by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
The Umarex Trevox is a single shot breakbarrel gas spring air pistol.
This report covers:
- Surprise!
- Description
- Large
- Cocking
- Trigger
- Sights
- Silencer
- Discussion
- Summary
Surprise!
Sometimes things come along that surprise me. Today’s Umarex Trevox air pistol is one. I have seen attempts at mega-magnum spring pistols before and so have you, but they usually disappoint in one or more ways. I don’t think this one will. And I hope not, because what we have here is a remake of the vintage BSA Scorpion air pistol of the 1970s. I did a special 3-part test of that pistol 4 years ago. The Trevox is so similar! If they were going to make the Scorpion today, this, or something close to it, is what they would do.
If I sound like I am summarizing after a full test, it’s because I have broken my rule about looking at customer reviews before I test the gun. If what I’m reading is correct, we have a potential world-beater airgun here.
Description
The Trevox is a large breakbarrel single shot air pistol that is currently offered in .177 caliber, only. It is powered by a gas spring, which is a nod to today’s manufacturing. The specs on the Pyramid Air website say to expect 540 f.p.s., but the clamshell package the gun comes in goes further by claiming 540 with lead pellets and 600 f.p.s. with alloy. I will test that for you.
Coincidently, the BSA Scorpion topped out at 552 f.p.s. with Falcon lead pellets. So the two pistols are in the same ballpark, power-wise.
Speaking of the clamshell package, Umarex must have won an award for having the hardest clamshell package to open. It took me five minutes to get inside with titanium scissors, and another five minutes to break into the bottom compartment where the manual is!
Large
The Trevox is big. It’s 18-1/8-inches overall and weighs 3 lbs. 3.6 oz. The BSA Scorpion I am comparing it to is 18-1/4inches overall when the cocking aid is installed and weighs 3 lbs. 8.7 oz. The small weight difference would be due to a coiled steel mainspring in the vintage airgun instead of the gas spring in the modern one.
I see a lot of similarity between the Umarex Trevox (top) and the vintage BSA Scorpion.
Cocking
The pistol isn’t that hard to cock, but the designers got the cocking geometry wrong. The cocking stroke begins at a point where there is poor efficiency. That makes cocking the pistol feel harder than it really is. The breech is held shut by a ball bearing that allows you to open it without slapping the muzzle.
Ball-bearing breech lock is positive yet light.
Trigger
The trigger is almost universally panned by reviewers, but the one on the test gun really isn’t that bad. It’s two-stage and not adjustable. Stage two has a lot of movement and is heavy but I don’t think it is too heavy. It’s half of what a Colt revolver double action trigger pull would be.
The safety is a simple crossbolt safety that blocks the trigger from moving. It works and seems very solid.
Sights
The sights are fiberoptic, front and rear. The rear sight adjusts for both windage and elevation. A knob on the windage adjustment moves the sight left and right between smooth click detents. The elevation adjustment is a screw that has no detents. And, it works backwards. Turn the screw in to raise the sight and out to lower it. There is a scale on the windage adjustment, so you know where you are. The elevation adjustment has no scale.
There is also a set of 11mm dovetails cut into the spring tube. So an optical sight can be mounted. Neither the front nor rear sight can be removed, so keep that in mind.
One of the key factors mentioned in most of the reviews is the pistol’s accuracy. Apparently shooters across the board think it’s accurate. Even the shooters who rate it lowest admit that it’s accurate. That’s why I think it could be a potential good buy. I hope to explore this further in this series, by which I mean if it’s accurate at 10 meters I don’t plan stopping there..
Silencer
The silencer on the muzzle is permanently affixed to the barrel. It is baffled and the Trevox is quiet, but since most of the discharge sound comes from the powerplant and not from the muzzle, the quietness is not due to the silencer. Most of the quiet comes from a powerplant that’s relatively smooth.
Discussion
I see a lot of parallels between this pistol, and the BSA Scorpion. The Scorpion is both powerful and accurate. The one major area where the two differ is the trigger. The Scorpion trigger is both adjustable and light. I will be interested to see just how accurate this Trevox is, and whether it warrants a test at a longer distance.
Summary
On the surface the Trevox doesn’t seem that exciting. If, however, under the skin there beats the heart of an accurate pistol, this review could turn out to be surprisingly good.
“Speaking of the clamshell package, Umarex must have won an award for having the hardest clamshell package to open. It took me five minutes to get inside with titanium scissors, and another five minutes to break into the bottom compartment where the manual is!”
I bet your army vocabulary got a nice workout 😉 Titanium scissors just seems weird to me, as the weight of my household scissors isn’t a major concern.
Sean,
I have no clue why they are made of titanium, but I have 4 pair and they work very well. They will cut almost anything, short of an Umarex clamshell. 😉
B.B.
