Picked up a couple of the Gamo air-rifles during the WalMart clearance. I feel like a kid who just got his first Red Ryder...!
Got both a .22 and a .177 since they were cheap.

I keep hearing about "artillery hold" so researched that....any other suggestions to help consistent accuracy...?

Several schools of thought regarding cleaning.....only when new / only when accuracy drops off / never / never a brush / no petroleum cleaners / back-and-forth in the barrel / from breach only.....   thoughts...?

I'm sure I'll have more but thanks and happy to be on board...!

Don't ever shoot a good PCP.  If you do, your perception of airguns will forever be altered.  You will also find yourself spending thousands of dollars on airgun stuff, and not thinking that this is at all unusual.







I know this from experience.

Cleaning....

Run a patch till it is clean....a little of your fav. cleaner is fine, hoppies ballistol....whatever....squeeky clean.

Shooting....this will get long.

First


Spring guns take time to break in...does not matter metal or what spring...it takes some time....best way to tell is with a chrony.....and don't even bother with that till you run about 200 shots down it.....in some cases more....valves, springs and all need to get set.
Once you see the vel. start to be calm then you are good to go.

You said you already read about the art. hold.....the thing with springers you have to do it the SAME WAY EVERY TIME.  you hands in the same place, the same pressure, the same points on the stock....

SPRINGERS ARE THE SINGLE HARDEST THING TO SHOOT WELL. end of story nothing else needs to be said.....and you can double that on any "magnum" springer.

Having bought at the wallsmart you likely got something that says it shoots 5million FPS.....ok you got a magnum springer....see above.  Anything that is saying it is shooting above 1000fps in my book is a magnum.

The pellets you likely bought at wallmart are great......for breaking in your rifles....that is about it.....gamo pellets are not very good, crosman not too bad but your gun may not like them....so what you need to do is go to straight shooters dot com and buy their pellet sampler (after break in) then see what your gun likes.

This is a little like 22 rimfire but worse.  I found the pellet one of my gun likes then ordered three tins of the same pellet in different head sizes....oh yes grasshopper, head size in the tins are 4.50 4.51 4.52 5.53.....and it shoots all very well, but one is a true one hole group at 50 yards.....yup one hole.....you have seen those amazing groups on the youstubes videos.....what they don't show is all the work in getting there.....no different then working up loads for a PB (airgunner term for powder burning rifle).....you do different primers, powders, coal, bullets weights shapes, truing cases and primer pockets....flash holes....those F class guys get that amazing group by putting in the work.

Now Gamo.....

You are going to real a great deal about gamo being junk.....IMHO it is the users that need education....I hope that is what I am doing here if you read all this.

Gamo is made in SPAIN.....I am thinking they have one rifle not made in spain and it is made in england....they are a very old air rifle company and do make very good items.  They are sold to people that expect to shoulder it like their daddies deer rifle and when it does not shoot well bad mouth the product on every forum on the internets.  Then they put time into a "good" air rifle like a RWS 34 or PCP (and PCP is a different duck all together).....it is to airguns as muzzloaders are to cartridge guns....and that is a bit too close to compare.


Bottom line power spring guns are hard to shoot, and even harder to shoot well time and time again.  It will be like that scene Bull Durham....when meat makes a perfect pitch and says that was beautiful,   what did I do.  You will put one pellet right where you want to and think of that line (provided you read all this wordy crap from an old guy)....then the next will go way over there and way over on the other side.....it has to be the gun....most likely not....it is you.  You are going to think they are crap....really and it can't be you.  Give it time....it is hard work.

Keep us updated, we will help any way we can.....join some air gun forums, personally I hate GTA, they have an agenda really, try airgun nation.

Good luck.

Thanks FPGT72 - I did read your entire (not crappy at all) post. I appreciate you taking the time to write it. I bought these to start getting my kids into the shooting sports. Sounds like we have some work ahead of us - which is fine. They need to get off the boob-tube / video games. And an AG forum sounds a lot better than Facebook to me.....

