Posts Tagged ‘CO2 pistol’
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB pistol and rifle: Part 5
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Umarex MORPH 3X is many airguns in one!
Today, you’ll get a twofer — thanks to blog reader Les, who asked about adjusting dot sights and lasers. I said I would test the Umarex MORPH 3X with a dot sight, so I thought I’d combine that test with instructions on how to adjust the sight to hit the point of impact.
I hadn’t considered testing a laser on the Morph, but I can certainly describe how to do it. I’ll get to that at the end of the report.
The dot sight
What is a dot sight? Well, once you understand what it is, you’ll understand that adjusting one is the same as adjusting a scope. Because that is what a dot sight is — a scope without the magnification (usually) or the crosshairs!
HUH?
On scopes, the crosshairs or reticle are lines that you see through to see the target. By adjusting where the lines are, you can adjust where your shot strikes the target. I think most folks understand that.
All a dot sight does is substitute a glowing dot of light for the center of the crosshairs. In other words, the intersection of the crosshairs is replaced by a glowing dot of light. Put that over what you want to hit; and if the sight is adjusted properly, it works the same as a scope. No one other than the shooter can see the dot.
The glowing dot is different than the crosshairs because it isn’t a solid object. It’s a reflection on the surface of a lens that appears in your line of sight. You can see it because the reflection is physically there, but it isn’t anything that can be touched, anymore than you can touch an image in a mirror. But you can adjust where the dot is seen by adjusting the lens that reflects it.
Try this
If you have a dot sight, try looking through it and moving your head around from side to side and up and down. You’ll note that the dot moves against the target quite a bit. That’s because you’re moving your eye, and that changes where the reflection of the dot appears to be. You can do the same thing with the reticle of a scope, but not to the same extent. Where a scope reticle will appear to move just a little against a target, a dot appears to move more. That’s the difference between looking at something that is physically there and something that’s just reflected off a curved piece of glass.
That should warn you that dot sights have a lot of parallax problems and require consistent eye placement for every shot. The same is true with open sights, but open sights give cues when the alignment isn’t right. The front sight moves relative to the rear sight. But a dot sight is just a single point of reference, so you can’t see the misalignment as easily. Therefore, the placement of your head is extremely important if you expect to hit the target every time.
What I’m saying about dot sights applies to the older tube-type sights, like the one I’m using in this test. I suspect, like all technologies, dot sights have become more precise in recent years. But my experience is with the older style.
Don’t get the idea that dot sights are impossible, though, because they’re not. Though they are somewhat dicey to use. It’s not as bad as ice skating on stilts.
Dot sight adjustment
Now that you understand what a dot sight is, you should know that it adjusts in the same way as a conventional scope. One knob controls the up and down movement, and the other controls the left and right. Sighting-in a dot sight is no different than sighting-in a scope. You select a point of aim, which you hope will also be the point of impact and hold on it as you shoot. If the pellets strike the target low and to the left, the sight has to be adjusted up and to the right.
Like a scope, it helps to begin sight-in of a dot sight at a close target. I like starting at 10 feet away, and I adjust the sight until the pellet is striking the target on the centerline and as far below the point of aim as the center of the sight is above the center of the bore. Then, I know I can back up to 10 meters, and I’ll be on paper. I may need to refine my sight adjustment a little when I shoot at 10 meters, but this is the fastest way I know to sight in an airgun — especially one that cannot be boresighted.
But what if you’re at a public range and can’t shoot at 10 feet? That’s when I put up a 2-foot by 4-foot light-colored paper backer and staple my target in the center of that. Even at 50 yards, there’s a good chance my shots will land somewhere on that big piece of paper if I shoot at the center of the target. When even that fails, I enlist the help of a spotter to watch the berm. I shoot at a dirt clod we can both identify and he watches through the binoculars that I always carry to see where my bullet strikes relative to the dirt clod.
Tasco Pro Point
I mounted a Tasco Pro Point dot sight to the rail on top of the Morph and was ready to commence sight-in. The Pro Point is a dated design, but it was good quality 15 years ago and still works well today. The amount of parallax is small for a dot sight, but I still watch my head placement every time.
It was very easy to install the Pro Point on the Morph. The Weaver bases on the Pro Point clamp right to the Morph’s rail, and clamping pressure plus the keyed cross-slots hold the sight in place.
Tasco Pro Pont dot sight fits the Morph quite well.
Target setup
I think it was Victor who asked me how I stop the BBs from bouncing back, so today I thought I’d show you. I photographed my target setup, so you can see the light and the Winchester Airgun Target Cube with the Shoot-N-C target pasted on its front.
