6110017154 Varmint Air Rifle

7/13 UPDATE: I'm on 12 confirmed KIA's, this thing is AWESOME!!! I've had to re-sight the scope as it wondered off about 1" over and up; might have been banging it around too much. I re-sighted this morning and BAM!!! one round center mass on this squirrel eating my tomatoes....no salad for him ever again, wrong day to be a vegetarian homie!!! 6/2 UPDATE: One more confirmed squirrel @ 12 yards this morning...on my bday! So after leaving a super long comment yesterday, I wanted to point out that my way is only my way, there's many other ways to setup a weapon and get good with it. Remember what my mission is - to neutralize varmint who want to feast on my fruit crop in the back yard. Keep in mind this isn't going to have match-type groupings, but it's really good for the price around 20-25 yards. And after some more thought, the first two upgrades will most likely be a bipod and scope to really see how far out I can take this. The intent is to teach my kids with this thing in my CA backyard...not so fortunate to have acres like some out there. It's really quiet too, so hopefully the LAW doesn't show up...treat your neighbors kindly is key!!! 6/1 INITIAL: This rifle and Gamo scope are AWESOME!!!! My experience level: Certified NRA L.E. Firearms Instructor (Patrol Rifle/Pistol) with hundreds/thousand hours of instructing time, USMC 8th award rifle expert and 4th award pistol expert...but just a regular shooter now and then these days. Why is this combo great for the price? Read below. For starters, I opened the box and read all of the literature. I took apart the scope mounts and cleaned the lenses before assembling onto the rifle. I installed according to the instructions with loctite on all hardware threads, ensuruing my cross hairs were as level as possible...but I'm not certain this is a huge issue, as for anyone who has used an Etch-a-sketch would know how fine adjustments to your Y and Z axis will get you a good zero. How I "zeroed" the included scope: Once scope was mounted, I screwed each vertical/lateral adjustment knob to it's fully seated position. Grab a beer - Then I SLOWLY counted each click as I adjusted them back out to their full maxed out positions...this was like 420ish clicks YIKES!!! Divide your clicks in half to find your "CENTER POINT" of reference. Adjust each knob to it's center point by counting those individual clicks...open second beer. Now you are ready to ZERO the .177 beast... Then, I determined what my "AVERAGE" distance was I'd be shooting; for my purposes I'm really only concerned with plinking squirrels and birds in my back yard about 10-20 yards. I set up a good prone position with semi-soft mat and barrel rest...I don't teach basic firearms positionng over the internet, do your own research. NOW, the scope says 1 click = 1/4 inch @ 100 yards..or 4 clicks for 1 inch @ 100 yards. As I'm shooting 50 feet (16 yards) and my math is horrible, i rounded up to 25 yards for easy math. Knowing this 1/4 conversion, 4 clicks @ 25 yards "should" yield me 1/4 inch of movement on target; for an inch, I'd have to adjust 16 clicks. One thing that can make zeroing with this rifle a pain is you have to change your position for each reload...your average shooter will have different positions each time they reload and assume the prone position...just how it works with this break barrel design; might be where people give up because they can't get consistent groups. With a semi-auto weapon, your prone position doesn't change much if you have a stable position to begin with...unless you are shooting .50 Cal I guess. Open third beer - this is where patience is your friend. I chose my target to be a palm tree in the backyard, so I could see horizontal/lateral impacts due to the dark bark breaking, and showing white flesh underneath....wife might have been mad, but I made her dinner to ease the anger! HOLY SMOKES I didn't know how fast and deep those little rounds would penetrate...be careful of your backstop i.e. neighbors house, cats, etc,; these are more powerful than one would image (if you've never shot pellet before) Since my target reference point was a dark black knob, I always used the same spot and walked in the rounds through fine adjustments after each shot placement. Once on point, I put the adjustment knob covers on and waited for some friends to show up... From the off-hand standing position: 1 squirrel down @ 9 yards 1 sparrow down @ 12 yards 1 Oreol or Starling (with orange circles on wings) down @ 18 yards Pro's Over 250 rounds and zero held Good weight Decent quality for price Fun and cheap to operate...good for basic skills brush up as it's very accurate within 20 yards - haven't gone out further. Rifled barrel...don't really know how pellets are affected, but I do see rifling wear marks on the lower edge of retrieved pellets after shooting into lemons..BTW, the Crosman Destroyer will go through 3 lemons @ 12 yards no problem. Cons: Breaking the barrel does require some force, my 7 year old has to put the buttstock on his leg and wrench down really hard to cock the action. So, expect to help kids around this age and younger as they might get tired after a few reload evolutions. For me, not a big deal as I reload my mouth with IPA each time I reload a pellet!!! HAHA

