Gamo Big Cat 1250 air rifle with a reliable design and a relatively low price

Gamo Big Cat 1250 Air Rifle Review

This rifle is a representative of Magnum-type pneumatics, which are capable of firing a bullet at a speed of more than 300 m/s. In our case, this figure reaches 305, but these data were obtained using metal balls, which are noticeably lighter than darts and lead bullets. However, this rifle can be upgraded to increase its performance.

The stock is made of high-quality plastic, and the delivery set includes an optical sight from Gamo with 4x magnification, which will allow you to effectively fire at distances of about 50 meters.

This rifle has a spring-piston type of pneumatic, and reloading and loading occurs by breaking the barrel. It is worth highlighting the good workmanship, however, after purchasing the rifle, it is worth rehashing the rifle, replacing the lubricant and removing flash on the plastic.

Advantages and disadvantages

Advantages of pneumatic Gamo Big Cat 1250 rifles:

• Quite high quality workmanship;
• Mechanically resistant plastic;
• High bullet speed;
• Good shooting accuracy;
• The presence of an optical sight as standard.

The model also has disadvantages:

• The rifle comes loose from the factory with a small hole in the piston;
• Needs to be sorted after purchase.

Photo of Gamo Big Cat 1250 air rifle

Purpose

Due to the high bullet speed, this rifle is well suited for hunting enthusiasts, and good accuracy will help you not to miss your prey. The optics that come with the kit will perfectly cope with the assigned tasks and will not require replacement after purchase.

The rifle is also well suited for those who just like to shoot at cans. High accuracy and shooting range will allow you to shoot at long distances and test your shooting skills in practice. This option is not suitable for sports due to the type of reloading, as well as due to the rather tight trigger travel.

arbalet-airgun

Do you think that only Crosman and Stoeger clone the legendary and long-suffering Spanish Hunter 440 in their countless models, differing only in appearance and price? Gamo itself successfully does almost the same thing, releasing extensive lines of magnums with a 25x100 mm compressor, which are creative variations on the 440 theme. For every taste and budget - from “classics” to “tactics”, from “premium” to “budget”. Among them, the “Big Cat” family receives special attention, primarily due to the noticeably more affordable price of the models. So what makes them different from other magnums from Barcelona?

Nothing, really. More precisely, the largest specialized weapons manufacturer in Europe, which occupies a leading position in the middle price segment of mass-produced air rifles, decided not to ignore the budget niche. For this purpose, the “Big Cats” product line was created. Its only difference is its somewhat simplified external design; the hardware itself is exactly the same as that of its more expensive counterparts.

"Big Cats" with a broken trunk

Here's the classic "Gamo Big Cat 1000":

In fact, this is nothing more than the equally budget and extremely popular “Shadow” - “Shadow 1000”, only under a different name. And now, for comparison, here is an image of my Socom Carbine Luxe, which was produced at the same time as the Big Cat.

As you can see, the difference in exterior (and cost too) of a “budget” model and a middle-class model is obvious. I’ll only add that the currently produced versions, including my Sok, have become even more sophisticated, have acquired all sorts of trendy “tactical jewelry”, like mufflers that are not needed for IFR, and some kind of DTK (muzzle brake compensator). Read more about all this in the article “New models of air guns“.

By the way, the production program included such a very popular rifle “Big Cat 1250”.

It has nothing to do with the super-powerful supermagnum “Gamo Hunter 1250”, but is an ordinary magnum, a complete analogue of the same “Hunter 440”, “Shadow” and others with a muzzle energy of about 20 joules and speeds

240 m/s with “heavy” bullets and up to 280 with “half grams”. But the people behaved - a successful marketing ploy, however... Although the 1250 still has some differences from the basic “Big Cat” fractures. For example, a thick “match” barrel is just from the “Socom Carbine Luxe”, as well as a pre-installed optical sight, which, however, was also practiced by the “advanced Shadows”, in particular, “Shadow Sport”.

There is another model whose name can cause confusion - “Gamo Black Cat 1400”.

Yes, a “cat” is a “cat”, but only somewhat different, since it belongs to a noticeably more powerful class of pneumatics with a 29x100 mm compressor, better known under the general name “Gamo black series”. Read more about it in the article “New models of air guns. Part 2".

“Big Cat CF” rifles with under-barrel cocking, differences from “Gamo CFX”

Just today, in one of the related communities, I had to answer a colleague’s question about the specifics of rifles with an under-barrel cocking of the Big Cat CF series. Let's focus on them now.

The photo below shows, so to speak, the main models that have long been known and enjoy deserved popularity. And under each of them is her budget version of Big Cat. One pair is in polymer, the other is in wood.

So, let's look at the first one (from top to bottom):

"Gamo CFX" and "Gamo Big Cat CF-S"

Well, in the stocks the differences are not as noticeable as in the next two, and the quality of the polymer itself in a budget model should not be worse - somehow this is not the case with Gamo. The only things that catch your eye are the presence/absence of a muzzle and a pre-installed rail for mounting optics. The cat has a regular dovetail, milled directly onto the compressor cylinder.