This is my target setup in the bedroom. The target cube is backed by a thick plastic cutting board, so nothing will hit the wall. The light is a 500-watt quartz incandescent camera light.
Absolutely no BBs bounce back using this setup. The target cube is starting to slough off small pieces of styrofoam, now that over a thousand shots have hit it, but nothing gets through it and nothing bounces back.
On to the shooting
At first, I shot the Morph in carbine form offhand at 15 feet (I’m using Umarex Precision steel BBs). I dialed the red dot intensity up to No. 8; because when the Shoot-N-C target turns green, it’s so bright that it masks the dot. Even at the 8 setting, I could barely see the dot against the target, once it changed from black to green (or yellow — I can’t tell…I’m colorblind.). Of course, when you shoot offhand, the dot seems to move all over the target — even at 15 feet.
Ten shots offhand from 15 feet with the Morph carbine. That’s not too bad! Yes, I used flash.
Seeing the accuracy of the carbine made me want to shoot the gun rested. I brought in a kitchen chair, turned it around and used the back as a rest for my next group.
Ten shots rested from 15 feet. Obviously, the gun is shooting to the left — something that shooting offhand did not fully reveal. All the shots in the cardboard are part of this string.
Seeing this result made me want to see just how good the gun could shoot. So I adjusted the dot to the right and shot another 10 rounds.
Wow! The sight adjustment didn’t go far enough, but look at how small this group of 10 shots is! The Morph can shoot!
Let’s back up
Seeing how good the Morph could do at 15 feet prompted me to back up to 25 feet and try again. This was also a rested group of 10 shots. I adjusted the sight a little more to the right for this one.
I was running out of the smaller bulls, but with a dot sight that poses no problem. Since the BB goes where the dot is, the size of the target has no influence over where you hit, as it would with a peep sight or a post and notch using a 6 o’clock hold.
At 25 feet the group opened up a bit, but it’s still respectable. There’s a single BB above the bull in the cardboard. This is a larger bull; but with a dot sight, that doesn’t pose a problem. The sight is still not far enough to the right, and notice that the impact point has climbed just a little. The orange dot in the center of the bull was the aim point.
A laser
I don’t have a laser that will fit on the Picatinny rail of the Morph, so I can’t mount one, but let’s talk about how a laser differs from a dot sight and a scope. A laser actually shines a light on the target. What you see is reflected from the target — not from a lens inside an optical device. The laser dot can be seen by everyone — not just by the shooter — the way a dot sight can. And because the laser dot actually hits the target, there can never be any parallax. What you see is actually there, on the target.
With a laser, there’s nothing to look through. Think of a laser as a very powerful flashlight. It isn’t actually a sight. It’s more of a designator.
A laser is adjusted just like a scope or dot sight, except you’re adjusting where the light actually falls. So, the procedure is to use a separate sight to sight-in the gun, then adjust the laser so it’s on the target when the other sight is.
Adjusting a laser is usually different than adjusting a scope or a dot sight. There aren’t click adjustments, as a rule, but there are screws that push the laser tube in the direction you want it to go. This may be backwards of how a scope’s adjustments move, so read the laser’s manual before you start adjusting.
Distance is limited
Lasers can’t be seen very far on bright days, so they’re limited in distance. You can look at them through a scope which increases the distance at which the dot can be seen, but even then the laser is a limited-range sighting aid. A 50-yard shot is very far for a laser. Most shooters set them up for very close shots, like 20-30 feet. They use their other sights for longer distances.
Les — I hope this helps you with the sight-in procedure for dot sights and lasers. Let me know if you have more questions.
Final evaluation
The Morph 3X rifle and pistol is a unique airgun that’s accurate and powerful at the same time. The double-action trigger-pull may take getting used to, but it poses no problem as far as accuracy goes.
I find the Morph accurate, conservative of gas and trouble-free to operate. If you want an accurate BB gun that also has power, check this one out.
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB pistol and rifle: Part 4
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Umarex MORPH 3X is many airguns in one!
I didn’t realize how many readers were watching the Umarex MORPH 3X pistol and rifle until I read some of the comments. Apparently, many of you must use smoothbore BB guns for various reasons, and a long-barreled gun is something you like. Since this one can change from a pistol to a long gun, it’s of particular interest.
As you will remember, the Morph not only has two barrel lengths — it also has two power levels. Each of those conditions had to be tested. I shot at 15 feet, which is one of two established distances for BB guns — the other being 5 meters or just over 16 feet.
The gun has fiberoptic sights, but they do not illuminate well in room lighting. In essence, they were a sharp set of post and notch open sights. That’s better for accuracy, because fiberoptics are less precise since they cover a lot of the target.
