Umarex Canex CO2 Air Rifle Review

VALUE FOR MONEY

At a Street Price of $65.99, the Umarex Canex is the cheapest dedicated – i.e. “pellet only” air rifle on the Pyramyd AIR website at the time of writing.

So we’ll pose a similar question to the one we asked recently about the even lower-priced Umarex MarkPoint air pistol. “It’s the cheapest pellet rifle in the market. But is it any good?”

Well, the answer – again – is “Yes”. In fact, within its limits, the Canex tested by HAM is actually a very good little air rifle indeed!

It’s a simple air rifle. There’s no “bells and whistles”. As a CO2-powered airgun, it’s obviously not a powerhouse. But basic performance and accuracy is there. The results of this review say that it’s definitely excellent value for the money.

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Umarex Canex CO2 Air Rifle 0.177

SPEED AND ACCURACY

The Umarex Canex air rifle tested by HAM generated a maximum Muzzle Velocity of 622 FPS with Predator GTO alloy pellets. That’s a reasonable figure for a CO2-powered air rifle in cool – 60 degree – conditions.

But – of course – CO2 airguns are not purchased for their great hitting power. They’re valued for ease of operation and convenience.

Given the product name, we used the HAM soda can target for all testing. The results show excellent plinking-grade accuracy.

Doug Wall’s 25-Yard target (below) shows that – with suitable sights – the accuracy potential is definitely well within Minute of Soda Can at 25 Yards. The HAM Testers were very pleased with that.

For the intended purpose of the airgun, the Canex exceeded our expectations.

But note that – with this power level – the Canex is strictly a plinker. A Muzzle Energy of around 5 Ft/Lbs is not enough for hunting, even if the shooter is a very good shot. HAM recommends buying a more powerful air rifle if you want to hunt!

TRIGGER AND COCKING EFFORT

Another area where the Umarex Canex exceeded our expectations was the trigger.

The Canex has an action that uses the trigger pull to rotate the rotary magazine. Essentially, it’s a double-action revolver. Based on the test results of previous double action CO2 air rifles, we were expecting a very heavy trigger pull weight.

So we were delighted to discover that the trigger pull weight of the Canex averaged just 4 Lb 15 Oz! For the type of action – it’s a HUGE improvement on competing rotary magazine, CO2-powered models.

That relatively low trigger pull weight was undoubtedly a significant contributor to the accuracy. It’s also combined with a simple, but effective “push across” trigger block manual safety.

So here we have a relatively low trigger pull combined with zero additional cocking effort. That’s very good and would make the Umarex Canex ideal as a family-friendly backyard plinker.

The rotary magazine holds 10 pellets. It’s easily loaded into the action once the engagement latches are pulled forward, as shown above.

COMPARISON TO MAKERS CLAIMS

The Umarex Canex is positioned clearly as a “can shredder” for pun, close range plinking.  The company gives a clue on this with printed can targets on the back of the shipping box. Plus, the company website explains that you can use this air rifle to “let those tin cans know who’s the top shot.”

The HAM Testers agree that this is perfect positioning for the product.

The only other major claim is – of course – that for Muzzle Velocity. Umarex lists a maximum of 800 FPS when using alloy pellets.

Unfortunately we were not able to get anywhere near that figure in HAM testing. Even with the lightest 5.5 Grain Predator GTO alloy pellets, the maximum Muzzle Velocity we achieved was 597 FPS. Let’s call it 600 FPS for simplicity.

Now that 600 FPS was achieved in our cool indoor range where the temperature was just 60 degrees F. However all CO2-powered airguns shoot faster with increasing temperature – at about 2 FPS per degree F increase.

That means that the same gun will shoot the same pellets at about 660 FPS in an ambient temperature of 90 degrees F. We also know that CO2-powered airguns have a peak velocity at 90 degrees, or just above, so that’s the maximum it’s going to do.

To be clear, there’s nothing specially bad about these muzzle velocities. They are about what we would expect from a CO2-powered air rifle. But they remain well adrift from the manufacturer’s claims.

CONSISTENCY

At an average of 18.1 FPS, the Standard Deviation results delivered by the Umarex Canex (the measure of shot-to-shot variability) was quite high. However it’s not unexpected for a CO2-powered airgun.

As you’ll see from the Chrony printouts on the test targets, muzzle velocity dropped very significantly during every string of 10 shots fired in the HAM tests. This is an almost inevitable result of repetitive shooting of a CO2-powered airgun.

Interestingly, the fall in muzzle velocity did not produce vertical stringing on the targets although it would cause that effect at longer ranges.

