Gamo Viper Express Nitro Piston Reviews

Light weight, quiet, sleek and easy to aim with the front bead. Haven’t played with pellets too much tho I’m looking forward to round ball. The ability to reload the shells with custom shot is a big selling point for me. I can use tungsten or lead or even copper bb’s and get a cone of destruction down range. Power isn’t jaw dropping but neither is a standard break barrel, it’s fine for small pests and a blast for plinking.

Seeing a second barrel or a larger power plant would have been ideal. Gamo has several multi-shot breakers and the ability to literally snap and shoot a handful of #7’s down range would take this from a Good gun to a Great one.

You can reload Shot shells but the seal is the hardest part to replicate. I’ve been using cleaning wads and packing foam, using the brass insert to cut the foam. You can shoot 4 .177 bb’s or rat/ bird shot,, etc. “buck and ball” is my favorite so far: 2 BB’s and 12 tungsten #7’s. If you like to tinker and plink, this is great.

I like the nitro piston,the light weigh and shotshells. The gun is easy to carry. I work in an orchard and we have a starling woodpecker and sparrow problem this time of year. They birds don't stay still very long just a few seconds so a scooter riffle isn't ideal this little shotgun is very quick to aim and catch them for that second they stand still or as the try to dart away.

There isn't much I would change, maybe the color. All my guns are camo depending on where and what I hunt. Even birds are weary of a strange black object waving around. This one will most likely be painted a few shades of green and brown to blend better into the orchard. I think having fiber optic sights would be nice atleast the bead. I set all my shotguns up with fiber optic riffle sights. This having a vent rib makes it easy to install Hi-Viz turkey sights

This gun is a small shotgun 10-15 yard gun. Ideal between 5-10 yards. It's not a 12g so don't expect that. If you are like me and like to use 410 then you will like this one. I feel comfortable taking pigeon sized birds at 10yrds even rabbits or squirrel at that range. Wish I had bought this sooner. Would have made the iradication of pigeoo from the packing shed quicker as they moved to the rafters in the. building and to close for quick riffle acquisition in dark tight quarters

I like the shotgun

That it can shoot shot shells & pellets.

At this point, I can't think of anything.

Shot shells for this gun are expensive.

Gamo Viper Shotgun with nitro Modification is assume so it can stay cocked longer. So far 50 rounds expelled Effective Range of use so far has been up to 15 yards. Gun does not have any real kick to it. over weight is perfect. Shoulders on the fall and the light weight flows shooting on the move.

Gun is loader than I wanted for my air gun. The shot shell could be a bit bigger or should I say more balls to shot shell, it would nice for different sizes based on your distance shooting or make the gun in a 25 caliber. I wish the stock was adjustable. I bought the gun for my son that's 12, shorter stock he could adjust as he grows would make this gun a must have.

Speed of shot is still slower then I thought, You will have to plenty of practice with moving target to figure your lead when shooting, ball spread is a foot trail at 15 yards. Shells are

This pellet gun hybrid shoots accurately for being a smooth bore at about 15 to 20 yards. The miniature shot shells disintegrate invasive insects!

I would make price lower for shells.

If using pellets REMEMBER to use brass adapter or you can ruin the air gun. shot shells should only be used on small critters at 10 yards maximum.

I was truly impressed by the power and the range of this rifle. It is a much smoother cocking effort than other rifles I have had. Even with just having shoulder surgery it was quite easy to cock and ready to fire. It had decent shot grouping at about 10-12 yards, enough to bag small game. The .22 pellet firing is a little more difficult without a rear sight but you may be able to get around that if you are a little more industrious.

I would definitely add a rear sight for use with pellets.

Although you can reload the shotshells as evidenced in some videos, it will definitely not give you the same power response as the store bought shot shells. In fact it makes it more dangerous because without the same power you run a greater chance of ricochet back at you. Stick with the store bought ones.