Pistol
The gun was loaded with 30 Umarex precision steel BBs and fired in its pistol form first. I started with low power and put 3 shots off the bull before I got the sight picture correct. I had to hold on the center of the bull with the Morph. Then, they went to the center of the bull but made a vertical dispersion. I believe the verticality is mostly my fault, as I’m not yet used to the double-action trigger-pull.
The first 3 shots went below the bull. After that, I found the sight picture and drilled it. Ten shots from 15 feet offhand on low power.
Next, I adjusted the pistol to high power and shot a second target. This time, the shots all went lower, as they often do when they go faster. They also went to the right for reasons I cannot explain. The group is even tighter, so I’m thinking this is where the pistol wants to shoot for me.
On high power, the pistol shot demonstrably tighter and also lower. This turned out to be the best group of the test.
Pistol with long barrel extension
Someone asked if the barrel extension could be added to the pistol without connecting the longer forearm, and it can. They then asked me to show a picture of what that looks like. Here it is.
Yes, the barrel extension, alone, will attach to the pistol.
Carbine
It was time to test the carbine. This is the forearm and barrel extension plus the detachable butt. I decided to test the gun this way and not just with the barrel extension by itself since the butt would give me greater stability. It also placed the rear sight too close to my eye for good aim, but I’ll address that at the end of the report.
On low power, the carbine shot slightly low and to the right of the aim point. I must report that shooting with the double-action trigger, while not as precise as shooting single-action, is not that difficult when the carbine butt is attached.
On low power, the carbine shot slightly low and to the right.
Then, I adjusted the gun to high power and shot another group.
On high power, the carbine gave good results. It also shot to the right and almost to the same place as on low power.
Observations
Several owners have said they like their Morphs because they’re accurate, and I think this test supports that. The gun seems to be equally accurate as just a pistol or with the barrel extension installed. But high power does seem to improve things in either mode. Four targets aren’t enough data to prove anything; but since these are 10-shot groups, they do give a pretty good indication of how the gun is shooting.
The sighting situation was a compromise, as I mentioned earlier, so I do plan on another test of the gun. That one will be with a red dot sight attached. Then, I think we’ll see everything this unique BB gun has to offer. So far, though, the Morph 3X is a winner in my book.
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB pistol and rifle: Part 3
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Umarex MORPH 3X is many airguns in one!
Please don’t be confused. This is Part 3, but today we’re going to look at the velocity of the Umarex MORPH 3X pistol and rifle. This gun morphs into three different guns, so the introduction took longer than it normally does.
The Morph 3X is a BB gun powered by a single 12-gram CO2 cartridge. The cartridge fits in the grip, which opens by sliding the backstrap down and off the grip. The piercing screw must be adjusted all the way out to allow the new cartridge to fit in the space, then it’s turned in until it pierces the cartridge. I gave it an additional half-turn for security, but no more because that’ll make the cartridge tear the thin face seal it bears against. As with all CO2 filling operations, I always put a drop of Crosman Pellgunoil on the tip of each new cartridge to keep the internal seals lubricated and sealing.
Two power levels — two barrel lengths
The Morph has two power levels — high and low. I’ll test each of them for you. The Morph also has a barrel extension that increases the overall length of the barrel and boosts the velocity, so I’ll test the long-barreled version on both power levels, as well. I’m only going to use one type of BB — the Umarex precision steel BB, which is very uniform and accurate.
Pistol — low power
I started with the pistol set to low power, which is with the adjustment screw all the way in (to the right). The average was 308 f.p.s., with a range that went from 301 to 321 f.p.s. At the average velocity, the 5.1-grain BB produced 1.07 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle. The pistol was also very quiet at this setting.
Pistol — high power
Next, I adjusted the screw all the way out (to the left). The owner’s manual says this takes 1.5 turns of the screw, but on the test pistol it was closer to two full turns. I shot once to settle the gun at the new power level, then I shot another string of 10 to get the average velocity. On this setting, the power averaged 478 f.p.s., with a range that went from 417 to 502 f.p.s. That’s a big spread, but perhaps the gun is set up better for the low-power setting. The average muzzle energy was 2.59 foot-pounds. The noise and muzzle blast were significantly increased on this setting.
Buntline pistol — low power
Adding the barrel extension did not increase the velocity over the pistol — it decreased it! I guess the gas pressure drops too low before the BB leaves the longer barrel and the extra friction slows it down. The average velocity was 244 f.p.s., and the range went from a low of 208 to a high of 277 f.p.s. — a much higher spread than with the pistol barrel, alone. The gun was very quiet at this power setting, but it should be. The BB had nearly a third less velocity when it left the muzzle. The average muzzle energy was 0.67 foot-pounds.
