Pictures don't do this gun justice. As soon as you pick it up you will recognize its quality and appreciate its ergonomics. The synthetic stock feels solid, the gun shoulders well, and it feels great in the hand. A textured stock and stippling on the sides of the forestock and grip mean it won't slip on you even when wet. All of this combines to make this the perfect gun for a day of small game hunting or for leaving in your truck for impromptu shooting sessions. When you first pick up your Urban you will be struck by how light yet how solid it feels. The synthetic stock keeps the weight down so you can carry it all day and it is tough enough that you can haul it through the thickest brush.
The Urban weighs only 6.7 lbs and measures a compact 42″. At
14.5″, the generous length of pull (the distance between the trigger and the butt of the stock) will be just right for most of you, and the pistol grip is very comfortable, although it may feel a bit small for shooters with large hands.
The cheekpiece isn't adjustable but is fairly high so it will be fine for most shooters. (Note that there is a European version with an adjustable cheek piece, but that is not currently available in North America.) The Urban doesn't have any recoil, but the SWA (Shockwave Absorber) rubber recoil pad will keep the gun settled firmly in your shoulder and will stop it from sliding when propped up in a corner.
The manometer, or pressure gauge, is located on the end of the reservoir near the muzzle (never our favorite place for it) and clearly shows the max fill pressure of 232 bar or 3365psi.
The 105cc cylinder on the Urban is filled via a port protected by a plastic sleeve. Pull this off and insert Gamo's proprietary fill probe and fill to no more than 232 bar. (For best results fill only to 200 bar. See below.) Regularly rub a little of the included silicone grease on the probe's o-rings to keep them in good repair. If you have multiple PCPs you will want to buy the
Air Venturi Quick Disconnect adapter to make the probe easy to hook up and remove from the hose. The relatively small air cylinder is hand pump friendly, especially if you only fill to 200 bar. As with all PCPs, store the airgun with the cylinder fully pressurized or at the least filled to 70 bar (1000psi).
The magazine holds 10 rounds and is very reliable and straightforward to fill. Simply insert a pellet, rotate the magazine one space and insert another one until done. The magazine catches on each one, so if you let it slip it only moves back one position. When you insert the magazine a magnet seats it firmly and satisfyingly into place. The magazine allows you to fire when empty, however, a white dot does appear to let you know you have loaded the last pellet into the breech. The magazine is also numbered to tell you what shot you are on, but you need to come up off of the gun to see it. The magazine is inserted under the 11mm rail so you have a lot of real estate for mounting optics.
Gamo advertises that the Urban has a self-regulating valve, which is a bit confusing. This does not mean that the gun is regulated?it isn't. In the US we always want a regulator but many Europeans feel that a regulator is just one more thing to fail and if a good shot string can be achieved through efficient and balanced valving then that is superior to relying on a regulator. The Gamo Urban falls into this category and relies on BSA's excellent valving to produce a shot string that will rival that of many regulated guns. If you fill the gun to 200 bar instead of the max pressure of 232 bar your restraint will be rewarded with 25 extremely consistent shots that will put pellets in the bullseye out to fifty yards and beyond. The bolt action cycles very smoothly and enables you to make quick follow-up shots.
A very nice feature is the bolt handle can be switched from right-handed to left making the Gamo Urban completely ambidextrous. Just remove the Allen screw holding in the handle at the back of the bolt, wiggle the handle off, switch it around, and replace and tighten the screw back up. The aesthetics aren't quite as good as when set up for left-handed use, but it is completely functional.
Gamo does not advertise this and it may void the warranty, but
the Urban's power can be adjusted through the hammer spring tension. We recommend that you only use this adjustment to lower the power, not raise it. If you lower the power you will get more shots per fill and the gun will be quieter. If you raise the power it may void the warranty, and you risk extra wear and tear on the valve or outright damage to it. To adjust the power, first, remove the action from the stock. To do so, use a 4mm Allen wrench to remove the screw in the belly of the stock and the screw behind the trigger. Remove the plastic cap to expose the hammer spring access port. Insert the 4mm wrench and turn clockwise to increase power and counterclockwise to reduce it.
The business end of the Urban is surrounded with Gamo's integrated Whisper Maxxim Silencer, and yes, integrated means that it can't be removed. It is pretty girthy but does a good job at quieting this airgun down, although it does not make it an extremely quiet gun. We consider it backyard friendly, but your neighbors may vary. In our tests, the Urban's highest reading was 89db. However, with the hammer spring adjusted a full turn counter-clockwise, the highest reading we got was 87db and the sound signature was notably mellower. At a turn and a half, the highest reading was 83.9db!
