Gamo 10x Gen2 Magazines Comparison

With the Gamo Swarm Magnum 10x Gen 2 being the 2nd most-powerful break-barrel air rifle in the world today (and the Hatsan Mod 130S Vortex QE and Hatsan Mod 135 Vortex QE 0.30 caliber break barrels being #1), the Gamo Swarm series seems to be getting a lot of attention. So, this article will help clear up some things about the two types of “10x Gen2” magazines now made by Gamo.

Gamo 10x Gen2 Inertia-fed quick-shot magazine vs 10x Gen2 (NOT inertia-fed) quick-shot magazine

Summary

There are two versions of the Gamo 10x Gen2 magazine: one is designed for the Swarm Whisper Fusion 10x Gen2 or Swarm Maxxim 10x Gen2, and the other has a red switch on the back of it, is inertia-fed, and is designed for the Swarm Magnum and Swarm Bone Collector.

My personal testing proves you can use the NON-inertia-fed version in the Magnum or Bone Collector, but this is not recommended because if you cock the gun multiple times before firing you’ll have a double-loading issue. The count-remaining indicator on the magazine will also be off-by-one if you have cocked the gun and the chamber is loaded. The inertia-fed magazine solves these issues and is recommended for these guns instead.

Details

There is a lot of confusion about Gamo’s new line of 10x Gen2 Quick-shot magazines for their .177 and .22 air guns. It’s not super obvious, but there are 2 versions of the 10x Gen2 quick-shot magazine! Here they are:

1. [Let’s call this “Version A”] Gamo 10x Gen2 quick-shot magazine for Swarm Whisper Fusion 10x Gen2 and Swarm Maxxim 10x Gen2.
   1. This one, in my searching around online and observations, is the more-common and easier-to-find one.
   2. Front view on the left (source), and back view on the right (source):
      
   3. Buy it here on Amazon for the .22 version or here from Gamo directly (.22 version, .177 version).
   4. It can work in the Swarm Magnum or Swarm Bone Collector, but I prefer to use the proper magazine just below for those guns instead. More on this next.
2. [Let’s call this “Version B”] Gamo 10x Gen2 Inertia-fed quick-shot magazine for Swarm Magnum and Swarm Bone Collector.
   1. It is less-common and harder-to-find.
   2. This one DOES have the red slide switch to prevent double-loading.
   3. Front view on the left (it looks exactly the same as Version A from this view!) (source), and back view on the right (notice the red spring-loaded slide switch!) (source):
      
   4. Buy it here from Gamo directly (.22 version, .177 version)

How do they differ? Can I use Version A in a Swarm Magnum gun?

Both are easy to load. You manually press a pellet into the hole, and give it a little nudge with the tip of a ballpoint pen if necessary to get it all the way in. You manually rotate the internal drum to the next hole. The fact that a pellet is in place locks Version A in the new position, and the red switch locks Version B in the new position. Load a new pellet. Rotate the drum. Repeat until fully loaded.

The only difference is that the red switch prevents the drum from auto-rotating down to the next position with a pellet in it after a pellet has been loaded until the inertial kick of the firing gun trips the red switch, OR you press the red switch manually with your finger. This prevents double-loading in the Magnum. So, you CAN use Version A in the Magnum, but Version B is better.

Here are descriptions of the behavior with each type of magazine in the Swarm Magnum gun. I personally tested and observed these behaviors with both types of magazines in the Swarm Magnum .22 gun.

If you use Version A in the Magnum gun (not my preference, but it can be done):

When you break the barrel to cock the gun, it auto-loads a pellet and the drum auto-rotates to the next pellet position immediately. When you fire, the drum does NOT rotate, since it already rotated when it was cocked and auto-loaded.

Two concerns then:

1. NOTE: Since the drum rotates to the next pellet position right after cocking and auto-loading, the count indicator is off-by-one! It may say 9 on it when in fact you still have 10 shots remaining!: 9 in the magazine and 1 in the chamber. This is hard for me to remember. Version B of the magazine solves this problem.
2. WARNING: Since the drum rotates to the next pellet position right after the cocking and auto-loading, if you break the barrel and cock again (perhaps many minutes later after you forgot if you had cocked the gun in the first place), it loads a 2nd pellet into the chamber which already has 1 pellet in it. This is dangerous and bad for your gun. Each time you cock, it just adds another pellet to the chamber, so long as more remain in the magazine. This means that if you cock the gun 10 times without firing once, you will end up with all 10 pellets in the chamber at once.

If you use the inertia-fed Version B in the Magnum gun (this is the best thing to do, since Version B is designed for this gun):

When you break the barrel to cock the gun, it auto-loads a pellet and the drum does NOT auto-rotate to the next pellet position immediately. When you fire, the jerk from the recoil and inertia of the mechanism in the magazine trips the red switch for you (this is apparently what they mean by “inertia-fed”), and only then, upon firing, does the drum rotate to the next pellet position.

Both problems are solved now:

1. When you cock the gun and auto-load a pellet, your magazine round indicator is still accurate. If it says 10 on it, there are 9 in the magazine (with the currently-aligned hole in the magazine now empty) and 1 in the chamber. Only upon firing does the magazine’s “inertia feed” system kick in from the recoil to rotate to the next pellet position in preparation for you to then manually cock it (which process loads the next pellet).
2. Since the magazine drum never rotates until you fire, you can cock the gun all you want (to double-check you had cocked it at all, for instance) and it will NOT load more than 1 pellet into the chamber (unless the inertia-feed system and red switch malfunctions of course)! This is great! This is a much better magazine for the Swarm Magnum and Swarm Bone Collector guns!

I hope this helps. If you found this article useful, consider sponsoring me for $1/month on GitHub. I would be extremely grateful.

~ Gabriel Staples