velocities recorded by my venerable Oehler 35P chronograph. Company claims are that the gun produces 1,000 fps with lead pellets and 1,200 with hi- tech non-lead ones. The fi rst readings with lead pellets ran barely above 650. I reasoned — and hoped — that the cause might be related to the weather on that fi rst range day. It was a cloudy day with air temperatures hovering at what felt like the high 30s or low 40s. I could see my breath for an hour or so after I ar- rived. Cold weather might well have an adverse effect on a gas charged “spring” just as it does on the hatch lifters on my Dodge Durango. Hoping that to be the case, I put further testing on hold until the warmer weather I expected soon. Yeah, right. This spring season
Rifl ed steel barrel is contained in a plastic sleeve, accounting for much of the rifl e’s light weight. Note fi ber optic rear sight insert.
after that point. The best group shot measured just under a half-inch, with four of the fi ve going into an impressive 0.28". I had forgotten to clean the bore before shooting began, and perhaps the initial poor groups were due to grit, oxidized oil, or other debris in the bore. A snug dry patch down the bore does travel smoothly now, for whatever that’s worth. Equally disappointing were the
proved to be one of the coldest and wettest on record, with frost and snow coming regularly until just before Memorial Day. I managed to get only a couple of isolated days when it was both warm and windless. On the better of those two, I did other range testing while I let the Gamo soak up the sun. Air temp that day was in the high 60s and the gun felt distinctly warm in my hands when its turn fi nally came up. Results: Crow Magnum hollow-
points that averaged 802 fps cold ran 800 warm. The heavier Silver Points that clocked a mere 659 cold now did 656 fps. The good news, I suppose, is that the measured speeds were extremely consistent. Excepting the generic pellets,
no strings (up to 20 shots) had extreme spreads larger than 26 fps and some as low as 8 fps. Standard deviations of velocity ran as low as three fps, warm or cold. But the delivered velocities were slow to a shoulder slumping degree. I managed to cleanly pot a couple
of marauding starlings from my garden with the rifl e, but never got a chance to see if anything as tough-skinned as a squirrel would fall to it. Before the weather would have fi nally allowed a defi nitive hunt, I got a polite but fi rm e-mail requesting the rifl e be returned. I had neither the time nor the skills to change the gas spring back to the steel one to see if that would have made any difference, but I wish that I could have. A re-test with the steel spring might have been interesting. In the process of doing some in-
formal shooting offhand, I managed to discover one accuracy secret. On the bottom of the rifl e, just ahead of the trigger guard, is a long and narrow raised oval. By resting the rifl e on my fi ngertips at that oval, the rifl e seemed to be doubly accurate. Whether that raised area is there for that purpose I do not know, but no other grip or hold would shoot nearly as well as with the gun supported there. If you own or get a Gamo Whisper, try that. Pyramyd Air lists the scoped
Gamo Whisper at $325.00 as tested, with the Crosman Nitro Spring installed. With standard steel spring, it normally lists at about $280.00, but their Web site (
www.pyramydair.com) has listed specials as low as $225. Free shipping is offered for orders meeting some restric- tions. Detailed specifi cations, options, and other Gamo products can be found at
www.gamousa.com. I’d rate the Spanish-made Gamo
Whisper as an acceptable mid-priced pellet rifl e suitable for most backyard pest control duties out to perhaps 35 or 40 yards of range. While it did have a few notable drawbacks, guns without them usually sell for twice as much or more. I’ve not owned a pellet rifl e since boyhood, but my brief time with this one reminded me of their usefulness as extremely quiet vermin controllers or for cheap indoor shooting practice with a suitable pellet trap. I was initially intrigued to try this one, and I still am.
Page 128 Winter 2012
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