I test air rifles and BB guns for a living, so I can honestly say that Gamo has great budget air rifles that offer smooth operation with phenomenal accuracy. Here are my top picks with hands-on reviews.
FYI, prices and ratings are accurate as of time of writing.
1. Gamo Swarm Magnum .22 Caliber
Highlight: 1300 fps in .22 caliber pellets.
Helpful review: This offering has a thumbhole stock. I am not a huge fan or detractor of thumbhole stocks, but this one gets my attention. What this does, for those who may not know, is it gives more control from the supporting hand, like a pistol grip on a precision rifle. The thumbhole stock will provide more contact with the stock than a standard stock.
I have read many reviews talking about the loud crack when the air rifle shoots, and they are right. The velocity or speed at which the pellet leaves the barrel makes this happen. With this much power, that pellet is devastating when it hits the target. I sighted in using a beer can and had to switch to a different target after one shot because it nearly pulled the can inside out. Amazing power. The pellets used for this are on the shelf; I did not shop for pellets, mostly because I would not drive around to find anything different. The ones I got are lead pellets and hollow point rounds. When this hits the target, the target will stop making noise or getting it, not the trash cans on the spot.
If someone has neighbors close, make sure they know what you are up to so the cops don’t show up thinking you are shooting a 22 firearm in the backyard. At the cabin, no one cares, not even sure they can hear it that far away. I did not think about spooking the horses in the field next to me; sorry about that, Trigger.
When I broke the barrel to charge this air rifle… there was a little surprise. It is harder to cock; it makes more power, so all of that makes sense. Everyone should be able to cock this air gun; if a shooter is small, the “wingspan” needed may be the issue more than the difficulty of operating the charger. If this may be a concern, don’t get this rifle; get one of the other GAMO offerings; you can't go wrong with any of them.
This air rifle should have the scope mounted on it. The Power available makes this a must more than a want. I would have put it on this rifle if I had a spare quality scope that needed a new home. The quality is that good, and the ability to reach way out there is what I like the most. The provided scope suits this air rifle, but a better one would not waste time or money. I will spend much more time getting this thing to dial into hitting a quarter at 50 feet on every trigger pull. — Peter Docherty
Get it from Amazon now: $319.99 & FREE Returns
2. Gamo Swarm Fusion .22 Caliber
Highlight: Made to protect the scope from recoil.
Helpful review: This is another GAMO rifle that I left the scope off of and used the iron sights. The rear sight has a white outline to make target acquisition easier, which is pretty cool for an air gun. The scope that came with the Swarm Fusion is not impressive. It is an included scope in an air rifle package or kit. The trigger is nice and crisp, like all of the GAMO stuff; this gun shoots like a winner, and sighting in the open sights and not bothering with the scope made it quicker to get shooting this model.
The Swarm Fusion is one of the GAMO offerings with a magazine. I have not had a ton of luck with air guns and magazines, other than an old-school BB gun that loads a ton of rounds in the barrel tube, the way it says in the bible. The magazines worked fine, and I had a few misfeeds or whatever they called for air guns. If I were shooting from a fixed position and needed to shoot a lot of stuff in a hurry, this may be a great idea. The critters I was shooting at the cabin did not stay around long enough to need more quick-fire from a magazine. But, to test them, I tried them out and found that I like how GAMO makes their pellet magazines.
The power this gun delivers with a .22 caliber pellet is impressive. I honestly don’t remember the fps velocity on this rifle, but I can firsthand tell everyone how hard it hits. There are a couple of former magpie irritants in the landfill in central Utah that could first-hand report the effectiveness. When the spring releases in the air rifle to expel the compressed air to move the pellet, the noise it makes is not near as much away from the gun as it is next to your head when you pull the trigger.
The amount of power this gun makes is much more than it sounds like it sends. It is safe to shoot from the sound level in the backyard. The power may be more than backyard safe unless some serious thought for the backstop is used before shooting begins. — Jay Hood
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3. Gamo Whisper Fusion Mach 1 .22 Caliber
Highlight: Comes with variable power scope.
