by B.B. Pelletier
When we last looked at the Gamo Whisper, I was trying to shoot it with open sights and not doing very well. Today, I’ll scope it and prepare it for accuracy testing by cleaning the barrel.
The silencer has been vetted
Remember all that talk about whether the silencer on this rifle is legal? Well, a class three dealer examined it and said in his opinion it could not be removed and attached to a firearm with success. Gamo has taken pains to make the outer case tapered front-to-rear, plus they have molded two huge flutes into the side of the case. They’ve also made holes in the flutes that expose the sides of the baffles, which are a soft synthetic material, to the air. It was his opinion that the silencer would be too difficult to remove from the rifle without destroying it, and, even if it could be removed, that the baffles would blow out the sides if exposed to even the low pressure from a .22 rimfire cartridge. In other words, it wouldn’t silence a firearm for even one shot, which is what BATF&E looks for. Of course his opinion isn’t official, but it looks like Gamo had some concerns and took steps to minimize any risk.
Cleaning the bore
Cleaning means a brand-new bore brush laden with J-B Non-Embedding Bore Cleaning Compound. I use a one-piece Dewey cleaning rod with ball-bearing handle so the brush will follow the rifling. Twenty strokes of the brush in each direction with the brush leaving the bore on every stroke. Clean the residue with dry patches shoved breech to muzzle until they come out clean.
This was an easy job! The brush fit the bore looser than most, and there wasn’t as much resistance at the start. That could be due to a smoother bore or a larger one, so I will try fatter pellets when I shoot. I was worried the baffles would bother the patch because I use a cleaning jag, not a loop. But the patch stayed on every time. After cleaning, the bore is still dark, so it’s either the color (reflectivity) of the steel or the surface left by the rifling button.
Selecting a scope
I was going to make this the start of my scope tutorial, but since Gamo provides a scope and mount, I will use it, of course. Let’s see how close they come to what I would have selected.
Scope considerations
For the Gamo Whisper, the scope needs to be powerful enough for the rifle’s capability. I would estimate a rifle like this to be good out to 50 yards in the hands of a good marksman. At that range, it should produce 2″ groups or just a little better. The rifle doesn’t recoil a lot, so the scope can be large, but not overly long, because it has to allow the breech to rotate up when the barrel breaks. The good built-in scope rail has two stop holes, though neither is located far enough to the rear to allow mounting a compact scope. Yes, cantilevered rings are a possibility, but I like to keep things simple. Taking all of this into consideration, I would select a standard-sized variable scope in the power range of 3-12x. That means a 3-9x, 4-12x or 3-12x scope is what I want.
This is a general-purpose rifle, not well-suited to field target or silhouette, so the reticle should be a duplex with thicker crosshairs. Thick crosshairs allow the reticle to be acquired faster, making a good all-around scope that’s also good for hunting. Mil-dots are not required, but I’ll take them if they come with the scope. An illuminated reticle is nice if you’re a real hunter who hunts during the fringe times of the day.
Scope and mount choice
I would have selected a 3-9 full-sized scope with duplex reticle. Gamo provided a 3-9×32 scope with a duplex. It has a 1″ tube, which I would have chosen for this rifle. There are no mil-dots, nor is the reticle illumunated. They put it in a nice one-piece mount that has the proper scope stop pin. Just put it on the mount base on the rifle and tighten the clamping screws. They’re Torx screws, by the way. Gamo may have a good idea here because I have certainly rounded a number of Allen wrenches (hex wrenches) over the years tightening scope clamp screws. Just don’t lose the Torx wrench!
I thought I’d have time for accuracy testing in this report, but I’m already long. Next time for sure.
Hi. I wonder if anyone has insight into the mystery of my Walther Nighthawk. It’s a great gun. I bought it for the accessories of a rail, red dot sight, muzzlebrake/fake silencer and flashlight as much as the gun itself and had a blast with it fully outfitted. Then, I took off the accessories to practice drawing and snap shooting and had another blast. Then, I reassembled everything and found that my pellets did not reach the target at 20 feet. They were disappearing from the magazine and there was a report (with a kind of strange sound) but no holes in the paper.
