Gamo Swarm Maxxim Scope Combo

You can’t beat the price for hole in hole accuracy and lethality our to 27 yards

Pros
Using JSB jumbo heavy 18.13 gr pellets and placing longer screw to lighten trigger, I am getting hole in hole accuracy out to 27 yards. Removing appx 100 squirrels to date. I have both .177 and .22 and the .22 has provided me the best hole in hole accuracy with little to no variability. The .177 is effective ONLY when the shot is a well placed head shot. Too much variability with .177 The artillery hold helps. Rapid adjustments with hold over or under for distance has allowed me to rapidly engage them at distances from 9 yards to 27 yards

Cons
30 lb cocking the break barrel is tiring after multiple shots

I have been shooting airguns since 1972 at the age of 12. So i have had a variety of air guns in my 47 years of shooting them. I was excited when Gamo introduced a break barrel rifle with a 10 shot rotary magazine so I ordered one with 2 mags. Like any airgun you have to get to know its likes, dislikes, and pellets it favors over others. I have read a lot of bad reviews, experiences, about this gun and I feel most of those were from people with just not enough patience, or time, to get to know this gun. I love this gun, but it has taken time to learn it for its true potential. I have shoot 8 different swarms all .22 cal so this will be for that caliber. I shoot to a maxim of 40 yrds most times so this will cover that range and some to 50yrds just for testing purposes. I have shoot this gun to 75 yrds, but in my opinion that's max for a humane kill with it shooting 16 gr. pellets. I tested with the included scope and a Centerpoint 3x9x32. Shooting and barrel conditioning, So I set up target at 25 yrds and just did a basic scope sight in with the supplied scope. Not a terribly bad scope but could use a much better one. Grouping at this yardage using Crosman 14.3 gr. round nose pellets was 1 to 1.5 inches. I wasn’t disappointed with this for the first few rounds. Some barrels condition up with 100 to 200 rounds, some take more as we all know. This particular one took almost 400 rounds to get the grouping consistent to a 1/4 inch shooting 10 pellet groups, of course there was the occasional flyer which i left out for grouping measurements. I’ll talk about how I prep my pellets later. Holding, and resting, the gun for accuracy, So once i started getting consistent groups I played wit different types of bag rests, and holding the gun loose and tight. This gun is not that picky for this but it takes practice, practice, practice to find the best way for you to become consistently accurate with it. I shoot from a sitting position most of the time off a modified tripod rest, or table, so I will explain how this works best for me and the fill in the bags I found this gun liked best, Yes that's right I try different media in my rest bags and it truly does make a difference in accuracy with airguns. Ill explaining my testing of this for this gun. as well ans the padding i tested for my tripod mount as well. I have found white rice to work best for me so that is what I started with and it seems to love that best. I used light media and my grouping was very bad. I used sand and same results, Grass seed and wasn’t to bad but still not consistent as it was with rice. I use a firm hand grip with a gentle shoulder pressure with the stock resting midpoint on the bag and that works for me. But like I said you have to play with this gun to find what works best for you but you will be rewarded with a very nice gun if you are patient and learn you gun. I have several friends that have bought this same gun and some find it great, some have cussed at me for getting one and they have brought them to me to shoot and tune for them. I have worked on 8 of them so far and all of them shoot great for me. but learning your gun takes time and patience and I have a lot of that. I have found that all of the ones I have shoot like the same way I rest, and hold, them for me and all are just as accurate, but with different pellets Pellets I have tested these guns like, Dislike, Basic pellet conditioning to start with is washing and sizing all my pellet skirts, I dont worry to much about head size as long as there 5.50 min. and 5.53 max. This gun doesn’t seem to be affected by that size for accuracy in my tests. some like Crosman, some JSB, some Beeman, but not a one likes the h&n pellets. Some will even shoot Ruger superpoint 17 grain, Mine loves them, just fine and others miss the target completely. So each barrel likes something different. Just because its your favorite pellet doesn’t mean this gun will like them. I couldn’t get a single Gamo pellet to shoot decent groups from any of the 8 Maxim’s I shot. Not sure why but they don't like them I shot 4 different Gamo pellets and the only ones that grouped decent at 25 yrds were the rockets. 