Gun test: Umarex SA10 pistol

Martin Gallagher of the UBC reviews the Umarex SA10 pistol

The ?rst thing I liked about the Umarex SA10 .177 CO2 blow-back, single/double-action pistol, was the look. The brass coloured barrel, the view ports on each side, accessory rail … it makes you want to pick it up and shoot as soon as you see it. Umarex are well known for making very good replicas, but although it's not based on any well-known military pistol, it's still a really good-looking pistol, in my opinion.

It comes nicely packaged in a cardboard box, with three pellet magazines, one BB magazine, a metal cleaning rod, and the manual. Out of the box, the pistol has a really nice feel to it. It weighs around 1kg, and the textured polymer grips feel good to hold, giving a solid, con?dent grip. The upper part of the pistol is all metal, including the slide and drop-down magazine CO2 holder. It also has a ri?ed barrel, and a shroud at the front covers a thread which can be used to ?t a moderator if required. Looking down the sights, the two rear sights have an orange dot on them, and the front sight has no dot, although this is easily remedied if required, with a gold or orange Sharpie pen.

Gassing up

To insert the CO2 bulb, release the drop-down magazine by pressing the small square button on the left side, just behind the trigger. The magazine will drop out quite easily and the CO2 is inserted by turning a small thumbscrew to release and then hold in place, as well as puncturing the bulb.

The cool thing about the drop-down magazine for this pistol is that it also holds three extra pellet and/or BB rotary magazines for quick reloading, meaning 32 shots total per drop-down mag. I use it to shoot pellet only, but you can shoot either, or a mix if you prefer. Another feature I really like is that the CO2 holder/drop-down magazine actually seats the pellets in the pellet mag, a really nice touch by Umarex. To insert the magazine, just push it back up into the grips, and it slots home with a satisfying clunk just like you hear in the movies!

So addictive!

Firing the SA10 is where the fun begins. The safety is located on the left side of the pistol, just pull it back and you're good to go. You can either pull on the trigger for the ?rst shot in double-action, which will then set the rest of the shots to single-action, or just pull the slide back and release to shoot single-action ?rst and every shot from then. When the CO2 is getting low on power, around 80 shots depending on temperature, rate of ?re and so on, the slide will no longer stay back for single-action, meaning you either have to pull it back or ?re the rest double-action.

Trigger

The trigger in single-action is surprisingly light, the lightest I've felt yet in a CO2 pistol, which makes for easy, rapid-?re shooting if that's your thing. Blow-back is quite punchy and just adds to the realism. Sound level is pretty much the same as the other Umarex pistols, but ?ring this pistol is so addictive! Before you know it, you've rattled off eight shots, dropped out the mag, put another pellet mag in, slapped the magazine back home, and bang! You're off again, just like the real thing! So much fun ... it's maybe not the most accurate pistol out there, but it's easily one of the most fun to shoot as far as I'm concerned, and at six yards my ?rst eight shots still got on target, which is the main thing. I've also shot it at 18 yards and it'll still easily get on target.

Magazines

Once you've ?red off your four pellet mags, slot another four in and you're off ?ring again. I bought another three spare pellet magazines for around £12, so all my ammo was ready, and I could just keep ?ring.

Some reviews on this pistol have noted that pellets don't seat snugly in the pellet magazines, so I tried out three different makes to test it. I found that Spit?re pellets were slightly loose, but RWS Hobby ?atheads and Remington Tyrant Punch ?atheads we're a nice snug ?t, with no problems about pellets falling out - and I ?red a lot of pellets!

Performance and price

Claimed fps on this pistol is 420; I didn't test it, but it felt pretty good to me. It'll easily punch holes in tin cans etc., and as with any CO2 pistol, the power will drop off towards the end of the CO2 bulb. The pistol can also easily be partly ?eld stripped for cleaning and maintenance.

The price of this pistol varies. I've seen it priced at up to £140, which is still a pretty good price for such a quality made, and very sturdy pistol from Umarex. I managed to get mine for £128, a bargain in my opinion. The only downside to this pistol, if there is one - you're going to spend a lot of money on pellets and CO2 bulbs, but one thing is for certain, you're going to enjoy it!

Specification

Calibre: 4.5mm (.177) pellet / BBs

Magazine capacity: 8 shot

Safety: Manual

Length: 230mm

Barrel length: 140mm

Weight: 924g

Velocity: 130 m/s

Trigger: Double-action

Special feature(s): Blow-back

Energy: 3.2 joule

Visit the Umarex Boys Club website here.