Are you looking for a unique air rifle with power, accuracy, and light in weight? The Gamo Silent Cat Air Rifle may be the exact combination of features you desire. The rifle is light in weight due to the composite construction making it easy for all types of shooters to enjoy the rifle. The rifle can send a pellet streaking towards the target faster than the speed of sound and hit the bulls eye on every shot. The rifle is packed with features, so let’s take a look.

Gamo Silent Cat Air Rifle Main Features

• Polymer Barrel
• Break Barrel Cocking
• Quietness
• Open Thumb Stock
• Precision

Polymer Barrel for Lighter Weight and Increased Accuracy

It is almost second nature that we expect most rifles, including air rifles, to have an all metal barrel. The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle is outfitted with an 18” fluted polymer barrel surrounding rifled steel. Your first reaction might be to worry if a polymer barrel will withstand serious use in your yard, hunting grounds, or even on the shooting range. The reality is the composite polymer bull barrel is tough, strong, and resists many abusive conditions better than an all metal barrel.

The polymer barrel avoids issues with rust if it becomes damp. It provides improved sound reduction, strength, and durability. Keep in mind the barrel must be cleaned like any other rifle. You must periodically clean the rifle barrel to keep residue from building up, especially when using lead shot. You need to carefully oil the barrel pivot, cocking pivots, and trigger pivots to keep them moving smoothly, but are not required to use any lubricating oil in the barrel.

Even though this is an air powered rifle, the velocity of pellets could cause combustion if oil was used in the chamber area or the barrel. A pellet firing out of your Gamo Silent Cat air rifle at over 1000fps produces tremendous frictional heat.

Break Barrel Cocking with Spring Piston

The Whisper Silent Cat uses a spring piston which is cocked using the break barrel method. The cocking action requires 30 pounds of pressure. There are several important advantages to a spring piston system like the Whisper uses, this includes:

• No added shooting costs for CO2 cartridges.
• Single action cocking.
• Durable.
• High powered.
• Added safety of a single shot rifle.

How powered air rifles which do not use CO2 cartridges come in two primary varieties. You have break barrel cocking systems which require only one motion, or multi-pump guns which can require 5 to 20 pumps to reach maximum power. The Whisper break barrel system allows you to prepare for shots rapidly and have the power necessary to eliminate pests or hit a bulls eye consistently.

If you are not familiar with the break barrel cocking system, it is very simple. You grasp the end of the barrel while bracing the butt pad against your thigh, near your hip. You then pop the barrel lightly to start the cocking action and pull it downward for a single cocking motion. When in the broken position you insert your pellet for the next shot. You will discover the system is efficient and fast.

Shooting Quietly to Avoid Unneeded Attention

One of the most important features of the Whisper line of rifles, including the Whisper Silent Cat, is the reduced levels of noise. The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle uses a non-removable noise dampening system built on the barrel. The ND52 system reduces the sound by up to 52% compared to similar rifles.

For the quietest shooting Gamo recommends using lead pellets instead of alloy pellets. The lead pellets slow the velocity of the pellet to around 1000fps. This drops the speed underneath the speed of sound eliminating the mini sonic booms caused by fast moving ammunition. The noise dampener is designed to eliminate muzzle noise, while slowing down your shots by using lead eliminates the added crack of the ammo in flight.

When using lead pellets the only sound you should notice is the sound of the spring’s snapping release and the plunk when the pellet meets the target. These reduced noise levels allow you to shoot in residential areas without worries of frightening neighbors and attracting unnecessary attention when someone believes your shooting a traditional gun.

The silent shooting is very helpful when dealing with pests, too. The groups of birds, squirrel, rats, or other pests get no warning from sound. All they know is suddenly one of their group is lying dead on the ground.

Open Thumb Stock for Greater Control

The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle uses an open grip stock made from all-weather synthetic material. The open stock allows you to increase accuracy with a true pistol grip on the gun. With an improved grip you maintain greater control with a steady aim on your target.

