The Umarex Notos.
This report covers:
- Velocity test
- Attach the butt
- Fill the Notos
- 3D printers awake!
- Notos onboard gauge
- Getting ready to shoot
- Trouble!
- Bring on the aftermarket mag
- Made by airgunners for airguns
- 3D printed
- A lot more to come
This report on the Umarex Notos will be a little strange in that it will extend into two days. I will publish the second part tomorrow. I will label it as its own part, just to keep things organized, but there is entirely too much to cover in just one report and yet these things all have to be said at the same time.
Velocity test
Today would normally be a test of the Notos velocity, and I will get to that, but there is a lot more to cover before I do. So the velocity part will come tomorrow.
Attach the butt
The first step was to attach the Notos’ butt to the pistol’s grip. I expected a one-screw quick attachment like many military carbines have, but instead I discovered that four tiny screws are required. Shades of 1950! The screws are steel and the grip frame they screw into is aluminum, so be EXTREMELY careful and do not cross-thread any one of them!
To attach the buttstock four small steel screw are screwed through the butt grip and into the pistol’s aluminum grip panels. Be careful not to strip them!
Fill the Notos
The next step is to fill the reservoir. The Notos is filled to 3,625 psi through a probe that is inserted into the end of the reservoir. Fortunately this probe ends in a Foster quick disconnect filling, making the rifle easy to fill. And with what we have recently learned about oiling the seals and o-rings, I made sure to put many drops of silicone oil into the gun during charging.
Notos fill probe.
Insert the Notos fill probe and all you have to do is connect your tank’s hose with the Foster fitting.
3D printers awake!
The fill probe has no place to be stored. This is a perfect opportunity for a 3D printer to make something to clamp the probe to the buttstock or gun so it’s always with you. I left mine in the fill probe hole, but if it stays there it needs a cover to keep it clean. Ian — here is a 3D printing opportunity!.
Notos onboard gauge
The manual says to expect the onboard pressure gauge to be accurate within 10 percent of the actual indicated pressure. My fill tank gauge that I know to be accurate said the Notos gauge was reading about 300 psi low at 3625 psi, so that factory warning is pretty much correct. I filled the rifle using the Notos’ onboard gauge and filled until it all the way. That will matter tomorrow when we see the shot count.
Getting ready to shoot
I wanted to test both the Notos’ single-shot tray and the Notos’ 7-round circular magazine. So many people have criticized the Notos magazine that I wanted to find out if anything they said was right.
The single-shot tray and circular magazine are both held in place by a rare earth magnet.
The Notos comes with one 7-shot circular magazine.
Since the Notos mag only holds seven .22-caliber pellets and I wanted 10-shot strings, I used the magazine first and then replaced it with the tray for the last three shots. That way I not only got to try both ways of loading, I also got to see how hard or easy both items were to insert into the receiver.
Trouble!
This is where the test became difficult. The single-shot tray worked very well, though with a riflescope mounted low it will be extremely difficult to load because of how deep in the receiver it sits. If you use a scout scope that sits forward of the receiver this tray will work fine. It does install in the receiver very easily.
The magazine, on the other hand, is not that good. The plastic cover on the one I got swings out of the way when you place it in the rifle’s receiver and pellets fall out of the mag. I went through this a couple times and gave up. I managed to shoot one Notos magazine’s worth of shots in the first test before stopping. I also found the mag difficult to insert in the receiver, though over time it may become easier.
Maybe I went into this test with bias but this magazine is not a good one in my opinion. It can be used in a crisis but it’s too much trouble for everyday work. I will say that of the shots that fed through it, they all went into the barrel without jamming. But I only tried it once, so that’s no test. The single shot tray fed perfectly.
Bring in the aftermarket mag
I wasn’t planning on bringing the aftermarket magazine and single-shot loader into the report so soon, but after picking many pellets up from my garage floor I gave up on the factory mag. I put the Maple Custom Products (MCP) magazine and single-shot loader into use at this point.
