GARE GM10 PCP review

[mundaire]

Late last year, GARE sent a GM10 PCP rifle, for testing review and comments from a few end users here. Before the rifle came to me, it had already been tested by a couple of others in Delhi.

The rifle lay with me for several weeks before I got around to shooting it, and after I had shared my review with GARE, it went on to others for their testing.

While I fully intended to post my experience with this rifle here, I somehow never seemed to get around to it. While clearing my phone of old data, I discovered these photos (from January 2021), so here goes.

Before I start, I should add here that this is the first (and so far only) Indian made PCP I have ever shot. My previous experience with PCPs has been only with those from overseas, so I will not be able to offer any comparison with any other Indian made PCPs.

My tank had only 150 BAR of pressure, so all testing was done at 150 BAR fill (the manufacturer suggests a fill pressure of 200 BAR).

The testing rig

setup_2.jpeg

setup.jpeg

The chronograph used was a Shooting Chrony. Since it was January, one odd sequence was not measured due to overcast conditions.

Range was a measured 10 metres.

Pellets used were - G Smith High Impact, G Smith Super Impact, Precipell Field Target, JSB Exact, H&N Finale Match Pistol and Excite.

Open Sights
It had been a while since I'd shot a rifle with open sights, definitely not since I got my reading glasses a few years back! Hence, I wasn't expecting much from my shooting using the factory sights. Still, for the sake of completeness, I thought it only fair to give it a go.

1_gsmith_super_impact_open.jpeg

2_gsmith_high_impact_open.jpeg

3_precipell_open.jpeg

4_jsb_exact_rs_open.jpeg

All of these targets were shot with iron sights without the magazine.


As I was expecting, my poor eyesight was not a good match for using iron sights and the groups were absolutely horrible! I ceased all further testing with iron sights and moved on to fitting a spare scope I had lying with me - an MTC Taipan 6-24x56, a bit of overkill for 10 meters, but it's the only one I had unmounted!

With MTC Taipan Scope

Once the scope was mounted the groups immediately tightened! These next few targets were also shot without the magazine i.e. in single shot mode.

1_gsmith_super_impact_scope.jpeg

2_precipell_ft_scope.jpeg

3_jsb_exact_rs_scope.jpeg

4_hn_finale_match_pistol_scope.jpeg

5_excite_scope.jpeg

6_gsmith_high_impact_scope.jpeg

The Excite pellets were bought by me sometime ago, as they were cheap. However, I have yet to see them perform well in any air pistol or air rifle, a total waste of money!

The last few targets were shot using the supplied magazine.

7_gsmith_super_impact_scope_mag.jpeg

8_precipell_ft_scope_mag.jpeg

9_excite_scope_mag.jpeg

10_jsb_exact_rs_scope_mag.jpeg

11_hn_finale_match_pistol_scope_mag.jpeg

12_gsmith_high_impact_scope_mag.jpeg

While shooting the safety button came loose and had to be screwed back in.

loose_safety_button.jpeg

Conclusion

Rough Muzzle energy calculations:
G Smith High Impact - AvG ME 11 ft lbs
G Smith Super Impact - AvG ME 10 ft lbs
Precipell - AvG ME 11 ft lbs
JSB Exact - AvG ME 10 ft lbs

Accuracy:
The best grouping was with the Precipell Field pellets using the magazine. Precipell seems like the best of this lot, both in power and accuracy. It was also the cheapest per pellet - less than ₹0.90 per pellet delivered to home!

The build quality seemed solid with metal used all around, including the sights etc.

In a rush, will try and add more later.

[vast]

Not impressive at all,
at 10 yards why this rifle can't give pellet on pellet accuracy

[mundaire]

Not impressive at all,
at 10 yards why this rifle can't give pellet on pellet accuracy

You give my shooting too much credit! One of these days I'll have to pull out my HW80K or better still a Daystate to do a comparison with its accuracy vs this one

As I mentioned, the best targets I was able to shoot were with scope & using the supplied magazine.

In order posted above (same order as they were shot) were No. 12 (Precipell Field Target), No. 16 (G Smith High Impact) and No. 11 (G Smith Super Impact) smallest group listed first.

Overall Impressions
Once again, I really liked the fact that there were no plastic parts, everything was nicely machined metal.

The design of the wood stock could be better, it is clearly optimised for shooting with open sights, so when I added the scope, I had to struggle to get a good sight picture. One needs to have a cheek riser to shoot a scope with comfort. I would also have preferred a more traditional wood finish with the grains of wood clearly visible.

The magazine was quite easy to load, much easier than the Theoben rotary magazines I have used in the past. IMHO the Kalibrgun Cricket air rifles are probably the best designed rotary magazines I have come across (thus far). If I rate those at 9/10, the GARE magazine would get a solid 6/10. Not bad considering the huge price differential.

Also, considering that the legal ME limit is 15 ft /lbs, I would have expected it to be tuned to at least 13 ft /lbs. Not much of a difference really, but can help getting a bit more range.

Lastly, since I haven't shot any other Indian made PCP, I didn't have any local product to compare it against. If I get an opportunity to shoot another Indian made PCP, I'll be happy to post a comparison here.

When compared to expensive imported PCPs, it does offer a solid value proposition both in terms of cost and local availability of spares.

[Mack The Knife]

Not impressive at all,
at 10 yards why this rifle can't give pellet on pellet accuracy

Must have been after a few G&Ts

I happened to shoot this rifle at the manufacturer's range. Approximately 16 shots at 10 metres, from the standing position, sans jacket etc., resulted in a ragged hole (size of a 50 Paisa coin) with two fliers (first and last shot). Witnessed by three forum members.

[kshitij]

Thank you for the unbiased and comprehensive review @mundaire.

Though, personally I feel that most, if not all, PCP airguns will shoot fairly well at 10m. Slightly longer ranges, say 30 meters and beyond would give a better idea of how it holds up against both, other locally made airguns as well as the international makes. So next time a locally made airgun makes its way to you, please do try to stretch the target distance.

Cheers!