Gamo Compact experience

[trajectory]

PCP or CO2 is definately less fatiguing than muscle powered designs, especially over a 60 shot match with sighters as well. Theres other advantages too for instance muscle powered designs usually disturb your grip between shots, not so with PCP or CO2.
Some put high regard on relaxing or re taking the grip between shots as it helps restore circulation in your arm & especially to your hand between shots. It's a long match & at any level any help you can give yourself is probably worth it, in some regards it's a little like free pistol shooting, neither ar easy, but they seem to share certain similarities in technique.

[CB200]

I shot in to the 530s with my Gamo compact and ended up in the 560s with other pistols before I gave up on 10m pistol (got fed up with having to practice a lot to keep my scores up). I think the improvement between 530 and 560 was more about having gained experience than the compact being incapable of doing better than I did with it.

Thanks Frog, that’s a great score with a Gamo Compact!
Do you know what the trigger weight was at all?

[CB200]

I moved on from a Compact to a Baikal 46M, but the issue for me with 'muscle powered' pistols was getting tired at 40 to 50 shots into a match, which was distracting and slowed me up. This would then put me under time pressure to complete all the cards in time!

It was a revelation going to co2 and ultimately a PCP pistol with much less effort and disturbance to my shot routine.

Thanks Modski, I can benefit from your experience: I was as thinking of an older classic pistol as my next choice - FWB 65,80,100 etc, I checked them out, they are awesome! But heavy! I think a more modern lighter gun might be the way forward, funds permitting!

[CB200]

PCP or CO2 is definately less fatiguing than muscle powered designs, especially over a 60 shot match with sighters as well. Theres other advantages too for instance muscle powered designs usually disturb your grip between shots, not so with PCP or CO2.
Some put high regard on relaxing or re taking the grip between shots as it helps restore circulation in your arm & especially to your hand between shots. It's a long match & at any level any help you can give yourself is probably worth it, in some regards it's a little like free pistol shooting, neither ar easy, but they seem to share certain similarities in technique.

Thanks Trajectory, that’s a great insight. I’ve never shot in a comp, only been shooting for 4 months and still not hit 500 yet! I do find it better to re do grip for circulation purposes - maybe my grip needs shaping more!

[trajectory]

Thanks Trajectory, that’s a great insight. I’ve never shot in a comp, only been shooting for 4 months and still not hit 500 yet! I do find it better to re do grip for circulation purposes - maybe my grip needs shaping more!

4 months, 2.5 - 3lb trigger..approaching 500 isn't too shabby.

Plenty of tips on line till you get to a club, a few good books out there too.

Just as an aside which pellets have you tried in your compact?

[CB200]

4 months, 2.5 - 3lb trigger..approaching 500 isn't too shabby.

Plenty of tips on line till you get to a club, a few good books out there too.

Just as an aside which pellets have you tried in your compact?

Thanks for the encouragement - I shot 494 last Sunday, so 500 not too far off.
I’ve bought and read the Ragnar Skanaker book Master Competitive Pistol Shooting, which I found very good. I started off with the Gamo Pistol Cup pellets, which came with the gun - some very tight in breech.
Progressed onto Bisley Practice, which were good. I’ve been shooting mostly RWS Diablo Basics - cheap and good. Tried some Gamo Match recently after seeing a review on them on Pyramid Air - some were so tight they wouldn’t fire!

[trajectory]

Thanks for the encouragement - I shot 494 last Sunday, so 500 not too far off.
I’ve bought and read the Ragnar Skanaker book Master Competitive Pistol Shooting, which I found very good. I started off with the Gamo Pistol Cup pellets, which came with the gun - some very tight in breech.
Progressed onto Bisley Practice, which were good. I’ve been shooting mostly RWS Diablo Basics - cheap and good. Tried some Gamo Match recently after seeing a review on them on Pyramid Air - some were so tight they wouldn’t fire!

494, that's coming on. Skanaker is a good source of information, well worth following the guidance in it, but keep in mind although much works for many not everything works for all, as we are all individuals it sometimes happens that we have to adapt some aspect to suit our individuality, but it's a good starting point.

