Umarex Syrix 22 Combo Gas Spring 22 Cal

[mikeyb]

Here is a long text-only review of the bargain Umarex Syrix air rifle...

******(2023-12-09)*******

Umarex Syrix (TNT gas spring) combo (with scope) 22 caliber.

Took advantage of a Wing Supply periodic sale along with a 13% holiday discount. Price to me was $65.44 with free shipping.

Good packaging by Wing Supply so item arrive quickly (2023-12-08) in excellent condition.

Retail packaging is MUCH BETTER than expected. NO STYROFOAM = GOOD!. Poly foam support blocks GLUED in place make this one of the best retail packages I've seen to date.

*****

Dirty barrel... 4 BLACK patches followed by 1 grey and 1 white/clean patch.

Checked ALL mounting screws = TIGHT!

VERY CANTED front sight rotated clockwise from shooters POV. Sadly not a surprise on a cheap springer. What LOOKED like a set screw locking the muzzle break/sight in place was actually a plastic molded FAKE screw. Really? Muzzle break/sight appears to be a HARD PRESS FIT (with glue?) so I was unable to move/rotate it. Expect HEAT will need to be applied to straighten front sight. That project will be rescheduled for another day.

Rear sight needed to be 90% FULL RIGHT to compensate for canted front blade. Really CHEAP rear sight requires a small Phillips head screwdriver for windage adjustment.

Muzzle velocity started around 630fps for CPHP 14.3 grain pellets. I was expecting this rifle to have similar performance to my Hatsan Mod95 rifles. THOSE 22's are launching the CPHP 14.3 pellets between 750 and 800 fps. I am uncertain if the velocity in the low 600s is normal or not for this rifle.

Pellets are a SUPER LOOSE fit in the breech leade. If the barrel goes vertical during the cocking return the pellet WILL fall out. I pushed a few CPHP down the bore and found the breech leade into the rifling had a TINY bit of resistance. Pellet resistance was near ZERO all the way to the muzzle. I did not feel any more resistance exiting the muzzle so this barrel does not seem to have a choke. I did see some tiny rifling ticks on the pellet head and skirt so pellet appears to be just barely contacting the lands?

I've learned that this is not always a bad barrel. If the powerplant pressure spike can "inflate" the skirt fully into the rifling this rifle could still be a good shooter. I have one Hatsan rifle with a loose leade and bore but it EXPANDS pellets skirts very well and is as accurate as any other springer I own. Need to catch a shot pellet from the Syrix for further analysis.

Trigger is HARD with long travel and creep. NO ADJUSTMENT SCREWS for trigger group!

Initial groups were ~2" at 30'. NOT GOOD!

Noticed a LOT OF SIDE TO SIDE PLAY on barrel block. This was not a big deal as I was using open sights for initial testing but it WILL BE HUGE PROBLEM if a scope is mounted to the compression tube dovetail.

Time to go inside for inspection:

Removed action from stock. Watch for small plastic ROLLER WHEEL on multi-joint cocking link. It WILL FALL OFF during disassembly. DON'T LOSE IT! Metal insert in stock for rear bolt may also fall out.

Front 6mm screws had some damaged threads. Corresponding holes in the action were POORLY TAPPED. I was able to carefully RE-TAP action threads and cleaned up screw threads as well. MUCH BETTER! I plan to replace screws ASAP. I do have a thread insert/repair kit for M6 screws specifically for repairing springer screw holes but don't think it will be necessary for this rifle.

Rear stock screw threads were fine.

Removed rear threaded post that locks trigger group in place. Disconnected anti-bear-trap-link, unhooked spring, and removed link. Yes, it will come off if you align the parts correctly.

Tapped out rear retaining pin FIRST. It only holds the rear plastic endcap in place. Removed the endcap.

Placed the rifle action into my spring compressor and applied some pressure to the metal bushing inside the comp tube. Front pin slid right out with little effort. Released the ~1/2" gas spring preload by relaxing the spring compressor.

Removed the metal bushing and attached plastic bushing. Note that the gas spring is BODY FORWARD with shaft pointing towards the rear. Now the trigger group is slid rearward and removed.

At this point I broke the barrel slightly to relieve pressure on the pivot bolt. Then I removed the pivot bolt lock screw and the pivot bolt itself and separated the barrel/link assembly from the action. The barrel block has a compression washer on each side. These washers have a small contact area which explains why there is so much side to side slop in the barrel block relative to the action. IMO this a poor design choice or simply a clueless design-error "patch".

Removed piston with gas spring still inside. Gas spring WILL come out of piston with a little effort. Mine had a slight interference fit with a LOT OF BLACK GREASE EVERYWHERE. I cleaned grease off the gas spring and from inside piston. Don't know why there was so much grease on NON-MOVING PARTS!

Piston is an interesting design, similar I think to one of the Crosman designs. The piston HEAD is separate from the piston body. Between the two there is a fat rubber bushing. After some compression of the bushing the HEAD is pinned to the body. There is still room to further compress the rubber bushing. I believe this design has 2 potential functions.

