The Umarex Notos pre-charged pneumatic carbine has been around for several years, earning a devoted following in that time. It is powerful, compact, light, maneuverable, and quite accurate for a short-barreled gun. And, for about $250, it’s also a great value.
Available in .22 caliber, the Notos has enough power for small game hunting and pesting. It’s also a fun-to-shoot and relatively quiet backyard plinker. For airheads who like to tinker, some cool aftermarket modifications are available, and a growing community of enthusiasts is finding new ways to make this great little gun even better. I’ve been shooting the Notos for a few months. Here are my thoughts.
Umarex Notos Carbine Overview
Specs
Type: PCP
Action: Side lever with rotary magazine
Caliber: .22
Magazine capacity: 7 (single shot tray also included)
Projectile type: Pellets
Fill pressure: 250 bar (3,625 psi)
Shots per fill: 21
Max velocity: 750 fps
Max muzzle energy: 21 foot pounds
Overall length: 34 inches (with stock fully extended)
Barrel length: 11.75 inches
Weight: 4 pounds
Price: $269.99 (MSRP)
Pros
Accurate
Good power
Regulated
Good trigger
Compact design
Value
Cons
Magazine can be finicky
Not many shots per fill
Umarex is known for producing solid airguns that offer better-than-average performance at their price points. The Notos PCP carbine continues that tradition. It is a slick-looking gun that only weighs 4 pounds. It can also be used as a pistol. Even though the gun is lightweight, it is still a bit bulky and performs best with the included shoulder stock attached. The stock is expandable to adjust the pull from about 13.5 inches to a touch over 16 inches. The total length with the stock fully expanded is 34 inches. The dimensions are similar to a Benjamin Marauder pistol equipped with a shoulder stock. I own a “P-rod” and the Notos feels much more substantial in hand than the Benjamin.
Small packages come with some unavoidable trade-offs. The Notos’ barrel is only 11.75 inches long, which limits velocity and accuracy. The air cylinder holds only 66 cubic centimeters of air, so you won’t get an abundance of full-power shots out of a fill, which maxes out at a pressure of 3,625 psi.
The Notos comes from the factory with its internal regulator set at 1900 psi. Umarex says the gun will produce 21 full-power shots, and in my experience, that number proved to be accurate, give or take a shot or two, depending on temperature.
The Notos uses a male Foster fitting for filling. It’s worth noting that the gun must be cocked during the filling process. The Notos is equipped with a two-stage adjustable trigger. The factory setting was far too heavy for my liking, checking in at 4 pounds. It’s easily adjustable (using a 1.5 mm hex wrench), and I dropped the trigger break to about 1.5 pounds, which worked well for me.
The Notos doesn’t come with sights. A Picatinny optics rail allows for mounting optics of your choice. The round magazine loads from the left, and the cocking lever is also on the left side. The mag holds only seven pellets, which those of us spoiled by massive bullpup magazines might find frustrating. But given the gun’s modest number of shots per fill, that’s not a big deal. I simply re-filled the gun after every third magazine.
More frustrating is the quality of those magazines. One of the two magazines that came with the test gun broke early in the testing. There are several aftermarket magazines available, and if I were to buy this gun, I would pick up a few of those.
At the Range
I’ve been shooting the Umarex Notos carbine regularly for about six months. I’ve taken it to my gun club and shot out to 50 yards, but most of my shooting has been at my backyard 25-yard range and a 15-yard range set up in my house.
For sighting in, I outfitted the Notos with a 4-16x44 mm Element Helix scope. That’s way more scope than this little gun needs, but I prefer to err toward better optics when testing accuracy. The fact that I’m shooting indoors is an indication of how quiet this gun is. Although it's not whisper quiet like the fully shrouded Benjamin Marauder pistol, it is plenty quiet for backyard shooting.
Umarex claims a max velocity of 700 feet per second with 12-grain pellets. My test gun far exceeded that performance. It averaged 718 feet per second with 18.1-grain FX domed pellets and 763 feet per second with copper-plated 14-grain Barracuda Field Target Special pellets. Barracuda Match 22.14-grain pellets were down around 630 feet per second. Velocities were consistent, with spreads typically no more than 10 feet per second.
Those numbers translate to 20-foot pounds of energy, which is pretty good for a gun with a barrel less than a foot long. Of course, power does no good if those pellets don’t hit the target. Light, short-barreled guns are inherently less accurate than heavier guns with longer barrels. The Notos was about as accurate as could be, especially after I adjusted the trigger. And it didn’t seem to be too picky about pellets.
My best groups were shot with 18-grain Air Arms domed pellets and the 18.1-grain FX pellets mentioned above. Shooting off a rest in calm conditions, half-inch groups were the norm at 25 yards. Indoors at 15 yards, the groups were in the ¼ to ⅓ inch range. The lighter Barracuda Field Target copper-plated pellets were almost as good. The 22.14-grain Barracudas did not shoot as well. As noted above, one of my two magazines broke soon after I started shooting the gun. The other has worked fine. The single-shot tray is a handy alternative.
A Great Air Rifle for the Money
I’ve had a Benjamin Marauder pistol for over a decade, and with the added shoulder stock, it’s one of my go-to plinking guns. But the Umarex Notos carbine may have just replaced it as my favorite. The Notos is not quite as quiet as the Marauder, but it’s just as powerful and possibly even a bit more accurate. The build quality seems quite good—especially for a gun with an MSRP just north of $250—though we’ll have to wait and see how it holds up over the years.
I don’t need another airgun, but it would be tough to return this one. So I’m planning to buy it. With a compact scope this will be a fun backyard shooter and something I can throw into my hunting pack for those encounters with squirrels while afield looking for larger game.