The 7-shot Maple Custom Products (MCP) magazine loads easily, fits into the receiver well and feeds well. This mag slipped into the receiver okay, but it still needed some coaxing the first time I put it in.
The MCP single-shot loader is unique. Once in the receiver it flips out to the left side to accept a pellet.
To load the MCP loader you cock the rifle, retracting the bolt. Then swing the loader out to the left and insert a pellet. Press it back into the receiver and it aligns perfectly.
Made by airgunners for airguns
When you examine the MCP mag and loader you can see they were made by airgunners for airguns. Instead of using nothing to hold the pellet in each chamber, MCP uses an o-ring to keep both the head and skirt from moving until the bolt presses through. This has been done this way in the airgun world for at least the past 20 years, if not longer, but it still works and pellets don’t fall out!
3D printed
Both these MCP items are 3D printed and they both work fine. As Ian pointed out, these are ideal items for 3D printers.
A lot more to come
I sound critical of the Notos in this report but I’m just pointing out things every buyer needs to know. Remember that this is only the first half of the velocity test. I’ll finish it tomorrow.
Tom,
It looks like the corners were cut deliberately to encourage people to make accessories for this carbine causing the owner to have a vested interest in this rifle. I’m thinking of how the 13xx series created a market of accessories and modifications for its followers. Maybe that’s what was in the back of their minds.
Siraniko
B.B.
Sounds like things can only get better from here?
-Y
I am glad I never bought one of these. This report sounds like this product was rushed to market and the issues it had were never corrected by the manufacturer. The owners of these are indeed most fortunate that there are fast becoming a plethora of 3D printers out there and folks willing to sit down and do a little thinking about solutions for the issues this and other products have.
I know that one of the attractions of this airgun is the cost. Are the folks who are buying this also including the cost of the aftermarket solutions to its issues? Probably not. Being tinkerers, part of their joy is in finding such solutions and applying them.
RR,
I think you have it completely backwards, based on the magazine problem. The Notos has a huge number of positive reviews and the one I am testing is doing great except for the magazine issue. I would hold off judging until you see how well it shoots.
BB
BB,
Maybe I do have it all discombobulated, but that magazine issue would make me want to get rid of it immediately, if not sooner. I will grit my teeth for the moment though. I do know there are a bunch of nice shooting airguns that do not have magazine issues, or any other issues for that matter.
CARM and Maple Custom Products sell a LOT of magazines to Notos owners, if the forums are to be believed.
Perhaps Umarex should seek them out as a supplier….. Just a thought.
OP,
From what I have heard, I am not surprised. It sounds to me like the engineers need to be allowed to go back to work.
Would tightening the screw on the factory mag improve it?
Ade,
Tightening the screw might not do it. Perhaps repositioning the mag cover spring would help.
BB
I really dislike those dial-a-problem plastic magazines and think they are a cop-out by the manufacturers who can’t be bothered to design a proper advancing system into the receiver.
My Air Arms, Daystate, Walther and Weihrauch PCPs all have magazine systems that don’t require a spring loaded cassette so there are other solutions. The Weihrauch design, with it’s anti-double-load is the best.
Besides alignment issues inherent with the cassette and housing being independent of the receiver, the pellets are damaged by being shuffled/bashed around at every shot.
The PP750 is marketed as a repeater, it’s plastic magazine don’t work. Still, it makes a fine single shot pistol.
With all the accuracy improvements the manufacturers are making to airguns the magazine is still a major liability. You would think that using a Weihrauch style system would be a practical solution.
Cheers!
Thanks for the well-done (as usual) report. I have mostly been using the single shot tray on my Notos. I didn’t remember having the kind of difficulties that you describe with the magazine. So, I loaded the magazine that came with my Notos with pellets and tried it again this morning. It works fine for me. I will say that the clear plastic cover is designed to rotate counter-clockwise before loading and then clockwise as you load the pellets. That is a backwards rotation from the magazines that come with the Benjamin Marauder, for example.