"Gamo CFX Royal" and "Gamo Big Cat CF"

There are more differences here. In addition to the same muzzle and strap, the CFX Royal stock is clearly richer and more elaborate, with notches on the fore-end and a pronounced “ridge” of the butt.

And finally, with my characteristic artistic taste :)) I will answer a frequently asked question: how do relatively recently appeared models under the CFR index differ from classic models? It’s better to see once, isn’t it: in the photo the bottom sample is a “Gamo CFR” with the now fashionable “tactical” design and a TN pistol grip - “Target Hunter”.

Otherwise, I repeat, all four, or rather, already five samples are the same rifle! Moreover, it is rated very highly among the shooting public, primarily due to its technical accuracy being quite good for mass-produced products. The muzzle energy (“power”) of grenade launchers due to some design features, such as the presence of a “clip,” is somewhat lower than that of similar fractures, but in practice this does not manifest itself at all, but the shots are pleasing with accuracy. “Clips” are... well, let’s talk a little about them.

A little about the “clips” of grenade launchers

At one time, “El Gamo” also produced very popular grenade launchers “CF-20” and “CF-30”, which differed in muzzle energy and clip materials. The clip of the latter is shown in the photo, it has a brass rather than plastic bullet receiver.

That is, the shot itself is fired directly from the clip, for which it was necessary to ensure ideal alignment of the channels. In the CFX (CFR) models that replaced them, and then the “Big Cat CF”, this unit is structurally solved completely differently:

That is, this is already a multifunctional part that unlocks/locks the “breech” and at the same time acts as a bypass (for details, see the article “Types of spring-piston rifles”).

In this case, the bypass hole and the bullet entrance, in principle, may not coincide a little, the seals may “siphon”, but the air compressed by the spring will still one way or another fulfill its role as a working fluid and will quite successfully accelerate the bullet. By the way, apparently, this design is still protected by a patent, and fellow competitors, including very active comrades from the PRC in this regard, have not been able to copy it in their countless gamo-clones. So when choosing a rifle with an under-barrel cocking, keep this in mind.

Specifications

Technical characteristics of the Gamo Big Cat 1250 air rifle:

Technical characteristics of Gamo G-Magnum 1250

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRhcby5Fya0

Device

The design of such rifles is very simple. In this case, it is a plastic stock in which the breaking barrel is hidden. The barrel is connected to the piston by a screw-axis. And reloading occurs due to a lever that is connected to the barrel and piston. The trigger is also attached to the cylinder. The safety is located next to the trigger and when pressed simply blocks it.

The cylinder includes a piston and a spring with a guide. In the extreme position of the guide there is a trigger hook that holds the piston in the cocked state.

Analogues and prices

Disassembly

Let us describe the disassembly process in order:

1. To begin with, you need to unscrew the bolts on the right and left sides in front, behind and on the trigger guard. Next, we pull the barrel out of the stock and set aside the traction rollers, as they can easily get lost.
2. It is necessary to remove the spring from the fuse and move it towards the barrel. Next, pull out the barrel pin on the back. Be careful as it holds a spring that may fly out.

You can stop here, since there is no point in completely disassembling the trigger. It is also not necessary to remove the barrel, but to do this, simply unscrew the axle screw. In this case, be very careful, as it is very important to choose the right tool. With this type of pneumatic, inexperienced people very often simply damage the head, which is why the bolt has to be drilled out further.

Possible tuning

Immediately after purchase, you can sort out the weapon. To increase the power of the shot, you can place a washer under the spring, but this can negatively affect both the reliability of the rifle and the spring itself. Upgrading by plugging the hole in the piston is quite popular online, as weapons are often weakened this way.

To seal the hole, you need to widen it to 3.2 millimeters, cut the thread with an M4 tap and screw in the bolt. Next, we cut off the hat and sand it so that the surface is smooth and without changes.

Video of the Gamo Big Cat 1250 rifle in action:

Modifications

The Gamo IGT Mach 1 is the latest modification of the popular Gamo G-magnum 1250 air rifle. It is designed with a 33mm cylinder that replaces the mainspring, increasing muzzle velocity, providing good accuracy, reducing cocking force and vibration during the shot. Other advantages of the rifle:

1. Constant indicator of muzzle energy: the cylinder moves the bullet with the same force all the time.
2. High accuracy: the rifle absorbs up to 75% of recoil, unlike the original pneumatic version.
3. Increased service life: the design has a minimum of mechanical friction and vibration, this increases service life.
4. Smooth cocking: Since there is no spring friction, this means smoother cocking.
5. Reduced Vibration: During installation of the pneumatic cylinder, vibrations are significantly reduced, unlike a conventional spring design.