by B.B. Pelletier
Before we begin, I have an announcement of a price reduction that may interest several of you. As you know, Webley no longer makes its air rifles in England. They have moved the production to Turkey. But there are a handful of British-made Webley Tomahawk .177 caliber rifles remaining, and Pyramyd AIR has just reduced the price to blow them out. You will now save $130 on this spring-piston breakbarrel that will never be manufactured again. When Webley decided to move its production, Pyramyd AIR bought all the remaining British-made guns, and has been selling them for the past two years. The .22 caliber Tomahawk is now Turkish-made and reflects the higher price that Webley now charges.
No on to today’s topic. My first comment is, where do they get these crazy names for guns? The actual Beretta CX-4 Storm firearm is a “sporting or personal defense firearm with a particularly captivating appearance and simplicity of use.” That is the description from Beretta. The gun comes in 9X19 mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. From the looks of it, someone in the company watched the movie Starship Troopers and saw the gun they would be making in the 25th century. They must have wanted to get a head start on the design.
Umarex copied the design faithfully, making their second lookalike air rifle and only the third air rifle that have ever made. The 1894 lever action is the other lookalike and the Hammerli 850 AirMagnum is the other rifle.
First surprise!
Surprise number one is the fact that this moderately-priced air rifle comes in a custom hard case! Compare that to a Feinwerkbau P700 Olympic target rifle costing nearly 12 times as much that is shipped in a flimsy styrofoam container inside an equally flimsy cardboard sleeve. Presentation means a lot, and I have never seen a hard case that fit a gun as well as this one! It has fitted forms that hold the rifle rigid. And space has wisely been made available for a small scope or red dot sight that will not have to come off when the rifle is cased.
Rifle comes in a nice hard case.
Case is fitted to rifle.
Surprise two!
I was equally surprised that there is not even one AirSource bottle shipped with the gun. That will disappoint anyone who receives a CX-4 as a present, because you are dead without one. And there is a compartment inside the case that could easily accommodate a fresh tank – indeed, it looks made for it. So if this is to be a gift, be sure to buy a couple of 88-gram AirSource tanks to go with it. I do understand the reasoning for not including CO2. Although the U.S. DOT permits the shipment of CO2 canisters, the popular carriers like UPS and Fed Ex do not. So to expidite shipments by air, Umarex leaves all CO2 out.
The magazine
This rifle has the most unique magazine you will see. It is a captive belt (the owner’s manual calls it a chain) containing 30 chambers for .177-caliber pellets. It appears similar to the magazine used in the Anics A-3000, except that was not a belt. It was 28 loose pellet holders running on an enclosed track.
Magazine is unique. Holds 30 pellets.
Sights
Together, both front and rear sights are fully adjustable. The rear peep sight is adjustable for windage on the right side and a small Allen wrench is supplied for this. The front post sight adjusts for elevation via a slotted screw on the right side and you must remember to move the post in the OPPOSITE direction that you want the strike of the round to go (i.e move it down to move the pellet up). There are directions for sight adjustment on both sights.
Outside the gun
The outside of the CX-4 is all plastic – an exoskeleton similar in concept to Crosman NightStalker. That’s the rifle to which this one will be compared. But in this instance, the airgun is following a firearm design, about which Beretta points out the rounded edges and snag-free design so the gun won’t hang up on clothing. The CX-4 firearm looks very military, though it is strictly a semiautomatic, so I doubt whether many are actually used by law enforcement or the military. But it does fit into the modern AUG-type of bullpup weapons styling. The airgun weighs 5.25 lbs. and the specifications say the trigger pull is 11.5 lbs. I hope that’s not the case, but we shall see.
I will be back to this rifle soon, but there are some other things I want to do in the meantime, so it won’t be tomorrow.
Can you Do a review of the Weihrauch 97k in .22?
Jriz,
Well it might take a while. I am loaded down with things to test right now and the 97 in .22 isn’t among them.
B.B.