Buntline pistol — high power
High power was meant for the Buntline configuration! The average velocity was 621 f.p.s., and the range went from 612 to 636 f.p.s. So, the spread on high power is much tighter with the barrel extension in place. The average muzzle energy was 4.37 foot-pounds. While the gun is louder on high power than on low power, the Buntline barrel extension does quiet the gun a little more than the pistol.
Trigger-pull
Several reviews said the trigger on the Morph 3X is hard to pull; but for what it is, it really isn’t. It’s a light double-action pull of about 7 lbs., 4 oz., which is very light for a double-action pull. It stacks near the end of the pull, which should make it possible to control the gun better.
Shot count
If you think about it, you’ll realize that I can’t give you a 100 percent accurate shot count with this gun because it depends on how you have it set up. What I can do is tell you what I did, which was to fire 22 shots on low power and 58 shots on high power before I was certain the power was falling. I probably could have fired another 10 shots on high power before the BBs started to stick in the bore.
I have no idea of how many shots you’ll get on low power, alone, but I’ll guess that it’s well over 100. The gun really seems to conserve gas on low power; and since that’s enough for indoor target shooting, this is a very economical gas pistol. Of course, with the double-action-only trigger, you’ll have to work harder for your good scores than you would with a good single-action trigger. If you shoot mostly double-action pistols or revolvers, this will be a better trainer.
One thing I noticed while watching the BB magazine during shooting is that the last few BBs aren’t visible in the window, but there’s still a way to know if there are BBs in the gun. The follower won’t go all the way to the right end of the window/slot until the last BB has been fired. If you see the follower handle standing away from the right end of the slot, you know the gun is loaded.
When the magazine is loaded, you can see BBs through the slot.
When the magazine follower handle is not all the way to the right of the slot, as in this photo, BBs are still loaded in the magazine.
Accuracy testing comes next. From what I read, the Morph should be pleasingly accurate.
Winchester model 11 16-shot semiautomatic BB pistol: Part 3
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Winchester semiautomatic BB pistol is an attractive M1911A1-style BB pistol. It’s also accurate!
You know how I always say that if a gun is accurate it covers a multitude of sins? It doesn’t happen that often, but today we will be looking at a BB gun that is without sin! Sorry to put the conclusion at the beginning of the report, but this test was a real eye-opener for me, and I want to pass along those feelings to you.
I know there are a few of you who are on the lookout for a good BB pistol that can be used for target shooting and firearm handgun familiarity training. I think this Winchester 16-shot semiautomatic BB pistol is one of them!
One more thing about loading
I mentioned in Part 2 that the stick magazine for this pistol is set up for easy loading. What I didn’t mention and didn’t discover until I shot it for accuracy, is the magazine is built to be loaded while lying flat on a table. The base of the mag is larger than the rest of it, so it rests on an angle. You can just drop BBs into the big loading hole and most of them will roll down to the front (the top of the mag) out of the way. I did have a couple of jams when I tried loading this way, but overall it seems easier than holding the magazine in my hand while loading.
When the magazine is laid flat on a table with the loading hole up (like shown above), it slants toward the top, allowing the BBs to be loaded and roll out of the way.
Shooting
Now, it was time to shoot the gun. I set up the range in my bedroom, where it’s warm. Texas has been cold recently and the garage where I would normally shoot is too cold for a CO2 gun. As the gas cools down the gun, it cannot recover. So, the velocity just keeps getting lower with each shot.
I used a 6 o’clock hold at 15 feet from the target. And I used a one-hand hold. As you can see, the BBs went right to the center of the bull when I did my part.
I used the Winchester Airgun Target Cube to hold a Birchwood Casey Shoot-N-C target bullseye that I stuck to a cardboard square taped to the front of the Target Cube. When the group was completed, it took only seconds to rip the old one off and slap a new one down in its place. I like this kind of target because it gives me instant feedback on how I’m doing when the target changes color as the BB passes through. That helped me concentrate on my shooting technique because, with this pistol, all the shots went exactly where I aimed!
First shot
The first shot with any BB pistol is always in doubt because I have no idea where it’s going. A rifled gun will usually be more or less on target, but a BB gun can spray them anywhere. That’s why I shoot at 15 feet — aside from that being the generally established distance for BB guns. But with this Winchester pistol, I needn’t have worried. The first BB went into the 10-ring.
I wish I could tell you that the rest of the magazine went there, too, but it didn’t. I still don’t have the muscle control I used to have to hold a pistol on target with one hand. Even at 15 feet, my group was larger than it should have been.
The first group was larger than it should have been, but it wasn’t the pistol’s fault.