The stock is outfitted with dual cheek pieces to allow shooting on either side. The cocking, loading, and shooting positions of the rifle are all 100% ambidextrous providing a high quality shooting experience for left-handed and right-handed users. This makes the Gamo Silent Cat an excellent choice for households with individuals who shoot from both sides.

The butt plate mounted on the stock is a ventilated rubber pad. It provides good recoil protection for your shoulder. You will enjoy the durability of a synthetic stock compared to wood. It is not easily scratched, requires little maintenance, and can withstand extreme weather with ease. The lighter weight of the synthetic stock makes the rifle easier to carry and use.

Aiming with Precision

The Gamo Silent Cat is ready to help you hit the target. It comes equipped with both fiber option sights and a bundled scope. The fiber optic sites on the front and rear allow you to fine tune the gun for shooting without the scope installed. For grab and shoot firing this may be your preferred sight.

The scope bundled with the Silent Car air rifle is one of the few areas of concern on this excellent weapon. The scope is lower end scope which is capable of doing a good job but has caused problems for many buyers. The rifle comes bundled with a 4×32 air rifle scope which uses a one piece mounting system.

The primary issue people have mentioned about the scope is problems keeping it zeroed. They get their scope adjusted to perfection and then after a few shots it seems to have drifted off slightly. Gamo has release service bulletins giving detailed information on how to correct this issue but making a slight tightening adjustment that many users have overlooked. When properly adjusted and tightened the scope does a good job.

Dimensions and Physical Attributes

The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle is a very comfortable rifle to use throughout a day of fun or pest control. It weighs only 5.28 pounds. The rifle is 46 inches long with provides adequate length for accurate shooting, but short enough for trudging through fields and brush. The barrel is 18” long.

The Silent Cat requires 30 pounds of pressure to cock the gun and 3.79 pounds of pressure to pull the trigger. Remember, this is a dual stage trigger with adjustable pull length and pressure.

Additional Information

A few other features should be pointed out on the rifle. The Silent Cat uses a manual safety which Is mounted right in front of the trigger. The safety is easy to reach, engage, and release. Make sure the safety is engaged anytime the rifle is loaded and cocked. While the dual stage trigger reduces the chances of an accident, the safety provides greater security.

Check the price on Amazon

Included/Optional Accessories

The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle comes bundled with the 4×32 air rifle scope as previously mentioned. Other optional items you should consider include:

• Gamo Cleaning Set – A low cost cleaning kit designed specifically for your rifle.
• Gamo Oil – The recommended oil for using on all metal parts of the Silent Cat.
• High Performance Pellet Combo Pack – includes Red Fire, Rocket, Raptor, and Armor pellets.
• Performance Pellet Combo Pack – Includes an assortment of lead pellets providing quieter shooting and continued high accuracy.
• Replacement Scope – This must be included in the optional accessories list simply because most people prefer a higher quality scope with greater adjustment capability. Gamo offers an extensive line-up of other scopes with most of them being much higher quality.

Pros of the Gamo Silent Cat Air Rifle

This rifle is packed with great features which make it one of the top choices for serious shooters. The positive aspects of the rifle include:

• High durability.
• Weather resistant with synthetic stock.
• High powered shooting with speeds up to 1200fps.
• Quiet shooting with the ND52 sound dampening system.
• High accuracy. (See notes in Cons below)
• Excellent support from Gamo.

Cons of the Silent Cat Air Rifle

There is one glaring issue which receives complaints consistently on this rifle. It is the scope. The basic rifle is one of the most accurate on the market in the price range. It can consistently group shots within an inch diameter from up to 40 yards away. When you choose to use the included scope all efforts at accuracy may be wasted. Gamo has updated the instruction for the scope which as helped some users, but many users elect to replace the scope with another scope to improve their shooting experience. You might consider with the relatively low cost of this rifle that is a very viable option, but should have been unnecessary.

