Gamo Silent Cat .177 Caliber Breakbarrel Pellet Air Rifle with 4x32 Scope

I bought the Gamo Silent Cat air rifle to have some fun and be able to shoot in my basement. During the current ammo shortage of 2013, pellets are inexpensive and I can shoot a lot for next to nothing. To start off with, I am not going to cover all of the features of the Silent Cat because all of the other reviews do a pretty good job of describing the rifle. I will start off by saying that I didn't like the 4x32 scope so I upgraded to the Gamo 3x9x50 AO scope and used the UTG high mount single piece base and love this setup. If you buy the Gamo 3x9x50 AO scope, you have to buy either a high rise base or high rings because the front of the scope hits the barrel of the rifle. Next is the noise of the rifle, it is not silent. I am currently shooting Crossman Premiere Ultra Magnum 10.5 lead pellets and the gun is louder than I expected. If you are a shooter, it sounds like a 10/22 going off but only 1/2 as loud. The rifle's sound is slightly below the level of needing hearing protection. Bottom line is that if you live in town, your neighbors will probably hear you if you live close quarters and they are outside when you are shooting. Now for the good stuff, the rifle is highly accurate, very powerful and very fun to shoot. At 30 feet, I am able to keep a 4 shot group the size of a dime using the Crossman Premiere Ultra Magnum 10.5 lead pellets . If I try a different pellet like the Gamo Pro Magnum 7.8 lead pellets, my groups move to a different impact point, but they still keep a consistent group size. I haven't shot the rifle any further than 30 feet so I don't know about it's accuracy at longer ranges. As for power, it was leaving dents in my marksman pellet trap so I had to buy the Do-All Outdoors .22/.17 Bullet Box to be able to shoot in my basement without destroying my pellet trap. The bottom line of my review is that this is a great rifle for $149. It is powerful, highly accurate and very fun to shoot. It is also not silent, but still not too loud.

This is my observations and opinion on the "Gamo Silent Cat" in .177 cal(iber). Make sure you understand what I'm saying. The "Silent Cat" looks cooler than it shoots, but maybe thats because I'm spoiled from shooting my "Savage 93R17 Btvs". The "Savage 93R17 Btvs" is SUPER ACCURATE as long as you have a good and steady rest and if you can shoot. If your loooking for THE MOST ACCURATE .177 cal than get a 17HMR, because I can shoot a quater (25 cents) at 150 yards/meters EVERY SHOT, and thats NO JOKE! If your a good shot than you can shoot a squirrel at 300 yards, NO PROBLEM, with a "Savage 93R17 Btvs." Pros - The "Gamo Silent Cat" looks VERY cool, the pellets/ammo is very inexpensive, its very quiet if you shoot lead pellets because the lead pellets shoots at around 1,000 fps (feet per second) which makes it SUBSONIC and doesnt break the sound barrier (over ~1,100 fps and it makes a "cracking noise" and it is alot louder). I like that I can shoot pellets JUST UNDER the speed of sound because its alot quieter and it still has as much impact power as it can get, if you know what I mean. BUT the LIGHTER "PBA PLATINUM" pellets shoots around 1,250 fps and makes a "cracking noise" and I'm sure that would "spook" the small game that your hunting. I like the "noise dampener"/suppressor because it looks way cool and its supposed to reduce the noise by (allegedly) 52%. Also I like it because its a good "grip" to hold onto when cocking the gun. I like how the guns stock looks "tactical". I have NOT used the iron sights (yet) but its good quality with BRIGHT fiber optics, making it better for low light shooting. If you buy the "Gamo Silent Cat", don't expect to get groups less than 4 inches at 50 yards, but most of the pellet guns in this price range will be the same, I think. Cons - So far I've only shoot about 50 pellets through the gun, and most (real) guns shoot better after 100-150 rounds/bullets (its called "breaking in the barrel"). At about 20 yards/meters I could only get like 2 inch groups, but I'm hoping that after I shoot another 100 pellets or so the accuracy/grouping will get better. I don't really like the scope that it came with and in the future I'm going to put a 3-9x power scope with an AO (Adjustable Objective) lens. I'm hoping a better scope will increase my