Did You Have To Mod Your New Gamo Urban?

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Lightyear68

Lightyear68

Member
Nov 26, 2022
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Bel Air
While I'm awaiting my Gamo Urban to be delivered I've been reading reviews and see two issues that may be common, or may be rare: (1) the barrel band affecting accuracy and (2) the magazine not aligning properly causing the bolt to catch on forward movement damaging o rings. The issues were posted in 2018 and 2019, so maybe the issues have been corrected in later models.

Did you new Gamo owners need to fix either of these issues?

I'm hoping to have no issues out of the box, but am keeping an open mind about it.
 
Rawroots said:
I have a couple urbans and you'll have no problem curing any issues that come up, simple to work on , not pellet fussy, not big shot count but it's been a great go to rifle. You won't be disappointed.
Click to expand...
I'm hoping to connect with a few Urban owners with this thread with whom I can consult as needed. I'm not an armorer, but a Marine veteran who field strips and cleans a variety of firearms. That said, I respect the risk of disassembling an air gun with high pressure. I found a few sketchy videos and an exploded parts diagram, but no service manuals.

Is there a service manual for the Urban? Not the owner's manual...a service manual that an armorer would use to repair the rifle.

How do you de-gas the Urban? I read that (1) shooting it down does not discharge all the gas, (2) some people unscrew the pressure gauge until it hisses.

Thanks in advance for coaching me up on the Urban.
 
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They are awesome rifles. I will add to this as I have time today. The one I had I bought used and it had some leaks.

I removed my barrel band with no issue. Order the longer bolt for the trigger, makes it much nicer.

The only issue I had and it was a non issue, was the cocking got stiff and crunchy. It was just the small lug bolt had backed off. Snugged it up with some lock tight and good to go.

Mine was most accurate with JSB but it shot the cheap $6 Crosman almost as well.

If you are not wanting a ton of power they are sweet turned down. The report drops way off, more shots, etc.


This is the one common fail point. It runs across the bsa family. Easy to replace if it ever does start to leak.

www.airgunspares.com

BSA Inlet Valve Moulding Part No. 169022

Fits multiple models, please scroll down for complete list.
www.airgunspares.com www.airgunspares.com
 
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if you work on guns you wont have any problems .. almost all mid to lower end guns need to be gone through to smooth them up, debur, and align things perfectly .. unless you have problems with leaking or are doing porting work on the valve, the airtank is a seperate, usually removeable sub-assembly that doesnt need to be degassed to do work on the majority of the gun .. just be sure your strategy doesnt involve something that can cause the hammer to strike the valve lol .. removal of the hammer and spring is a good strategy lol .. but degassing by cracking a gauge loose is pretty standard to, alot of them a 15/16 socket fits, or a large crescent .. and dont overtighten things with an oring or nylon donut seal, usually snug is good enough .. but its likely going to be in good shape to start, and you can get into it later at your leisure .. low stress man lol ..
 
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I have an Urban with a lot of miles on it, about 4 years old? It did have POI shifting when bumped so the barrel band is gone. The barrel actually popped up a bit which suggests it was under tension with the factory band. No more POI shifting and it doesnt get treated nicely lol. I had it dialed in to shoot Hades at ~805fps and it was very accurate. I could get around 30 good shots. Recently I turned the hammer spring in almost all the way and opened up the transfer port just to see how fast it can go. Havent had a chance to chrono it yet. But I did that because I like to tinker, not because it needs more. At ~805fps my best shot was a pigeon at ~85yds. I wouldnt normally have taken that shot buy a buddy clipped it and his mag jammed and we didnt want it to suffer.

My advice, is keep it on the slower side and dont max fill for best accuracy/consistency. You will have to experiment with fill pressure but mine really likes to start at ~3000-3100psi.

So in closing, I dont think it "has" to be modified. But there might be some improvements you can make should you feel like taking the risk.
 
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I went over the gun and did some mods for a friend. The trigger had to be addressed. Guys say this gun is a BSA but once you’re into the guns internals, it screams Gamo. Lug bolt on his gun was also working loose. I built a SSG for it and did a lot of testing with pellet weights and power. Settled on Crosman 14.3 pellets for a whole bunch of shots 820-835fps. Gun got real quiet at this power and with the SSG.
 
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I have to head out to my second job right now, but appreciate all of the information. I'll have some follow up questions for some of you and will PM them for your replies.

Several of you have removed the barrel band. How did you remove it? Disassembly? Cut it off? If I had a service manual that covered disassembly I'd keep it in tact and just remove it. I'm not sure how to cut it off without marring the barrel. Maybe Dremel cut 90% through and then wire cutter or snips the rest of the way?
 
