Gamo Centre and Target Pistol

[zooma]

Does anyone know anything about an alloy loading hatch that was made to replace the LT027 moulded plastic original part by any chance?

This would be a good upgrade for my GAMO Centre or Target pistols, but although I have been told about them, I have never seen one and I don't know who made them or where to find one.

[zooma]

John rebuilt our GAMO Centre pistol after a rumage through a box of old leather washers produced something that could be forced into service and then used a knife to cut away the solidified grease that must have been inside it since the Spanish factory slapped plenty of it on everything way back in the seventies.

The leather washer needed plenty of soaking in thin oil followed by John "treading" it like he was in a barrel of grapes to coax it into a more supple format - followed by shaping it to size in a Jubilee clip until it conformed to a suitable size.

The old piston washer was as hard as a brick and complely useless - how the pistol spat lead until now is a mystery.

The trigger adjusting screws were "welded" into place and immovable until the kife cut away the solidified grease from this area as well!

With a bit of TLC, a rebuild and a relube with his secret "special grease(s)" and a lot of work forcing the leather washer into a shape that would fit into the cylinder the pistol now shoots amazingly well for such an old and well used example of this 70's classic.

The measured muzzle velocity is so consistant that it puts some of the PCP pistols we have measured to shame - amazingly good - but the cocking lever drops away when the pistol is shot as the cocking lever itself has a large oval slot where the pivot pin should be giving a lot of "slop" in this area.

Since the pistol is working so well, John is hoping to get a bush made so we can fit it where the original drilled hole has elongated, and keep this pistol alive for a few more years. If he succeeds this weekend, then a few of us are tempted to use it in the MPL next week as it will be fun and "in keeping" with the spirit of the competition.

It is hard to believe that we paid for this pistol to be serviced, adjusted and lubricated a year ago by a local dealer - but we checked the bill again last night - and it definately says it was - so it must be true!

Anyway - if we can find the source of the alloy loading hatch to replace the worn moulded plastic original then we will have a very nice recoiling pistol for our club to use in the MPL series. The nylon one we have on our Centre now is as worn as the rest of the pistol is/was to the extent that some pellets drop straight through it - but a replacement is not available anymore, although I have placed a couple on back order with Chambers in the hope that they may get some more in stock soon.

[zooma]

John tested the Centre to see which curently available pellet fitted and worked the best in our worn 1970's Centre target pistol:-

RWS R10 - loose fit - fell out of the worn loading hatch - 265 fps.

RWS C02 - very variable between 280 to 370 fps.

H&N Match second best choice and produced 350fps.

GECO - very consistant (!) - 357fps.

This test turns the results we would have expected upside-down - and the results we usually get from most other pistols we have tested would have been the exact reverse of these shown here!

Anyway - this more than surprising result also shows similar results on the 10 metre groupings - so for the Centre pistol used in the MPL competitions we will be using GECO pellets - and I can't beleive I am saying this - because they work the best!