes little difference.
Tne either one and they go ultra quiet. Even without a tune neither is too noisy.
I think the 50S is a wonderful bargain. It’s more of an adult-sized rifle. The R7 is simply cute, and nobody doesn’t like cute.
B.B.
Crosman barrels,
Are you talking about a Lothar Walther match barrel from Crosman? I bought a 14.5″, .22 barrel (a 2289 barrel) from Crosman and it was only about $8!
In the RWS 34 Panther review, B.B mentioned a scope mounting problem. If I buy the RWS Panther, will I have to buy a special scope mount for it? The budget is only $245, with all accessories…just putting it out there why I’m throwing all these gun choices out. Also, everyone, what is your best off-hand rifle that can take pests like squirrels, from any distance?
14 in Fla
14 in Fla,
The Panther may be the best for you. Use the scope mounting method I recommended in the report, unless you can wait about 6 months when the new base will probably be on the market.
B.B.
Can I use cheaper mounts than the B-Square ones? The B-Square mounts would chew up practically my whole budget, leaving little left for the actual scope. Leapers one-piece mounts look good..and what scope would you recommend with the Panther?
14 in Fla
14 in Fla,
There is no cheaper mount that can lift your groups 21 inches at 25 yards without bending the scope tube (shimming). You will be sorry if you don’t get some kind of adjustables.
B.B.