After seeing the results of the first 10 shots, I became very interested in this pistol. The group was centered perfectly and the only thing that kept it from being better was me. That’s a good thing because it means this pistol shoots better than I do so I can use it to improve my skills. All of a sudden, I had an air pistol I could use to train with; and it was a repeater that had a light trigger and simulated recoil! That makes it perfect for firearms familiarization training.
I do have other air pistols that can be used to train with, but none of them are repeaters with blowback like this one. This one has a good trigger that has to be managed, and it has the same grip as my 1911 firearms — or close enough that I don’t notice the difference. If I want, I can pull the trigger several hundred times each week and possibly recover some of my pistol shooting ability.
I got a little excited on the second target and rushed several of the shots. The target tells the story. The group is somewhat larger and wider than the first one.
The second group was larger than the first one, and I threw one shot out of the black. But all the bad shots on this target are my fault because I could see where the shot was going to go the moment the gun fired.
By this point in the test, I was really excited. Here was an air pistol that shot to the exact point of aim. If the shot didn’t go where it should have, the fault was entirely mine. You can’t ask for a better training tool than that! The cost of shooting this BB gun is a fraction of what I have to pay for firearms cartridges — and I cast my own bullets, so I shoot for very little compared to what most folks pay.
It was time for another target and time for me to buckle down and try my best. Of course, this kind of concentration is very tiring; so by this point in the test, I was starting to experience some shaking in my gun hand. Training will fix that,. With this Winchester pistol, it looks like I’ll get that training.
An interesting group. All the shots but one are grouped on the right. That indicates that I was holding the pistol more uniformly and controlling the trigger better, but my feet were not planted correctly. There was tension in my body that caused me to pull each shot to the right. The hole on the left was a wild shot that was my fault.
What do I think of this air pistol?
Up to this point, I’ve been critical. I didn’t like all the words on both sides of the gun, nor was I very keen about the CO2 piercing arrangement because it makes it difficult to get the spent cartridge out of the gun. I also don’t like the safety that takes two hands to operate. But all that goes away when I see just how well this pistol shoots. As I’ve said many times, accuracy makes all the difference!
After my third group, I talked about the gun with Edith. She doesn’t get out to the range as much as I do, and she needs this kind of training even more. So, we decided to buy the test pistol from Pyramyd Air!
I’ve shot other BB pistols in the past, and several of them were quite accurate. That, by itself, is not what makes me like this one so much. I like this one for the trigger that feels a lot like a firearm trigger, and I like the sights that are so realistic. The designers could have put fiberoptics on the gun and ruined it completely, but they didn’t. You can aim this one exactly as you would a firearm.
I hope they’re all like this; and if you order one, I hope you get one that’s as nice as I got. Two thumbs up!
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB pistol and rifle: Part 2
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
The Umarex MORPH 3X is many airguns in one!
Today, I’ll finish the introduction to the Umarex MORPH 3X pistol and rifle. We started looking at this strange BB gun two days ago, and there simply was not time enough to adequately cover all of its aspects, so this is a continuation of that first look at the gun.
The barrel “extension”?
The thing that confused me about the MORPH, and I think it confuses a lot of people, is the extra barrel that’s used when the gun is configured in its Buntline pistol and carbine modes. Is this a replacement barrel that you exchange with the pistol barrel or is this a barrel extension that somehow adds length to the pistol barrel? Nowhere in the description of the gun nor in the owner’s manual will you find the answer. So, I’ll tell you today.
The extra barrel is actually an extension to the pistol barrel. The pistol barrel stays in place, and this long extension screws into the pistol’s muzzle to join with the pistol barrel almost seamlessly. Since we’re talking about a smoothbore barrel, there is no rifling to be concerned with. The extension barrel must line up with the stationary barrel so the BB is not interrupted as it travels forward; and as long as that happens, the extra length of the extension should offer increased velocity. Of course, there will be some loss of gas pressure at the joint where the two barrels meet; but the designers put an o-ring at the end of the threads on the extension, so they must feel it is required. I’ll test the gun with both barrel lengths and on both power levels (remember, we learned yesterday this gun has two power levels), so we’re going to find out.
The barrel extension is shown above the pistol. It screws into the pistol without removing the pistol barrel.
The extension simply screws into the muzzle of the pistol. Once it’s tight, you’re done — though you’re supposed to put a sleeve around the barrel extension to complete the look of the gun. Do that and you’ve built the Buntline pistol. The gun now has the longest barrel it can have, so the velocity does not increase when the buttstock is added to turn the gun into a carbine.
The presence of the o-ring tells us that the designers expect to seal the barrels to a certain extent.