Also, I suggest a little silicone oil on the o-rings on the fill adaptor. I failed to oil mine and consequently have had to replace the o-rings on the adapter with some, from a kit of o-rings, that appear to be the same size. It works better than ever now.
Also, I had already replaced the little rubber cap that came on my Crosman 3622 fill port with a better looking device sold by Buck Rail. I had saved that rubber cap. That cap now resides on the fill adapter that I am currently leaving in the Notos. I think those Crosman 3622 rubber fill port caps are available as replacements for minimal cost.
Looking forward to tomorrow’s report on velocities.
Tom,
There are many small rubber tips available that work great on Foster fill probes. Most of the ones I have were thread protectors on screws. The ones I have are 5/16″ inside diameter.
Jonah and Elmer,
Thanks guys. I guess I need to get with the program.
BB
I am a big fan of those 3d printed magazines. I have some from Maple Custom Products and of course from Karm like the one I sent to Tom to test with the Avenger. He didn’t seem to like that one too much as I recall, so I am curious to see how this goes with the Notos. They both work great for me as I too really dislike the plastic covered mags like the stock Notos one, what I commonly refer to as Marauder style mags. The airgun manufacturers have really gotten lazy with magazine design.
Good report!
Bob
B.B.,
Corrigendum: in Fill the Notos 2nd photograph caption
Insert the Notos fill probe and all you have to do is connect your talk’s (TANK’S) hose with the Foster fitting.
Then you can talk about it all you want ;^)
I have never used an airgun with a Fill Probe.
Please, can you answer this two part operational question: Does the Fill Probe have a check valve or is there one built into the reservoir? How does this configuration effect the Fill sequence?
e.g. do you bleed the fill hose/assembly after shutting off the supply and before disconnecting and/or probe removal.
Magazine issue ar common in almost all removable projectile loaders; one of the reasons that aircraft machine gun/cannon systems typically are belt fed.
Aside: the Vietnam era aluminum M-16 magazines came loaded with projectiles and were NEVER intended to be reused/reloaded that was a crime against that Service Rifle visited upon it by Logistics types :^l
shootski
shootski,
Fixed. Thanks,
There is no standard for a quick disconnect fixture, commonly called Foster. The check valve can be in the fitting or in the end of the reservoir.
You always bleed the hose prior to disconnecting from the rifle.
BB
Most air guns that use fill probes just use a hollow fill probe.
There is an exit hole for the air that is between the two O-rings.
Attach your probe to your Foster connecting on your tank hose.
Insert the probe close your bleed valve on your tank open the valve that fills the gun.
When you reach your desired, fill pressure, turn off your Tank valve.
Then bleed your hose and pull the fill probe out of your gun.
It really does not change the way you fill your gun.
You’re just attaching an adapter between your foster fitting and that particular gun
Ian.
45Bravo,
YES!
Ian, Thank You for taking the time to understand both parts of my question as in-artfully as i asked it.
So the back pressure check action occurs in the Fill Port assembly in the end of the reservoir…i think i got it down now :^)
shootski
PS: it is always great to feel the attitude of SERVICE to one another this Blog of Tom’s inspires time and time again.
Yes, you have the idea now.
We each have our strengths and weaknesses in certain subjects.
Here we can share knowledge, and learn new things even if we have never been physically exposed to that item.
Ian.
“And with what we have recently learned about oiling the seals and o-rings, I made sure to put many drops of silicone oil into the gun during charging.”
I’m a Notos owner and this is the first time I’ve come across this idea. Tom, or anyone, can you please share a link where I can learn more about lubricating fill probes? Thanks.
Rivegauche,
Maybe I can do even better than that. How about I write an answer to you as tomorrow’s report?
BB
Thank you.
Rivegauche,
You bet! I’m well into writing that report and it is one that we have needed. Thanks for asking.
BB