Umarex UX Tornado Revolver – test & review

Dave Barham reveals a quality BB pistol costing less than £60! Check out his review of the Umarex UX Tornado Revolver

There aren’t many decent BB pistols out there that cost less than £60, especially with the Umarex UX brand name. To be fair, I’ve shot and handled enough Umarex pistols over the years to know that whenever I see the UX branding, it’s not going to let me down. I can’t ever recall having a ‘dud’ or one that disappoints.

So what’s this BB revolver all about then? Let’s take a closer look at the Umarex UX Tornado revolver.

UNIQUE DESIGN

If you’re wondering what the Umarex UX Tornado is modelled on, it’s a kind mishmash of Smith & Wesson revolvers. Manufactured with a mixture of polymer shell and metal parts, the combination is spot on and it gives this pistol a lightweight feel to it, without feeling cheap. The barrel is shrouded in a chunky polymer, which has Picatinny rails moulded at the top and underneath, so you can have plenty of fun customising with a red dot, LED lamp, laser or scope.

The grip slots into my hand perfectly. I think it has been designed in such a way as to suit most hands and grip styles, but I found it very comfortable from the word go. It has a rubberised, non-slip feel to it.

As you would expect on a pistol of this quality it has fixed posts rear and front, but it took me a few shots to get myself lined up properly, and because these sights stand quite proud, I had to adjust my usual sightline slightly lower than I normally do.

TRIPLE MAG’S

This UX Tornado pistol comes with a 10-shot rotary magazine fitted, and inside the box are a further two spare mag’s. That’s a really nice touch considering the retail price, and it means you can take 30 shots before you have to stop and reload them.

Loading these mag’s is one of the easiest out there, simply push each BB into a hole at the back of the mag’ and you’re done – it takes seconds and is definitely the least fiddly way of loading that I have come across.

To remove and replace the mag’, hold the pistol in front of you with the grip on the right and the barrel on the left. You slide the lever in front of the dummy cylinder forward (left) and then up to lock it in place. Doing this releases the mag’, which simply pushes out from behind the pistol toward you. To replace it just push the mag’ back into place and then release the lever to force the locking pin back into place.

When it comes to safety, there is a ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ safety button. Unlike a lot of other pistols, where the safety button or lever is usually quite large, often with a big red dot under it, the safety on this pistol really small – it’s just a few millimetres long and can be found immediately behind and underneath the hammer. It’s clever positioning and very neat design feature. Simply push forward for ‘safe’ and pull back for ‘live’. What it actually does is lock the hammer in place so it cannot be pulled back and the pistol fired.

LOADING THE CO2

To load the CO2 you simply pull the grip off, then insert the CO2 capsule inside. Now, here’s the clever part. The pin that locates the side of the grip you pull off to access the CO2 chamber is actually an Allen key. It’s a case of using that piece of grip as a key and tightening down to pierce and secure the CO2, then pushing the grip back into place.

TWO-STAGE TRIGGER

The UX Tornado has a double-action trigger. I really like pistols with this feature, because it makes shooting it far easier for people with weak wrists/fingers and it’s great for kids, too.

You can shoot it normally by pulling the trigger and using that to cock the hammer and fire, or you can cock the hammer manually, which then requires very little pressure on the trigger to shoot the pistol.

WELL WORTH A LOOK

This is a great pistol for all ages. It’s simple to operate, easy to shoot and most of all it’s great fun. You get around 120 shots per 12g CO2 cylinder, and that coupled with the three mag’s supplied makes for some quality shooting time. It’s perfect for back garden plinking.

For the money, I don’t think there a more suitable CO2 BB revolver out there.

Tech Specs – Umarex UX Tornado Revolver

Model: UX Tornado

Manufacturer: Umarex

Distributor: www.bisley-uk.com

Calibre: 4.5mm BB

Mag Capacity: 10-shot

Velocity: 300+fps

Trigger: Double and single-action

Action: Revolver

Overall Length: 260mm

Sights: Open, fixed

Safety: Manual

Weight: 687g

Power: CO2

Blow-back: No

Shots Per Capsule: Up to 120

Price: £59.99