....how can you guys shoot these things??? I picked up a new Gamo Whisper .177 in a bit of a "horse trade", having no experience with Gamo products....this is without a doubt the harshest firing, twangiest air rifle I've ever owned! My experience is with C02, an older Diana 24D, and a few other guns, this Whisper does not whisper...it's annoyingly loud. I tried to contact a couple of vendors that people had referred me to, I received 1 response but the cost of having it tuned was more than I paid for the gun....others suggested that I "home tune" the gun myself.....any info come to mind on rebuilding this thrashing machine????

for your stock or aftermarket spring will do it.
most of the gamos i have had crazy twang, the guide set took care of it.
with the stock internals you have to use alot of lube to quiet it.

...any suggestions on where to get this stuff?

I have added a plastic piston liner to several with unbelievable results. Take a clear plastic tennis ball container, and cut a liner from it to fit the inside of the piston without over-lapping. Add a very little amount of tar to the spring OD and moly paste to the spring ends. Try it, you have nothing to lose but the time it takes.

for not fitting it and positioning it with the edges away from the cocking slot. I had run about 25 shots thru it (Quest 800) and as soon as the cocking lever caught on the liner, I felt it. All it did was crumple the plastic, and I simply replaced it with a better-fitting one. It was my first try.

and also doing the plastic bottle piston buttons. But I have a question. What keeps the liner from shifting position and just plain coming out of the piston? Do you leave little tabs to tuck under the top hat?

"You've come far, pilgrim."------"Feels like far."
"Were it worth the trouble?"----"Ah, what trouble?"

it fits well to begin with. Cut it so that the liner fits tight against the inner wall without the edges over-lapping, and put the edges opposite of the cocking slot. The tendancy of the plastic is to open up or un-roll, which holds it tight to the inside. The amount of surface area of the spring, which is lubricated, is minimal compared to the surface area of contact to the inner wall of the piston. I have not seen another shift in any of them so far, and a couple of the rifles have 500 or more shots through them. You should polish the part of the cocking shoe that could potentially come in contact with the plastic through the slot in the piston. I have installed them in two Quests, a Sierra, a B-3 side-lever, two B-3 underlevers, a CFX, and maybe one or two I forgot about. Anytime there is clearance between the spring OD and ID of the piston, I try to fit one. You will not beleive the difference it makes, until you try it!

Thanks for all the info guys, now I need to dig in and learn a few things...I found various plans for a compressor, doesn't look too challenging, I received a reply on the parts I need....what I could use now is some instruction (pictorial?) on pulling this thing down. I pulled the action out of the stock and noticed that there is a plastic end cap / hood like piece attached at the back of the receiver tube, nothing obvious about how it removes.....drive pins back there too, retaining the end cap for the spring? Sorry to sound so noobish, I've worked on many powder burners, several CO2 guns, and about any thing else you can think of, just not springers and don't want to make this beeeech worse......

The gun in the pics is a Crosman, but it's a clone of the Gamos. Only thing different is the end cap. The plastic cap just pulls off. Don't worry about removing the barrel, it's usually not necessary. If you use brake cleaner to degrease it might wise to wrap the barrel with aluminum foil like I did. I also plugged the transfer port with a Q-tip. Brake cleaner is not friendly to some plastics. Better safe than sorry.

http://www.airgunfix.com/blog/airguns-assembly-disassembly/disassembly-tutorial-crosman-gamo-theoben-and-others/

"You've come far, pilgrim."------"Feels like far."
"Were it worth the trouble?"----"Ah, what trouble?"

Thanks Jim, looks like I'll be buying parts and building a compressor tomorrow....this gun has to be capable of better performance and be quieter than it is now, actually, I'd settle for just quieter!

Based on recommendations, I contacted Rich from Mich and bought a complete set up, tarantula spring, guide, seal, the whole works. Between his instructional write up and info I found in this site's library (Charlie's tuning guide, I think?) over the course of three evenings I built a spring compressor (with the help from Chris in FWB) pulled the gun down, filed all the receiver edges, honed the compression cylinder and re-assembled the gun very carefully (I'm sure it's not ANY where near what real tuners achieve) but the difference is night and day, no doubt. No more twang, no more dieseling, after about 100 shots or so the groups tightened up dramatically and the gun is actually enjoyable to shoot. Next time I need something like this done I may do it myself, just for the experience, but then again, sending it to an expert is sounding more and more like the real deal. Many thanks to all who offered help and those who post info on the site, what a great gathering of ...of....whatever you maniacs are!

Glad to hear that everything worked out for you. And congratulations on doing the tune yourself, also!! That's the very same kit that I put in my Big Cat. I did mine myself, too. It's really not that hard, just be patient and pay attention to what your doing and things will go pretty smoothly. And yes, the difference IS night and day! It's a shame Gamo can't get the fit between spring and guide a little tighter. That would eliminate most of the twang out of the box. Congrats again for finding out how easy it is to do a home tune. Now get out there and enjoy that smoother shooting Whisper!!!!

"You've come far, pilgrim."------"Feels like far."
"Were it worth the trouble?"----"Ah, what trouble?"