Gamo Hunter Extreme.
This report covers:
- The test
- RWS Superpoint
- RWS Club
- Now for the real test!
- H&N Baracuda Magnum
- Cocking effort
- Trigger pull
- Shot cycle
- Summary
Today we learn the velocity of the .177-caliber Gamo Hunter Extreme that is brand new, and also old stock. It came from a box that Tom Gore of Vortek never opened. I learned several things from today’s test. Gotta lotta ground to cover so let’s get right to the test.
The test
I shot 10-shot strings for the most part. For the first pellet I shot more than ten because the rifle seemed to need to settle down before becoming consistent.
RWS Superpoint
The first pellet tested was the 8.3-grain RWS Superpoint. This is the pellet that needed to settle down, so I’ll show the entire string and then I’ll report the average
Shot………Vel.
1……………1266
2……………1233
3……………1240
4……………1203
5……………1180
6……………1178
7……………1203
8……………1211
9……………1215
10………….1188
12………….1205
13………….1210
For this string only I disregarded the first three shots and calculated shot four as the first in the string. The average for those next ten shots is 1200 f.p.s. At that velocity this pellet develops 26.23 foot pounds of energy. The low was 1178 and the high was 1215 f.p.s. for a spread 37 f.p.s.
After this string and with all the remaining pellets I only shot ten shots for the record. I figured the rifle was awakened from its 20-year slumber in the box.
At this speed the pellet is breaking the sound barrier, so I recorded the muzzle blast. It hit 107.7dB.
RWS Club
The second pellet I tested was the 7-grain RWS Club. Ten of them averaged 1260 f.p.s. for a muzzle energy of 24.68 foot pounds. The low was 1234 and the high was 1315 f.p.s. for a spread of 81 f.p.s. That’s too much to hope for accuracy.
Now for the real test!
The next pellet I tested was the Gamo Raptor PBA. These are the pellets Gamo advertises going 1650 f.p.s. from the Hunter Extreme. I have never seen that velocity from ANY air rifle — especially not from a spring-piston job. The last time I tested a Hunter Extreme it topped out at 1395 f.p.s. What will we see today?
Today the Hunter extreme hit a max velocity of 1553 f.p.s. with Gamo Raptor pellets. That’s closer to the advertised velocity but still far short of it. The average for ten shots was 1419 f.p.s. which is good for a muzzle energy of 24.15 foot-pounds. The low was 1336 and the high was 1553 f.p.s. — a difference of 217 f.p.s. In my experience having tested three Hunter Extremes, this is typical performance and Gamo has never reached 1650 f.p.s. in a straightforward test. Maybe they could do it by putting oil down the air transfer port?
And Raptors are not that accurate. In my last test of them they tumbled at 25 yards and went through the target sideways.
H&N Baracuda Magnum
The last pellet I tested was a real test for the Hunter Extreme’s powerplant. The H&N Baracuda Magnum weighs a nominal 16.36 grains or 1.06 grams. That makes it a real heavyweight. Ten averaged 680 f.p.s. which works out to a muzzle energy of 16.8 foot pounds. Remember, folks, a velocity of 679 f.p.s. is the magic number at which the muzzle energy in foot pounds is equal to the weight of the pellet in grains.
The discharge of this pellet sounded much quieter than the previous three pellets, so I took a sound reading for us to compare.
Well 116.6 dB can’t be right! These pellets sound quieter. So I took a second reading.
Yep, it’s right. The sound of the rifle is much louder with this subsonic pellet, despite sounding quieter. The additional volume must be above my hearing range.
Cocking effort
I’ve been a good boy and not complained yet, but this Gamo Hunter Extreme cocks like stringing the bow of Ulysses. I know I’m an old man and not in my prime, but gee! If this puppy has the same cocking effort as the one I cocked in 2007 it’s time to put me on an ice floe.