Noise is the other major fault of the rifle. This may sound a little bit odd for a rifle which prides itself on quiet, but it has become one of the major complaints of buyers. This issue is not a design fault by Gamo, but is an educational issue. The rifle will make a loud crack when using the high performance alloy pellets. They streak out of the gun as such high velocity they will break the sound barrier and produce a very loud pop. Higher performance pellets may be preferred in some situations, but for shooting in town you should switch to the lead pellets to eliminate the issue.

Consumer Ratings

You might think after reading about the cons of the Gamo Silent Cat air rifle that customer ratings might be low. You would be wrong. This rifle grabs some of the highest ratings possible on all major retail sites. The reasons are very simple. The price of the gun is excellent. The accuracy is outstanding. The weapon is powerful. It meets the needs of almost every shooter and lives up to the promises with high quality and durability.

In many cases the users mentioning problems with the scope or sound give the rifle excellent ratings due to the overall performance of the rifle. They overlook these issues and being very insignificant compared to the overall performance, value, and enjoyment they find in shooting the Gamo Silent Cat.

Conclusion

How can we say this gently? The Gamo Silent Cat air rifle is not for everyone. It is not for children. It is not for people who may be unable to cock the 30 pound spring. This rifle is an excellent choice for shooters who want accuracy, power, durability, and to have the added sneakiness of quiet shooting.

As long as you keep in mind the minor faults with the Gamo Silent Cat you will find this rifle to be among the best choices possible. You can overcome the problem with the scope by replacing it with your favorite brand of scope. (Something you might have done anyways.) You can overcome the loud sonic boom crack by switching to lead pellets to slow down the shots. This gives you the advantage of using high performance PBA shot when you want ultimate speed and stopping power, but can quiet the gun with a simple change to lead shot. If you have pest problems or are a target shooting enthusiast this is a gun you will greatly enjoy.

Click here to buy from Amazon

What is one of the biggest secrets to eliminating pests with an air rifle which you may not be thinking about? The answer is quiet. The Gamo Whisper air rifle is designed to reduce the amount of noise created by a high powered air rifle. Many first time buyers expect an air rifle to be nearly silent, but high powered air rifles are not. Their report can be quite loud and may spook pests before you can finish your job. A quiet air rifle is important when you intend to shoot within earshot of neighbors. They may not appreciate the constant pop of a high performance air rifle. Let us take a closer look at the Gamo Whisper and see if it fills all of your shooting needs.

Gamo Whisper Air Rifle Main Features

• Quietness
• Break-Barrel Cocking
• High Quality Stock
• Precise aiming tools
• Dual Safety Options

The Quiet Pop of Power

Since the Gamo Whisper air rifle has laid its claim to fame on quietness, this is the first feature we must take a look at. The air rifle is equipped with the ND52 noise dampener. The ND52, as you might guess by the name, eliminates approximately 52% of the muzzle noise from the air rifle. This reduced level of sound can reduce spooking of your prey and keep neighbors from complaining when you are doing a little backyard target shooting. The noise dampener is non-removable. You will have the pleasure of quiet shooting with every shot and never have to worry about adding and removing an aftermarket dampener.

It is critical you keep in mind the noise dampener reduces muzzle noise but does not eliminate pellet noise. What does this mean? The powerful Whisper air rifle fires the pellet at a speed of up to 1200fps with a PBA pellet or 1000fps (feet per second) with a lead pellet. These speeds are close to the speed of sound. When a pellet breaks the speed of sound it makes a tiny sonic boom which can be mistaken for rifle noise. Keep this in mind if you believe your Whisper is too loud when using PBA pellets. The lead pellets normally remain just below the speed of sound allowing for quieter shooting.

When using pellets which remain below the speed of sound you get a small pop of sound from the rifle which is quiet enough to keep neighbors from complaining. Imagine being able to eliminate more pests from your property before they are even aware you are shooting. The noise dampening system helps avoid spooking pests and allows you to be more effective.