I kept moving closer to the paper until I was about 6 feet away. Occasionally, I would get rebounds of smashed pellets or very faint impressions on the paper, but few or no holes and the pellets were still disappearing from the magazine!
I took just the silencer off and the gun worked fine. I took everything off but the silencer and the gun worked fine. I put everything back on and the same weird behavior: no holes in the paper but the pellets were gone from the magazine.
I dropped the red dot aimpoint down so low it was ridiculous and nothing happened. I did notice that the rails weren’t fitting quite the same as before. The bore seemed recessed a little bit. And I noticed that I couldn’t tighten the silencer completely. When I did, the slide wouldn’t open. When I loosened the silencer a few turns, the gun would function but the pellets were disappearing. Once the end of the silencer popped off after a shot but I was able to push it back in.
I don’t see any other way to reassemble the gun. The two halves of the rails fit together with 5 screws that each have a hole and there is a small oddly shaped piece that fits between the rails and holds them onto the gun so that they won’t slide. There seems to be no other way to assemble the gun. So where are all the pellets going? I shot a ton of pellets trying to figure this out. Then, I gave up and went to bed. Does anyone have insights into this?
Matt
BB,
hmmm… seems that people have lost interest in this gun. If its hype was all about being quiet (and its not) then its over for it! Gamo did it again!!! kinda like the 1600-fps (and its not) hype. To think i believed them for a second!!! At least i didn’t buy any of their junk!
They have funny math statistics selling their guns.
sorry, cant shut my mouth when it comes to gamo.
-sumo
BB – Here’s yet another off-topic question. Is there ever any issue with dry-firing when it comes to airsoft? I’m thinking of the more powerful sniper rifles and in cases of upgraded/custom springs.
Thanks.
Matt,
You must know the silencer/compensator is causing the problem. It’s tipping the pellets as they emerge. Put the muzzle ON the target paper and shoot. If there is a hole, back up 6 inches and try again. That should tell you what’s happening.
I think the silencer is now misaligned with the bore.
B.B.
Airdog,
That’s a really good question. Those sniper airsoft guns don’t sound bad when they are dry-fired, but I know the same thing is happening inside as happens inside a spring piston pellet rifle.
I think the synthetic piston seal makes the gun quieter, but I don’t think the compression chamber is made to take the shock.
I wouldn’t do it.
B.B.
B.B.,
Personally, I find all of the blogs and their comments and opinions interesting and educational. But honestly, after a year reading this blog I am still a little surprised and amused at how the opinions sometimes run as strongly as talking sports or religion or politics. Kudos to you for keeping it clean and objective.
My Gamo shadow 1000 will shoot Raptors 1134fps and Kodiaks 786fps with good accuracy….for the price. Even if Gamo is letting their marketing dept take some poetic license with some models, I think they are putting lots of “exciting” and reasonably priced guns and advertising in front of a lot of people who might otherwise not know about adult airguns. After all, my first gun was that Shadow from W-mart (because it looked cool and was quieter and safer than a .22), and now I have a B40 and a Diana 54. I’m hooked, and Gamo gets some of the credit, although the lions share still goes to this blog. For me, this airgun stuff is a whole lot of FUN!
Just my two cents. I’ll be quiet now.
Pestbgone
Sumo,
I can see both sides of the coin with regards to Gamo. I have one of the Whispers which I truly enjoy & given the price point I think it’s a very strong value. Overselling, puffing and product hype are very ugly but real parts of marketing in the global economy. My goal is to see more people shooting more airguns. Becasue Gamo (like Crosman, Beeman, and Daisy) have greater retail distribution they are able to produce a greater effect in that area. When I put on the new aftershave my son got me for Christmas, women did not start forcing their way through windows and doors to get at me like they did in the manufacturers TV comercial. My new checking account didn’t really make me smarter, and my dishwashing detergent did not totally elliminate spots on the glasses. But they were better than what I’d used previously and I ended up finding value in all of them. The difference between “puffing” and mis-representation is something manufacturers and their advertising departments would do well to keep in mind. And, yes I do think Gamo goes a bit overboard. But I wouldn’t call all of their products junk.
Just an opinion.
Take care,
LS.