Yes, it’s possible to reduce this change in muzzle velocity by waiting a long time – 60 seconds or more – between shots, but that’s not the point of the rapid-firing Canex. As always with CO2-powered guns, HAM tester Doug Wall fired the Canex at a steady rate for each of the tests, not too fast, but not unreasonably slowly, with about 5 seconds between each shot.

Worthy of note is that the trigger pull weight was also surprisingly consistent around the 5 Lbs mark. Again better than we expected.

Accuracy was also reasonably consistent across the range of standard HAM test pellets. The 8.44 Grain JSB Exacts were the most accurate. But most of the others were not that far behind. That lack of pellet-pickiness was another strong suit for the Umarex Canex tested by HAM.

NOISE LEVEL

As a relatively low-powered, CO2 air rifle with a fairly long barrel, the Canex is pretty quiet.  Subjectively, it’s about the noise level that we expected. That means that it’s likely to be backyard-friendly in most people’s experience.

There’s no provision to attach an after-market silencer but that’s appropriate. A “can” is definitely not required, in our opinion.

SIGHTS AND SCOPE

For the front sight, the Umarex Canex has an unprotected post.

At the rear, we find a  “could not be more primitive” open sight, with windage and elevation capability for the rear leaf. Primitive, yes, but they do work!

However, there is a set of dovetail rails molded into the top of the breech area. So given that we were testing this Canex for accuracy, we mounted 3-9x40AO Mantis scope from Air Venturi. As we can see below, there was no need to remove the rear sight do do so. Good!

The Mantis scope is relatively small and quite light. It has a Mil Dot reticle and focuses down to 5 Yards. It proved to be an excellent match for the Canex.

At $79.99 plus rings, the Mantis is a value-priced scope and good value in itself. However it still cost more than the gun!

Undoubtedly most Canex owners will use the open sights or – possibly – a cheap red dot or reflex sight having dovetail compatibility.

SHOOTABILITY

With its light weight (3.5 Lbs plus scope), compact dimensions (39.5 Inches long) and fairly light trigger pull, the Canex was a fun little gun to shoot. Those feral soda cans didn’t stand a chance!

The design is fully-ambidextrous and HAM tester Doug Wall, who’s a left-hander, described the Umrex Canex as “a nice, lightweight little plinker that feels good to shoot.”

APPEARANCE AND FINISH

OK, this is where personal preferences come into play. The HAM team found the Canex design to be a little bland. There was nothing in its appearance to excite, but – equally – nothing really to offend.

Overall, the look is somewhat sleek but not memorable. But – at the price – we’re not complaining!

The majority of the exterior of the Umarex Canex is formed of two clamshell halves. The mold quality of these is very high and the seam between them not objectionable.

The finish of the steel barrel looks good as well. Plus, the gun is obviously well put together.

Overall, the perceived quality of the Canex is remarkably high for an air rifle at this price.

BUYING AND OWNING

Owing to Umarex USA’s distribution strength, the Canex is readily available online from your usual favorite stores such as Pyramyd Air and Airgun Depot. We can also expect to see it sold in many big box sporting goods stores also.

There’s a one-year warranty provided by Umarex USA from their Arkansas facility. The Owner’s Manual is well-illustrated and offers guidance in English, French and Spanish.

The Umarex Canex CO2 air rifle is available in the USA in .177 caliber only. Ten pellets are loaded into the rotary magazine. Umarex supplies a total of three magazines with the gun and they’re also readily available in three-packs as spares. That’s good.

The two, 12 Gram CO2 cartridges are loaded through the buttstock. This is a method used by multiple Umarex CO2-powered air rifles. The buttplate removes in order to insert the cartridges.

Squeeze the two latches (one either side, arrowed below) and pull back on the buttplate. Unfortunately we found these latches pretty tough to depress – at least in cool weather.

So I added a little silicone grease to each to make operation easier in future. It’s also fair to say that these latches are likely to be much easier to operate in warmer temperatures…

Having removed the buttplate, the CO2 piercing screw assembly can be removed and the two 12 Gram CO2 cartridges loaded. The go in back-to-back, in traditional style. The piercing screw assembly is screwed into place and tightened, piercing the cartridges and making the gun ready to fire.

In HAM testing, we achieved about 54 shots from a pair of fresh 12 Gram cartridges before the Muzzle Velocity dropped – rapidly – past the 300 FPS point we consider the minimum effective.

That’s a slightly disappointing shot count. We had hoped for more. However – if some of that CO2 is being used to activate the hammer in a mode similar to that employed by many BB pistols – that that would be a worthwhile trade-off for the trigger pull.

TEST TARGETS

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Umarex Canex CO2 Air Rifle 0.177

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