accuracy. Overall - If your looking for a pellet gun that looks REALLY COOL and is inexpensive, QUIET and have as much power as possible without going "SUPERSONIC" (and supersonic means its going to make the "CRACKING NOISE") Id reccomend this pellet gun if you plan on shooting under 50 yards or so. I think its a good deal. But I belive that because the scope is NOT directly mounted to the barrel, its NOT going to be as accurate. If the barrel doesn't lock EXACTLY back into place than its going to effect your accuracy. I'm thinking about getting a .22 cal pellet gun that is powered by commpressed air, and you fill up the guns "tank" with a scuba tank and if you do it that way, than the barrel and scope will be fixed in place and be more accurate. Also I shot a friends .22 cal pellet gun (like 7 years ago) and it was VERY acccurate and I think it was more accurate because it was NOT a break barrel type. My friends .22 cal pellet gun had a big LEVER on the side that you would use to cock/pressurize the gun, and the scope and barrel was FIXED to eachother. You would just need to cock the lever ONCE on my friends .22 cal pellet gun, unlike MY FIRST bb guns when I was a kid and I'd pump it like 6-10 times to get it to go 600fps or whatever. I'm glad that I bought the "Gamo Silent Cat" because for the money its a good deal. But what I'm thinking is upgrading to something more accurate, like I said, and let my buddies use my "Silent Cat" and hunt together. BUT I'll have the more accurate gun after I upgrade. As I said, I've only shot about 50 pellets through my Silent Cat so far because the BUGS were killing me, and I'm just telling you guys my opinions and observations. Also think about getting a .22 cal pellet gun if you want more hitting power, but the .22 cal pellets/rounds cost a little more money. Id rate the Silent Cat a 6.5 out of 10. 1 being really bad and 10 being really good. Its good for the money, but if you have plenty of money than spend like $400 on THE MOST ACCURATE .177 cal, which is the 17HMR that I talked about. But the 17HMR is going to be alot LOUDER because it shoots the bullets over 2,400 fps, and the ammo for a 17HMR is NOT cheap but its worth the money for sure. So these are things to consider. And if your a kid (under 16 or so) and your parents don't want you to have a pellet gun than think about getting into PAINTBALL AND/OR AIRSOFT because they are SUPER FUN and as long as you and your friends have the proper safty equipment, like a FULL FACE MASK, than you can shoot at eachother. Just treat EVERY gun as if it were loaded and don't point the barrel at anything you don't plan on shooting. And keep your finger off the trigger until your ready to fire. God bless and keep it safe. _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ EDIT on July 25th 2012 or 7/25/12 (I don't know how savvy of a shooter you are so I'm going write like I'm talking to noobs.) I took my "Gamo Silent Cat" out today and it performed alot better. I shot about 80 rounds (of JUST the GAMO Hunter .177) today and I've changed my opinion about the gun. The scope is NOT as bad as I first thought and a 4X (Power) scope is decent for the "GAMO Silent Cat" because it does the job. For example, your NOT going to put a 6-20X (Power) scope on a "Daisy Red Rider" because even if you put a 6-20X (Power) scope on the "Red Rider" and zoomed all the way to the 20X (Power) and you tried to take a shot at 200 yards/meters, it won't make much of a differece in your accuracy, AND thats if the "Red Rider" could even shoot that far, HAHA. But for the "GAMO Silent Cat" I think a 3-9X (Power) scope with an AO (Adjustable Objecctive) lens would increase your accuracy because this gun can shoot MUCH BETTER than a "Daisy Red Rider". Like I said, I'm going to put a 3-9X scope with an AO lens, but I need to get my check/money first. BUT I noticed that the "heavy" trigger pull on the "GAMO Silent Cat" pushed some of my shots "off target" a little bit. My FAVORITE trigger is called the "AccuTrigger" which "Savage Arms" makes. The AccuTrigger is VERY SAFE and has a SUPER LIGHT trigger that can be (made) as light as 1.5-2 pounds of pressure! Any experienced target shooter will tell you that a lighter trigger equals more accurate and consistant shots. Also if your looking to see how accurate your (pellet) gun can shoot than it