The Umarex Buckmark Pellet Pistol

Picture above, my results of the first set of pellets fired from the Umarex Buck Mark pellet pistol. Disregart the 1000 feet per second, this is what my taerget is rated for with the vinyl inserts used inside.

The Umarex BuckMark is a spring powered pellet pistol that I recently added to my airgun collection. This was a Big 5 Sporting Goods sales item that seemed to be a good stand in for the real powder burning version. This 0.177 caliber pellet pistol feels good in the hand, is reasonably accurate and looks almost like the classic 0.22 Long Rifle version it copies. Umarex has made another great replica pistol.

Umarex came on the scene with some very good replica pellet pistols a few years back. I have other Umarex products, and they have all been well made, reasonably priced and accurate. Some are made to look like the real thing, but may not function realistically. Others are made to function like their powder burning version, but may lack the power or accuracy. This replica looks like the real deal but does function a little differently. It is after all a spring air pistol.

Being a spring air pistol means that the barrel is "broke" down to cock the pistol. With the barrel broken down, you place a 0.177 pellet into the chamber. A small lever piece can be seen under this barrel when it is ready to fire. The grip is a soft rubber that feels good to the touch. A fake slide lock lever is on the left side. Behind it is an automatic safety that engages when the barrel is cocked.

My first shots through this spring air gun were very accurate. The pistol grouped very well firing offhand. The soft rubber grips helped with this a lot. Flipping down the safety for every shot was a bit for me, but for new shooters, this does force the safe use of this pellet pistol.

For a replica of a Browning Buck Mark pistol, for indoor or discrete use, this is highly recommended.

Icom Mobile Radios

Icom of Japan has made some good mobile radios over the years. Most of mine have held up to the

test of time. Here are two that I have owned for a while that have done well. The first is the IC-

2100H 2 meter amateur radio. The other is the Icom IC F-1020 commercial mobile. These two Icom's

have lived in a mobile environment for many years, and are now being retired to basestation use.

First the IC-2100H will be discussed. This was my first ham radio after completing my Technician

license test in 2005. I bought this through Ham Radio Outlet, and also ordered a magnet mount

antenna for it as well. The selling point for me was that it was only about $150 dollars, had three

power levels and the backlight could be changed from green to yellow. The hand mic seemed to be the

weakest part of the radio. It felt light and all of the buttons sometimes got in the way. Over

time,there was some audio noise with the radio. Of course this came up after the warranty had

expired. Looking online, people said it may be the lack of ground screws inside. Opening the top

cover showed 5 holes for the main circuit board to be secured to the metal heatsink/chassis. Only

two of these holes had screws in them. I placed three more screws inside, and the noise went away.

It seems many people had this problem with the Icom IC-2100H. Some said this was worse if you

actually mounted the radio inside of a car, rather than using it stationary. Even though mine was

used in a car, it had stable power and didn't get jostled too much.

At that time, I was driving a 2000 model SUV and this seemed to fit one of the crevices under the

dash alright. With the magnet antenna, a Larson, it picked up a lot of traffic in my part of the

country. The scan feature let me listen to a lot of radio nets. This radio rode in the SUV until

2004. This was when I switched out vehicles. My new vehicle, was a mid size sedan that did not have

a good spot for a radio of this size and shape. The microphone even aged well, I never had the Push

to Talk button problem others said they had. Supposedly, the spring could fail and the button would

stay keyed on. My only issue was sometimes getting it caught in the area between the console and

seats of the SUV. My Icom F-1020 had a similiar life.

In 2005,I took a job with a company that was consolidating hardware and had merged with another

company. Both companies had a fleet of ships and vessels with VHF and UHF radios on board. I was

given an Icom IC F-1020 VHF mobile to use for myself, as these were being replaced with Motorola

radios to standardize hardware. These had been used in company trucks and vessels for several years

before I started. This radio was stacked with my amateur radio.

In 2016, both of these Icoms are still running strong, in a basestation use now. I now let them

monitor local traffic. The commercial F1020 listens to weather stations and the 2100 is still

working 2 meters. Both are now connected to a Comprod antenna on the roof, and have RG-213 coax

connecting them. A generic antenna switch lets me determine which radio is connected.

After about 16 years, both have strong and bright backlights to their LCD displays, the buttons all

still work and the speakers have loud and crisp audio. They show some tarnish on their bare

aluminum heat sinks from use, but seem to have held up well. Either of these would work well for a

fleet of vehicles or vessels as used radios. They have both been replaced by newer models. The IC-

2100H was replaced with the 2200 and then 2300. The IC F1020 and 2020 UHF version have had several

replacements as well. For me they have been great mobiles and I intend to use them until they

actually fail to function.