Update: 3-27-2018 I disassembled the rifle and discovered the problem. The piston spring has broken about 3 inches from the rear end. It then rotated and screwed itself forward into the coils of the larger part of the spring and climbed over the coils blocking the sear from engaging the piston. It is a shame that I can't get parts from Gamo, because this is by far the easiest air rifle I have ever worked on. I could replace the spring in less than 5 minutes if I could get one. I own 3 Gamo's. Update: 3-17-2018 Mine no longer works. The sear doesn't not engage the piston, it can't be cocked. Gamo has not responded in any way for assistance in getting it fixed. I own and maintain over 30 air rifles and am quite capable of fixing this if I can get the parts. It seems I can't. I have had great service from several other air rifle manufactures and distributers. It makes more sense to send a qualified owner a $5 part than to expect them to pay $50 to ship the entire rifle back and forth. I can fix the rifle faster than I can package it and mail it but only if I can get the parts. Update: 7-12-2017 This rifle just keeps getting better with use. I have now shot close to 1,000 pellets thru it. Several styles of pellets that it shot just O.K. when new, it now shoots them very, very good. I have a large quantity of daisy wad cutters that I bought for less than 1/2 cents each on clearance at local farm supply stores. 177 Cal. Flathead Pellets 500 ct None of my other 177 cal. guns, rifles or pistols shoot them worth a darn. In my Hatsan 125 and Edge magnum springers Hatsan 125TH Air Rifle Combo, Camo Stock air rifle Hatsan Edge Air Rifle, Vortex Piston, Black air rifle these pellets are only useful for the considerable exercise I get cocking the rifle. Now that the Gamo Varmint is broken in, it now shoots the Daisy pellets almost as well as the high quality H&N match rifle pellets. This makes for very economical plinking. Unlike the Magnum springers This rifle is so easy to cock that you get little exercise doing it Update: 7-2-2017 I set up the crono to see why another New rifle of mine was behaving badly, (velocity about half of what it should be) and as long as I had it set up I ran a few rifles thru it to see what they would do. My Gamo Varmint is pushing 8.18 grain H&N wad cutter lead pellets at a consistent 910 feet per second. EXCELENT results. Update: 6-27-2017 I have found a pellet that this rifle has fallen in love with. H&N Match Rifle wad cutter pellets, 8.18 grain. H&N Match Rifle, .177 Cal, 4.49mm, 8.18 Grains, Wadcutter, 500ct This pellet makes this rifle think it is a PCP. It just puts them exactly where you point the gun. This target was shot at 10 meters from a bag rest by a 68 year old guy who doesn't see all that well. Shots #1 and #2 Were scope adjustment shots dialing in the point of impact for the new pellets. This is great performance from such a moderately priced gun with a non AO scope. This rifle shoots many pellets moderately well. It has a very nice trigger, making it easy to shoot accurately. The safety that does not reset itself is a feature I really like especially when target shooting. I like this almost as much as my gas piston Benjamin Prowler. This is probably the easiest to shoot spring powered rifle that I own. The recoil and torque are very moderate. I have a lot of air rifles. This one is in the top half of its class. It is usably accurate and the supplied scope is very nice. The parallax is set to air rifle range, making 10 meter target shooting relatively easy. The gun has very moderate cocking effort and a decent trigger. The rifle is lightweight making it easy to carry for hunting or plinking. The recoil is moderate and the spring torque is minimal, aiding its accuracy. Shooting off a bag rest, punching holes in paper It does not posses the pin point accuracy of some of my rifles but for off hand plinking and hunting it is just fine. I am the limiting factor when doing those activities. I have not yet found a rifle that can compensate for my lack of stability. I have discovered that taping a 3 cell Maglite to the end of the barrel when hunting coons, helps a lot! The considerable weight calms things down a bit. So far it is just a nice rifle, I have only put 2 or 3 hundred pellets thru it. It may get a little better with more use. If it does I will update my review.

Great price great scope heavy end, durable, excellent quality, one break of the barrel and Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah. There goes the pellet. You can’t mess with this gun thank you guys very much. Keep the faith.

This Gamo Varmint air rifle has been a great starter gun for my 9 year old. It’s accurate, well made, and performs reliably for target practice. The build quality feels sturdy, and it’s easy to handle, making it good for beginners with supervision. It comes with a scope that does need to be dialed in, but is fairly accurate right out of the box. We primarily use this with my son as a safe way to learn the basics of shooting and, more importantly, gun safety. It’s been a great teaching tool for proper handling, muzzle control, and respect for firearms before moving on to anything more advanced. The power is appropriate for learning, and it’s helped build confidence and responsibility. The only reason for four stars instead of five is that it’s a bit heavier and harder to cock for younger kids without help. Overall though, it’s an excellent beginner air rifle and a good choice for supervised youth training and safety education.

Great Air Rifle. Accurate and powerful

Great little pellet gun it's worth the price but the scope could be better I had to replace with my own ! I wish Gamo made a pellet pen for it! It is a little heavy! But it is a well-made gun!

