Pellet Pistol

This nifty .177 pellet repeater pistol is actually a replica based on theS&W Military and Police firearm, hence the ‘M&P’ tag, and it reallylooks and feels the part.Unlike similar models in the range, which shoot BBs, this onefeatures an 8-shot rotary mag’ system rather than a drop-out type.Incidentally, you get two mag’s supplied in the box. It’s also a veryversatile pistol to shoot, as I shall explain.

LOADING THE CO2

When it comes to inserting the CO2 cylinder, there’s no messingabout with Allen keys and screws – it’s rather ingenious. At the baseof the pistol grip is a lever system, a dummy magazine floorplate.You simply pull the bottom part of this floorplate down, which inturn forces the backstrap (rear part of the grip) outwards and opento reveal the CO2 loading port.Now you can insert the 12g CO2 cylinder into the loading port anduse the built-in butterfly screw to tighten down onto the cylinder topierce it and hold it in place. Having gone through around a dozenCO2 cylinders I can assure you that this system is superb, and youdon’t even have to panic about trying to do the screw up quickly toprevent the CO2 escaping, it’s all sealed really well.

To close the backstrap back up is a slightly trickier manoeuvre onthe first attempt, but I soon got into the swing of things. What youneed to do is partially close the bottom floorplate cover that youfirst used to open the hatch. Then it’s just a case of gripping thepistol and using the palm of your hand to push the back of the gripforwards, whilst holding on to the main body of the pistol with yourother hand. This slams the whole lot shut, including the flip-openfloorplate at the base, to make everything secure.

LOADING THE MAG’S

The two rotary mag’s supplied are easy to load – they’re the push-intype, but there’s only one way the mag’s can go into the loading port. You must make sure that the side with the little raised ‘starwheel’ is facing you as you push your pellets into the respectiveholes, nose first.

Once you’ve loaded the mag’ you use the slide release buttonimmediately above the grip to access the loading port. A swift pulldown with your thumb sees the front of the slide power forwardsabout three-quarters of an inch to expose the loading port. You canthen insert the mag’, with the ‘star wheel’ pointing back toward therear of the pistol. It’s all pretty much common-sense because there’sclearly a recessed area where the ‘star wheel ‘sits. With the mag’ insitu, you then pull the front of the slide backwards to lock it all up,which in turn, pushes a pin through the centre of the mag’ to securethat in place. Now you’re ready to go!

MANUAL SAFETY

The safety lever is situated on the right-hand-side of the pistolbetween the top of the grip and trigger guard. Pull it down to makethe pistol safe and push it up to expose the red dot and make thepistol live.I should also mention at this point that there is a Picatinny railmoulded into the body of this pistol at the front end, underneaththe barrel. You can add a laser or LED lamp to pimp it up a little bit.I’m definitely going to add a red-dot laser once it stops snowinghere, and have a bit more fun in the back garden.

DOUBLE ACTION

You can pull the trigger and shoot this pistol as fast as you like, oryou can rack it! If you pull back the rear part of the slide it will clickand engage the trigger, then fly forward again. The pistol is nowcocked and all you have to do is pull the trigger to shoot.I really like this adaptation, because rather than having to pull thetrigger the full 20mm or so to shoot, as you do normally, racking itpulls the trigger back and locks it so you only have about 10mm ofpull to release the shot. It makes for far more accurate shooting, andbecause the pistol is already cocked in this way, the weight of pull isdramatically reduced. At a guess, I’d say it’s less than half comparedto pulling the trigger through its full cycle. I measured the pull weight at around 1.4lbs, so it’s reasonably heavy when shooting instandard ‘point and shoot’ mode.
 

CLEAR SIGHTS

This pistol has the usual iron sights configuration, but unlike somepistol that utilise fibre-optics, this one has orange dots painted on.There’s one on each side of the rear sight, and a single dot on thefront post, and they’re extremely clear to see when aiming.
 

ED’S VERDICT

This pistol is extremely well made and great fun to shoot. It’s alsofairly accurate as far as CO2 pistols go, and I managed to holdgroups well within a regular target at 10 metres.I love the fact that it can be racked and shot, too, which adds a bitmore finesse rather than pulling the trigger as quickly as you can.Don’t get me wrong, you can still bounce a tin can around the rangewhilst speed shooting, which is equally as much fun, but with onlyeight shots at your disposal I found that racking was more fulfilling.If you like your replicas then this is definitely one to consider.

TECH SPECS

Manufacturer: Umarex
Importer: John Rothery Wholesale
Webite: www.bisley-uk.com
Model: Smith & Wesson
M&P45Type: CO2
Blow-back: NoTrigger: Double action
Calibre: .177 pellet
Overall Length: 190mmWeight: 620g
Sights: Front and rear dots
Safety: ManualVelocity: 393 fps
Shots Per Fill: Around 60-70

Price: £154.95