Airdog,
I can tell you that repeatedly dry fireing an automatic electric gun will strip the teeth off the piston. I dont know if this is the same case for a rifle. My guess would be that it would damage it but would take alot of shots to do. It would act the same as dry fireing a springer but with a less powerfull spring. I own the UTG one (low power version) and have dry fired it many times with no concequence. I suppose upgraded guns will cause a problem. What kind of gun do you have?
Nate in Mass
Pestbgone,
Love ’em or hate ’em, you cannot ignore them. Gamo has quite a few airguns worth a second look.
B.B.
Sorry
The Gamo CFX is a good gun for the money. Maybe some other Gamos are to but they are still a dishonest company. I tried a viper express and it was junk. You would have better luck hunting with an airsoft gun! What do they recommend it for?
Keep in mind that everything i say is an opinion(as is anything that anyone says); but thanks for not exploding on me like i did on Gamo!
-sumo
Hi B.B.,
Thanks for doing this blog, it’s the first thing I read every day!
If you look at the Steroid 392, note that Tim has an option called “extended billet lever” that does greatly reduce pumping effort. It basically lengthens the pump arm.
Re testing the Whisper or others with open sights, I learned a trick recently. I had just aquired a 1968 silver streak, which had open sights. The best I could do at 25 yards was 1 1/2 inch groups, with my 65-year-ole eyes. Then I put a Merit disc on my eyeglasses (you can also just use black masking tape with a hole in it), and I shot 3/4-inch groups with the same rifle. A lot quicker test of the rifle than mounting a peep or scope!
–Mike
Sumo,
Actually I’ve read your comments for a long time now and have always valued your opinions highly.
Take Care,
LS
RE Gamo,
(I hope this comment doesn’t come up more than once. I tried to post it and it didn’t see to come up but I feel it somewhat important.)
My son gave my a Gamo 1000 for Christmas several years ago. Without it I would not have:
-Aquired several other air guns
-Enjoyed many hours of family time with air guns
-Joined the NRA
-Have my wife become a skeet shooter
-reduced the quantity of stupid squirrels in my area
-learned to read this blog.
No, they do not make the best air guns in the world, maybe not even the best for the money. But. . . they do get people involved in air guns and shooting.
I’ll put up with the over the top advertising if I can convince people that shooting isn’t ‘bad’. Shooting is a great family time, ask my grand daughter!
I really like this blog, including, of course, BB but also the regular contributors – Sumo, Nat, Squirrelkiller, etal. Thanks to you all. I look forward to reading this blog alot more than many other activties in my day!
Al Pellet
Sumo,
I agree with you in part about Gamo, especially with their grossly inflated MV figures for their much hyped Hunter Extreme and Predator pellets.
However, I have a .177 & .22 CFX from them, and I think they are fabulous, and mighty tough to beat for the money.
To best them in the accuracy department, you would probably have to fork over at least another $100-200 for a Weihrauch or higher end RWS/Diana.
Also, keep in mind that you are pretty spoiled with your high end airguns, as I understand that you have the likes of a Daystate Airwolf and the Dragon Slayer, so your perspective may be a bit skewed, and results in you comparing apples to oranges when you look at the admittedly bargain priced Gamo rifles.
Yeah, I wish I could afford an Airforce Condor and carbon fiber tank, high end Theoben, or Daystate, but I just can’t justify such things where I am right now, and I will be content with both of my CFX’s for years to come, marketing hype be damned.
Mike,
No doubt about it – a peep will increase accuracy by increasing aiming precision.
B.B.
Al,
I look forward to their comments, too.
B.B.
cool
I picked one up for ridding muskrats out of the backyard.
No perceptable muzzle blast. Doesn’t seem to scare other targets.
The spring is loud! But it doesn’t seem to spook other targets.
Kicks a lot for an airgun.
Have heard sonic cracks from lead pellets.(possible dieseling as I’ve noticed smoke)
Penetration is equivalent to .22 short CB round.
With 3×9 scope, nailing matches(equivalent) at 50 yards.
Careful tightening the scope rings, had 1 screw strip with little force.
I’d like to see a better trigger.
Plastic edges need to be deburred better. Sliced a finger.
All around good gun for hunting. Bagged 6 so far.