3/4 to 1 inch groups firing 10 for measurement. Odd they make the gun and their own ammo doesn’t work well with the ones I tested. You may have better luck but I sure didn’t. I have ordered the new JSB Hades pellets and have yet to test them but they look promising to me if conditioned properly for my gun, I hope. LOL. How I conditioned different pellets for testing for best accuracy for each type of pellet, This is rather in depth and will cover a lot with this gun and how it performs the way I do my barrel and pellets for accuracy depending on the range I will be shooting at, as well as the pellet I am choosing to shoot that day. So i’ll start with shooting at home for squirrel, House sparrow, control at 25 yrds. I primarily use crosman round noise, and hollow points, for this at 14.3 gr. at a velocity of 748 fps. They are deadly accurate and rarely do i ever need a follow up shot. These pellets are washed first, Sized skirts, and lubed lastly. I use a 2 cycle oil for lube and do it a certain way so as not to get them over oiled. Over lube can cause sever in accurate pellet groups. I will shoot these pellets out to 40 yrds this way. Now I shoot the Ruger super point 17 grn with no lube and just washed and sized. They dont group well when lubed. To condition my barrel for these pellets I run a few patches soaked with GOO GONE just for a light cleaning of the lube then run a few dry patches through to clean any excess Goo Gone off.. After shooting 2 to 5 pellets they come into play very nicely and group well for me. i use this pellet for Rock chucks, Yellow bellied marmots as some call them, for penetration and deliver a very distinctive wallop on impact. The JSB’s I use occasionally I condition same as the crosman and weights from 14 gr to 18 gr shoot very nicely as well, The JSB’s are a softer lead than the hard lead from crosman, Ruger, so skirt sizing must be done carefully for these pellets. Now about the Magazines every one complains about, I, like many others, hated this magazine when I tried to load shorter pellets into it. They would not slip into the magazine all the way without using a lot of force or a small plunger to load them in it. Well after about 400 rounds they loosen up enough that now all my pellets slide in nicely and fit snug still. Love loading this magazine now, Quick and easy. 400 pellets to loosen it up was a pain but worth it. I can easily slip shorter, or longer, pellets into them with ease. So even if you don’t shoot every day like me just run pellets through it while your sitting relaxing and before you know it you will be as content with them as I am. The auto loader, I have never had an issue with the loader, Pellet feeder, in over 4000 pellets of different head sizes from 5.50 to 5.53 ever. I know some have . But all 8 i have shot, tuned, worked on and with have feed flawlessly for me. It is a bit to learn the best way to disengage it for barrel cleaning though. Other than that I like it a lot. The CAT trigger, We all know we like our trigger feel different. So this is just a set up i do for myself and what i like. Well right out of the box the trigger is pretty good for 1st, 2nd, stage adjustments. However Gamo could still refine it a bit more, But for $200.00, I got mine for $154.00 shopping around, it is pretty darn good. I shoot it for a couple hundred rounds like it came. But once my groups started to come around I removed it and polished the innards to take off the rough edges as well as adding a longer second stage adjusting screw. Now my trigger releases at just under a pound at 15 oz and it has an almost hair trigger. I release the safety and its glass smooth with just a slight feel of the second stage restriction just before it releases. I love it this way and set all my triggers up similar for my tastes. Finishing this up, I’m not a pro at this but I do know it takes time, and patience, with any air gun, they all shoot pellets, but that’s all the have in common… every one is different in its own way and taking the time to know your gun makes it as accurate as your capable of. If you expect miracles from it you better be the miracle shooter to make that happen. Few are. But you can make a Miracle happen with it for you if you devote your self to knowing your gun. I hope my review, researching, of the Gamo Swarm Maxim can give it the real credit it deserves as it truly is a nice, accurate, air rifle.

Pros
Great gun for the money, If your willing to put in the time to get familiar with the way it shoots.SHOOTS A VARIETY OF PELLETS WELL DEPENDING ON THE RANGES YOU SHOOT AT.

Cons
Magazines are tight to load in the beginning. Takes about 400 rounds to loosen them up for easy loading of short skirt pellets.

Love this gun! I can do so much with this, from various targets to plinking. I had a scope issue early on and GAMO replaced it quickly with now questions asked! New scope is perfect.