Helpful review: To start this review, I did mention that it comes with a variable power scope, but I did not put it on this gun. There is a reason why I did not use the supplied scope with this gun; the open iron sights are amazing, and I just flat-out wanted to use them how it seemed to me to be intended. I don’t think GAMO would go through all the trouble of making and using amazing iron sights to ignore them and use the scope. Also, I want to do more exact mounting and zeroing for a variable scope and the quality of this air rifle, so I felt the spirit move me to go old school.
Using the open signs on this little rifle is excellent fun. The gun shoots like an air-powered 22-caliber cannon, and the sights do not disappoint. The quality of the build and materials is like all of the GAMO offerings; there is a reason they are leading in the air gun market: they make high-quality stuff. This rifle is a little heavier than other air rifles, but not so much that I wanted to leave it behind. A good-quality leather sling would make this easier to haul around. One thing I wish the air rifle market could make is a way to carry around extra pellets that are better than the huge round can in my pocket.
The Whisper's sound is not entirely silent; the pellet travels too fast, and the air pressure escaping to move the pellet is too high. But the Whisper is quiet enough to get a couple of shots off at a squirrel, and I can get off about four or five shooting annoying birds before they decide to leave. Three of them are usually on the ground after four or five rounds shot at the birds. I am unsure which makes more noise, the air gun or the bird hitting the dirt. Operating the barrel to cock the pressure chamber makes more noise than the round leaving the barrel.
The entire barrel cocking action will scare off the game more than the sound. Moving the whole barrel requires a target for each shot, and the movement is ridiculous to try and conceal. If I needed to hunt squirrels or something that pays attention, I would need to step behind a corner of the cabin or a large tree to hide the movement.
Another thing to point out with any type of gun, even the air guns, is to keep the moving parts lightly oiled. I just put a drop of Prolix everywhere I can see one or more parts moving and let it work itself into the joints. Also, if there is a place where rubber or silicone seals are present, hit them with some Prolix as well. — Greg Alexander
Get it from Amazon now: $299.99 & FREE Returns
4. Gamo Swarm Maxxim G2 .22 Caliber
Highlight: The king of GAMO air rifles for around 200 bucks.
Helpful review: This air rifle uses a GAMO magazine, and like many people, I found that the air gun magazines fail more than they should. I suggest constantly double-checking the round count and dry-firing the air rifle. Dry firing will not damage the air rifle, but if it does, send it back to GAMO. I have tried different air gun magazines, and I would instead load them individually and not deal with the magazines.
The materials are fantastic and well-fitted. The barrel is well made and high quality. The trigger is crisp and clean, with a nice break. The accuracy is spot on, and the included optic is excellent for what it is. I will upgrade this optic later, maybe for another review. As it comes from the manufacturer, this scope and rifle combination will hit anything I aim at. After breaking the barrel a bit more, it only gets more accurate, and like other air rifles, it also gets quieter the more it is shot.
The break action to cock this gun is pretty substantial. It sometimes takes some heavy grunting to make it work, and the next pellet is shot. The power is significantly increased; this is not a kid's gun. There is a YouTube maker who claims that they have killed a deer with his gun; I think that is a fantasy. This air gun can easily punch a hole through ½ OSB boards all day. The only hang-up with the break barrel action is how slow they are to reload. That is the only reason I do not think these high-powered air rifles will replace the 22lr for varmint hunting. But when it comes to needing to be quiet and allowed to shoot in town, that is where the air guns will stay in business.
I have no idea what the long distance is for this air gun, but my backyard is not further than this air rifle can be lethal to vermin and targets of all kinds. The stock design lends itself to the comfort I experienced when shooting this one, and I could shoot it all day long. I need the spinning targets at the cabin, as this one will get used a lot down here.
When the neighbor brings his cattle down from the forest, we have to be careful not to spook them and cause problems with noises like 22lr in the yard. When they return from the woods, this air gun will be nearly silent, and no issues will come. — Paul Carey
Get it from Amazon now: $209.99 & FREE Returns
5. Gamo Swarm Whisper .22 Caliber
Highlight: 10-round magazine.