First impressions: the box is big and very long. The gun is heavy; it is larger than I expected. It could EASILY pass as a .308 at first glance. The scope seems like it’s well made despite being the stock OEM scope. At this point I have not fired it. I cocked it and dry fired one time just to see how hard the break barrel was to cock (not hard at all, honestly) and it was LOUD. I was in my basement, so it’s not exactly like I have great acoustics, but I was shocked how loud. Almost .22LR loud. Dry fired a second time, outside this time, and it still seemed really loud and sharp. Range test #1- 11/25/2018 Took it out for the first 40-50 pellets to try and start the sighting in process. I’m only using the stock scope, and with no iron sights whatsoever the initial shots took a while to find paper. I bought some Gamo Tomahawk 7.8 Grain pellets to break it in, and after about 25 shots I was able to get a grouping of 10 shots in a 2” by 1” pattern at around 20 yards. The stock scope isn’t anything to write home about, but in my opinion took an awfully over exaggerated beating in the one-star reviews. It’s not gonna blow you away but it is far from the piece of garbage a lot of the reviews are hitting it up as. I was also happy to report that the gun seemed MUCH more quiet once it started throwing lead, which was nice. Break action seemed smooth, and like I said earlier it wasn’t too hard to cock. I’m thinking my ten year old step son should be able to handle it just fine. I will update my review in the coming weeks or months as I get a few hundred pellets through it. So far, can’t say enough good things about this rifle! Range day number two: It’s been a few weeks but I was able to get it out in the back yard to play around yesterday and I’d say I put another 30 pellets through it in an hour or so. At around 50 ft I was pulling two inch groupings of five shots. (I actually put 5 Crosman Premier pointed 7.4 grain pellets just to see what would happen and I found the same group, but it was literally five to six inches directly right of target. Weird.) pushed back to around 75 ft, I was getting five to six inch groups including a flyer or three. I admit I wasn’t taking my time and I’m not an experienced rifle shooter by any stretch, but it seems as the barrel “warms up” the groups get tighter. With a few hundred more pellets, I think this thing has potential to be a really fun plinker. Oh, and as of now my 10 year old step son can not break the barrel. However I told him I’d buy him his own when he can 😬😬😬 I’ll update again in several months once I’ve got 500 pellets through it, unless something significant happens. Oh I forgot to mention I taped together some cardboard U-HAUL moving boxes I had and with the GAMO Tomahawk pellets I’d say 90-95% went clean through the cardboard with no problem. 16 layers of corrugated cardboard, bound together tight. Plan your berm accordingly! Update: 12/28/2018 I’d give it six stars if I could. I’ve put probably 300 or so pellets through it, so I’d say it’s decently broken in. After watching and reading about how to be a better shooter (I’m just an amateur with medium experience) I learned that I was shooting what was considered to be “long range” for a pellet gun. Today I set my targets at 10 yds, and about 15 yds. to see what kinds of groups I would pull with the GAMO tomahawks. My first 5 pellets were touching. The site isn’t spot on, but the groupings were consistent! I’ll post some pics of the grouping I got. With some site adjustment, you can absolutely drive tacks with this thing. Incredible. I made a little shooting range and laid out 8 beer bottle caps, and hit every single one at 30 feet. I couldn’t love this rifle more.

I heard great things about Gamo air rifles. I got one to deal with a rodent problem. I have to say, I was not impressed. First, the scope is absolute garbage, so plan on buying a new one right away. It was zeroed perfectly and after about 20 shots it lost the zero. Since then, I've re-zeroed it, but I'm not confident it is holding. It seems that the quality of the scope is a common complaint. The main issue, is I noticed that the rifle does not have nearly the same power as it did when I got it. I bought it the end March 2024 and I'm writing this the beginning of June 2024. So the gun is not even 3 months old. I have only used Gamo Tomahawk pellets. I've shot about 100. I still have the original tin and it looks full - so it might be even less. I know the power has dropped because it is no longer penetrating the thin scrap metal targets I first used. Shooting the exact same targets now produces a dent or sometimes (~25% of the time) a dent with a small tear. See Image. The hits with the single lines were from the first 10 shots taken with the rifle, the circled ones are from today. Both were shot from 10 yards. What caused me to check was hitting a rodent square in the shoulder from only 3 yards (I ambushed him behind a barn) and the thing ran off. Not much of a 'varmint' gun. Additionally, the manufacturing quality was poor. When I first shot it, I noticed the flashings of the plastic stock were very sharp. I had to spend 1/2 hour with a file and sand paper to take all the edges off. It was especially bad around the trigger guard, making the rifle uncomfortable to shoot or even carry. I contacted GamoUSA support and they offered to look at the gun, but only if I paid shipping to and from the repair center. Thinking I was misunderstood, I explained again that the gun was only 3 months in use with about 100 rounds through it. She was pleasant but stood firm. Even though the gun is practically new, I was going to have to fork over about $30 to have the warranty honored. So 25% of the original cost for them to fix what is obviously a design problem. I decided to cut my loses and get a different gun. If they're manufacturing is so shoddy that the gun breaks with in 3 months of very light use, I don't see the point in investing more money. The odds of it lasting more than a year is slim. Gamo - If you're reading this, know that I have already cost you at least 2 sales, and I've just begun spreading the word among my fellow homeowners, farmers, and hunters. All for a lousy return policy and poor quality control.