This is my first serious airgun since my pump pellet in the 7th grade, I feel like I'm plinking with the pros with the feel of the stock, easy cocking along with the 10 round magazine. Best purchase for adult fun in the back yard. I'm a hunter at heart, squirrels need to look out now I have some real power to reach them, and a powerful scope to make an accurate shot.

Pros
Power and multiple shots

Cons
none

So far this seems to be a very nice rifle. It was inexpensive, which was nice as this is my first real non kid air rifle, and I didn't want to spend a lot starting out. It feels really well built. the auto feed mechanism of the magazine has so far worked perfectly, though it does get in the way of cleaning the barrel a bit. The scope that came with the bundle seems quite nice too, with decent eye relief. The gun itself was pretty accurate in my first few hours of playing with it. Didn't take long to zero the scope, and at 35 yards I was able to keep a 2" group with little effort, no experience, and doing most things I've been told not to do (bracing the gun crudely and roughly on a fence, not controlling my breathing, poor trigger pulls, no follow through, etc). I suspect I could get it a good deal better with some work. I've got nothing to complain about except my sloppy shooting style. The gun is pretty quiet when outside, though I did fire it inside in an fairly small enclosed room out of the window when initially cleaning it and that was a bit painful. Lots of walls to reflect the sound back at me. Outside it was fine, but if you want to shoot it in an enclosed space, get some ears on.

Pros
Autoloader is wonderful addition.

Cons
If you havent shot a break action gun in 30 years, your elbow may dislike you a bit at the beginning of using this gun.

I took it out of the box, put on the standard Game scope, and put 30 rounds of JSB Diabolo jumbo heavy (.22 caliber) to zero the scope in at 25 yards. I decided to get the UTG drooper rail for the bundled UTG 9x32 compact CQB scope. Once that comes in I will switch scopes out. Right now, with the standard Gamo scope on it, I am extremely satisfied with the power, precision, and quality of this rifle, at this price. It's not whisper quiet, but the noise is reasonable for my property. If you are "on the fence" about purchasing one, GO FOR IT! oh, as other reviewers have mentioned, the one magazine that comes with the rifle is not enough. I ordered an extra, and will be ordering a couple more!

Absolutely the most accurate air rifle I ever had. Sweet shooting! Love it!

This combo came well packaged with easy to read instructions for sighting the scope. A few clicks higher POI and I consistently make 2” 10 round groupings at 40 yards. The auto feed magazine is a sweet time saving component, and the 22 cal has good hitting power. Not loud, not heavy and not hard to cock. This is now my favorite air rifle. Tip; buy extra magazines.

I bought this air rifle with the h opp pe to just have fun. But only after a day I was disappointed the gun I had purchased was a dud. The loading mechanism continuously failed to load, the scopes reticle was already beginning to cant and the grouping was terrible. However bad this one rifle was I did get a full refund and hopefully nobody else gets this kind of problem.

I am a 53 yr old male, who as a young lad was given a bb gun (pretty sure it was a Red Ryder, and no I never shot my eye out). Then later in my teens owned a .22 pump pellet pistol. A couple years ago a close friend planted this thought about a new air rifle. Shortly after this last Christmas I started my research and came across many articles and advertising about a multitude of different air rifles. To be honest I did see one semi bad review on you tube (which I found to be untrue), but overall the previous purchasers and the "experts" mostly all gave this rifle good reviews. I did choose this modified combo because almost every written review about the basic model's included scope wasn't worthy of the time it takes to put it on and thats when I discovered Air Gun Depot. These guys have an exclusive deal with Gamo and they already bundled the rifle I wanted with a better scope. I purchased 2 of these (1 for me and one for my friend). We sighted them in this weekend and let me tell ya they work exactly as advertised, they DO shoot straight and the revolutionary new magazine is really sweet, buy extra they are worth having. Ours really likes the Sig Saur wraith alloy and the JSB Jumbo Heavy and the JSB RS pellets.

Pros
Shoots straight, really good thump on target board down range, love the scope in this combo. But most of all the 10 shot magazine is the bomb.

Cons
Really nice model with all wood stock not even offered in the USA - only available in Europe, as I understand it. But the one true bummer about this item is very minor, it only comes with one of those VERY necessary magazines, IMHO it should have at the very least 2 included. It's what I bought extra, saw that one coming.