I am glad I could help.....Airgunning is a great deal of fun.....if you have any questions going forward jsut holler.

Join airgun forum or airgun bbs forum , shooting the breeze forum ( all .Co. UK )
They are English forums where there is a lot of airgun shooters.
Atb

I have a 34 which I enjoy.  But I've been eye balling PCPs.  What do you guys think of the Benjamin Discovery as a first PCP?

Seen a pic of a guy who took 3 mule deer with a .45 cal PCP rifle at 75, 100 and 140 yds !!! Has me thinking of a PCP rifle also. Have been eyeing the new Umarex Gauntlet ($300) and Diana Stormrider ($200) for entry level.

I'm looking at getting a Gamo Urban for my first PCP. I need something quiet for taking pests in my back yard. The Urban is only $220 from walmart and they have hand pumps for around $50.

I'm assuming the Urban is a fairly good quality PCP since they are made by BSA. Anyone have a cheap hand pump? I'm just wondering if it will last or if I should get a name brand pump for 2-3x the cost.

Stormrider certainly looks interesting.

@VanceMMA

Regarding a hand pump, I strongly suggest that you get a Hill.  The less expensive ones will wear out seals much earlier and be less pleasant to use.  I regret getting the Benjamin pump at the time I bought my first Marauder.  I've had to rebuild it four times already, while my brother's Hill has only been lubed.  I went to a SCUBA tank because of the trouble the Benjamin pump gave me.

Thanks for the advice. I was reading through another air rifle forum and a few people reccomend the pump from Taousa. I think if I'm going to spend over $200 on a hand pump I would rather just buy a tank but I'm not sure yet.

I also started looking at Hatsan AT44s and the Gamo pcp isn't looking as nice anymore. The AT44 with suppressor is much more quiet.

PCP is really the deep end of the pool, the entry is a bit costly.....and it really is true once you go PCP you are going to see what the hype is all about.

There are a lot of good "entry" level PCP's out there now....A LOT.  Maximus euro comes to mind if you want a real quiet backyard tree rat removal tool.  No one will know you ever pulled the trigger.

Back yard hunting is exactly what I'm going to be doing but I need the power to kill possums and large raccoons. My primary concern after that is noise, I have really close neighbors. Also needs to be as short as possible.

The Hatsan AT P2 QE .25 looks about perfect for my needs. It gets 22ft/lbs which should be more than enough for a large raccoon, I'm not shooting anything past 40 yards, most shots will be 20 or less. From what I can tell its very quiet. The compact size is very important for how I'll be using it. Bonus, its easy to fill with a hand pump and left side charging.

Also looked at the AT44-10 QE TACT. Its not as short as the P2 but it has quite a bit more power, more than I probably need. I think its louder but I'm not sure.

I really want the Kral Puncher Breaker but its just not quiet enough for me. Anything much more expensive is out of my price range. I might go up to a grand if I can find a super short bullpup that is dead silent.

Dont bother with a kral puncher, i had one for 2 weeks and got rid, my son has a at44-10 and groups well, strp the silencer down and add to it.
We shoot up to 70 yards using 12ftp, So 20 - 40 yards should be no problem especially at 22ftp
Atb

What was the problem with your Kral that caused you to get rid of it?

The AT44 looks good but I need something really compact, I'd also prefer a standard picatinny rail. I'm considering a BullBoss but its pretty long with the QE. Trying to stay around $500.

cleaned the barrel staight out the box, picitinny rail was slightly off level,
i zero all my guns in a gun vise at 30 yards ,so i know when i am using them if i miss its me not the gun.
I think because of the cricket, bobcat, pular and i,pact i have i expected this to be on par, i know its alot cheaper but if i were you and you only plan on getting one pcp i would go for a high end one. It will pay off long term.
Atb