I’m sorry, but you can’t have one.

The Gamo PR-45 is a long-time favorite of mine. It’s a .177 caliber single-stroke pneumatic air pistol. It’s cheap to shoot and it is very consistent and accurate. It’s a great camp gun.

With velocity only around 400 fps, kinetic energy is pretty low. It’s not a hunting gun, though it’s excellent for exterminating cockroaches crawling up the cinder block walls in the backyard at night.

It is styled to look like some sort of a long slide auto-pistol. But the “slide” actually opens up and swings forward to reveal a big fat air cylinder. There is a thumb latch at the back of the slide that allows the slide to tilt almost 180° forward. Opening the slide allows you to insert a single pellet into the rear of the barrel. The act of closing the slide charges the air cylinder and cocks the mechanism. One cycle of opening and closing is all it takes. You cannot pump the cylinder multiple times to get more air compression. That’s why it is called a single-stroke pneumatic.

It has a very nice adjustable sight at the extreme rear of the slide. The sight radius is 9.6”. The gun weighs about 31 oz. It has a nice feel in the hand.

After about 3/16” of takeup in the trigger, it hits a wall, then increasing pressure straight back, with very little additional travel will release the charge. It’s a pretty good trigger. When the gun fires, there is absolutely no recoil. Unlike a spring-piston air gun, where the trigger release actually unleashes a piston, the only thing you unleash in this gun is the air charge. That is what helps make this pistol so darn accurate. You can really concentrate and practice proper trigger technique with this gun.

Knocking down empty drink bottles at 15 yards is fun and easy. A little more challenging is knocking down shotgun shells at the same distance. Stretch the distance to 25 yards and you will definitely have to deal with ballistic arc. But once you find the correct amount of front sight to hold above the rear sight, those bottles become easy again.

So why can’t you have one? Because they are currently not available for sale in the USA. I have no idea why not. They ARE available in Europe. Maybe you can ask Gerhard to bring one home for you on his next trip across the big pond.

I bought mine many years ago from Sportsman’s Guide. When you find something cool at Sportsman’s Guide, you often have to pounce when you see it, because they buy in lots, and when they are out, that could be your only chance. I pounced when I saw it, and haven’t seen it offered since.

However, a very similar gun IS available in the US. That gun is the Air Venturi V10 Match air pistol. The difference is that the V10 comes with fancy stippled walnut target grips with an adjustable palm shelf. It is meant as an entry level competition target pistol. I’m not sure, but the trigger may also be a little different, but otherwise it is the same gun, now for sale at over three times the price that I paid for mine.

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