B.B. and Sean,
We have one pair of titanium scissors my wife bought only because it was in the clearance aisle and greatly marked down in price. We often couldn’t find a pair of scissors when we needed one, so we bought a half dozen (the titanium was one of them) and placed them around the house.
The titanium one gets by far the most use simply because of its location in our kitchen junk/tool/junk-tool drawer. It seems as sharp today as the day we first used it, and it gets hard use and no maintenance. It’s also a “kitchen scissors” because it has a jar opener built into the handle, although we’ve never used that function, and we’ve never used it for cooking.
It has made short work of clamshell packaging dozens of times, including an Umarex clamshell for the 2nd version Umarex Walther PPK/s.
Michael
they are just coated with titanium. if they were solid titanium would be real expensive
It sounds to me like it’s what our carbide cutting tools use as a coating. TiCN.
Definitely allows for more use when machining production parts we make. In other words makes the drills and such last longer.
It also looks a lot like the Hatsan mod 25. Essentially a r7 powerplant on a recoilless pistol.
I have one of those Hatsan Supercharger 25 pistols and it’s anything but recoil-less. I know the action moves and all that but it recoils more than any air pistol I have ever shot, it’s almost useless in my hands. I would have better luck throwing that Hatsan at a target than actually shooting at it… And I love pistols, I have a Webley Tempest, a couple of Crosman 2240 custom jobs, Beeman P17, and a whole slew of random CO2 guns that are all far superior in accuracy to the Supercharger 25. It is really powerful though, I noticed Pyramid says they only got 450 fps using the 11.9 gr RWS Hobby pellets and mine was well over 500. I can’t remember exactly how fast it shot with lead but I do remember it was 599 fps with the Crosman 9.5 grain SSP’s.. I shot it a bunch and couldn’t hit 600 fps but it was over 585 every time.
Odd. Mine recoils for sure, but it is super manageable. It will plink pop cans at 20 yards all day without trying. I’m not sure how fast mine is, but it was shooting 7fpe last time I tested. And it loves being rested.
I agree with Edw, below, it is odd that you have the accuracy problem with the SC-25. Mine is dead-on accurate. It needs an artillery hold, to be sure, but it is what the Trevox, which I also own, should be.
My only problem with the SC 25 is my own eyesight; as one ages, it becomes more and more of a problem until the day of cataract surgery and corrective lenses.
I don’t know how many rounds you have through yours or caliber, but once broken in the Hatsan, at least in .177 caliber is very accurate.
Seantheaussie,
Titanium in sissors isn’t used primarily for weight saving!
Titanium is very corrosion resistant and that’s why they have found a place in all my First Aid Kits.
I spend a good deal of time in salt or brackish water areas and even spendy SS (rostfrei) Emergency Room sissors will rust in short order. They also hold a cutting edge well; but are difficult to sharpen.
shootski
shootski,
Thanks for that. Now I at least know the reason for them!
B.B.
BB
Read my comment above about the TiCN coating on or machining tools we use at work. It keeps the cutting edge sharper longer.
Maybe something that would work on straight razors come to think about it.
My uncle was one of the engineers on the SR-71 spy plane, which was made of titanium. An interesting thing about titanium is that you can’t write on it with a lead pencil. When they needed some type of work done on the titanium, he said that they would mark it with chalk.
Brent
Now you make me wonder if a lead pencil will write on the TiCN coated tools at work. No particular reason why. Would just like to know now. I’ll have to see.
B.B.,
Interesting pistol review…who keeps saying Springers are dead!
Although they come as scissors mine are mostly EMTTrauma Shears.
As a number of readers have pointed out most are SS coated with titanium in the form of TiCN a few are in fact made with solid Titanium and are expensive but remain functional for longer in harsch environment.
FYI if you and other readers haven’t run across this resource:
http://www.lasc.us/Fryxell_Book_Contents.htm
It has, “From Ingot to Target” available for free download.
A great resource from LASC.US about lead bullet casting and use in hunting and the various target shooting disciplines.
shootski
B.B.,
Where did they go wrong with the cocking geometry? Is the pivot pin too far back or is the cocking shoe too short? Could it be remedied by redesigning the grip placement?
Siraniko
Take a close look at the pictures on the PA site. There is one with the barrel broken open. It really does appear that the pivot pin is both too far back, and too high – if that last part makes any sense.
Jim M.
Jim M.,
Thanks for pointing it out to me. Looks like somebody settled for good enough when they were finalizing the design.
Siraniko
Siraniko,
Yes, pin location is part of the problem. The whole geometry is off.
B.B.
B.B.,
I noticed that the Trevox has a more conventional grip angle than the target style angle of the Scorpion.