It takes no less than 62 pounds of effort to cock this rifle. That’s a full 10 pounds more than the last Hunter Extreme I tested back in 2007. You don’t have to smack the muzzle to open the barrel for cocking, but that’s like saying the lion that just ate you had nice breath.
Trigger pull
The last Hunter Extreme I tested had a horrible trigger. Excuse me, my late wife Edith told me I’m not allowed to say that about airgun triggers. The 8+ pound trigger on the last Gamo Hunter Extreme I tested was uncharacteristically creepy, but at least it eventually made the rifle fire.
This one isn’t that bad. The first stage pulls with one pound nine ounces of effort. Stage two break at four pounds one ounce. There is creep in stage two but my experience with Gamo triggers is they get smoother with use.
And the safety IS NOT automatic! Thank you, Gamo, for realizing that your customers have a brain and sometimes think for themselves.
Shot cycle
When the Hunter Extreme goes off you know it! It’s kinda like running a jackhammer in a minefield! In fact, this may become my testbed for testing riflescopes. If a scope can last for 100 shots on this rifle, it’s probably good for most air rifles — to say nothing of the firearms that shooters consider heavy-recoiling.
Summary
This Gamo Hunter Extreme performs close to the other two I have tested. It’s close enough to say the unintended long storage had little effect on performance.
Next comes accuracy at 10 meters that will allow me to sort out the scope and see if it has endured the recoil from today’s test. I hope it has because it looks like a nice one.
B.B.,
Fun break barrel or shooter air rifle…
Thou must fix the thee me thinks and perhaps add wee bit of punctuation:
”RWS Superpoint
The first pellet tested was the 8.3-grain RWS Superpoint. This is the pellet that needed to settle down, so I’ll show the entire string and then I’ll report thee average( )”
Want to see thee get some supersonic accuracy next part!
shootski
shootski,
I fixed the thee. I don’t understand the punctuation error “( )”.
Thanks,
BB
BB,
There is none.
RR,
Thanks. I didn’t see one.
BB
Oh, Clever Dick (OCD) here says, maybe one can find some punctuation improvement opportunities if one looked hard and long enough. For example, in the pictured partial screenprint below, I tried to show, in blue, how I first read that sentence.
Disclaimer: I did not actually misunderstand that sentence or anything else in today’s article. I’m just being a little ocd. 🙂
When I tried to edit my previous comment to add,
“The pink comma avoids that.”,
I got the rotating cog thing to say something is happening…
It’s still going round and round now, while I type this, hmm ! 🙁
HiHiHi,
Your computer has to much junk to allocated memory. That is why the spinny thing is going around. It can not find the memory to post what you want. Restart your computer should offer a temporary fix.
-Y
Yogi,
thanks for your suggestion.
Though I don’t understand computers all that well, I have heard that a reboot can work wonders.
If you read this last sentence, then editing is working fine again. 🙂
BB
(Period at the end of the sentence, I think).
Ed
I want to thank you for not holding my feet to the fire about pronunciation, and typos.
I will freely admit I do not have the broad knowledge of, nor grasp of the English language that BB has.
I want to thank everyone for giving me a pass for my faux pas in the past, and ask for forgiveness in the future.
Ian..
B.B.,
Your next “sentence” after the Shot String begins with an uppercase letter. Perhaps the AI got you and it isn’t actually a new sentence.
shootski
I will have to remember this phrase “ was uncharacteristically creepy, but at least it eventually made the rifle fire.”
Not that we tend to run into this with more modern Airguns.
But I love the vintage stuff too, and I am sure I will need that description in a future blog.
I agree, the supersonic accuracy test should be interesting.
Ian.
Too much work for a .177! That would definitely make hand pumping a PCP seem not so bad!
OP,
Seriously. I pumped up the Armada by hand this past weekend. I would much prefer to do that every time over cocking this thing. I would have to go into this thing and chop a good bit off of that spring.
Nice looking otherwise.
RidgeRunner,
Do you have the A-Team Marauder tuning document?
