GAMO airgun accurate, powerful
Pneumatic models dominate the airgun universe, but traditional piston models are more powerful and more dependable than ever.
Unlike pneumatic models that use regulated charges from compressed air canisters, piston-powered rifles charge the compression cylinder by cocking a lever. Pneumatic models are true repeaters, firing a pellet with successive trigger pulls. Spring air, or piston guns, require cocking between shots.
Early generation spring-air guns were single-shot affairs in which every shot had to be loaded individually from the breech. Recent models have 10-round magazines that load the breech automatically with each pull of the lever.
I have had the pleasure lately of testing the GAMO Swarm Magnum Pro 10X Gen 3i. It is a futuristic looking design with a racy plastic stock and a massive silencer that works best with heavy pellets that exit the muzzle at 1,126 feet per second or slower. The rifle is capable of launching some pellets at 1,300 fps.
It also has a heavy duty recoil pad with a neon green spacer that provides a subtle splash of color to the gun’s drab black profile.
Also included is a GAMO 3-9x40 scope attached to GAMO’s proprietary mount. My scope was perfectly centered in the rings out of the box. A few turns with an Allen wrench secures the apparatus to the rifle.
It is important to use a dedicated airgun scope with a spring air rifle because of the gun’s unique recoil characteristics. In addition to backwards force from a pellet traveling down the barrel, the rapid forward acceleration of the piston generates movement forward. The bi-directional recoil will shake wire crosshairs in scopes not rated for airguns loose from their moorings. The best scopes have crosshairs etched in the glass, but this GAMO scope so far holds zero.
A centerpiece of this system is the 10-round Gen3i rotary magazine. It is a low-profile module that mounts parallel with the barrel. Previous iterations mounted perpendicular to the barrel.
My rifle is a .22-caliber model. Its muzzle velocity with conventional weight pellets is comparable to standard .22 Long Rifle cartridges like CCI Mini Mag.
The lone disadvantage to this rifle is the massive amount of force it takes to charge the piston. If you don’t have superb upper arm strength, you will have a very hard time cocking this gun. If you overcome this obstacle, however, the gun will reward you with astonishing power and remarkable accuracy.
After installing the scope and magazine, I sighted the rifle in at 22 yards using 12.5-grain GAMO Red Fire pellets. These pellets have red polymer spires on the tips similar to the ballistic tip bullets. Its primary use, according to GAMO, is for hunting, but it is also touted for pest control, recreation, target shooting and competition.
I used a cardboard box as a rest.
With such fast muzzle velocity, the GAMO Swarm Magnum Pro 10X Gen 3i does not require as precise trigger control as slower air rifles. Slower guns require statuesque shooting form because a pellet moving down the barrel at 750-850 fps is more vulnerable to movement than one traveling nearly twice as fast. I only thought about that later, however. Accustomed to the dispersion characteristics of slower guns, I maintained as stony a posture as possible.
The first shot hit the target about 2 inches to the right. The elevation was perfect. About 16 clicks on the windage turret put me right where I wanted to be. The next shot touched the first, and the third shot hit slightly separated from the first two. The three-shot group was less than 1/2 inch. That is the best group I’ve ever shot with a spring air rifle, and I was elated.
We have a lot of different pellets yet to test, but hitting the jackpot with the first choice was a nice feeling.
The gun’s relatively light weight makes it very good for woodland hunting, but it would also be excellent pigeon popper to use around grain bins. It would be outstanding for bird feeder squirrel enforcement purposes and also for eliminating starling soffit incursions.
We look forward to putting the GAMO Swarm Magnum Pro 10X Gen 3i through its paces with other types of pellets and, of course, we are very interested to see how well the scope maintains zero.