I read an online thread somewhere a whole back in which posters complained about the “awkward” angle of Steyr MA-1 and Glock pistols’ grips and praised more upright grips as being more ergonomic.
I wonder if the reason for their preference is that one is better for single-hand shooting, and the other is more forgiving with the various two-hand grips.
Michael
B.B.,
Well, the price is right for a big honking pistol that is also supposedly accurate. While never having one of these, large, impressive looking, one handed beast, they all look quite unwieldy. At any rate, quite interesting. Any of these would make an impressive piece to show off to someone unfamiliar with air guns. Something like the 2240 or Chaser platform holds more appeal for me personally.
Good Day to one and all,…. Chris
Looks like the Benjamin Trail NP pistol.
B.B., I understand why the front sight appears to be set back on the Scorpion, since it has a removable cocking aid.
But this gun has a non-removeable silencer; so it would seem like the front sight could be easily moved (by the manufacturer) forward to take advantage of more sight radius…
…or might that interfere with the tough cocking geometry?
Dave,
Yeah, you need all the leverage you can get to cock the gun. Also, fiberoptic sights break too easily to put them near the hands.
B.B.
Oh OK; got it; thanks. =>
B.B.
So far this looks like a $70 mistake. Waiting on the next series of reports to confirm.
-Y
I own the Benjamin Trail NP and am waiting for a police buy-back program so I can sell it for melting down and at least recover some of the lost capital on this poorly made Chinese pistol.
I took a chance on the Trevox and have a potential police buy-back candidate. It exceeds the Trail NP, but, like its Chinese cousin has a horrid, simply horrid, trigger. Unlike the Trail NP, at least the sights are mediocre rather than impossible to use.
The primary problem with the Trevox sight is the poor tolerances of the adjustable rear; a seeming problem throughout the shooting sports manufacturers, in my opinion. Even my premium most recent RWS rifle purchase used hinged thermoplastic parts rather than machined steel and was horrid until I used a 1989 spring steel rear and the accuracy magically returned! Trevox needs to improve the mold of the rear sight or just start over.
The trigger, however, is the biggest negative. It is so demanding that I can only shoot it at the beginning of any basement range session. It fatigues one to the point that the quiver of nystagmus makes it impossible to have a smooth finger follow-through.
The Trevox needs to be up-gunned (so to speak) with a better rear sight and a less demanding trigger weight of pull and it may well be a real winner.
Get a Diana LP-8 magnum.
Read B.B.’s review.
-Y
Yogi: I own a Beeman P-1, the “Holy Grail of Air Pistols,” as quipped TG. I know from a long association with it what an excellent trigger and air pistol can and should be. I also own a Gamo P-45 single-stroke pneumatic, and it, though a much less pistol is also excellent. My Hastan Supercharger is a worthy piece and what Benjamin and Umarex should have imported and branded.
I have shot a friend’s LP-8, and it is a very worthy piece. It’s grandfather, my RWS 5G-TO1 is still a great shooter and has been rebuilt once. I concur on the LP-8, but it is a bit pricey.
My Browning 800 Mag was replaced by UMAREX by a new one since it could not be repaired and was involved in a recall. The new one is extremely stiff, but, hopefully, it will smooth out as did its predecessor.
I shoot springers, save for the Gamo P-45. I am used to the foibles of the expanding spring and weight on the sears, but the Benjamin Trial is junk and the UMAREX needs work. The Chinese ARE capable of great work, but one has to specify that level of performance in order to get it.
Everyone,
Just watched a YouTube video from American Airgunner with Rossi Morreale and Brittney Glaze hunting axis deer in Texas with the Umarex Hammer 50 cal air rifle. See what this girl does with her first experience with airguns. That Hammer has a very definite recoil as can be seen when she shoots it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SrQDo4-o11c&feature=em-uploademail
Geo
All I saw was a pretty girl. I still know what they look like.
tt
I guess you must have watched the video then…yes, she is pretty, and knows how to shoot.
Geo
I watched the show.
Rossi had another pretty girl on recently too.
tt
Geo,
Very nice,… “all” around. That things packs a kick! I used to get the Pursuit channel and I assume she is from one of those shows. If so, it is good to see the powder burning crowd embracing air guns in a hunting way. It can only help with the exposure and the attraction. Not to mention, it cost less and you can pretty well shoot anytime you want.
Chris
After some time to reflect, I see we have 2 pistols (in the last 2 days) that both put out the same power in .177. One a springer, one not. One a repeater, one not. One rifle ready, one not. One requires a bit of fuss, the other not,… just cock and load. I guess it all comes down to preference. Or both,… for the sake of variety. I am going to have to side with the Chaser platform. Then again… I am PCP junkie,…. so pay me no mind.
At the end of the day,… I like choices and like to see the air gun companies scrambling to accommodate the consumer,.. whatever their taste may be.