Hi BB,
Back from time away from Home. I tried the FSB 15.8’s you suggested in my RWS 36. They shoot much better although poi is 6″ lower and over to the right at 25 yards than the RWS S-H points at that distance. I also tried the gel pad but with little luck. Again thanks for your input (Early June). BTW Do you have any idea what used HW55’s go for (Not T version). Ball park range?
KTK
BB,
I’m not sure if I should post comments on the appropriate blog entry or on just the most recent one – but I’ll do this for now. I just received my centerpoint 3-9×50 scope from pyramid, and it looks very nice and well built. The mount is the one piece accushot – and I seem to remember reading that I can put the spacers between the mount and rail to avoid tube damage, or just do between the ring and tube? Can’t wait to test it out – it’s huge though!
Appreciate all the help… Lord knows I need it..
Ozark
KTK,
Used 55s go for about $400.
B.B.
Ozark,
Yes, you can shim under the bottom of the mount to raise it. Because it is a one-piece, that will not strain the scope tube.
B.B.
Hi BB,
I have been very impressed with the accuracy of my Logun Solo, however accuracy has started to fall apart lately. I have no idea why. Shot patterns are TERRIBLE! At barely 50 feet, the I get 3 shot groups barely able to be covered by a quarter, and then I will get a random group that is one solid hole. Strange.
I have about 700 pellets through the gun. Most of those are CPs, but I also shot a tin of Kodiaks and a few H&N field target specials.
Could this be a dirty barrel or something more serious? Thanks for the help.
Tyler
BB –
What material do you suggest for shimming under the mount?
Ozark
When the accuracy started to fall did you happen to change the type of pellet you were using?
Ozark,
I always used metal from soda cans. Pyramyd AIR uses plastic from soda bottles. I also used to use 35mm film, but with digital photography there isn’t as much latying around these days.
B.B.
Tyler,
I think you said it when you said dirty barrel. Crosman Premiers are known to lead the barrel if they go faster than 900 f.p.s. Have you been doing that?
I think you need to clean the bore with JB Paste and stop shooting that fast or switch to Kodiaks or JSBs.
B.B.
Thanks BB.
I don’t have a chronograph, but I checked the Straight Shooters velocity tables and the .22cal CP’s were going at about 890fps.
Thanks for the help!
One other question… When I clean my firearms, I take the bolt out and clean from the bore. Is there a way to do the same thing with air rifles?
Tyler
Tyler,
Not easily, there isn’t. The CF-X is particularly difficult because the rotary breech will fight the bore brush from exiting at the breech, and that makes it difficult to reverse directions.
Use the shortest brush you can find. The shorter brush will giuve you less length to fight at the breech.
B.B.
This thing looks modtastic full auto, belt fed, etc. But is it true semi auto with an auto indexing belt or is it a fancy DA revolver?
Dylan,
Patience. I will report.
B.B.
bb,
i go squirrel hunting a lot, and i always shoot for a humane kill, however every shots not perfect. i hit and paralyzed a squirrel the other day, and had to reload and repump my gun to kill it. any suggestion for a small pistol i could use(carry as a backup) if this ever happens again?
-Q.
Q,
No small air pistol will have sufficient power to do what you want. The Benjamin EB22 is about the smallest I can recommend. However, the Crosman 1377 is only a little larger and gives the same power for about half the money.
B.B.
How do you find the accuarcy of the CX4 Storm. I have one and it shoots ok, if the trigger is pressed slowly one shot at a time, but when emptying the magazine, it sprays pellets all over the place…
do you have the same problem
Ravi London, UK
HW45 .22
BSA lightening .22
Umarex 850 magnum .177
Beretta CX4 Storm .177
Ravi,
You need to read parts 2 and 3 of the series:
/blog/2007/7/beretta-cx-4-storm-part-3/
B.B.
what is the magizine belt made out off
The belt has plastic chambers. I don’t know what the actual belt is made of.
B.B.