requires a VERY STEADY REST (Bi-pods work good) with sandbags. If you do it that way than your gun and scope is going to be COMPLETELY STILL, which means ACCURACY! If you have THE MOST ACCURATE .177 cal (like) the 17HMR and take a STANDING shot at 150 yards (with NO REST) than your shots are going to be ALL OVER THE PLACE even though the 17HMR gun could EASILY shoot 2 inch groups at 150 yards with a proper rest like sandbags and a light trigger. At the moment I am NOT a member of a gun club/shooting range and I've ONLY taken my "GAMO Silent Cat" into the woods (just) TWICE and took my shots on a "zipper type" guitar case filled with lots of paper that I got from the package that Amazon sent me. If I was at a gun range and had sandbags and a more powerful scope with a lighter trigger I believe that the "GAMO Silent Cat" could (easily) shoot 1-2 inch groups at 30 yards or maybe better (especially if you found the perfect pellets that works best with your gun). With that being said, I'll get to the point. Like I said I was shooting in the woods in NOT perfect target shooting conditions and my FIRST THREE SHOTS AT 20 YARDS was LESS THAN A 1/2 INCH GROUP! BUT it was NOT a bullseye because I was in the process of getting the Silent Cat "scoped in", BUT it was still 0.5 inch group at 20 yards. My next 4 shots at 20 yards (on a different target but the same type) THREE of the 4 pellets were touching eachother. Thats about a 1/4 inch group AT 20 YARDS! But the 4th pellet was just under an inch away, and that could be because of the "heavy" trigger pull on the "Silent Cat". The other 5 targets that I shot at averaged about 1 inch at 20 yards. But I believe that the others grouped in at about 1 inch (at 20 yards) was because the trigger is a little too heavy and I didn't have the best rest for my gun. I bet if GAMO could make/copy a trigger like the "AccuTrigger" and put a 3-9X scope with an AO lens on the "Silent Cat" than people would spend more money on it because it would be more accurate. I think a fair PRICE for the "Silent Cat #2" with the mentioned upgrades would be like $210 or $220 after shipping. On a scale of 1-10, when I first wrote the review I gave the "GAMO Silent Cat" a 6.5, but I think its worthy of a 7-8 (if only they would put on a better scope and put on a trigger like the AccuTrigger.). I'm still getting used to this pellet gun because I've only shot about 120 pellets through it. Keep it safe and keep on shooting! God bless the WHOLE WORLD!

I just got this a few days ago & have only shot about 10 pellets through it but so far I'm amazed and absolutely love it. I got this because we have a pretty bad gopher problem. I've been catching 2-3 per month for the past 1.5 years. It's become my unofficial hobby and all the gopher traps I've bought has considerably cut into my "things I like to do for fun" budget. This week, I got up early & saw a gopher doing his thing on our now pothole riddled lawn. I snuck up with a shovel to whack him, when I was about 3' away, he noticed me & hid, so I set a trap. Checked back an hour later & there he was, he'd set off the trap & was pushing dirt again. Repeat this story about 4x over the next two says & you should understand my frustration level at this point. I researched pellet guns for gophers online and came across the gamo silent cat & ordered. The day after I ordered , I caught the gopher so I haven't used the rifle for it's intended purpose, yet but I have shot about 10 pellets though & am very impressed with it's quality, power and accuracy. I've completely obliterated numerous pieces of citrus fruit. I haven't used the scope yet because the sights work very good. So, why only 4 stars? It's LOUD! Not ear ringing, earplugs are necessary loud (I have extremely sensitive ears) but it's definitely loud to people living near you. I shot it outdoors earlier today & was yelled at by neighbors thinking I was shooting an actual rifle. Granted we live near a canyon & the echo probably made it more noticeable but still, the noise is definitely something to think about (although this is likely a problem with any supersonic/high powered pellet gun). All in all, I'd definitely recommend the rifle. It has a good build quality, it accurate & very powerful. Great if you have pests or if you just want to play around or get better at shooting in expensively.