The Hi/Lo Carbine showdown Atomic/Notos

[Florida_Man]

I'm starting this Hi/Lo showdown. Both these rifles were purchased using HAM discount points. Thanks to @hameditor and @Luis Leon

I am starting with each rifle with a similar scope. You may know I like fixed power scopes, so the Atomic gets an Athlon Talos 10x and the Notos gets a Vector Veyron 10x.
I'll be using my variety of different pellets to find what each likes best, and down the line of acceptable.

As a father of a 1yo with a full time job, these comparisons will take time. I plan to share my thoughts of each rifle along the way.

I received the Atomic about a month before the Notos, as it was on back-order from Umarex. In that time I put about 2000 pellets through the Atomic. It has settled in very nice. I am now giving the Notos that attention. I want both regs to properly "break" in before I record performance comparisons. The Notos is close to 500 pellets now.

Down the line for extreme accuracy they will be mounted up with my Sightron 24x or 36x scopes.

I have more time daily to get a short session complete indoors at 10m, but I still feel there is value there. I want the comparisons to take as much of the human factor out.

Now the rifles.



I've added a few more pellets to this variety since I took the photo.

 

[hameditor]

I'm starting this Hi/Lo showdown. Both these rifles were purchased using HAM discount points. Thanks to @hameditor and @Luis Leon

I am starting with each rifle with a similar scope. You may know I like fixed power scopes, so the Atomic gets an Athlon Talos 10x and the Notos gets a Vector Veyron 10x.
I'll be using my variety of different pellets to find what each likes best, and down the line of acceptable.

As a father of a 1yo with a full time job, these comparisons will take time. I plan to share my thoughts of each rifle along the way.

I received the Atomic about a month before the Notos, as it was on back-order from Umarex. In that time I put about 2000 pellets through the Atomic. It has settled in very nice. I am now giving the Notos that attention. I want both regs to properly "break" in before I record performance comparisons. The Notos is close to 500 pellets now.

Down the line for extreme accuracy they will be mounted up with my Sightron 24x or 36x scopes.

I have more time daily to get a short session complete indoors at 10m, but I still feel there is value there. I want the comparisons to take as much of the human factor out.

Now the rifles.



I've added a few more pellets to this variety since I took the photo.

I'm looking forward to this

 

[pan60]

following: )

 

[Luis Leon]

Looking forward to your findings…

 

[Shortcut]

I too will be watching! Will be very interesting.

 

[Mike Brown]

I've got a Notos but not the Cricket....really interested in seeing how they compare.

 

[Luis Leon]

I've got a Notos but not the Cricket....really interested in seeing how they compare.

He’s contrasting it to the BRK Atomic XR, not a Cricket…

 

[pan60]

he's shooting crickets.
at 100 yards
baby crickets

 

[Florida_Man]

I still have to "break" the Notos in. But felt if I have time to do a side by side while I had time to shoot outdoors for the weekly challenge.

I am a right eye dominant right handed shooter. While I was zeroing the rifles for this 20y standing, I had them rested on my bench. For this zeroing I really preferred the left side lever of the Notos. I could leave my right hand on and stay in position and make adjustments and cycle with my left. So, for doing a quick zero it was preferable for me.

The Notos trigger is still in its stock setting. While not great, over the last nearly 500 shots I have learned it. The first stage is odd and is the same weight as the 2nd, and it kind of gets lighter before the 2nd stage wall. I was able to take up the 1st stage as I did my breathing for the shots. It is very predictable, just heavy.

I have not weighed both these as I have them outfitted, but the Notos is noticeably lighter. This lead to more movement from the standing position. Couple that with the 8mph wind with gusts of more, and it was harder to keep steady.

The Atomic trigger is still in its stock setting. While not light, it is ligher than the Notos from feel. It also travels less to fire it. The trigger and the weight of the rifle are what really helped it shoot a better score IMO. I did have to take a unique grip with it, as it is so short and the general build of it. I ended up with my left hand over my right like shooting a pistol and kept my arms tucked with equal pressure pulling it lightly into my shoulder. The first shot I had my left hand out under the lower pic rail and that resulted in my worst shot (10 o'clock position.) I regrouped and came up with what I noted.