If not: https://www.marauderairrifle.com/marauder-tuning/
The Original tune is missing but the updated is still there. For how long who knows. I copied it and turned it into a document on my device and backup drive.
Funny how stuff on the Internet is disappearing Free Stuff and access and only making it available if you subscribe and pay money every month!
shootski
shootski,
I do not have that. If you can forward it to me, I would be most appreciative.
RidgeRunner,
You need the new updated A Team tune, yes? Post a non machine readable email address in a reply or ask Tom to shoot me your mail if you would rather that.
shootski
burke93attdsdotnet
BB
I sure hope that you have some HN Baracuda Match (4.52 or 4.53) and JSB Monster redesigned available. They would be my first choices for this little monster.
This is going to be another interesting series, if you can finish the accuracy test…
I also wish there is someone who can give first hand info about the new Gen3i Magnum in 22 cal.
Hello BB,
In the paragraph headlined “H&N Baracuda Magnum”, last phrase: “Remember, folks, a velocity of 679 f.p.s. is the magic number at which the muzzle energy in foot pounds is equal to the muzzle energy in grains.”
Didn’t you mean to say: “ …muzzle energy in foot pounds is equal to the pellet weight in grains.”?
“If a scope can last for 100 shots…”, definitely this would be a good testbed for rifle scopes, but would the tester last these 100 shots, unless being built like Stallone or Schwarzenegger. 🙂
Pops,
Fixed the pellet weight. Thanks.
As for lasting the test — no, I don’t think so. It will take two or even three times for me to get to 100 shots on this monster.
BB
BB,
I think I know why the sound level reading for the subsonic H&N Baracuda Magnum appears to be so high – you didn’t reset the decibel meter between testing different pellet types.
The value of 116.6 dB would thus be the peak from the string of supersonic Gamo Raptor PBA pellets you tested just before the H&Ns.
If my hunch is correct, your ears haven’t in fact deceived you.
Bob,
But I did reset the sound meter to zero each time. Something else is happening.
BB
BB,
I dunno. Maybe the sound meter reset just clears the last string of readings, but the peak measurement is retained and needs to be cleared by another method, such as a long press of the reset button or something.
How loud were the PBA pellets anyway? You didn’t show us a screenshot for them.
Bob,
No, the reset clears everything and starts the meter again.
The PBA pellets were no louder than the Superpoints. When the sound barrier is broken it stays at the same level — as long as the size of the things breaking it remains relatively constant. Obviously if a jet plane flew over at that speed the boom would be much louder.
BB
BB,
Are you sure about that? 2550fps .17HMR sounds a lot louder to my ears than 1280fps .22lr HV out of the same length barrels.
Bob,
I wear hearing aids that were out when I tested this, so I’m not the best one to comment.
BB
Just a question, you call it a sound meter, but doesn’t it really just measure a pressure wave?
Not the actual volume level?
If so, it may be reporting the pressure wave as an actual volume level
Just a thought.
Ian
BB,
“If a scope can last for 100 shots on this rifle, it’s probably good for most air rifles”.
100 shots – that’s nothing! My Scopebuster 3000 Turkish mega-magnum springer can put any scope out of its misery in 50 shots or less.
Bob,
It was my Turkish .30 caliber 135 whose gas spring leaked down! I plan to let Rich Shar look at it. He says he can fix them so they don’t leak.
BB
BB,
That will be interesting. My one and only gas spring air rifle is the same make, but is a model 1000S Vortex.
It is by far my favourite of the five Turkish break-barrels I have had. It has been a few years since I ran it through the chronograph. I should check it again to see if it has leaked any since then.
I love WordPress, I love WordPress, I love WordPress, I love…
BB,
This is a real nice looking sproinger. If’n it were mine, I would have to chop a good bit of that sproing off though to tame it down a bit.
P.S.
Now for the real test!
The next pellet I tested was the Gamp (Gamo) Raptor PBA.
WOW! I can edit again!
