There’s so much hyperbole we have to wade through on any given day to find the truth. Claims, exaggerations, fluff, and misdirection rule the marketing world. And guess what? Everything is marketing. If you’ve spent any time on YouTube you know firsthand what a click-bait title is and does. It first grabs your attention with some salacious statement and then leaves you asking, “I spent eight minutes and thirty-seven seconds of my life watching this?” So when someone speaks plain and tells you in not so many words that a spade is in fact a spade, it comes as a breath of fresh air.
Therefore I beg your forgiveness for the click-bait title to this blog entry. However, it is phrased as a question, so it’s not entirely out of line. So what is this plinker I’m referring to? The new Umarex Fusion 2, or Fusion 2Gen, as I’ve started referring to it. The Umarex Fusion 2 is simply a step in the evolution of things where things get better by removing limitations from the user. If you’ve ever been around me for long, you’d know that I love old trucks, especially old 4x4s. While the esthetics and ruggedness of some of the older machines cannot be argued, their ease of use and gracefulness certainly can. If you doubt me, just take a completely stock 1969 Jeep CJ5 across Kiamichi mountains and then drive a later model Toyota 4Runner back across the same trail. While nothing can replace that open top freedom the CJ offers, the smooth automatic transmission, power steering and brakes, and soft suspension on the ‘Yota means getting back to civilization will be a heck of a lot more comfortable and less dramatic.
New and Improved Umarex Fusion. We Mean It.
Just because something is newer doesn’t mean that it’s inferior because it doesn’t have a “heritage” behind it. Actually it does have a heritage—a legacy that is based on what worked in the past with improvements implemented along the way to make life with and use of that item better. Just like the 1969 Jeep is full of improvements that were not available in 1941 when the GP of WWII was first pressed into service.
In this case, the Umarex Fusion 2 is based on its immediate predecessor, the Fusion. The Fusion, in turn was based on previous designs using CO2 as a power source. The original Umarex Fusion was a bolt-action single-shot .177 caliber air rifle powered by two 12 gram CO2 cartridges. The rifle was light, compact, easily used by a wide variety of body types, and, of course, accurate. The CO2 change out procedure was a little wonky, but once done you were rewarded with 60-70 shots that were well placed on the target. The original Umarex Fusion did its job and did it pretty well, in fact.
But good enough isn’t where you want to stay. Times change and the exchange of ideas leads to better stuff. See the automotive analogy above. What if the Umarex Fusion had a magazine? What if it took an 88-gram cartridge? What if it came with a removable 2x12 gram adapter? What if we got the cost below $150? The ideas flowed and they found their way into a revamped air rifle that is now available to you: the Umarex Fusion 2.
I can’t talk about the magazine design enough. This magazine loads so easy, no special magic or holding your mouth just right. If it’s empty, just poke a pellet through the window side hole and rotate the inner pellet disk counter-clockwise and continue to poke in pellets until all the holes are filled. Boom. That’s it. Put the magazine in the action and get ready to shoot.
Likewise, the CO2 couldn’t get any easier, especially if you opt to put on a big 88-gram CO2 cartridge. In that case, just take a new cartridge out of the package, put a drop of RWS Chamber lube on the tip and thread it into place. Stop turning the cartridge when the hiss stops and you are ready to blast through the better part of a tin of pellets. Using the 12-gram adapter is just a matter of sliding in one cartridge tip first followed by one cartridge tip out. Tighten down the cap with the bleeder on it and install in the rifle. Since the adapter can old pressure while not in the rifle, you can remove the adapter from the rifle and save the balance of CO2 remaining in the adapter. You will still need to remove and bleed off the remaining CO2 in the 88-gram cartridge for storage. However, the 12-gram adapter means you can be every bit as economical as you want. Just remove the whole adapter when you are through shooting and the adapter will hold the CO2 without putting any undue strain on the rifle or its seals.
Shooting Guns on Company Time!
Enough talking about it, let’s talk about shooting it. This is what really impressed me when I first took the Umarex Fusion 2(Gen) to the range. I needed to get the rifle zeroed in for a sales meeting where the sales representatives would be shooting all of our new gear for 2020. When I got to the range, I discovered our Quality team had raided the ammo drawers and left slim pickings. Just a handful of RWS MeisterKugeln’s in one tin and a mostly full tin of some unidentified mystery pellet. The mystery tin looked like it had been used as a hockey puck, but that’s what I had to work with. Not expecting anything miraculous, I did the initial zero with what was left of the Meisterkugelns. After I was satisfied with the zero, I managed to get the 5 remaining RWS pellets into one dime-sized hole at 25 yards. But that wasn’t really surprising as just about any air rifle that shoots competition-style velocities will fling the Meister’s right where you are aiming.
Not wanting to go back to work… I mean not wanting to waste the balance of the CO2 that was in the adapter, I loaded the magazine with nine of the better-looking mystery pellets and sent the target back downrange. Holding the crosshair on a new piece of target real-estate, I squeezed the trigger only to be pleasantly surprised that the pellet landed very close to my point of aim. Shot two, same story. Shot three more of the same. By the time all nine shots had been taken, one hole just a little more ragged than the previous group of RWS pellets was printed on the paper. That had to be a fluke. Plus, there was still CO2 in the rifle and I’m nothing if not a good steward of the resources the company puts in my hands. Nine more pellets sent downrange with only one flier and a group that could easily be covered by a quarter. Not half bad! This rifle was good to go for the meeting.
At the sales meeting, I got to spend some more time shooting the Umarex Fusion 2. We had some steel spinners set out at various distances which meant that the bolt action and magazines were going to get a workout. Since we were going to be shooting quite a bit that day, we loaded up a fresh 88 gram CO2 to use in this little bolt action charmer and went to town. Between the Umarex peeps and the sales reps I have no idea how many pellets we actually shot from the rifle, but I do know that we could have kept going for lot longer based on the amount of CO2 that was left in the tank when we wrapped up the range session.
Undeniably the Best Blog Entry in the History of the Blogosphere
What does this mean for you? It means that if you are looking for a quiet, accurate, easy to live with air rifle for good old fashion plinking and pesting, the Umarex Fusion 2 might just be the air rifle you are looking for. If you are teaching marksmanship or gun safety to folks who are unfamiliar or inexperienced with firearms, you can do so without the worry of noise or recoil. The Umarex Fusion 2 is comfortable, quiet, intuitive, and affordable with a whole list of superlatives to go along with these attributes. Is it the best plinker out there? In a wide world of airguns and people out there—who can say that it is or isn’t? What I can say is that each and every time I’ve settled in behind the Umarex Fusion or even just picked it up, I instantly felt like I could shoot all day with it and not get bored. I also didn’t want to share it with anyone. I can sometimes be like that.
Mark Davis, avid outdoorsman, family man, and outdoors writer is the Social Media Specialist and resident Sasquatch at Umarex USA.