The gas spring force acts DIRECTLY ON THE PISTON HEAD dragging the piston body along for the ride. The rubber bushing is partially compressed but is NOT touching the compression tube walls. As the piston head is SLOWED DOWN from the compressed air the piston BODY MASS crushes the rubber bushing MORE making it expand. At some point the piston head has stopped and may try to rebound on the air column. The piston body may still be moving forward further compressing the bushing until the rubber bushing CONTACTS the compression tube wall. IMO this bushing has BOTH a shock absorbing function AND a BRAKING function which may reduce or even STOP piston BOUNCE.

IMO piston bounce is fairly common in springers and is NOT a big problem or a significant source of energy loss. However, sometimes even small changes can improve the shooting experience. Bottom line... it can't hurt!

Some damage to piston seal from swarf inside compression tube. I cleaned the comp tube of remaining swarf (metal chips). Even though the piston seal had some damage it was still making full contact (seal) with the comp tube walls so I reinstalled/reused this piston seal. I WOULD have put a new one in if I had it. Approximately 27.3mm OD.

Reassembled action in reverse order. Only used a thin film of marine grease on contact sides of piston. Skipped the moly on this one (for now).

Added same marine grease to barrel pivot washers and tightened pivot bolt at least one more lock notch. That appears to have reduced side to side slop but I can still feel some movement. Cocking force increase only a TINY bit so there may be room to tighten barrel pivot bolt one more lock notch.

Since there is no trigger adjustment screw I decided to "lighten" the trigger by winding a new trigger blade spring. The factory spring is 0.040" HEAVY wire adding a lot of unnecessary trigger weight. MY custom spring is made from 0.026" full hard tempered music wire and only took 2 minutes to wind. First attempt was a perfect fit. I'm getting better at winding these springs :-)

Initial groups at 30' seem to be tighter at around 1", but groups need to be smaller. The shot cycle is still a smooth firm single THUMP. Cocking effort is still surprisingly lighter than expected.

CPHP muzzle velocity is now up to ~665fps. No signs of dieseling (smell or smoke) so I don't know why MV increased but am happy it did.

Some people complain that Hatsan makes "cheap" rifles, but this rifle made me appreciate my Hatsans much more. While I will be keeping this Umarex Syrix as a learning experience, I wish I would have used the money to buy another Hatsan refurb instead :-/

This Syrix may not have sufficient energy for slugs but I may try some regardless. The apparently unchoked barrel might work well with some lighter slugs(?)

I have mixed feelings about this rifle.
_______________________________________________________________
Positives:

Easy cocking.
Smooth shot cycle.
Solid FEEL synthetic stock.
Possibly a damped or anti-bounce piston design?
Low price*

Negatives:

Canted front sight.
CHEAP CRUDE rear sight.
Visible barrel droop.
Too much barrel side to side slop will likely kill any hope of scope accuracy.
Heavy creepy trigger with NO adjustment screw**
Damaged front stock screws and poorly threaded holes.
Swarf in comp tube.
Damaged, but still usable, piston seal.
WAY TOO MUCH black factory grease in areas that don't need lubrication.
Almost NO factory grease in areas that DO need lubrication like the barrel pivot and lockup wedge.
_______________________________________________________________

* Low price, but IMO about the right price for what I received. This is a budget/bargain springer which should be priced no higher than $75.

** My lighter wire trigger blade spring was a BIG improvement for this trigger group. Measured trigger weight is now 4.5 lbs. Still creepy but closer to my ideal 2-3 lb springer trigger.

[mikeyb]

Update...

Some dimensions:
Gas spring (TNT)
Body Length - 5.92"
Shaft Length - 4.81"
Shaft Diameter - 0.310"

Piston Inner Diameter - 0.746"

This design may be converted to an aftermarket coil spring IF the TNT gas spring ever fails and replacement gas springs are too difficult/expensive to obtain.

Piston Seal:
Likely due to the 2-part piston design with the rubber shock-absorber/rebound-brake, the piston seal appears to be unique to this rifle. It is not like other Diana/RWS/Ruger/Umarex and similar aftermarket piston seals. I measured OD of 27.3mm so the comp-tube ID should be 27mm. The center retaining post is LARGER so the cross-section of this seal is very small.

I expect replacement piston seals will need to come directly from Umarex.

Next time "in" I'll take detailed piston seal measurements and post back.

Not a bad "bargain springer" but not a good one either. Rifle is breaking-in and shooting near its "value" (what I paid for it). As far as project rifles go I'd rate it "not good" for now as replacement and/or conversion parts are much easier to find for OTHER bargain springers.

I'll continue to shoot it as-is until something absolutely NEEDS repair/replacement/conversion.

I do have some slugs in transit to see if they work in this barrel. Not expecting great performance but will enjoy the learning experience.

