Umarex Notos CRK Air Rifle Review .22 Caliber

VALUE FOR MONEY

At a Street Price of $264.99, the Umarex Notos CRK offers a huge array of features! It’s the lowest-priced PCP air rifle with sidelever cocking. Also it has magazine feed, built-in regulator and hammer spring adjuster, plus an efficient silencer.

And there’s more…

Consider the adjustable stock, extra-long Picatinny rail and adaptability to pistol configuration, if required.

This is easy! The Notos is clearly outstanding value for money in today’s airgun market.

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Umarex Notos PCP Carbine 0.22

SPEED AND ACCURACY

The Umarex Notos CRK tested by HAM delivered a maximum Muzzle Velocity of 877 FPS when tested with 10.03 Grain H&N Field Target Trophy Green pellets. Of course, this velocity falls with increasing pellet weight. However the Muzzle Energy – which is much more important – increases as you can see from the data below.

It’s notable that the Notos tested by HAM shot Daystate Howler slugs accurately, in spite of the gun’s relatively low power. This could be of interest to the many shooters who would like to experiment with this type of ammunition.

At 25 Yards, the Notos produced a very good group for 10 shots using H&N Baracuda Match pellets. It’s a shame about that one impact to the left of the group, however it felt like a good shot at the time and so was not called as a “flyer”.

At any rate, that’s a pretty good group for a $265 PCP with only a 7X scope, a trigger pull weight of close to 4 Lbs and me shooting!

TRIGGER AND COCKING EFFORT

The Umarex Notos CRK tested by HAM delivered an average trigger pull weight of 3 Lbs 14.6 Oz. This is probably a reasonable figure for a general-purpose air rifle. However, it can be adjusted if required. As always, HAM tested the Notos with the trigger set “as received” from the factory.

The two-stage trigger has a pleasant first stage. The second stage “wall” is very distinctly felt – there’s no doubt whatsoever that you’ve reached the release point!

However, actually releasing the sear is rather less than a “glass break” experience. It’s rather gritty and does require a conscious effort to keep pulling the trigger “through” the release point. However, it’s not unpredictable.

Sure, this is not a “match grade” trigger. But let’s be realistic. It’s not bad for an air rifle of this price.

The manual safety is of the push across type that blocks against the gun’s frame when engaged. It’s positive, yet easy to use. However this status of this type of safety is not easy to see at any distance from the gun – nor, indeed – from the firing position when you’re shooting it. But it is easy to feel with the trigger finger.

The cocking lever may require some adaptability from the shooter. It’s mounted on the left. That’s the opposite side to normal, and there’s no possibility of moving it to the right (usual) side. But the HAM testers had no trouble as a result of the unusual position.

And while the provision of sidelever cocking at such a low price point is a breakthrough for the Umarex Notos CRK, the lever action itself is rather heavy. That’s undoubtedly due to the limited space available in the compact breech design and resultant limited Mechanical Advantage for the lever mechanism itself.

One more thing about the side lever. When you push it back against the breech after cocking the gun, be sure to push it right home. There’s a catch that should be engaged (you’ll hear the click) to hold the cocking lever in place for firing. If that’s not engaged, you’ll see the cocking lever swing out when the Notos is fired.

COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS

Marked prominently on the box, you see the headline specification. It is, of course, for the Muzzle Velocity: 780 FPS.

In fact the Umarex Notos CRK tested by HAM exceeded this claim by over 100 FPS, shooting 10.03 Grain alloys at an average of 877.12 FPS!

11.9 Grain RWS Hobby lead pellets averaged 805.57 FPS on test, again beating the manufacturer’s claim for the Notos.

Even the mid-weight 14.66 Grain H&N Field Target Trophies shot at 760.66 FPS, which – under normal circumstances – would qualify as meeting the spec pretty well (within 3% of the claim).

There’s no question that our Notos exceeded Umarex USA’s claims. But if you want a different performance profile, just pop off the stock and adjust the hammer spring adjustment screw…

CONSISTENCY

In a word” “outstanding!”

In somewhat more words. The Umarex Notos CRK tested by HAM produced consistency results that we would normally expect from a $2,000 air rifle!

The average Standard Deviation (the mathematical expression of shot-to-shot variability in a string) was just 2.35 FPS. That’s an incredibly low figure – particularly with un-selected pellets!

That’s clearly shown in the shootdown chart below. It’s immediately apparent that the 1,900 PSI regulator set point occurs at around shot 20, after which the muzzle velocity falls rapidly but consistently.

In practice, it’s clear that 21 consistent shots are available from one fill of High Pressure Air. Conveniently, that equals three seven-shot magazines. So the simple rule with the Umarex Notos CRK in “factory trim” will be to re-fill with air after shooting three magazines.

