Review of the rifle "GAMO Hunter 1250".

Review of the rifle "G AMO H unter 1250".

This article provides an overview of the popular H unter 1250 rifle from the Spanish air gun manufacturer GAMO.

Industrias El GAMO is one of the largest and oldest ammunition manufacturers in Europe. It was founded more than 120 years ago, and initially was engaged in the production of lead, and its workshops were equipped with the simplest equipment for casting gun bullets from lead. In the early 40s of the XX century, the company organized a foundry for the production of high quality lead bullets for pneumatic weapons and entered the pneumatics market. Given the company's many years of experience in this area, it quickly became one of the world's largest manufacturers of pneumatic ammunition. Since the 90s of the twentieth century, the company began to produce air rifles and pistols of its own design. They turned out to be quite successful, and the company's products quickly gained popularity in European countries. For example, the CFX Series 'G AMO' air rifles outpaced their potential competitors with exquisite design and unsurpassed workmanship. The stock for rifles of this series is made of precious woods using the most modern equipment, and the manufacturer provides a guarantee for all wooden parts of the rifle. Today, the products of the G AMO company are successfully exported to more than 60 countries of the world and enjoy a well-deserved popularity and demand.

"GAMO Hunter 1250" - this combination of words and numbers fascinates people who are fond of pneumatics, and for those who have just started to get acquainted with the most interesting type of shooting from pneumatic weapons, it is the limit of power from everything that can be purchased today in the retail network in the open spaces of the former THE USSR. Moreover, at a very reasonable price. This model has excellent workmanship and a powerful spring-piston system. The total length of the rifle is 1220 mm. Of course, such parameters do not make this rifle the most compact in its class, but it does not pretend to be such a title. The rifle is equipped with a 450 mm barrel, which is made of high-quality weapon steel and has a 12 trapezoid and serrated grooves. It is capable of accelerating a heavy 0.68 g bullet to a speed of 380 m / s. For comparison, a bullet fired from a Makarov combat pistol has an initial velocity of about 315 m / s. These high results are achieved thanks to the powerful compressor, the volume of which is almost 80 cm3. The mass of the rifle is quite high - 4.45 kg, to match a strong spring. For its cocking, it is necessary to apply a force of 26 kg, and the developed compression force is 250 kg.

The Hunter 1250 rifle is one of the latest developments of G AMO in the field of spring-piston air rifles. It is similar in appearance to the previous Hunter 440 and Hunter 880/890 models and works on the same principle. However, if you look closely at this model, you will find that it is made with more diligence and love than its predecessors.

There is also a sealing of the guide for the optics, and a more successful stopper of the breech of the barrel, in a different principle, the disassembly from the butt plate is solved. And the quality of the elements, although not ideal, is higher than that of previous models.

Now "Hunter 1250" is manufactured in one single modification - the one that is on the market. The first modifications had a different way of attaching the muzzle. It had a threaded connection, and for ease of removal it was covered with corrugations. On the modifications produced now, the muzzle has no thread, but is fastened with a special transverse screw equipped with a hex head.

The rifle has a classic stock made of specially treated wood, the quality of the internal selection and the appearance of which speak for themselves. The sample for metal is made quite evenly and smoothly, and there are no burrs or chips on the wood. Metal elements adhere to the wood quite tightly, which eliminates the appearance of excessive vibration during shots. The quality of the metal is high - in places of increased friction and load, the steel does not "float" and is not eaten away. The processing of rifle parts is very high quality, which excludes the housework with a file, which is widely used in relation to some models of spring-piston rifles.

The barrel of the rifle is screwed in and fixed with pins in the barrel sleeve and ends with a muzzle, traditional for this type of rifle, which reduces the volume of the shot. It has an open front sight. The rifle's rear sight is adjustable vertically and horizontally and is fixed to the coupling. The barrel is locked using a special design bolt, which reliably performs its function.

Compressor seals are made of high quality elastic rubber to prevent air leakage even at high internal pressures. The piston is made on a lathe, not by stamping and rolling, and is specially milled for cocking rods. Dismantling the rifle is not particularly difficult, and if the reverse sequence of actions is followed, it is just as easy to assemble.

To mount the optical sight, a milled dovetail mount is securely welded to the receiver. A sight that can be recommended for such a powerful rifle must have a sturdy body and high vibration resistance. These are, for example, the Walther 4 x 32 GA or Tasco 3-9 x 32 Golden Antler optics, which are able to withstand sharp and strong recoil. With an air rifle "GAMO Hunter 1250" you can quite confidently hunt birds and small game and easily produce aimed shots at a distance of 50 m, which is quite consistent with the "commercial" firing range of small-bore firearms.

For all its merits, the quality of a mass-produced pneumatic weapon of the middle price range could be better. In other words, every rifle owner wants to see it perfect from all points of view. Despite the fact that the quality of the manufacture of the rifle "Hunter 1250" is a cut higher than that of the same "Hunter 440", when buying a weapon, you should pay attention to some points. So, here is a list of defects that can occur on some products and that are easily detected by visual inspection:

- Mismatch of the horizontal axes of the barrel and cylinder. In fact, the axis of the barrel should not coincide slightly with the axis of the cylinder, but should be deflected downward by 1-2 degrees. This discrepancy is due to the design features of the rifle. During operation, the surfaces of the contacting elements are slightly erased, their metal is crushed by high loads, and after a couple of thousand shots everything falls into place. But if this figure exceeds three degrees, this is already a lot. In principle, the rifle shoots perfectly, however, certain difficulties will arise with the installation and zeroing of the optics. There are also deviations of the trunk axis by half a degree to the right or left. This situation does not cause any harm to the aiming abilities of the rifle, since the optics bracket is welded parallel to the barrel, and not to the cylinder. However, for purely aesthetic reasons, many are not satisfied with this.

- Curved stock in the forend area. On some products, you can find a small gap between the bed and the cylinder in the area of the side connection. In reality, there is no curvature, just the wooden part is poorly fastened with screws to the metal part of the rifle. That is, the screws are screwed in all the way, but the holes for them are less than the length of the screw.Cutting a 1-3 mm screw length perfectly corrects this situation.

- An abundance of gun grease. The manufacturer processes the rifle mechanism at the same time with technical vaseline and liquid gun oil. Vaseline is necessary so that the consumer uses the rifle as long as possible without resorting to disassembly. An excessive amount of grease for metal has a destructive effect on wooden elements. Therefore, immediately after purchasing a weapon, it must be thoroughly cleaned.

These are, in principle, all the points that you should pay attention to when buying a rifle "GAMO Hunter 1250".