Interesting about the Gamo Match pellets being too tight in your barrel. I was going to suggest that you might like to try them as a possibility if you hadn't already done so. It's a good idea to try a few types to find which pellets suit your own pistol as some are more suited than others. It's not even possible to say brand x pellets always shoot well in a model y gun. Barrels, even within a particular model may well exhibit a 'preferance' of one pellet or another. There's a wide choice available nowadays & with the size variations available it can get to be expensive & involved in finding the very best one for your pistol. I've tried a few, i like Hobby pellets, they seem generally pretty good, but match pellets from RWS or H&N are my first choice.

[CB200]

494, that's coming on. Skanaker is a good source of information, well worth following the guidance in it, but keep in mind although much works for many not everything works for all, as we are all individuals it sometimes happens that we have to adapt some aspect to suit our individuality, but it's a good starting point.

Interesting about the Gamo Match pellets being too tight in your barrel. I was going to suggest that you might like to try them as a possibility if you hadn't already done so. It's a good idea to try a few types to find which pellets suit your own pistol as some are more suited than others. It's not even possible to say brand x pellets always shoot well in a model y gun. Barrels, even within a particular model may well exhibit a 'preferance' of one pellet or another. There's a wide choice available nowadays & with the size variations available it can get to be expensive & involved in finding the very best one for your pistol. I've tried a few, i like Hobby pellets, they seem generally pretty good, but match pellets from RWS or H&N are my first choice.

Thanks for your input Trajectory: helpful as usual - do you think it’s helpful to ‘bench rest’ test different pellets?
I’m going to get another (weaker spring) for my trigger and see if that brings down the pull weight. I’m sure if I get the trigger weight down, my scores will improve.

[bill57]

Yes that’s right, and will probably be easier to load the pellets to, some of the Gamo Match ones are a b.....r to load in the breach: and some don’t even fire when they are loaded! I have to scrape them out!

I bought a sleeve of Gamo Match for my Compact, what a waste of money that was. As you say, incredibly inconsistent sizing with half of them so tight they won't fire. Total sh*te.

[CB200]

I bought a sleeve of Gamo Match for my Compact, what a waste of money that was. As you say, incredibly inconsistent sizing with half of them so tight they won't fire. Total sh*te.

What pellets do you use Bill?

[trajectory]

Thanks for your input Trajectory: helpful as usual - do you think it’s helpful to ‘bench rest’ test different pellets?
IÂ’m going to get another (weaker spring) for my trigger and see if that brings down the pull weight. IÂ’m sure if I get the trigger weight down, my scores will improve.

Thanks.

Ok, bench resting; the compact has a recoiless mechanism so bench resting should be fine BUT a couple of things. It's a new technique so it might need a little getting used to. If you sit square on to the target with a two handed grip it's very different to classic offhand technique, it's not hard, just different. Changes usually need a bit of practice. The Compact has a shortish sight base, so double handed the rear sight might be appreciably closer to your eye. This will have the effect of making the rear sight notch wider & thus harder to consistently centralise the front sight. Different lighting conditions may help or exacerbate this.
Possibly not much you can do about this other than keep the lighting consistent. You could stick a narrower rear sight notch to the rear or a wider one on the front but for all the messing about it's probably not worth it. If they are fixed on well they might mark the pistol, if they aren't fixed well they will move.........neither is any good.

Good light & concentration should be a help, & a bit of practice.

The trigger. In an ideal world maybe it would be 505g, break like a glass rod & be 100% consistent. However in any world it must be totally safe. In all instances safety is the prime requisite. Swapping out standard parts might offer a way forward but the proviso of safety remains. Maybe there is something not quite right with one or more of the parts in your one, maybe it's a manifestation of manufacturing tolerances, I don't know.

[RobinC]

I'm one of the old school who started in 1972 using a FWB 65, and shot nationally and internationally with it.

I have kept all my pistols from that 65, through FAS 604, Walther CP1, Walther LPM-1, finishing with Steyr LP2 compact, and LP50e Compact.

Oh yes, PCP's are so much easier to use, but are the scores any better? Hmmmm, maybe not, good technique is far more important, I shot with Ragnar Skanaker, at the early Intershoot's in Holland, he also used to come over for the bigger BPC shoots at Bisley, and was most entertaining.