Out of the box the Urban's trigger is smooth and fairly light. The second stage is rather long but with a little practice, you will be able to do good work with it. The Urban sports Gamo's
SAT or Smoot Action Trigger which is adjustable for second stage travel, but not for weight. Unfortunately, from the factory, the trigger is adjusted for as short a second stage as possible, and to reduce it more an aftermarket screw would need to be put in. If you do this, be aware that you may reduce trigger pull to the point that the gun can become unsafe. Always test triggers with the mallet test. (Note that originally the Urban featured Gamo's CAT or Custom Action Trigger which has adjustments for the first stage also. The feel of both triggers is exactly the same, in our opinion, so it's not a big deal either way.)
The Urban's safety is manual, which is the way it should be, and is conveniently located in front of the trigger inside the trigger guard. It clicks on and off easily and is, of course, resettable.
One of the real attractions of the Gamo Urban is its cold hammer-forged barrel. Over 35,000 hammer strikes forge a barrel that is extremely smooth, strong, and accurate. This process work hardens the surface of the rifling, refines the grain structure of the steel, and produces a mirror-like finish in the bore, all of which adds up to accuracy and long-term reliability. The Urban is the first gun to feature this barrel at this price!
Is the Gamo Urban Accurate?
The Gamo Urban has already built a reputation for accuracy and our testing confirmed it. We tested a number of pellets and the two that we found were the most consistently accurate were the
H&N Baracuda Match in the 5.51 head size and the
Crosman Premier Ultra Magnums. That the Crosman pellets are accurate in the gun is very good news because they are a very affordable and widely available pellet.
At thirty-five yards the Urban put 10 Baracuda Match pellets into a nice round hole measuring 0.29 inches center to center. It put 8/10 Crosman Premier Ultra Magnums in 0.33 inches but two shots opened up the group to a still respectable 0.55" center to center. Others have reported that the
JSB 18.13 Heavies are the most accurate in their guns, but that wasn't the case with ours but you may want to give them a try. We didn't test the
Crosman Premier Hollow Points but others have reported good results with them also.
As we mentioned above, the Gamo Urban shoots almost like a regulated gun due to the very efficient valving inside it. We recommend that you only fill to 2900psi and you will get 25 very tight shots with an extreme spread of only about 30fps. You won't really notice that variation out to 50 yards and even beyond.
As mentioned above, the hammer spring of the Gamo Urban is adjustable, although we recommend that you only adjust it down, not up. One full turn counter-clockwise gave us an addition 10-15 shots per fill with an extreme spread of 40-50 fps. You only lose about one foot-pound, which may be worth it to you to get an extra 10-15 shots per fill, especially if you are just shooting in the backyard.
What Accessories are Good for the Gamo Urban
The Gamo Urban is a very
hand pump friendly gun, so you can save money you would spend on higher priced air solutions.
The Urban doesn't come with a scope, but we have you covered with our
scope selection, which will get you shooting right away.
Spare magazines aren't cheap but when you consider that you are getting so much gun for the money it makes it a little easier to shell out a bit more for an extra mag. If you don't want to hand pump then you will need either an air tank or a compressor. With this
Air Venturi 74 cf tank you will get a lot of refills!
The
Air Venturi Nomad is the most portable and affordable compressor available and can be run from a car or truck battery for a full day of hunting afield.
If you have multiple PCPs you'll want to pick up the
Air Venturi Quick Disconnect Adapter to make switching probes easy.
In short, the Gamo Urban is accurate, consistent, and affordable. With its BSA internals it is one of the best values in PCPs on the market, and if you want to do pesting and small game hunting it should be at the top of your shortlist. When you have shot some lead down range with your Gamo Urban share your experiences in a review or in the comments below.
Multi-Shot Magazine A multi-shot magazine in a PCP isn't necessarily new, but it's good to know that you'll get 10 shots until you need to reload. It's also good to know that you won't need to pick up any special scope mounts as the magazine fits under the 11mm rail.
Accuracy & Power The Gamo Urban has already built a reputation for accuracy and we were able to confirm it in our testing. This is just an example of one of the tests we did, and you can see just how well it performs at 35 yards. It might be an entry-level PCP, but it doesn't necessarily shoot like one.
Quietness Gamo's integrated Whisper Maxxim Silencer does a good job at quieting this airgun down even though it can't be removed. At the highest level the Urban clocked in at 89db. but with some fine-tuning, we were able to get our's down to 83.9db! We'll even show you how in the details!
Exclusive Combos The Gamo Urban is a great entry level PCP air rifle and if this is your first time you'll want to check out one of our exclusive combos - allowing you pick up some essentials at an amazing price. The
Urban scope combo includes a 4-12x40 Mantis scope & rings while the
Pump combo includes an Air Venturi MK4 Hill Pump so you can keep shooting all day long.
