GTA
Gateway To Product Reviews => Air Gun Reviews => : Silo August 31, 2007, 10:42:17 AM
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After a fight with FedEx, the 850 arrived from UMAREX today. (another long story)
It is in .177 and is a "special edition" that comes with:
1. A fake "wood grain" stock
2. Scope - Walther 6X42 AO
3. The Compensator
4. A Plastic Bi pod that attaches to a removable rail which is fitted to the underside of the fore-stock.
Out the box first impressions:
1. The stock is very "plastic" with visible casting lines. It also has a cheap sound when tapped.
However, I stuffed it with some old rags and it sounds acceptable now. I'll replace the cloth with
foam (like the CFX) and it'll be fine.
likeI said, this is a "special" stock and is not as nice as the composite stocks. They tried for a
Silver / Greyfake wood grainand didn't quite pull it off.
2. The Bi pod is made of plastic and is cheesy.... no better way to describe it. It sticks out of the bottom
of the fore-stock and only the two little feet fold up into the shaft, which remains sticking out
as a sort of a handle? The feet are spring loaded and deploy with the push of a button at the
top / backof the shaft. It is easy to detach. It mounts using a rail that is attached to the bottom of
the fore stock.... could also use the rail to mount a flashlight or a laser...
3. The action / metal parts are very nice. The bluing is perfect and it has a very solid feel to it without
feeling heavy.
Getting it working:
1. The magazine is great and easy to load (it comes with two) the pellet holes are deep enough to take
any sized pellet you choose. It also is easy to remove / install. It has a little slide-lock that locks
it in place.
2. The Bolt action is a bit “sticky” but has already smoothed out after about 50 shots.
3. The scope is very nice, despite the fact that it is fixed at 6X. the 42mm objective is adjustable and lets
in a good amount of light, giving a bright clear FOV.
4. The rifle shoulders very nicely and the steep pistol grip makes it very comfortable to hold.
5. The 88g CO2 cylinder screws on easily and tightens up good and snug, with a tiny psst as the
seal breaks. I backed it off ¼ turn as per instructions. With it on the gun, the whole feel changes to
one of a very nicely balanced rifle
6. The rifle is also pretty light, not sure yet but I’d guess under 7lbs. gassed up.
7. I removed the fiber optic sights before even mounting the scope, you can see them laying on the
table in one of the shots.
Shooting it:
1. The trigger is nice. Very crisp, can use a bit of adjustment to reduce the first stage travel a bit though.
2. As expected, zero recoil and pretty loud! (compensator not taped up yet)
3. After about 12 shots the scope was zeroed and it makes one hole groups at 22yds very easily. I can see
that it’ll get boring shooting it at close ranges pretty quick.
see the pic of a 16 shot (2 mag full’s) dime sized group.
4. The cheesy bi pod..... works very well. It's also usefull when working on the gun or just to put it down
it keeps it off the ground and is pretty stable.
Chrony results:
I have long since stopped shooting 10 shot strings and doing all the math around the shots, so I
filled up one mag (8 shots) and chased them through the chrony, here’s what I got using CPL’s
unmeasured, cleaned or weighed.
749.6 (low)
757.4 (high)
Note, the CO2 was at "house" temperature,which is at 77deg F.I'm sure it would speedup a tadonce it
warmed up a bit.
Not too shabby. It’s amazing….. a UMAREX gun that actually shoots as fast as they say it does. ;-)
Hunting potential:
Well I figure it’s easy to carry and does 750fps… so it’ll be good for small fry. To prove it I shot a
sparrow that was harassing the other birds at the feeder at only about 15 yards…. It died instantly.
see last pic.
So….. I like it! It’s nice, handles and shoots great, I’m very pleased with it. I’ll be taking it up to John’s
place this Sunday to see how it does out to 40 yards. I have shot my friends 850 at 40 yards and
know that it does very well out to there. I do think though that it is pretty close to it’s maximum “useful”
range at 40yds.
The best of all is that I only paid $165.00 for it directly from UMAREX…… well worth every penny.
Roald.
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Great review and pics Roald. Good luck with her. Now were is that button.... :o
Greg
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Thanks Greg.... although, with that thing sticking out of the fore stock.... I think it's a He.. :D
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Nice review. Tells me just about everything I'd want to know.
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vinceb - 9/1/2007 12:05 PM Nice review. Tells me just about everything I'd want to know.
Thanks Vince, I think that the stock is a candidate for a bed liner spray job though.
I'm not wild about the silver / grey streaky thing they have going on... I just don't want to
end up with a chipped and crappy looking stock after a few months, any idea how well that
bed liner holds up to minor bumps and scrapes?
Roald.
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Have you had a chance to tape up that muzzle brake like thingy yet to see what it does in terms of noise. I bought my .22 850 based on the article (not on the GTA) saying it was not that loud. But it Is Loud. I have since resolved that, but just wondered if the factory attachement makes any diff. Nice review btw.
Tony
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Urban camo :) Ed
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The taping does work. He brought the gun up to my place today and I was quite impressed with its performance with the tape on it.
John
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Tony,
It has to be taped up for it to be realy quite. But yes it is very effective, we even put it onto John's
QB78D today, it was very quite. The sound of the hammer hitting the valve was louder than the shot.
Roald
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The asking price in New Zealand for the same gun WITHOUT any accessories is about $USD500!! Obviously not many takers down here :)
But at the price you got yours, that's pretty good value - does there appear to be any power modding potential?
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I don't care what anyone says, this is the best value going. It is a joy to shoot, even though you go through the pellets quicky. It has proven very accurate and is becoming my favorite to shoot. It is light and can deliver the mail.
Jay
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Jay,
I can't agree more. It's been a while since I've enjoyed shooting anything this much.
I just installed a stronger hammer springon mine today andis shooting inthe high 700's
now. The speed picked up as the gun warmed up, so it looks like it has taken care ofit's
initial heat sensitivity. It was below 90 this afternoon,I was only out doors with it for
about 30 minutes and the speed went up to 787fps... I need a good hot day to test it.
Roald.