NICE LOOKING AIR GUN ... VERY WELL BUILT... QUIET SHOOTING

SHOT SHELLS ARE TIGHT AND SOMETIMES TUFF TO GET OUT

I waited until I could make an accurate report. I have had to reload the shells with 7 1/2 shot with 21 shots per shell to make the gun more accurate and lethal. The #9 is no good. I use foam hobby paper and a hole punch to make the air cup by sticking two together with nail polish (clear) . Then I put a little polish around the inside rim and then insert the foam pad into the base. For this I use a Bic pin empty ink straw the foam pad forms air tight seal for no loss of power and a single foam pad on the muzzle end of the shell to hold the pellets in. The range is lethal at 12 yrds. I have already harvested a cotton tail rabbit and ground squirrels. The adapter for the 22 cal pellet that comes with the gun works perfect. The gun has plenty of power and then some to punch a hole right through the bottom of a empty shaving can at twenty yards, which is pretty tough steel. I mounted a Beeman 3x9 scope on it and wow. With my reload I get ten to twelve shot in a four inch area

Have the shells come with 7/1/2 shot.

My scope railing came loose but I tightened one screw the last one at butt end and no problem.

Very easy to aim and shoot. Good for rodent control. Good for pesty bird control. Alot Quieter than a 410 shotgun.

Put a laser type device on barrel for aiming purposes.

I think it is a very good effective air gun.

shoot either .22 pellet or shot shell.

less cocking effort but same power.

No.9 lead shot is too much (25 lbs) if somewhere else can sell only few pounds which will be great for reloading the shot shell.

its a shot gun.....and it has an adapter for .22 pellets

nothing

for the money you can't go wrong. great at close range to medium range. ( 12 yards max) go to ray-vin.com for great reloading shells and shot for this gun.

It has a lot of power in the 10 to 15 yard range I use for killing starlings

Make the shot shells reloadable

This nitro piston model has more power than my brothers springer, but he has shot many hundreds if not thousands of rounds thru his.

Great for shooting pest English Sparrows which around here legally taken all year.lots of fun

Not a thing

The nitro piston adds 10 more yards to shot.Lots of fun

Likes. . .Nitro Piston, easy cocking, solid feel & handling, very light weight, shotgun feature (my use 99.99%), close range point and shoot accuracy & effectiveness, shotshell concept.

Increase the shotgun power and shot weight in shotshells..allowing increased shooting ranges & effectiveness. Reduce the cost for box of 25 shotshells.

This shotgun is most effective at close ranges (>20') with an 8-12" shot spread pattern. Will easily eliminate small pest at this range. Beyond 20', shot pattern widens with diminishing power effectiveness. .22 adapter shots are acceptable with a medium weight pellet. IMO the most effective use for this rifle is the shotgun capability. Install a red dot site for quick/enhanced target acquisition. Well worth giving a try. PA is EXCELLENT in CS, packaging and secure shipping.

I've got one of the older viper express guns from when they were first new on the market. In all it's a fairly decent gun. At close ranges it's as accurate as any shotgun. At distance it begins to suffer a bit in accuracy. This could be that it's a smooth bore and the pellets get no spin. The shotgun shells are more novelty than useful. I found those are good for snakes. My trigger is ok, not the greatest, and not the worst.

the sights I'd set those down more where the shadow express was set. On viper express they seemed to think the bead sight and a slight flat ridge were a good idea.

Decent gun. I think that there are many that would enjoy it.

The novelty of owning one of these is attractive, but mechanically, I appreciate the ability to shoot the shot shells or pellets using the brass adapter. It shoots amazingly accurately for a smoothbore at reasonable range. It is spot on in my 10 M indoor range and hits very hard.

A bit better breech seal. One has to be very careful to have a dry bore and shoot out any air chamber lube using the pellet adapter and pellets BEFORE shooting shot shells. Any dieseling will blow out the seal and the flange of the shot shell. I also would encourage Gamo to make empty shot shells and base cups available for airgunners to try different shot loads. The shot shells are reloadable, but one has to be creative to made a base driving wad and a front wad for the rounds.

Runs out of steam at more than 10 meters with the shot shells. Pellets still hit very hard beyond that range. Significant recoiling with this power plant, too. This thing is really likable as an "odd" air gun. The challenge of shooting different shot loads is engaging. The problem is finding base cup materials and front loads that don't employ too much mass or friction when reloading the shot shells..