THE QUIET AND HARD-HITTING GAMO SILENT CAT – REVIEW

I’ll start by saying that the Gamo silent cat really does live up to its name.   it’s very quiet; about half as quiet as the big cat 1250.  It is especially quieter than almost any other air rifle out there. Don’t let the quietness fool you; this is a very powerful air rifle which is why it is such a popular air rifle.   At this price point and this performance range you can’t get much better.

The Silent Cat air rifle is great for target practice but can also be used for hunting.  Hunting is best kept for short to medium ranges as it doesn’t quite have the power for long-range shots.   And by long range I mean 80 yards plus.    The Gamo silent cat has a standard type of butt stock with a pistol type grip  with thumb hole; so it feels very secure in the hands.  The stock is also very ergonomic, especially when it comes to cocking the rifle.  Cocking force is a moderate 30 lbs.  Though the easy-to-hold stock makes it seem like less.

The gamo silent cat is available on amazon!

I liken the Gamo Silent Cat to the all around “beater” of air rifles.  Its strong and will consistently shoot straight.  Its utilitarian roots trully shine.  The Gamo Silent Cat was even featured during a review in the Prepper Journal, where they report taking out a groundhog at 90 yards.  That’s .22 long rifle territory, folks.

HOW QUIET IS THE GAMO SILENT CAT? IT DEPENDS ON THE TYPE OF AMMO YOU USE.

The Gamo Silent Cat is capable of sending lightweight aluminum pellets to beyond the sound barrier, which is right at around 1,100 feet per second at sea level.  Beyond this velocity, lightweight pellets (such as PBA ammo) cross into the supersonic range and actually create a small sonic boom.  Using heavier lead pellets, you can remain under 1,100 FPS and therefore remain in the “quiet range”.  With that said the suppressor is not an actually functioning suppressor, but rather works to better balance the rifle and provide vibration dampening. The silencing feature that is advertised is actually more related to the quietness of the Silent Cat’s internal mechanisms.

With an air gun, there is no purpose for a suppressor anyway, as the point of a suppressor is actually to muffle a detonation (conventional firearm round).

THE GOOD

-1200 FPS right from the barrel. (with light weight aluminum pellets)  With heavier lead hunting rounds, you going to get closer to around 1000 FPS; which is still blazin’.

-Excellent craftsmanship.  Solid feel when no rattling seen on air rifles at a similar price point.

-Easy safety switch which is in a very convenient location to disengage at a moments notice.

-European made (in Spain); none of that cheap chinese plastic or pot-metal.

-Sights feature fiber optics, which help in low light shooting conditions.

THE BAD

The hole in the butt-stock can be rather tight if you have large hands.

It has a two-stage trigger which is a little sloppy right out of the box  Fortunately, the trigger is adjustable and  can make up for the sloppiness.  The trigger is easy to figure out once you’ve gotten the slack taken up.

A lot of reviews online say that this scope is bad but after some adjustments and actually turned out pretty nice.   the problem that I think most people have is patience.   you really need to sit down and spend some quality time with their rifle to get it properly zeroed in.   it also helps to experiment with different pellets to see what works best for you and your rifle.

TO SUMMARIZE…

I have more information in “the bad” section not because it has more cons than pros, but because I want to tell you how you can compensate for the Gamo Silent Cat’s shortcomings.  A bad air rifle is one where you cannot adjust for its deficiencies, unlike the Silent Cat. There’s not a whole lot of “pros” to say that the air rifle functions as expected.  And from Gamo, we definitely expected a good straight shooter.

WHERE TO BUY?

Your local sporting goods store may carry the Silent Cat, but I have found Big 5 (my local store) to never have it in stock.  Your other options are Amazon, Pyramidair, or Walmart.com.

I hope you found my Gamo Silent Cat review useful and at least interesting!