I believe by lightening the trigger down the road, the Notos will perform better in the standing position.

Now the targets

 

[Stubbers]

Since you mention a desire for lightening the trigger, one method to decrease the trigger pull weight on most pcp's is to lighten the hammer spring, but to do that, you generally have to modify the valve to require less force to open, and for more, less force trying to close it. (Not for the novice, more advanced tuning tech)

• Lighter valve spring (holding & closing force reduction, could increase hammer bounce if ssg/free flight not in use)
• Peek poppet w/ reduced OD (less energy to decompress from seat due to young modulus + holding force reduction)
• Valve stem reduction from .125" to .098" or .078" (closing force reduction)

The above modifications will greatly reduce the required hammer spring to actuate the valve, thus, with less total force on the spring in the cocked position, the hammer will be exerting less force on the sear, which in turn results in a lighter trigger. From my understanding these valves come sprung pretty heavily from factory. And also:

• Add hammer weight (least ideal but still an option to reduce trigger pull weight)

-Matt

 

[Florida_Man]

Both rifles recently shot 500 FX 15.9.
I run a saturated Ballistol patch and let the ballistol sit for 30 min or the barrel.

The Atomic barrel required 2 additional dry patches to come clean

The Notos was 8 patches after the soaked patch. I have a feeling the shooting loosened up more of the gunk that Snowpeak puts in the barrel, because it was DARK compared to what came out of the Atomic. It makes me want to brass brush it and replace the barrel o ring.

A major drawback for me, as a clean freak, is the silencer on the Notos. The permanent design makes it difficult at best to clean. I also have a thread from a patch stuck in it, which is going to be difficult to remove.

Photos are of the Notos.

 

[Chief55]

You might be happy trying some JB bore bright. It is a good product.

 

[Florida_Man]

You might be happy trying some JB bore bright. It is a good product.

I have both JB’s! I think it’s coming down to a more thorough cleaning. My worry with JB pastes is cleaning that compound that remains in the silencer.

 

[Chief55]

I use both as well. Slide a plastic straw into the silencer so it goes through the straw and never touches the silencer. They come in different diameters. I use one when I don't feel like pulling baffles on shrouded barrels when I clean them. I just hold it in place but you could use some duct tape to hold it in. Works great.

 

[Chief55]

I use a PatchWorm kit and the felt cleaning pellets with the hole in the middle so I can feed it onto the PatchWorm in the appropriate caliber and spin the felt pellet a few times so I know it will spin easily with the rifling and apply the JB paste to it and just pull it through the barrel and the straw as needed and then dry patches and finish with a normal cleaning with Ballistol. Some people like fiber cleaning rods with bearings but I am happy with the way I do it.

 

[Dogowski]

Both rifles recently shot 500 FX 15.9.
I run a saturated Ballistol patch and let the ballistol sit for 30 min or the barrel.

The Atomic barrel required 2 additional dry patches to come clean

The Notos was 8 patches after the soaked patch. I have a feeling the shooting loosened up more of the gunk that Snowpeak puts in the barrel, because it was DARK compared to what came out of the Atomic. It makes me want to brass brush it and replace the barrel o ring.

A major drawback for me, as a clean freak, is the silencer on the Notos. The permanent design makes it difficult at best to clean. I also have a thread from a patch stuck in it, which is going to be difficult to remove.

Photos are of the Notos.

I keep a pair of thin long needle nose pliers with flat jaws to reach in and pull out the stray patch threads when stuck. I got them off Amazon a few years ago and they are great to have handy in my tool bucket.

 

[Chief55]

Long hemostats work great also and they are very reasonable on Amazon. The plus is they have a very small diameter and they clamp onto items.

 

[Dogowski]

Long hemostats work great also and they are very reasonable on Amazon. The plus is they have a very small diameter and they clamp onto items.

I forgot to mention the long thin tweezers Amazon has as well. And the hemostats work great too!