Everyone loves an underdog story.  If you don’t, I have no idea what it could be, but there’s something wrong with you.  The little guy sticking his finger up in the face of a greater, more numerous and powerful force and winning should be the story that evokes heartwarming emotions and the desire to shake your own finger in the face of authority… or something like that.  

These days it seems like there are a lot of big ugly bullies getting the best of us little guys everywhere you turn. But there’s still a couple little guys out there who are fighting for all they are worth and winning. Case in point, the Umarex Notos .22 caliber carbine. 

1+1+1+1= 10? 

On paper the Notos is not impressive. It’s not a particularly hard hitter, producing velocities in the 700’s feet per second. Most break barrel .22’s can exceed 800 FPS. The Notos is kinda small and delicate looking. While it is a Pre-Charged Pneumatic, it has a really small on-board tank.  So why would anyone bother even looking at the Notos if it is such a yawner? 

Maybe it is because the sum of its parts makes for a much more appealing air gun?  Things like this happen on occasion. Years ago, the humble Volkswagen Beetle with its underpowered air-cooled 4 cylinder motor, no air conditioning, barely a heater, and an odd rear engine design.  It was cute, but was that it?  People loved the VW Bug for lots of reasons, but the gist of attraction was the esthetic combined with unkillable reliability, economy, and utter simplicity. 

Get it While the Getting Is Good!

I’d like to think that something similar is happening with the Notos. What we hear, time and time again from our consumers, is that the Notos is accurate, it packs well, it carries well, it's versatile, and it is customizable. Not to mention that it is very affordable. So what if it’s not sending pellets downrange at mach 2– it is able to stack pellets at modest distances.  

One of the first social media posts I saw on the Notos was from airgun ammo expert, Joe Itturalde. He sniped a Eurasian dove at 65 yards.  The Dollar Sportsman has demonstrated the accuracy of the Notos with a pigeon target at various distances.  And those are just two dudes we know.  We’ve gone to shows and had numerous folks there go out of their way to tell us how much they love shooting their Notos.  

It was at such an event, the Pyramyd Cup in Marengo, Ohio, where we heard from shooters and industry people how much they enjoyed shooting the Notos. It was also good to be able to demo the Notos while talking with folks about it.  Getting behind the Notos, even for the skeptical, changes things.  I lost count of how many times we filled up the tanks of the two rifles we brought to this event.  Suffice it to say, we siphoned off quite a bit of air from our big HPA tank on refilling the two rifles.  We also almost ran out of pellets.  

We had one topped with an Axeon MDSR1 red dot  and the other rifle was topped off with a borrowed Hawke Optics 1-4 “Turkey'' scope. The red dot was a good pairing with the Notos for an ultra-lightweight combination.  For minute-of-squirrel shots out to 25 yards or so, this was the recipe.  However, it will be hard to convince me that a LPVO, like the Hawke unit, is not the most useful optic for this rifle. The bottom line is we had a ball with both rifles and everyone who sat down to shoot the Notos was jiving with us on the matter. 

Another testament to how popular the Umarex Notos has become is in its availability. These fun little rifles fly off the shelves.  In fact, we are out of stock right now.  Therefore the purpose of this blog is double: First, to spread the word that the Notos is all that and a bag of chips.  Lastly, in the event that no other retailer has them in stock, although we've heard Utah Airguns may have some, we encourage you to get on an email notification for a re-stock.  We have this feature on our website just for situations like this. 

Knowledge is power and knowing why the Notos has started its own cult following and then getting in on the action yourself is very powerful, even if the gun itself isn’t a high-speed low drag big bore. It’s a little .22 and it’s a lot of fun!