His technique was total laid back, he'd do a few shots, wander off and have a chat with the RO, a laugh and a joke, shoot a few more cards, stop and have a cigarette, and continue, and still get top score, good old days, before the jobsworths moved in!

I was also privileged to see Nina Stolyarova shoot 392 ex 400 at London in the 1975 European championships in London.

She swept into the hall, like a superstar, wearing a leopard skin coat that was dragging on the floor, made out of real leopards (no PC then!), dropped the coat on the floor, pulled this scruffy plastic grip FWB 65 out of a case, and then just gave a smiling masterclass! It was a Ladies world record that stood up to the PCP era in the 90's, when a Chinese girl put one point on it!!!

Shoot what you enjoy, you'll love a PCP, but the Gamo will not hold you back for along while!
Have Fun
Robin

[bill57]

What pellets do you use Bill?

First an admission; I strayed here from the dark side - I am not a pistol shooter really. We built a pistol range at my club and I ended up with the Gamo and a lovely FWB 80, both lefties. But I don't use them much, and the last two years put paid to it all anyway.

Oddly enough I remember having a very nice Diana Model 5 (with the wooden grip) (40!) years ago. I bought RWS Meisterkugeln for it, but they were so tight they wouldn't leave the barrel - so not a new issue to me.

The only pellets I have in the house for the pistols at the moment are the dirt cheap H&N Excite Econ wadcutters. They fit both pistols well, look well made and are more than adequate for my standard.

[CB200]

Thanks.

Ok, bench resting; the compact has a recoiless mechanism so bench resting should be fine BUT a couple of things. It's a new technique so it might need a little getting used to. If you sit square on to the target with a two handed grip it's very different to classic offhand technique, it's not hard, just different. Changes usually need a bit of practice. The Compact has a shortish sight base, so double handed the rear sight might be appreciably closer to your eye. This will have the effect of making the rear sight notch wider & thus harder to consistently centralise the front sight. Different lighting conditions may help or exacerbate this.
Possibly not much you can do about this other than keep the lighting consistent. You could stick a narrower rear sight notch to the rear or a wider one on the front but for all the messing about it's probably not worth it. If they are fixed on well they might mark the pistol, if they aren't fixed well they will move.........neither is any good.

Good light & concentration should be a help, & a bit of practice.

The trigger. In an ideal world maybe it would be 505g, break like a glass rod & be 100% consistent. However in any world it must be totally safe. In all instances safety is the prime requisite. Swapping out standard parts might offer a way forward but the proviso of safety remains. Maybe there is something not quite right with one or more of the parts in your one, maybe it's a manifestation of manufacturing tolerances, I don't know.

Okay thank you for that, I’m not sure I’m actually going to do bench testing now: my groupings and scores have just improved today! Just to put you in the picture: I measured the trigger weight without cocking the gun - 2.5lb, so regardless of what I did to the sear surfaces or reducing the sear contact surface, I was always going to have a trigger weight of at least 2 1/2lb! I changed the trigger spring for a lighter one. I cocked and drop tested it, to check it never fired before shooting 6 cards (one practice) - big improvement in groupings and overall score! I’ll be looking for 510-520 at my next 60 shot on February 15th (I do one 60 shot a month). Watch this space!

[CB200]

First an admission; I strayed here from the dark side - I am not a pistol shooter really. We built a pistol range at my club and I ended up with the Gamo and a lovely FWB 80, both lefties. But I don't use them much, and the last two years put paid to it all anyway.

Oddly enough I remember having a very nice Diana Model 5 (with the wooden grip) (40!) years ago. I bought RWS Meisterkugeln for it, but they were so tight they wouldn't leave the barrel - so not a new issue to me.

The only pellets I have in the house for the pistols at the moment are the dirt cheap H&N Excite Econ wadcutters. They fit both pistols well, look well made and are more than adequate for my standard.

Thanks for you reply Bill, it was nice to hear your experience over the last few years: but such a shame that covid ruined your shooting: are you planning on resuming when things improve? Is your club open at the moment? I’ve read about the FWB 65,80,100, they get such great reviews. I’m using RWS basics in my Gamo at the moment, and they seem fine.