Norica ZRS Already Shoots Own Foot Twice.

[PelletSport]

I am a fan of the high-end Noricas and springer tech, so I have been waiting for the Norica ZRS to come out with high hopes.
I was surprised to hear that Norica did not address the twin Achilles heels of their rifles going into the pricey ZRS chasis/stocks.
1.Chamfered breech: Norica breeches are known to clip pellet skirts, but Norica did not chamfer the breeches of the rifles destined to be ZRS models.
2. Sandwich sears: Norica's NATS trigger is a good design, but the sears are made of thin stamped metal slices sandwiched together with rivets. I am stunned they did not simply contract with SAG to supply the solid metal sears from their improved copy of the NATS trigger, the RS3.
Without these two things no Norica can reach it's full potential, IMO, so I doubt the ZRS system will be able to shine the way it would with a Diana 34 action in the ZRS chasis.

[Hayhouse]

Other than these problems, how does it perform for you? Am interested.

[PelletSport]

Other than these problems, how does it perform for you? Am interested.

Lloyd,
I am speaking out of school a little because I don't own a ZRS.
All I know about the ZRS system comes from Tom Gaylord, one review and what I could gather from the ZRS company social media (it's in Spanish).
By those accounts, the ZRS system is good.
I am just afraid the Norica breech and to a lesser degree, trigger sears will keep us airgunners from having a rifle that is ready to shoot great groups and even compete at field target competitions right out of the box.

[PelletSport]

I have several Norica air rifles that share the same barrel, tube, and trigger that are in the ZRS chasis. The barrels are very good. I'm told they are hammer forged from German steel. The machining and bluing are good, too. The trigger needs work, but it is nice after a tune.
I am still just surprised Norica didn't spend another $10 and go all in.

[JP806]

Tom Gaylord already posted his part 3 on the Norica. I'm looking at the 10 meter groups he shot and for $400...I'm not biting.

All right, call me an accuracy snob ...for $200 I'm still not buying.

Tom said he was going to test at 25 yards. I might change my mind if it can do 1/2" at 25 yards. Right now, for that kind of accuracy (sorry to be harsh), I think it belong in the basement category of $100.

[lefteyeshot]

I guess my 56th will have to do. But I do like my Black Eagle and Massimo. I like to have a Quick even with the simple trigger.

[mikeyb]

https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2023/04/norica-omnia-zrs-part-three/

Shooting the low-end Noricas (Dragon,Atlantic,Spider) WITH the heavy direct sear trigger, I can get very good 10 shot groups using cheap pellets and the open sights at 30'.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R2X070WFOW9R4E
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R1QKBKHB74FIE4
https://www.amazon.com/gp/customer-reviews/R4EA99QQB4VG5

Most of my Noricas were acquired new from Amazon/Valken for around $60 with one "better" model from a fellow GTA member at ~$80.

So far I have NOT seen anything about the Omnia that would make me want to spend over $125. Even that might be a stretch for my cheapness ;-)
I don't see the point of making an expensive recoil-less springer in the 12fpe range. To me those rifles already have low recoil and what recoil I do feel isn't worth $300 to suppress.

I REALLY LIKE my springers but if I want to neuter houseflies at 60' I'll grab my 22 cal BullBoss PCP. That's at least 30 boringly precise pellets per air fill with low noise and ZERO recoil. For the "list price" of the OMNIA I got my first BullBoss, a hand pump, extra fill probe, extra mags, a 6-24x50 AO scope w/mounts, and a tactical soft-case. I acknowledge the BullBoss is a pretty clunky budget PCP by today's standards, but it effortlessly puts pellets precisely where I want them. Yawn.

I can see the allure of the Diana 56 recoil-less rifle. It's a proven rifle with heirloom qualities and is aesthetically beautiful(IMHO). I just don't get any of those features from the Omnia in its current configuration.

If 25 yard groups are ~1/2" then there may be something here to revive my interest. From the results so far I think this is unlikely.

[PelletSport]

I wish the brass at Norica would read this thread.
It is full of the reasons Norica still can't get a foothold in the US market.
Plus, recoiless spring rifles are a niche within a niche. So a recoiless springer is either a fun novelty like my cheap JTS Strike, or a serious competition rifle like the th56 mentioned above.
You can't have both in our market.
If Norica would address the breech and put solid sears in the trigger, I would risk $300 on the Omnia ZRS.
Mostly because Jose Antonio (the inventor of the ZRS) was nice enough to PM with me through GTA.
He's labored for years to find an airgun  manufacturer to bring his dream to market and I hope his story can find a happy ending.

[lefteyeshot]

If it was in a wood stock I would consider it. Like I'd buy a Quest because it's in wood. Dream Hunter is the same gun but in plastic, no thanks.

[PelletSport]

I guess my 56th will have to do. But I do like my Black Eagle and Massimo. I like to have a Quick even with the simple trigger.

Tim,
A quick aside on the underlever  Norica Quick: the breech loading apparatus looks unusual and nice. The wood stock is nice, imo. But the direct sear trigger (I believe Norica calls it the 515 trigger) is so dang bad.
I have seen a b19 trigger group custom fit a b12, and that's what it would take for me to buy the Quick: a NATS trigger group (I believe Norica calls it the 545 trigger) custom fit on the Quick.
The whole thing is so frustrating I looked up machining classes at my local tech school so I  can just do it myself, ha ha.