Helpful review: This Swarm uses GAMO silencer technology, which makes this pellet gun a squirrel-killing machine. The quiet report from this air gun and the 10-round magazine will make it a perfect choice for small game hunting. The break-action barrel will be the only hang-up in rapidly taking out critters.
The included scope is the standard GAMO fixed power 4x32. This scope is OK for a throw-it-in-the-box kit, but this air rifle should have come with the GAMO variable 3-9x40 scope. This rifle qualifies for my “should get an upgrade” ranking. I keep the stock scopes from hunting rifles and use them to put them on guns I get and rebuild at the gun shows, and I work to sell an upgraded scope from the shelf, and now I use them to put them on some of the high-powered air rifles I review.
I put a stock scope from a Savage rifle on this air gun. The scope I used for this test is a Weaver scope with variable power, and it worked great. To be honest, I did not spend a ton of time getting this sighted in, as I had a bunch of air rifles to review and things to do, but in about ten minutes at 50 feet, I had this knocking the hell out of beer cans and considered it good to go.
Many reviews say this barrel needs about 100 rounds to break in. At 50 feet, this will kit a magpie without an issue. I do not target shoot with air rifles, and if I did, I am sure the break-in period would be needed, but to shoot stuff around the yard and dispatch unwanted vermin, I have found rifles for GAMO are good enough to take care of business right out of the box.
I love the feel of this air rifle when shooting it. It feels and operates like a quality firearm, not a flimsy air gun. The materials this is made from are solid and do not twist in my hands. The barrel is made of the same materials and feels like a solid pipe when I cock the barrel; along with the action, as it works, I do not feel anything wiggling and twisting when I work them. The trigger is excellent and breaks crisply with no creep. Most air rifle triggers have no creep, but many feel they need to be tightened. — Jared Wilbanks
Get it from Amazon now: $179.99 & FREE Returns
6. Gamo Varmint .177 Caliber
Highlight: Venturi Pen included.
Helpful review: I need to get rid of some pesky Magpies from my cabin property. The birds relentlessly protect their nests, including keeping me and my family away from the cabin. What the black-and-white birds don’t realize is that I pay the mortgage and taxes to own this place, and they are fun to shoot, so they lose. Writing for this blog, I have the opportunity to review a whole pile of air rifles, so that is what I will do while ridding myself of the trespassing noise-making birds. The quiet birds can stay, but these annoying buggers are history.
The first air rifle up in the review is the GAMO Varmint in .177 caliber. This rifle shoots pellets and does not say it can shoot BBs, so I did not try that. I honestly did not even think to buy a tube of BBs just to see if it would work. I bought a bunch of tins of pellets and let the squawking trespassers have it all weekend long. It was great (I have to be honest, more fun than I thought it would be).
I opened the box, read the instructions or owner's manual, and checked out the rifle. It is well built like all of the GAMO products. The barrel is solid in the chassis, the trigger works as it should, and all the parts are solid; nothing is loose or flopping around. Next, I looked at the scope mounts; these seem to be well built, or built to the standard of an air rifle, with zero recoil to consider. The Scope came next; honestly, I am pretty impressed.
The scope is an in-house optic. It is well-suited to do the job it was made for, not a junk tube with some glass on the ends made good enough; this is well-made stuff. I learned from previous air rifles, including scopes, and cleaned the lenses before I did anything. GAMO builds these to shoot and stores stock them for sale; in the process of that is shipping and handling. The scopes and guns will have a light oil; this keeps everything from rusting. This is no big deal for the gun itself; wipe it off with a rag, but the scope lenses need a little more care. I have some small glass cleaners I get from Amazon, and I use them on my prescription lenses. they are exceptional at cleaning rifle optics.
I got the scope zeroed, or close enough to shoot about 25 feet into the trees and area around the cabin, and went to work testing the air rifle. The Varmint air rifle lives up to its reputation. This little unit will send that .177 pellet zipping down range, and they buried pretty deep into the tree when I missed the birds. I would say they bury about a quarter of an inch, and from shooting freehand mostly, they always hit where I was aiming; the scope never seems to move once it is set and dialed in. The materials are all weatherproof, so when I left it to go in for lunch and had a surprise rain shower happen, the gun did not even care.