Break-Barrel Cocking for Easy Power

The Gamo Whisper air rifle uses a break-barrel cocking mechanism to make it easy to prepare for your shots. The rifle is a single shot rifle, so you will be cocking and loading between each shot. The cocking action requires 30 pounds of power. Most adults find the cocking action easy to use but it is stiff enough to thwart the efforts of younger children. This is not considered a safety feature, but is a nice bonus to the firm cocking action.

The break-barrel style of cocking has become one of the favorites of shooting enthusiasts. It is effective, fast, and requires less moving parts than many other systems.

The Whisper uses a spring piston system to produce the power which propels your pellet at over 1000fps. A break-barrel cocking rifle with a spring piston is preferred by shooters who like to keep their costs low. You will never need to buy CO2 cartridges or waste minutes pumping multiple times to build pressure.

High Quality Stock for Shooting Comfort and Accuracy

How much attention do you pay to the stock of an air rifle? It is a component which is easy to overlook in our hunt for power and other features, but may be one of the most important features of all. The stock provides us the stability and comfort to aim carefully at our target and pull the trigger without the barrel moving.

The Gamo Whisper air rife is equipped with a high-quality stock molded out of synthetic materials. A synthetic stock has distinct advantages over a wood stock. The synthetic stock can hold up to any type of weather and requires very little maintenance. A wood stock can require special cleaners and oils to keep the stock in perfect condition. If you like your air rifle to require minimal maintenance and be ready in any type of weather stick to a synthetic stock.

The stock is equipped with a ventilated rubber butt plate to absorb recoil. If you are new to buying a high-powered air rifle you might be surprised by the need for the rubber butt plate. When a gun can fire a pellet at over 1000fps it is powerful weapon with a little kick. You will appreciate the added padding instead of an unpleasant bruise.

Gamo paid close attention to the needs of shooters when designing their stock. The included a molded cheekpad on both sides of the stock for added comfort and accuracy for both right and left-handed shooters. The stock is molded with a non-slip checkered surface on the grip and forearm areas on both sides, also. The rifle is easy to hold and aim.

Focusing on Your Prey or Target

Shooting accurately requires precise aiming tools. The Gamo Whisper air rifle provides you with two options for zeroing in on your target. The first sight option is the fiber optic site built on the rifle. The front site is stationary and wrapped in a sight guard to avoid damage. The rear sight is made using fiber optic technology, also. The rear sight is fully adjustable to allow you to dial in the rifle to meet your own style of shooting.

The second sight provided by Gamo is a scope. The Gamo Whisper air rifle comes bundled with a 39×40 scope which uses a one-piece solid mount. The scope is a nice added bonus which increases accuracy of the rifle. Do not expect this to be a top of the line scope, but it is a very solid offering. Once you get the scope adjusted to your gun, ammo, and style it will allow you to closely group shots. Many users report using Gamo pellets they are able to get a tight pattern of shots grouped within 1” of each other. That is amazing accuracy for any type of rifle.

Dual Safety Options to Protect You and Your Family

The Game Whisper air rifle comes with dual safety options. The first is the dual stage trigger. You can feel the slight difference between the stages to give you one added opportunity to stop your shot. This is not the safety feature you should rely on.

The main safety utilizes safety switch mounted at the front of the trigger assembly. Please note this is a manual safety switch. Make sure you engage the safety when moving with the rifle, or not actively preparing to shoot.

In Gamo’s users manual and online documentation they make it very clear the safety mechanisms of the Whisper are not intended to replace your own common sense. You should never point the rifle towards another person or yourself while loading, cocking, cleaning, or carrying. With the amazing power of this rifle it is a dangerous weapon. Use the rifle safely.

Dimensions, Colors, and Physical Characteristics of the Gamo Whisper

The Gamo Whisper is available in only one color, flat black. The stock, trigger, and barrel are all solid black. Other physical characteristics of the rifle include:

• Overall Length – 46.0 Inches
• Barrel Length – 18.0 Inches
• Weight – 5.28 pounds
• Ammunition/Caliber: .177 Pellets any type. (See Below)
• Power for Cocking Rifle: 30 pounds
• Power for Trigger Pull: 3.74 pounds

NOTE: The Gamo Whisper also comes in a .22 caliber version. Statistics and Physical Characteristics vary slightly on the .22 caliber rifle.

