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The global airguns industry is probably one of the world's most variegated, populated as it is by dozens of companies, most of which specializing or focusing in particular product categories, sectors, or price levels.
One of the most popular and generalistic names in the airguns panorama, and one of the world's most widely known, is definitely GAMO Outdoor: headquartered in Sant Boi de Llobregat, a small Spanish town just at the outskirts of Barcelona, GAMO slowly but steadily worked to earn a reputation based upon the differences that set apart, sometimes quite decisively, their products from the ones manufactured by other big names of the industry, such as DIANA or FX Airguns just to name a couple.
GAMO's product line is currently one of the world's widest in the field of airguns, including pistols, sub-machineguns, rifles and carbines, either pneumatically-charged or CO²-operated, high-yield or low-power, and mostly conceived with more modern, aggressive, interesting designs and outlines than most, if not all, of the competiting products − definitely a must to appeal younger shooters.
Furthermore, thanks to manufacturing and marketing agreements reached with Asian manufacturers − particularly Japanese − the GAMO company is able to market quite affordable products without sacrificing quality.
This sums up to the wide array of accessories − particularly aiming devices, lasers, tactical lights and similars − that the GAMO group manufactures and markets worldwide through the British-based controlled BSA brand, and the green-light laser illuminators that go under the Laser Genetics brand. However, more recently, the GAMO group rode a new wave of innovation in the field of specialized airgun ammunition.
All airgun makers normally manufacture their own pellets; but once again, GAMO stands out among all others due to the wide variety of its airgun ammunition line. As a matter of fact GAMO manufactures at least twenty different lines of airgun pellets, all different by caliber, manufacturing materials, and intended uses.
The Spanish company manufactures both BB pellets and mushroom-shaped ("Diabolo") pellets in 4.5/.177, 5.5/.22 and 6.35/.25 calibers, with vastly different technical specs according to the particular use they're intended for, so we have general-purpose GAMO pellets for standard indoors or outdoors plinking, extremely accurate pellets for target shooting competitions, and high-impact design for varmint, pest control, and other hunting specialties that can be practiced with an airgun.
Furthermore, the GAMO company has been one of the first in the airguns sector to face the wave of restrictive laws banning the use of lead-based ammunition in some environments; to date, GAMO offers a vast line of "Lead-Free" airgun pellets, all manufactured using different metal alloys, or even polymer, without sacrificing quality and performance nor being considerably more expensive than their lead-based counterpart.
One of GAMO's last entries in airgun pellets, the PBA line, is fully part of this trend.
The PBA line comprises five different variants, all sharing a technical background of some sort, starting from the lead-free construction: PBA stands for "Performance Ballistic Alloy", that being the name given by GAMO to the copper-based alloy used to manufacture all the PBA pellets; all of the PBA variants sport a protective finish that will reduce attrition both inside the barrel − thus reducing wear risks for the airgun − and when the pellet is airborne, enhancing the aerodynamic factor that's already provided by the peculiar modified mushroom shape with enhanced skirt. Being the copper-based alloy harder than lead, the PBA pellets tend to deform less immediately upon impact, providing superior penetration... but that's not all.
All the above-mentioned features sum up to a plethora of practical advantage both for airgun hunters and target shooters: the GAMO PBA bullets can be used in both low-yield and high-power airguns, be them spring-loaded, CO²-operated, or PCPs, and will easily reach and maintain supersonic speed levels.
More specifically, the PBA Impact pellet represents the baseline variant of the series; it is available in 4.5mm(.177) and 5.5mm(.22) calibers, respectively with a 7.1 and 14.4 grains weight, and it's one of the PBA series' heaviest overall, but also one of the best performers.
According to GAMO, the PBA Impact pellet sports 30% more performance than most of its competitors: as a matter of fact, tests on metal targets found out that the PBA "Impact" pellet is capable to bust through an 1mm-thick stamped steel layer, while still retaining enough energy to cause a deadly wound on a varmint. Ballistic gel tests shown how the wound channel caused by a PBA "Impact" pellet can be up to three times deeper and wider than these caused by the most direct competitors, even from GAMO itself.
It all goes along with very good accuracy and range performances, which make the PBA "Impact" pellets perfect for uses other than varmint hunt: the aerodynamically-shaped structure will maintain an efficient trajectory and a higher speed, for longer. Results can be seen directly on the field...
The PBA "Impact" pellets are part of the wider line of GAMO airgun ammunition, and are available in all Countries reached by the company's international distribution network; prices may greatly vary from Country to Country according to local distribution conditions, but the average street price goes from 6.00€ up to 15.00€ in Europe, and from around 5.00US$ to around 15.00US$ in the United States, largely depending from the quantity: the GAMO PBA "Impact" pellets are sold in different-sizes tins, holding 75, 100 or 150-pieces each. On-Line purchase from several important distributors and smaller shops is also available.
Airgun shooting enthusiasts may also want to check out the other variants of the GAMO PBA line of pellets: the light-weight Raptor, conceived to maintain up to 90% of its own weight upon impact; the high-velocity Platinum, very similar to the "Impact" when it comes to size and weight; the Armor, sporting the highest penetration capacity of the entire line; and the Blue Flame, sporting a diamond-shaped polimer tip that acts as an expansion initiator upon impact.
The PBA pellets are part of the expansive range of airgun ammunition offered by GAMO!