So, it’s the pistol, alone, or the pistol with the barrel extension. Those are the two barrel-length options of the MORPH 3X. But there are two different configurations that both use the barrel extension. The first is the Buntline pistol. To make it, first remove the pistol’s front sight by sliding it forward. The sleeve you attach next has a front sight of its own.
Attaching the sleeve takes a bit of fiddling on the first try until you realize how the plastic sides of the sleeve must give a little to allow the two parts to fit together. No excessive force is required, but you do have to pay attention that the pistol enters the sleeve low enough for the keyway on the sleeve to align with the sight rail on the bottom of the pistol frame. Once you see how it goes together, all subsequent assemblies will go faster.
Once the sleeve is in place, the barrel extension is screwed in place, and the conversion is done. It takes less than a minute to do everything once you’re familiar with how it goes together. The Buntline pistol weighs very little, being made of plastic and mostly hollow. You can easily hold the pistol in one hand to fire.
The Buntline version of the MORPH is just a pistol with a long barrel.
Buntline?
I want you to know that I’m calling this long-barreled configuration of the MORPH 3X a Buntline pistol only because I can think of no other name for it. Umarex does not refer to it by that title. But long-barreled handguns are more popular today than they’ve ever been. I’ve been reading what customers say about this gun, and a couple things jump out — with accuracy being one of them. While a longer barrel does nothing to increase accuracy, it does cause the front and rear sights to have a greater separation, and that does have a positive effect. So, I guess I need to test the MORPH 3X in both the pistol and long-barreled modes to determine how much accuracy is affected.
Carbine
Creating the carbine from the Buntline is even easier than creating the Buntline. All you do is pull the backstrap off the pistol grip and replace it with the carbine backstrap. I’ll mention again that removing the backstrap is difficult, but since you have to do it to swap CO2 cartridges anyway, you’d better get used to it.
In the carbine configuration, the MORPH 3X is light and handy. But the rear sight fails by being too close to the eye.
As light as the MORPH is, the carbine butt is strong enough to do the job. Let’s be honest, there’s no bayonet attachment point on the gun and you’re extremely unlikely to give anyone a vertical butt stroke with it. Or if you do, you’d better be a great runner or have a firearm in your pocket!
The butt turns the MORPH into a fine little carbine…but for one item. The rear dot sights are now too close to your eye for aiming, and you must use an optional optical sight or just guess where your shots are going. I think owners are going to attach dot sights and that’s what I plan to do with the test gun.
Velocity testing will be next; and as you can tell, it’ll be somewhat involved.
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB pistol and rifle: Part 1
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
Happy New Year!
I have a couple updates to pass along. The blog readers can’t see what’s going on behind the scenes, and these updates will inform you of the progress I’m making in certain tests.
Update 1. Cometa Fusion Premier Star
I know there are several readers waiting for the final accuracy report of the Cometa Fusion Premier Star .22-caliber breakbarrel rifle. The problem I’m having is one of sights. The test rifle has a lot of droop, and I need a suitable scope that has a droop-compensating mount; but the scope stop holes on this rifle are too small to accept the arresting pins of all scope mounts with vertical scope stop pins. Three times I’ve attempted to test the rifle for you and the scope has moved.
The last time was yesterday with a BKL scope mount whose base jaws proved too large to grab the Cometa scope grooves tightly enough to stop it. Normally, a BKL mount will grab and hold but not when the jaws are so large and the grooves so close together. And remember — I need a droop-compensating mount. I have plenty of drooper mounts that fit the gun, but the vertical pins are too large to fit the rifle’s tiny arresting holes.
I also tried grinding down a scope stop pin, but it didn’t hold the mount. When I tightened the scope mount down, the high arch of the spring tube must have pressed the mount upward and pulled the pin out of the hole.
There is a solution. If I can wedge a vertical pin in one of the holes and butt the back of a mount up to it (with the pin being outside the mount to the rear) and then tighten it down, it might work. I tried that yesterday, however, and the pin I used did not sit deep enough into the vertical hole to stay in place. It was gone on the third shot.
Update 2. Benjanin Titan GP with Nitro Piston accuracy test
There are two problems with the Benjamin Titan GP air rifle with Nitro Piston test. First, the Centerpoint scope that’s furnished with the rifle is unsuited for shooting at 25 yards. The image is too vague and blurry for me to expect good results.
Second, this rifle is also a drooper. So, I need to use a drooper mount. As it is, the rifle hits 12 inches below the aim point at 25 yards, and I can’t compensate for that.
I’ll find a suitable scope and drooper mount and get on with this test as soon as possible. I can tell you that the trigger, while it is heavy and has a long pull, doesn’t seem to be a problem when shooting from a rest.
