What Do We Have Here?

About a year ago we started selling the Notos .22 caliber PCP air rifle. Or is it an air pistol? Whatever it is and whatever form you choose to use it in, you guys evidently thought very highly of this little bumblebee of an airgun. We’ve actually had a difficult time keeping them in stock, which is a positive in that the Notos is popular, but also a negative in that it has been so hard to attain for many people.

And then there was a little hitchhiker we introduced at SHOT Show this year in January. This would be the cousin of the Notos, the Zelos.

The Zelos is best described as the “growed up” version of the Notos. It’s certainly not as diminutive as the Notos and also has a few more features that you might find compelling. Let’s dig into the Zelos PCP.

The Deets on the Zelos

The Zelos is a bullpup, to start with. This is advantageous to a shooter in that the overall length of the rifle is much shorter than a traditional rifle is. Next, we’ve got to talk about the elephant in the room, and that is the HUGE 20 or 18 shot magazine. The .22 caliber version gives you two more shots over the .25 caliber. The tank on the both versions fills to a maximum pressure of 3,625 PSI and offers 250cc’s of volume. Moreover, the regulator is adjustable to allow an output pressure between 1,000 and 2,000 PSI. This is great for shooters who want to tune the rifle to work with a variety of pellets or maxing it out to shoot slugs for small game hunting.

The Zelos has a generous top Picatinny rail for your favorite optic to reside. There’s also a tank mounted Picatinny rail section that is really handy for mounting a bipod or an Arca plate for use on a tripod. There is no internal baffling, but the muzzle is threaded with ½” x 20 threads so you can attach your favorite muzzle device.

Is the Zelos for You?

Since it is a bullpup, there isn’t much in the way of stock adjustment, at least in making it shorter. That being said, the stock is comfortable for a huge swath of the population, so there’s little to worry about with this.

Did I mention the trigger? Yes, the trigger is very nice on the Zelos. Minimal smooth and light take-up followed by a clean break. Yes, you can almost visualize the ragged hole all 20 pellets just got sent through. 

I’m excited about the opportunity to shoot this rifle for reasons based on some of these features listed above. I’d be willing to be that you are too. This is certainly a step in a new direction for Umarex. This isn’t our bread and butter type item. We’ve made our name in replica BB guns and have expanded into air rifles in a measured fashion. These days, PCPs are biting off a bigger and bigger share of the airgun pie with each succeeding year. The Zelos represents a step farther down this path of the complete airgunning excellence.