CO2 powered Umarex 850 Airmagnum review | Airguns Reviews

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CO2 powered Umarex 850 Airmagnum

Pat Farey tests the CO2 powered Umarex 850 Airmagnum, and gets pleasantly surprised… well, shocked in fact!

I've been a great fan of CO2 pistols since they came off the ‘prohibited’ list– in fact they should never have been on it in the first place. At that time ‘real’ handguns had just been banned (in 1997), and while CO2 replicas would never replace real ones with pistol shooters, they certainly did draw a whole new group of people into shooting sports, and in doing so saved some gunshops from the worst financial effects of the post Dunblane legislation. Some of the best CO2 pistols come from Umarex, and there’s no doubt that they have proved extremely popular. They were realistic looking, fairly accurate and offered a quick fire medium for competition handgun shooters within the new firearms legislation. I even bought a S&W replica revolver myself, even though I never got into the competition side of CO2 pistol shooting.

Although CO2 pistols certainly took off, gas powered rifles weren’t as successful. This was mainly because of two factors; CO2 rifles generally lacked the power for hunting or pest control (most gave significantly less than 12ft/lbs of muzzle energy) and they ran through standard 12g CO2 gas capsules at a rate of knots. This latter factor meant that you had to ‘power them up’ with gas capsules at a fairly frequent intervals, and of course you had to pay for the capsules – around £6.50 or so for a 10 pack.

For these reasons I never really got all that interested in many CO2 rifles – apart from a few…

.22 on test - .177 available

Pop out Auto or manual safety button with disengaging slide (hold slide down and push button forward) red dot shows when ready to fire

Undo cover – press bottom of forend in and pull forward to remove front cover exposing inlet valve. Screw in 88g CO2 capsule or double 12g adapter. Dry fire to make sure that capsule in fully engaged and pierced. Dry fire to make sure. Never remove a full 88g capsule as the high pressure gas could damage the seals.

8 shot mag pellets held in by O ring on the right hand side plus bolt has to be lifted up out of retaining slot and withdrawn. Pellets up to 10mm in length can be accommodated in the magazine.

Trigger adjustable for travel.

Pellet jammed in barrel through drop in CO2 pressure – replace capsule but not magazine, then shoot pellet out. If not, lay the rifle horizontally and clear jammed pellet with a cleaning rod.

Low on gas?
Discharge crack is muted
Pellet drop
Pellet sticks in barrel – extreme case

Sliding wedge sight adjustment for elevation; high – move back low – move forward
Front sight for windage. Two green rear and red front hi viz??? fibre optic

41” length
92 oz weight
654fps – 16 joules
23.6” barrel

Moderator available (ref. 465.101)

Picatinny style scope rail
Stock synthetic

Umarex CP88 with Walther Multi Dot Sight MDS
Frame release gices access to magazine
Grip plate release button
Cartridge lock at bottom of grip
Hammer

Flat heads recommended but domeheads working, providing they are not longer than pellet chamber.

Double or single action

8 x 3 mags
.177
7” (180mm) long without mod 11.75” with mod (300mm)
2lbs 11.75oz (1.238g)
393fps
Rifled Barrel 4” (100mm) or 8 5/8” (220mm)
Manual safety
Trigger safety when slide open
Detachable moderator 90g or 3.25oz
120mm moderator

Electronic red dot sight mounted piccatinny rail – red aiming dot projected onto front lens – as you don’t have to line up front And Rear, you can just point and shoot keeping both eyes open. Ready mounted = locking screws on base. 7.5cm (3”) eye relief. On/off switch, battery housing combined with rheostat 1 to 7 – lines up with left side. MOA lever (dot size adjuster) – four sizes available.

3v lithium battery CR2032 – when red dot gets darker or disappears

Elevation and windage – release locking screw (on the base below windage adj.screw) with Allen key supplied, and adjust Elevation and windage screws to suit. Each click moves the point of impact 1/3 MOA – 0.97mm at 10m or 9.7mm at 100m. Retighten locking screw.

Technical Specifications
Field of view	15.7m at 100m
Lens dia	23x34mm
Flat	Black
Length	82mm
Weight	115g

All Prices Are Guides Due to the Changes in US & European Exchange Rates

This review has 7 comments

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User Comments

Gun shoots great very adictive, Nice & light in weight. can be very expencive in gas & preasure drops with temperture. I f you are wanting to us it a lot. save money & get a pcp & air tank you will soon get your money back.

Comment by: john townsend Posted on: 24 Jul 2009 at 06:32 AM
I picked up a 850 air magnum carbine from CH Westons in Brighton. INCREDIBLE! Accurate, and with enough power to take any small vermin. And great fun for plinking as well. Only problem is the C02 running out, and the replacement bottles being about £8 a pop. I highly recommend this rifle (especially the carbine) to experienced shooters, or newbies.

P.s. The magazine is a bit pellet fussy (especially with older style pellets like Bisley magnums.) RWS superdomes, or superpoints are superb.

Comment by: Pat Posted on: 05 Sep 2009 at 11:01 AM
IM AFTER ONE OF THESE GUNS NEW OR USED 177 OR 22 CALL
PLEASE CALL 07941213054 REGARDS DAVE

CO2 powered Umarex 850 Airmagnum

Comment by: DAVID ROY LATHAM Posted on: 23 Sep 2009 at 08:34 PM
As an ex infantry soldier when i came out a few years ago i looked to take up air rifle shooting here in the uk, and i have to say when i went and got my self a umarex 850 i had so much fun i couldnt stop shooting it all day the action of this rifle and the cocking is a joy you have to be a little forcefull with the bolt but making sure you load your mag correctly you wont have any problems reloading ,as far as accuracy goes anything up to 40 meters your going to have quite a tight group within 1.5 inches depending but considering the price its absolute quality to shoot with ,id recomend a decent moderator other than the one you buy in the xt kit and also a decent scope put it all together you have a top rifle wel worth the money out of 10 id have to give it a 8.5 .happy shooting guys stay safe

Comment by: ian77efc Posted on: 08 Aug 2010 at 03:10 PM
Glad you like the Umarex 850, it was groundbreaking when it came out with the recoilless action of a precharged pneumatic (PCP) at a very affordable price. My only problem with it is the cost of replacement CO2 canisters, but swings and roundabouts, the initial cost is far less than a PCP and charging gear.

Comment by: pat farey Posted on: 08 Aug 2010 at 03:44 PM
iv got mine coming tomorrow in 177 form got a really good deal from pet pet pet the pet shop near the grenidier pub in hangleton brighton sussex £345 for gun silencer scope and bag one gas tank really looking forward to getting out hunting me and a friend have found two good places to shoot (with permission) and both our tallies r 4 rabbits we went the other day at night and in the morning he got 1 on each occation i got none as i only had a crossman ratcatcher in .22 and it just didnt have the distance that his rifle had so i thought right im not having that and went and broght the 850 so glad i found this :<)

Comment by: brad Posted on: 25 Jul 2011 at 11:05 PM
How can anybody class this as a good gun, bought one 6 months ago and it was nothing but trouble. Total crap in cold weather, problem with pellet pulling back into the mechanism, crap hammer spring and piston. lousey accuracy. total bag of shit, even down to the stock. Anybody who
rates this must be on magic mushrooms. get a hw100s and see . But if you have to have a 850 get the 177 as the 22 is just a joke. Its about time someone told the truth.

Comment by: rick baker Posted on: 19 Dec 2011 at 10:37 PM

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