Umarex MORPH 3X CO2 BB Pistol and Rifle
The Umarex MORPH 3X is many airguns in one!
Today, we’ll begin looking at the Umarex MORPH 3X pistol and rifle.
Huh? It’s BOTH a pistol and a rifle?
Yes.
It’s really three things — a pistol, and something with no name that could be called a Buntline pistol and also a carbine — all in one. All the parts come in the box, so you can make the gun whatever you want it to be. It shoots steel BBs only, and the power source is CO2.
There’s a lot going on with this gun, and I think to avoid confusion it would be best if I review the gun from a standpoint of the three configurations. Because there’s so much to look at, I’m breaking this introductory look into two parts. Actually with all this gun offers, I think there are going to be several more parts to the report than the usual three.
The pistol
The base gun is the pistol that operates self-sufficiently. It contains all the operational parts needed, which include the BB magazine as well as the firing mechanism, the trigger, the safety and the power-adjustment screw.
The pistol is the heart of the whole system.
Yes, the power is adjustable, via a screw in the rear of the pistol frame. A rubber plug is picked out of its hole at the top rear of the gun frame, and the slotted screw is located about a quarter-inch deep inside the hole. According to the owner’s manual, this screw increases the gun’s power by being turned outward (counterclockwise) 1.5 turns or inward (clockwise) to lower the power. There are two discrete power settings — high and low. The screw is not an infinite adjustment but simply a switch to go from high to low and back, again. When I test velocity, I’ll do so on both power settings.
A rubber plug in the back of the pistol pops out, giving access to the power adjustment screw.
The sights on the pistol are fiberoptics, front and rear. They lie extremely low to the top of the gun and do not offer the possibility of a post and notch type of sight picture. It’s either use the three colored dots or not! To see both sights, a groove has been made through the scope rail on top of the frame.
The front fiberoptic sight lies low against the top of the gun and needs a groove so the rear sight can acquire the front.
Of course the entire top of the pistol is a scope rail or base that will accept Weaver sights, which is how I suspect many owners will set up their guns. Therefore I will also shoot the gun with a dot sight — just to fit in.
Trigger
The trigger is a double-action pull with some slop at the start. It’s definitely cocking the striker as the trigger is pulled to the rear. The pull is reasonably light and stacks (increases in pressure) just before it releases. Once you get used to it, you should be able to control it very well.
The safety is a sliding button on the right side of the frame. To operate it, you push in and slide it forward for safe and rearward to fire. It works easily and is just a smidgeon too far forward for me to operate with my trigger finger.
Press in on the safety switch and slide in the direction desired.
Loading a CO2 cartridge
Th MORPH 3X offers yet another new way of accessing the CO2 cartridge chamber. You press in on a button located at the bottom of the grip and simultaneously slide down the backstrap. The effort required is major, and it’ll take some getting used to. Don’t expect children to be able to do it.
The CO2 compartment isn’t easy to access. A button is pressed while sliding the backstrap down and off the grip.
Loading BBs
BBs are contained in an onboard spring-loaded BB magazine on the left side of the gun. Loading is easy, through an enlarged hole, and the follower stays locked and out of the way until you’re ready for it.
The BB magazine is on the left side of the pistol. It’s easy to load and holds up to 30 BBs.
A lot more to come
This isn’t the end of the description, but it is the end of this report. There are still two more shooting configurations to address, plus the fact that the barrel extension is unusual, to say the least. After that, I can get on with the testing.
Winchester model 11 16-shot semiautomatic BB pistol: Part 2
by Tom Gaylord, a.k.a. B.B. Pelletier
NOTE: While I’ve been calling this a 16-shot gun, the owner’s manual and Pyramyd Air’s website state that it’s a 15-shot BB gun. I could easily get 16 shots into the mag. Edith informs me that it’s not uncommon for more shots to be loaded in airgun mags and that manufacturers sometimes understate the max rounds you can load.
The Winchester semiautomatic BB pistol is an attractive M1911A1-style BB pistol.
Today is the day we look at the velocity of this Winchester 16-shot semiautomatic BB pistol. In Part 1, I looked at the design and noted that this is a realistic BB pistol with some of the controls of the firerarm it copies, but there are differences, as well. The two-hand requirement for the safety was a concern, as were the large number of words printed on both sides of the gun. But the heft and feel were about right. As I told you in Part 1, this gun has blowback, which means that on each shot the slide is blown to the rear by the force of CO2 gas. That cocks the hammer and readies the pistol for the next shot. The inertia of the slide imparts a feeling of recoil than many shooters like, including me.