The Gamo Whisper will work with any .177 pellets on the market, but that does not mean you should be indiscriminate. In reviews from numerous shooters it is made very clear that the accuracy of the rifle is much higher when using Gamo ammunition. There is very little cost difference to buy Gamo ammo instead of other third party pellets. The difference might shock you, keep that in mind as you evaluate the Gamo Whisper air rifle.

Included and Optional Accessories

The Gamo Whisper air rifle comes bundled with only two basic optional items. These are the aforementioned scope and a package of 50 PBA Gamo Pellets. Optional accessories and supplies you should consider buying with your Whisper air rifle include:

• Gamo Assorted Pellet Pack – Provides you with a variety of Gamo Ammo to test. 1000 pieces.
• Gamo Air Gun Oil – Keeping your Whisper in perfect shooting condition requires routine maintenance, be prepared.
• Gamo Cone Pellet Trap – This low cost pellet trap will allow you to safely shoot and practice without the danger of pellets escaping from your yard. Very low cost insurance.

You can find other accessories and cleaning kits for Gamo and other supplies you may wish to add to this list, but those items will give you a great start at a low cost.

Pros of the Gamo Whisper Air Rifle

This rifle is packed with positive points. Here are a few of the most commonly mentioned ones:

• Extreme accuracy when using Gamo Ammo.
• Good quality scope included in bundle.
• Quiet when using lead pellets.
• Powerful air rife with up to 1200fps with FBA pellets from Gamo.
• Solid construction, able to withstand heavy use.
• Easy cocking, sighting, and shooting.

This air rifle will satisfy almost every shooter except for extremely serious target shooters. The 1” shooting pattern it can fire is adequate for nearly everyone except competitive shooters.

Cons of the Whisper Rifle

• Manual safety – The safety mechanism is not auto engaged when cocked.
• Noise – When using PBA pellets which obtain a speed of 1200fps the Gamo Whisper sounds like any other powerful air rifle. The tiny sonic boom from the pellet defeats the noise dampening system. If you need quiet stick to lead pellets.
• Not as accurate with alternative pellets. Many reviewers mention the fact the shooting pattern widens dramatically when using Crossman, Daisy, and other brands of pellets. For best accuracy stick with Gamo ammo.
• Hard cocking action. Yes, the cocking action is in both the Pros and Cons lists. The 30 pounds of effort may seem easy to most adults but will be difficult for young shooters, smaller women, and seniors.

Check the price on Amazon

Consumer Ratings

The Gamo Whisper air rifle has caught the hearts of many shooters. It has received above average reviews from users around the world. The rare average review is always accompanied with comments about the noise level. This is somewhat expected since Game elected to include their PBA ammo in the bundle. The PBA ammo will hit the top rated speeds for the rifle, and by doing so breaks the sound barrier and produces a loud pop.

If the rifle had been bundled with lead pellets the sound issue would not be as prevalent and consumer ratings would move from above average to excellent.

Conclusion

The Gamo Whisper air rifle is a powerful weapon with a quiet twist. The non-removable noise dampening system effectively eliminates up to 52% of muzzle noise. The combination of power, accuracy, and improved quietness make it perfect for shooters who live in residential areas.

The Gamo Whisper air rifle is not targeted for use by children. It is designed to be used by farmers, enthusiasts, and property owners who wish to control pests or have great accuracy and power for work and play. The Whisper is a reasonably priced air rifle with features not found in cheaper models. The noise dampening, high power, and accuracy put the rifle near the top of its class and should be one you consider carefully. Gamo’s reputation for producing high quality air rifles is evident in every inch of the Whisper.

Click here to buy from Amazon