gamo 220 hunter combo .177 review

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Average Ratings

Accuracy	7.4/10
Handling	7.9/10
Value for Money	7.8/10
Reviewer Rating	7.6/10
Overall Rating	7.6/10

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69% Recommended37 out of 54 Reviews

100% Recommended2 out of 2 Reviews

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By JasonPatrick on 22nd May 2006

JasonPatrick's Ratings

Accuracy	9/10
Handling	8/10
Value for money	9/10
Overall value	9/10
JasonPatrick's recommendation

Good Points

Easy handling, extremely accurate after a little fiddling. Seems to be hit pretty hard.

Bad Points

Needs fiddling out of the box, scope is not sufficient for the gun

General Comments

I have an old pump pellet gun that I have been using for the distinguished job of rodent eradication. It gives decent power, but I got sick of having to give it ten hard pumps to get the job done. This caused me to head out into the scary world of spring loaded air guns. I settled on the Gamo Hunter 220 Combo because I didn't want something Chinese, and I was reasonably happy with the reviews that I had read.

I bought the gun 2 weeks ago and for the first 4 days was extremely disappointed with the gun. I ended up visiting my local gunsmith and whined to him about the inaccuracy of the gun. He asked me if I was bench resting the gun. I told him that I was, and how else did he expect me to aim properly? He then told me that with spring loaded air rifles the complex recoil makes bench resting the gun impossible if you want accuracy. The spring gives the gun a jerk when you pull the trigger, and the pellet leaving the barrel gives another jerk. The gun basically goes back, forward, and then back again. By resting the gun on a firm surface you make the jump worse. I left a bit downhearted. I bought the gun for accuracy, and holding it freehand was going to basically defeat the purpose, which was to wreak havoc on the growing squirrel population by my house. I went to Walmart and picked up an inexpensive air gun scope with a 3x9x32 adjustment (the stock one is a 4x, and I wanted something adjustable) and went home. Before I put the scope on, I took the entire gun apart, wiped off the excessive grease, and oiled everything (trigger, spring, and all other movable parts) with air gun oil (thick and red). I put the gun back together and was very impressed with the results. The oil took the creep out of the trigger (it is still a long pull, but without a trigger job, I'm happy), greatly lessened the twang of the spring and overall greatly improved accuracy. I'm now hitting the 10 ring at 30 yards. I lightly rest my hand on the window sill while holding the gun firmly. It seems to work well. As for the prey, I shot a squirrel this morning about 20 yards a way, the shot was with a Crossman Wadcutter. It left quite a bit of damage. After a bit of research and tweaking, I'm very satisfied with new addition to the arsenal. I have a neighbor with a raccoon problem. I'll see how the power handles the coon, then I'll report back.

Total Respect: +1