I love WordPress, I love WordPress, I love WordPress, I love…
Sorry, I can’t help it. Odysseus was the fella with the bow that noone else could string. He then killed all the bums trying to take over his estate (and courting his wife) with it.
Him and Ulysses – same fella
bNb,
Thanks.
BB
I stand corrected. A quick search confirms, “The name ”Ulysses” is the ancient Romans’ Latinized version of the character Odysseus from Homer’s famous epic poem. The Romans widely adopted characters, stories, and gods from Greek mythology, merging them with their own through syncretism, the combination of different traditions and beliefs. Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid, however, is an original work that picks up where The Iliad left off, centering on a Trojan rather than a Greek hero.” I never read Virgil’s Aeneid, but I read the Odyssey and it has the scene with the stringing of the bow.
Hey Roamin Greco, send me an email at cyclealleyriders@yahoo.com or text me at 908 531-7355. I have a proposition for you regarding hand pumps.
Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA
B.B.
What is wrong with calling a trigger horrible if it is?
-Yogi
Yogi,
It upsets the makers and vendors.
BB
Yogi,
It’s not on for the same reason as giving an explicit bad reference for a former employee is frowned upon.
Hahaha! Great cartoon! 🙂
Gotta love Dilbert, it’s a little ray of bitter sunshine 😉
Yep! 🙂
By now we have all figured out that speed kills pellet accuracy. I wanted a powerful airgun not to really shoot pellets faster but to send heavy pellets way out there and have them hit hard with some accuracy.
Pellet speed has somehow become associated with powerful magnum rifles to achieve that, but pellets have not really been designed to perform well at high FPS.
I was happy to see airgun slugs come out. I figured they would help stabilize things by having more push behind them and have a lower FPS to increase stability and accuracy. Kind of like a real bullet. Have they?
Glad to see some pellet manufacturers working to design them to perform well in todays powerful airguns.
Well, I swapped stocks between the Standard Crosman 362 with the synthetic one and the 100YR Anniversary Edition wooden stock and I actually like it, a lot. That synthetic stock is very nice. I would consider it ‘State of the art’. I was not expecting such a fine level of perfection.
But in hindsight the Crosman AK1 is an outstanding example of what can be done with modern synthetics. Right down to replicating perfect spot welds found on a real steal AK. I had to take a magnet to it to see if it was actually metal or not.
So the way I look at it, the synthetic stock on the 100yr Anniversary should represent the advancements made in their 100 years of producing airguns while the wood stock pays homage to traditional ‘State of the art’ from the past. For the most part they feel like two different Airguns.
Had to get creative in removing the safety button to clear the trigger housing opening in the stocks.
Bob M,
Regarding the first part of your comment, although my experience with slugs is minimal, I too wander if this mega-springer could not stabilize them better than pellets. On the other hand, I second RRs comment about removing a few coils. I am too old for that type of workout!
Beautiful collection!
Henry
Henry,
I hear ya. I could not spend much time shooting magnum break barrel airguns but I don’t get them to plink for hours. Same with a 308-cal. bolt action rifle. But when the situation calls for one, or the time and place are right they fill the bill and can add to your shooting experience.
Would like to see more info on high power slug shooting performance for longer range target (paper or critter) shooting, aside from big bore hunting.
Bob M,
I suspect that long range accuracy, even with waisted pellets, can be improved if the projectiles are made to spin faster, as in rotations per unit of distance, not over time. So, I would like to see the results of different rifling twist rates on various projectiles, especially in high powered airguns. 🙂
3hi,
Exactly. We need a better merge between the airgun and the ammo for increased performance to get the most out of both.
Bob M.,
Nice collection!
The idea of the safety inside the trigger guard has to be one of the stupidest things ever invented.
Must be a Russian invention! How unsafe can you make a safety to be????
-Yogi
You need to check out an M1 Garand.
Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA
Yogi,
Agree with you there. Especially the lever type in front of the trigger you need to disengage before you can get to the trigger. What if you wanted to wear gloves?