Happy Holidays to all :-)

[SpringGuns63]

Well done review. I hadn't planned on getting one anyway, but appreciated the fact that you posted your findings. Very helpful for novices like myself. Gives me more of an idea on how to evaluate my guns. I tend to just buy budget springers. I have only taken several apart. Mostly I just clean, chronograph and sight in. As long as its close to specs, I leave it alone. Had to shim some breech seals and adjust some triggers but that's been about it mostly so far.

[mikeyb]

Forgot to add that I DID shoot a couple CPHP pellets into wadded HDPE grocery bags. This captures the pellets with minimal distortion. The SHOT pellets looked just like the ones I pushed through the barrel. Very small rifling tick-marks on head and skirt. Skirt inflation was basically ZERO.

If the gas spring energy is really close to one of my Hatsan Mod95 rifles (~750-800 fps 14.3 grain CPHP) then the pellet skirt should be visibly deformed/inflated with much more distinct rifling marks on the skirt. I suspect this rifles "loose" bore is letting some air leak around the pellet.

Will need to go into my pellet "archive" to see if I have any 22 pellets with oversized dimensions. May also try sizing some skirts larger to get a better initial seal in the leade.

One more reason for folks to maybe PASS on this bargain air rifle.

[gloob]

You could flare the skirt on some pellets to see if the velocity increases. Just taper the end of a dowel or metal rod. If the velocity is consistent, already, I think the skirt is probably sealing and that's just as deep as the rifling goes.

From your description, sounds like this might be a uniform barrel with just a light reaming of the chamber for the pellet. If this is the case, and if you are at (consistent) 665 fps, accuracy should be best with 14.3 grain pellets if you shorten barrel to neighborhood of 13". You will not lose any velocity.

[gloob]

My B1 came with some lateral wiggle in the barrel, and I managed to fix it by taking the barrel out and squeezing the fork at the end of the compression tube together in a vice, little by little, until the barrel wouldn't go back in. Then I put a slight bevel on the edges of the forks to be able to force the barrel back in with a mallet. Lock up is perfect, now.

Initial groups were ~2" at 30'. NOT GOOD!

Lockup could be responsible for some of that. But this is the accuracy I expect from a uniform barrel that is too long. This is how my .22 Crosman Nitropiston rifle shot. Completely useless, out the box. This was my first springer, and it made me wonder if people really found it fun to shoot this badly.

It shoots CHPH at 650 fps. At 12.5" barrel length, now it is shooting dimes at 15 yards.

This is just one of 6 springers I now own, which had a too-long uniform barrel. Accuracy was so bad on these guns, it was noticeable even at 12 feet distance. All fixed by shortening the barrel, to where I can't blame a miss on anything but the shooter.

[Ronno6]

Re: Umarex Parts

It has been my experience that Umarex does not support their lower tier airguns.
I had been told that a breech seal for an Umarex/Ruger AHEII rifle was not available, and that I would need to ship it to them for replacement (of a part they did NOT have??)
Even if they did have it, $50.00 or more round trip shipping would be a non-starter......

The gas spring may lend itself to replacement with a Crosman NP or NP2, not sure.
Or, as you pointed out, a col spring conversion is always a possibility.
You may be entirely on your own if a piston seal is needed............

[mikeyb]

Re: Umarex Parts

It has been my experience that Umarex does not support their lower tier airguns.
I had been told that a breech seal for an Umarex/Ruger AHEII rifle was not available, and that I would need to ship it to them for replacement (of a part they did NOT have??)
Even if they did have it, $50.00 or more round trip shipping would be a non-starter......

The gas spring may lend itself to replacement with a Crosman NP or NP2, not sure.
Or, as you pointed out, a col spring conversion is always a possibility.
You may be entirely on your own if a piston seal is needed............

My past experience with Umarex support has not been good so I was aware getting repair parts might be an issue. I chose to take-a-chance on this rifle anyway.

Have some slightly oversized pellets and some 22 slugs on order for future testing. Will update after testing.

Regarding pivot slop, the forks appear to be perfectly parallel now with the barrel block being slightly undersized. The tiny washers are just too small to stabilize the pivot. Crushing the forks to reduce slop could work but I'm going to fabricate and test some BETTER washers first. I think that alone might get group size under 1/2" where it should be.

Shortening the barrel is my last resort option. When EVERYTHING ELSE is working perfectly (it isn't yet) and accuracy is still bad then I can consider shortening the barrel length.

In addition to custom pivot washers one of my projects on this rifle will be to pull the front sight/muzzle-break so it can be reinstalled ROTATED to a proper vertical position. That will allow me to better inspect the recessed muzzle crown. It will also show me if the sight/break can be reused after the barrel is shortened.

This is not a BAD air rifle for ME because I don't mind having a more challenging project and I knew most of the risks going in.

However (sorry Umarex) as-received I can't recommend buying this rifle. IMO there are many better budget break-barrels out there which are easier to work on and get parts for.