Gamo CF Big Cat .22 cal

[Toxylon]

A hardly-used Gamo CFS Big Cat .22 cal turned up locally, for little money. I’ve been interested in the CF series guns, or “the good Gamos” in the past, so I sprang for it - for educational purposes, if nothing else.

The all-black, synthetic stock CFS feels very light and slim in the hand. It weighs a hair under 7 lbs, which is almost nothing in my book. An overall length of 45” makes the gun quite long for its weight.

The CF doesn’t line up for a shot all that well for me. The stock is so narrow and thin that the front stock doesn’t settle into a good hold, and the comb doesn’t seem to fit my face, or the factory sights, either. Further, the gun is so lightweight overall, that it seems “restless” to hold and shoot.

Curiously, the CF trigger guard is so crowded that I can’t put my trigger finger on the trigger without it also touching the Gamo-style safety lever at the front of the guard. This isn’t a huge deal, but I can’t see myself getting really accurate with a distraction like that.

The plastic front sight blade is loose in its plastic dovetail housing, moving sideways with a light touch: it would certainly end up getting knocked out of line or worse in the field. This is the second CF I’ve handled with the same problem, so it’s not a one-off.

The CF is extremely easy to cock, with only the last couple of inches of a surprisingly long lever travel offering actual resistance. I think this is the best feature of the platform: an early teen could cock this 20 J gun all day long. The CF makes a “rat-ta-tat” cocking noise, from the cocking arm head (I don’t think there’s a shoe) rubbing the mainspring coils.

I’m not too keen on the Gamo rotary breech. Loading the gun feels like dropping a pellet into an empty sink and hoping it ends up the right way in the drain…errr breech (it does, most of the time). Gamo pellets, with their varying diameters, were in fact impossible to use in this Gamo, as there is no way to push the pellets manually with any kind of force into the rotary breech; they either drop in easily or not at all. Kind of an accidentally sneaky way to enforce the use of quality pellets.

The plastic trigger pull of the CF is pretty dismal: after an appropriately short and light first stage, the (faux) second stage is very long, heavy and indistinctive. While pulling the trigger back harder and harder, and guessing when the gun goes off, the sights start to wander off the target. Trigger mods are available, and sorely needed.

Dieseling can make any kind of velocity numbers a “chrono-proven fact”: on the first chrono shot (shot #60 overall), the CF gave quite a bang and clocked a mighty 957 fps with Superdomes, giving TWICE the muzzle energy that the gun yields operating normally. There, the muzzle energies hover around the 20 J mark at this early point, with Superdomes averaging 673 fps, and Exacts 630 fps.

Even with the normal-velocity shots the CF is surprisingly loud for its power level. This applies to both the “outside” report, and the noise transmitted to the shooter, via the lightweight synthetic stock. Plastic stocks and me just don’t seem to get along in this regard.

Unlike most modern fixed-barrel designs, the rotary breech does not make for high efficiency. In fact, the rotary breech neccessitates a substantial distance from the front of the piston to the back of the chambered pellet, lowering efficiency.

Even with all the caveats mentioned above, the CFS exhibits potential for accuracy, with very preliminary offhand shots. A heavy break-in period, a basic deburr-relube routine, and a replacement trigger might see a shooter emerge. But the remaining details are mostly off for me. All in all, there is no point in me keeping this gun, so off it goes.

I might still possibly accomodate a beech-stocked, older style CF, with a pop up breech. They are kinda unique, being small and lightweight fixed barrel guns of sufficient power for .22 cal. They were also in production for a really long time, as far as Gamos go, and well-regarded by many. A minor classic, I would say.

[Artie]

Is it a model CFS or CFX?

[Novagun]

Hello IIimakko.
Looks like you have a good Gamo. The list of faults is really just a to do list. Everything can upgraded to good.
If you are going to flick it on, send it this way.  Ridiculous sentiment considering the costs and the state of the NZ dollar.

[Novagun]

Hello Artie. It is a CFS  really the same as aCFX but with a different front site set up   .We had some out here a few years ago and I liked them but didn't get around to buying one

[Toxylon]

Artie,

yeah, it's a CFS, as mentioned in the OP.

Hugh,

Almost everything airgun-related can be put into a to do-list - it's just a matter of preferences, means and perspective. Many guys, like you, I understand, enjoy the aspect of turning a poorly executed gun into a solid shooter.

I could get me a sweet GRT4G replacement trigger, for around 50 e, with S&H. I could hunt down a wood stock for the CF series that actually works with the open sights provided (or replaced), and doesn't wreck my hearing, for maybe 100 e, with S&H. I could spend a bunch of hours stripping, degreasing, deburring, relubing this new-to-me gun, which is always much slower than with a familiar platform. This is what we do, after all.

After all this, I would maybe have an accurate and dependable gun that still has a not-cool-to-me loading system. Not worth it, to me.

But no worries, as there's always a buyer for the right price, and I'm not deep into this, budget- or effort-wise.