More strong performance in the consistency category was demonstrated by the trigger pull weight. This varied by just +/- 4 Ounces around the average of 3 Lbs 14.6 Oz. That’s an imperceptible difference to at least my human finger!

If that’s not enough, the Umarex Notos CRK tested by HAM gave consistently excellent accuracy with just about all the standard HAM test pellets. It also shot Daystate Howler slugs well, too. The Notos is definitely not pellet-picky!

NOISE LEVEL

With relatively low power, .22 caliber only and a built-in silencer, the Umarex Notos CRK has all the specifications to be a quiet air rifle.

And it is!

This is definitely a backyard-friendly airgun with a quiet report that’s very unlikely to disrupt the neighbors.

SIGHTS AND SCOPE

This is a surprisingly complex area for the Notos. So we’ll cover the topic in rather more detail than usual…

The Umarex Notos CRK is equipped with a long top Picatinny rail for scope mounting. Although the base gun is not equipped with iron sights, these can be easily sourced and added if required.

The second option is to use a red dot sight.

Then, of course, most owners will choose to fit a riflescope. The issue is that one needs to be mounted in such a way that you still have access to the magazine and cocking lever.

This means that it may be tough to fit what could otherwise be a great solution – the Leapers UTG Bugbuster.

Yes, I could gain more space by swapping the rings so that the locking levers are on the other side of the gun. But the rear scope ring would still impede easy access to the cocking lever.

Your tolerance of this access issue may be more or less than that of the HAM testers. However, to gain complete freedom of access to the magazine and cocking lever of the Umarex Notos CRK, we chose to mount a Leapers UTG Accushot Scout SWAT 2-7×44 scope.

This scope has a particularly long eye relief which – of course – is ideal for this project. Positioned the right distance down that nice, long Picatinny rail, now I had my Umarex Notos scope mounting completed – scout rifle style!

Note that with any type of optical sighting system, the long-necked HAM testers found it beneficial to raise the scope (or red dot sight) using a Leapers UTG riser. The 0.5-Inch model worked just fine for us.

For more detail on the range of sighting options for the Notos, check out this separate HAM post.

SHOOTABILITY

In so many respects the Umarex Notos CRK is a dream to shoot!

It’s compact – between 31.5 and 34 Inches depending on the stock length you set. Plus, even with the relatively heavy UTG scope, rings and riser, the all-up weight was still only 6 Lbs 0 Oz.

These figures make the Notos ideal for off-hand shooting. The light weight and collapsible stock make it an ideal airgun for all the family, too.

The collapsible stock was a little rattly (as M4-type stocks usually are), however it did work pretty well. The rake of the pistol grip is good, holding the HPA tube is comfortable for the forehand and the rubber buttpad is good and grippy. These are all good things!

HAM Tester Doug Rogers commented in his test notes: “The Notos fits well and it’s fun to shoot!”

The only issue is associated with access to the magazine and cocking lever – as described above in the “Scopes” section of this review.

The HAM Team does have one request, however. We’d like a magazine with a greater capacity than 7 rounds. A 10-shot mag would be a very worthwhile upgrade to the Notos, if the manufacturers could comply!

APPEARANCE AND FINISH

“The Notos looks nice. My wife would say it’s cute,” commented Doug Rogers.

Yes, the Umarex Notos CRK is a good-looking airgun. Although a “black gun”, it does not look unduly militaristic. This is probably due to its compact size and svelte proportions.

The finish of the test gun was certainly good for the price.

There were a couple of tiny chips at corners in the blacking of the receiver, plus a couple of little scratches that had been rectified (?) by the factory with a dab of black paint. The remainder of the metal surfaces and synthetic parts exhibited excellent surface finish.

BUYING AND OWNING

The Umarex Notos CRK is available through the usual sources such as Pyramyd Air, Airgun Depot and Airguns of Arizona. It’s covered by a 12-month warranty that’s provided by Umarex USA.

The Owner’s Manual is – as usual with Umarex – well-produced and multi-lingual. Again we compliment Umarex for their honesty on pressure gauge accuracy (they state +/- 10%). However it is disappointing that the pressure gauge is located at the front of the tube, where it’s tough to read without pointing the barrel at yourself.

The Notos is filled using a probe. There’s a rotating collar around the tube to keep junk out of the fill port. The HAM Team definitely prefers a “Foster”-type connection, however probe worked well for HAM testing.

The Umarex Notos CRK includes single shot tray and one 7-round magazine. That magazine seems tiny to those of us with fat fingers, but practice makes perfect!

Overall, the Notos’ compact size and collapsible stock will make it an ideal “truck gun” or “back door squirrel gun” for many airgunners.

The buttstock stock  is supplied separately and installed using the four screws supplied. It’s definitely a good tight fit. The only downside is that you need to remove the stock to adjust the hammer spring tension screw. But how often are you likely do be doing this?

TEST TARGETS

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Umarex Notos PCP Carbine 0.22

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