The sliding safety button built into the trigger housing, like on this and other Crosman airguns is not too bad. At least if you are right-handed. It is very easy to disengage with your index finger as you engage the trigger and engage the safety with the thumb of your left hand.
I much prefer a thumb operated safety above the grip area. You can be safe to the last second. Even with your finger on the trigger, and its ambidextrous and easier to see it’s status, on or off?
FM be curious to delve into the performance of his gifted Whisper Fusion after reading this, though scoping or red-dotting RR’s Maximus will come first. Still, never look a gift Gamo in the barrel…never look in a barrel, ever, unless it is a big one filled with a good beer.
And never call this Trigger “horrible!”
Not that anyone is keeping score but two points for FM!
LOL! You almost make me spill my second cup of coffee.
Well done FM!
Henry
Thank you, gents! Sometimes FM’s puns land on target…wish more of his shots did too.
“It takes no less than 62 pounds of effort to cock this rifle.”
BB,
I’ll be curious to see the accuracy, but that’s WAY too much cocking effort for me! 😉
Blessings to you,
dave
Believe that is higher than the HW90’s cocking effort when the gas cylinder is set to max pressure – that’ll give ya Popeye arms if you shoot this Gamo often.
Basil,
It’s heavier than my Theoben Eliminator was. It was just 56 pounds and I thought that was hard.
BB
BB
They make slugs in .177. Do you think it might be worth a blog to look into using them in this rifle? The lightest I saw were 10g which would likely satisfy the “go faster” crowd.
It would be interesting to find out how these magnum spring guns liked them. (Interesting to me, anyway).
Ed
Ed,
I’ll look into it.
BB
In hindsight, I think a magnum powered pellet rifle in .177 is an exercise in futility. Unless you want to break a “Land speed or distance record” for pellets. At least until that magical pellet, or what have you, that can handle it arrives. Fingers crossed for slugs and barrels that can manage them.
Are we moving from airgun performance to firearm performance with these magnums and high powered PCP’s ?
BB,
As I see it, to become accurate, they need to increase pellet speed by a ‘bunch’ (technical unit of measurement).
You say that a main tube in a tank can reliably hit a target at two miles, launching a projectile at over 5,000 fps, then there is only about 3,500 fps to be added. And, they can go smoothbore, to boot!
Just sayin.
Bill
Bill,
Or, reduce the size of the ammo? How about a hat pin in a sabot? Not much good for anything though. Including the airgun if it’s a springer, but a PCP? How fast would it go?
A fly harpoon … 🙂
Bob M,
Don’t think that it would work on a springer, though…
(Imagine cocking that bad boy.)
Bill
Just a follow up for the curious on the Crosman 362 trigger housing safety button removal. You can’t remove the action from the stock without removing it. It’s too wide.
It is held in place by an extended end of a coil spring dropping down from the trigger housing above. It sits in a center detent between the ends that protrude out of the housing and can be seen from a slot inside the back of the trigger housing. No ball detents involved here. The tension holds the safety in place and on or off.
I simply bent a small hook on the end of some .020 stainless safety wire, reached in there and pulled the spring end forward and out of the detent and cleared the path of the safety to slide right out. No disassembly required. You also need to hold that spring back to reinstall it. It remained in place and just rested on the back side of the housing with the safety removed.
There is not much room in there. That thin wire managed to slide in and fit behind the spring in the tight area. Dental floss may work? But you get the idea. it’s painted blue.
BB,
Get out your cheater bar if you are going to cock this rifle 100 times. Maybe you could mount a scope rail on a hammer drill to test scopes.
David Enoch
Tom needs to hire the teenager from down the street to cock it those hundred times.
Oh wait, bring it to the next fun shoot!
Make everyone take 5 shots with it.
That will give the new shooters a reference point of what we had to deal with 20 years ago.
Ian
OK I lost the bet! It breaks the sound barrier – that would be the reason for this SPL. It could be a good option for a heavy slug. Let’s wait for the accuracy test – anyway near sound barrier it might be tricky 🙂