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You will love that little rifle. I just purchased one not long ago and did a few simple things after a week or so of shooting it. I did experience some POI shift, so I removed the barrel band. Took all of 5 minutes and absolutely no more shift after that. I replaced the second stage trigger adjustment screw with a little longer screw. That enabled me to get the trigger adjusted to my liking. It's really a pretty good trigger after getting the first and mainly the second stage adjusted to your preference. I finally adjusted the hammer spring just a bit.....not really necessary though.

Bottom line.....the darn thing is honestly a very accurate little tack driver of a rifle. I really enjoy mine. A British, BSA made pcp for $300.

Oh....the barrel band removal. Remove the small screws from the band and then just use a small fine tooth saw blade and saw it in two right between the barrel and air cylinder. Then just pull it off. I used one of the small blades from my cordless reciprocating saw. Used the blade, NOT the electric saw!! Just sawed through the band by hand nice and easy.....no marring/scratching at all if you just be careful.
 
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Lightyear68 said:
I have to head out to my second job right now, but appreciate all of the information. I'll have some follow up questions for some of you and will PM them for your replies.

Several of you have removed the barrel band. How did you remove it? Disassembly? Cut it off? If I had a service manual that covered disassembly I'd keep it in tact and just remove it. I'm not sure how to cut it off without marring the barrel. Maybe Dremel cut 90% through and then wire cutter or snips the rest of the way?
Click to expand...
I just used a pair of good side cutters. I know if I tried to use a dremel I would have cut into the barrel since I can be a little too aggressive with power tools =)
 
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Lightyear68 said:
Several of you have removed the barrel band. How did you remove it? Disassembly? Cut it off? If I had a service manual that covered disassembly I'd keep it in tact and just remove it. I'm not sure how to cut it off without marring the barrel. Maybe Dremel cut 90% through and then wire cutter or snips the rest of the way?
Click to expand...
Heated up a sharp knife and basically melt/cut mine off - and used the longest screw from that as replacement for the trigger
 
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Lightyear68 said:
I'm hoping to connect with a few Urban owners with this thread with whom I can consult as needed. I'm not an armorer, but a Marine veteran who field strips and cleans a variety of firearms. That said, I respect the risk of disassembling an air gun with high pressure. I found a few sketchy videos and an exploded parts diagram, but no service manuals.

Is there a service manual for the Urban? Not the owner's manual...a service manual that an armorer would use to repair the rifle.

How do you de-gas the Urban? I read that (1) shooting it down does not discharge all the gas, (2) some people unscrew the pressure gauge until it hisses.

Thanks in advance for coaching me up on the Urban.
Click to expand...
Unscrew gauge only enough to hiss, also when retightening gauge only to stop leakage, too tight covers port and gauge will read zero when filled.
 
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Rawroots said:
Unscrew gauge only enough to hiss, also when retightening gauge only to stop leakage, too tight covers port and gauge will read zero when filled.
Click to expand...
Also I've never removed barrel bands nor removed perfectly working silencers unless theres issues. If you enjoy shooting these , purchase some oring kit from harbor freight and amazon, there inexpensive and you can take on any future repairs.

20221202_130659.jpg
 
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Rawroots said:
Also I've never removed barrel bands nor removed perfectly working silencers unless theres issues. If you enjoy shooting these , purchase some oring kit from harbor freight and amazon, there inexpensive and you can take on any future repairs.

View attachment 310271
Click to expand...
Yes I can confirm both points! The factory pickle seems to work really well on mine. Especially at the ~20fpe level. I also used the HF Oring kit to fix a leaking cylinder seal on my Urban.
 
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wildcj5 said:
They are awesome rifles. I will add to this as I have time today. The one I had I bought used and it had some leaks.

I removed my barrel band with no issue. Order the longer bolt for the trigger, makes it much nicer.

The only issue I had and it was a non issue, was the cocking got stiff and crunchy. It was just the small lug bolt had backed off. Snugged it up with some lock tight and good to go.

Mine was most accurate with JSB but it shot the cheap $6 Crosman almost as well.

If you are not wanting a ton of power they are sweet turned down. The report drops way off, more shots, etc.


This is the one common fail point. It runs across the bsa family. Easy to replace if it ever does start to leak.

www.airgunspares.com

BSA Inlet Valve Moulding Part No. 169022

Fits multiple models, please scroll down for complete list.
www.airgunspares.com www.airgunspares.com
Click to expand...
Thanks wildcj5.

When you suggest tightening the lug bolt, do you mean what this video shows? Or something else?

Is there a manual or video that you used to learn how to safely disassemble?
 
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