[Toxylon]

I'm no fan of the Tacticool school of design so widely adopted today, and think wood stocks outperform plastics any day, especially in spring guns, but even with that caveat I find the ZRS esthetics especially bad. The gun looks like a 50's rendition of a B-movie Space Gun, not something I want to own and shoot in the least. And this has nothing to do with the ZRS innovation, which is cool and seems to work fine.

I think Norica made a mistake in not targeting the dwindling buying populace that is still interested in buying souped up springers with big bucks, or in other words in not putting the ZRS in something like a Storm, which would be a desireable gun even without the anti-recoil system.

[lefteyeshot]

I guess my 56th will have to do. But I do like my Black Eagle and Massimo. I like to have a Quick even with the simple trigger.

Tim,
A quick aside on the underlever  Norica Quick: the breech loading apparatus looks unusual and nice. The wood stock is nice, imo. But the direct sear trigger (I believe Norica calls it the 515 trigger) is so dang bad.
I have seen a b19 trigger group custom fit a b12, and that's what it would take for me to buy the Quick: a NATS trigger group (I believe Norica calls it the 545 trigger) custom fit on the Quick.
The whole thing is so frustrating I looked up machining classes at my local tech school so I  can just do it myself, ha ha.

Funny, I wrote Quest instead of Quick in my other post. I use to hate old people, now I are one. Yeah, the trigger does sour the deal. Wood and a cool breach want over come that trigger.

[PelletSport]

I'm no fan of the Tacticool school of design so widely adopted today, and think wood stocks outperform plastics any day, especially in spring guns, but even with that caveat I find the ZRS esthetics especially bad. The gun looks like a 50's rendition of a B-movie Space Gun, not something I want to own and shoot in the least. And this has nothing to do with the ZRS innovation, which is cool and seems to work fine.

I think Norica made a mistake in not targeting the dwindling buying populace that is still interested in buying souped up springers with big bucks, or in other words in not putting the ZRS in something like a Storm, which would be a desireable gun even without the anti-recoil system.

You know, it DOES look like something out of a 50's space movie, ha ha.
Even that would be okay, but I've read the shape of the stock makes it harder to shoot accurately. That's crazy to me because the definition of a good stock is one that makes a rifle easier to shoot well. Mysterious!

[lefteyeshot]

I guess my 56th will have to do. But I do like my Black Eagle and Massimo. I like to have a Quick even with the simple trigger.

Tim,
A quick aside on the underlever  Norica Quick: the breech loading apparatus looks unusual and nice. The wood stock is nice, imo. But the direct sear trigger (I believe Norica calls it the 515 trigger) is so dang bad.
I have seen a b19 trigger group custom fit a b12, and that's what it would take for me to buy the Quick: a NATS trigger group (I believe Norica calls it the 545 trigger) custom fit on the Quick.
The whole thing is so frustrating I looked up machining classes at my local tech school so I  can just do it myself, ha ha.

Funny, I wrote Quest instead of Quick in my other post. I use to hate old people, now I are one. Yeah, the trigger does sour the deal. Wood and a cool breach want over come that trigger.

We were talking about the Quick and it's poor trigger. Way back Tech Force cloned the better Norica trigger. It's in the TF89 but also in the Tech Force 87. The 87 is almost identical to the TF99 under lever except with a TF89 trigger or cloned Norica trigger. The Chinese Beemans like an RS2 have the same trigger. An 87 is hard to find. I have a couple of 99's. Hammerli Force 900 is a re-badged 99.

[Charles Outdoors]

I knew the trigger on the Norica ZRS had the say blade design as my TF89. I have never done much with the TF89 and had no idea where the trigger design came from. So it should be a 2 stage adjustable trigger like the Norica ZRS, Just have to take the stock off to adjust it. Oh, and yeah. I got the Norica ZRS Fire on the way. The breech chafer is an easy fix if they still haven't addressed it. The other so-call issues aren't issues. The gun isn't tacti-cool looking, Looks like a target rifle. The Fire model has red upper section and looks awesome.

I guess my 56th will have to do. But I do like my Black Eagle and Massimo. I like to have a Quick even with the simple trigger.

Tim,
A quick aside on the underlever  Norica Quick: the breech loading apparatus looks unusual and nice. The wood stock is nice, imo. But the direct sear trigger (I believe Norica calls it the 515 trigger) is so dang bad.
I have seen a b19 trigger group custom fit a b12, and that's what it would take for me to buy the Quick: a NATS trigger group (I believe Norica calls it the 545 trigger) custom fit on the Quick.
The whole thing is so frustrating I looked up machining classes at my local tech school so I  can just do it myself, ha ha.

Funny, I wrote Quest instead of Quick in my other post. I use to hate old people, now I are one. Yeah, the trigger does sour the deal. Wood and a cool breach want over come that trigger.

We were talking about the Quick and it's poor trigger. Way back Tech Force cloned the better Norica trigger. It's in the TF89 but also in the Tech Force 87. The 87 is almost identical to the TF99 under lever except with a TF89 trigger or cloned Norica trigger. The Chinese Beemans like an RS2 have the same trigger. An 87 is hard to find. I have a couple of 99's. Hammerli Force 900 is a re-badged 99.