Blowback
Blowback allows the slide to cock the hammer automatically, making this BB pistol function like a true semiautomatic handgun. Since the slide cocks the hammer, every shot is single-action, which allows the trigger to be as light and crisp as possible. The cost is that some of the CO2 gas must be used to move the slide, and that subtracts from what is available to shoot BBs. But clever designers can offset this by lowering the velocity of the gun and by minimizing the amount of gas needed to move the slide.
Today’s test will focus on two performance variables — velocity and the number of shots that are available from a 12-gram CO2 cartridge. I’ll make an observation here. Do you remember that I showed you the unique way this pistol pierces its CO2 cartridge? I noticed that there was no hiss of gas when the cartridge was pierced. It may be that this pistol pierces its cartridges more efficiently than most other gas guns and therefore conserves some gas. We shall see in today’s test.
Velocity
Winchester rates the pistol at 410 f.p.s. That’s on the high side for a BB pistol, so it’ll be interesting to see how many shots I can get from one CO2 cartridge. I tested with Daisy Zinc-Plated BBs, which testing has shown to be the most accurate and most uniform BBs available, short of buying the special Avanti Precision Ground shot. In a semiautomatic BB pistol like this one, the extra precision of that shot would be lost, so the standard Daisy BBs are the best.
Ten shots from a fresh CO2 cartridge averaged 388 f.p.s. I allowed a minimum of 10 seconds between shots to let the pistol recover from the cold CO2. The first shot was 395, and the velocity trailed off with each new shot until shot 5, where I waited 75 seconds after shot 4. Then the velocity rebounded from 384 (for shot 4) to 393 for shot 5. When I resumed shooting with 10-second intervals, the velocity again began to decline until shot 10. Shot 9 was 381 f.p.s., and shot 10 was 383, with about 10 seconds between. That tells me that this (the low 380s) is about where the gun wants to be.
The blowback is very powerful. It certainly feels like a .22 rimfire cartridge being fired in a medium-weight semiauto rimfire pistol, and that’s very good for a CO2 pistol.
Next, I loaded the magazine again and fired 15 quick shots. I waited a couple minutes to let the gun recover from the cold and fired the last shot through the chronograph — hoping to record it. Alas, the shot didn’t register, so I reloaded the magazine and started shooting again. On the third shot into the third magazine, I finally got a velocity reading that was 385 f.p.s. at shot 35, so my guess about where the velocity will be after the gun stabilizes seems to be correct. I finished that magazine and loaded another. The gun had now fired 48 shots on the CO2 cartridge. I reloaded and continued firing.
Shot 60 went 385 f.p.s. Shot 70 went 339 f.p.s. and was definitely falling off the pressure curve. That said, there are 4 good magazines of 16 shots each on a CO2 cartridge. Considering the power the gun delivers and the energetic blowback, I would say this is a very conservative gas pistol!
You can continue to shoot after this, of course, but at some point the velocity will be so low that you risk sticking a BB in the barrel, and that’s what I want to avoid. I also want to note that if you fire the pistol as fast as you can, the velocity drops in a pronounced way that can be discerned without the use of a chronograph. You can actually hear the shots getting weaker.
Trigger
This pistol has something I haven’t experienced in more than 30 years. The trigger is a M1911A1 trigger instead of a longer 1911 trigger. The difference is in the reach of the trigger finger to the center of the blade. The M1911A1 trigger was developed for soldiers with smaller hands, who would have a more difficult time reaching the trigger when the arched mainspring housing was installed. Today, most 1911s have gone back to the flat mainspring housing and the longer trigger of the earlier model. I find the earlier design points more naturally, although the arched mainspring housing of the 1911A1 was developed especially to resolve the pointing problem.
The trigger-pull is two-stage, and please don’t get that confused with single-action. Stage one is very short and stage two is pleasant, but I can feel it move through the stage. There is no roughness to the pull and the trigger breaks at 4 lbs. on the nose.
Loading
The magazine has a large loading hole on the reverse side of the follower slot. It loads one BB at a time but loads very fast that way. I found it quick and easy, and the follower stayed put until I released it.
The back side of the magazine has a large loading hole that makes it easy to load, even if it’s just one BB at a time.
The CO2 cartridge that goes in without a hiss turns out to be a problem to remove on the test pistol. The clearance is just too small, and it takes a lot of fiddling to get out the old one. The new cartridge goes in very easily by comparison.
Evaluation so far
I keep finding things to like and things not to like. This is certainly a different BB pistol. I like how it handles, its power, the good blowback and nice trigger. But I dislike all the words on the gun, the difficulty of removing the CO2 cartridge, the two-handed safety and the fact that not all the controls work like the firearm. I guess it all comes down to accuracy.