To recharge the compressed air, the entire barrel has to cock. This puts a good lever on the hard-to-compress chamber. This is slower for a follow-up shot, and I think it is made for target shooting. After I shoot this for a while, and with more time spent dialing the scope, I am sure this will only need one shot for varmints. For the bigger and tougher birds, this air rifle did not have enough penetration to kill them, but it sure did make them evacuate the area in a hurry when it hit. I counted that as a victory and payback. — James Zucker
Get it from Amazon now: $134.99 & FREE Returns
7. Gamo Wildcat Whisper .22 Caliber
Highlight: It gets quieter the more it is shot.
Helpful review: When I started shooting this rifle right out of the box, it was pretty loud for an air gun named Whisper. The Wildcat is a bit smaller or shorter than other air rifles from GAMO. This makes it easier to sneak through bushes to shoot a squirrel but harder to cock the pistol; it becomes a smaller lever, after all.
I started shooting this rifle about 1400 on the day of air rifle greatness, and my neighbor drove over on his four-wheeler to see what I was shooting all day long. I told him what I was up to, and of course, a severe amount of shooting the bullsh**ing happened for half an hour. He told me he had just bought a CO2-powered air rifle in .22 caliber and wanted to see how it measured up to the Wildcat. Now we have a party. He went home to get it, and I made space on the folding table. Since all the magpies were now gone or dead, all the squirrels that could see were now scarce. It was time to shoot some blocks of wood. I set up some cut 4x4s across the backyard and waited for him to return.
We began shooting the 4x4 blocks, and the difference was remarkable. His new CO2-powered .22 pellet gun fell short of power. The Wildcat performed like the other GAMO rifles; it buried pellets about half to three-quarters of an inch in the wood. The CO2 air rifle was lucky to do more than make a dent in the wood. They both knocked the blocks over, but the terminal damage from the GAMO was impressive.
I do have to admit that the CO2 air rifle had a good trigger like mine, and I liked the wood stock on his CO2 rifle more than the plastic the GAMO is made from. They both feel excellent and high-quality in hand, but the power generated by the GAMO was massively greater, which is why anyone would buy an air rifle made from ore rather than punching holes in cardboard boxes. — Bryan J. Taylor
Get it from Amazon now: $136.40 & FREE Returns
8. Gamo Raptor Whisper .177 Caliber
Highlight: Looks and feels like a deer rifle.
Helpful review: I needed an air rifle that did not over-penetrate like the .22 caliber through a pigeon like others I own. The Raptor came in the .177 caliber, and let me tell you, this thing is accurate. The speed is faster, and the drop is less than the .22 clabber, and anyone who shoots can figure out that the lighter rounds drop less.
The air rifle sighted in quickly, and to be honest, I think I just got lucky on that one. I shot this at a soda can and was happy I hit it right out of the box. I only shoot across the yard for air guns, which is as far as I plan to shoot air rifles. The Raptor hit the can right off, then I turned a can on its side and hit the end of it in one shot. Amazed at this, I now needed to see if this gun was that good or if I was just that lucky. I used a small painter's tape for a small bullseye. I hit the tape on the second shot after the first one missed about 1/8th of an inch. I got tired of getting up to set more targets on the yard's edge. I looked around for living targets, but nothing was flying around anymore, so I had to go and get more cans.
I considered replacing this scope with an old one that needed a new home. After using the supplied scope and mount and hitting that shape, I decided to change my mind. This little gun shoots better than I do. I don’t know how I got this lucky, or at least fortunate, that day, but this one will sit in the closet for vermin reduction, just as it showed up from UPS.
One great thing about this rifle in .177 caliber is the pellets do not over penetrate; I have a Stoger air rifle at home that shoots .177 pellets, and it shot through a pigeon and into the eves of the roof. So now I have a nice little hole in the soffit. This air rifle I don’t think would do such a thing, and I am sure if I had time to get the shot lined up, it would shoot the critter in the head and drop them on the spot. — Jerry C. MacGregor
Get it from Amazon now: $129.99 & FREE Returns