This page preserves a discussion thread from the original AirgunOne.com community forum, active from 2008 until the site went offline. It's republished here for reference. One reply in this thread was removed by its original author before the site went offline and isn't included here. If you're a contributor to this thread and would like something removed or credited differently, contact info@airgunguide.com.
The Problem
josixpack wrote: "I purchased the Umerax Steel Force in early September 2013 and have put a couple thousand rounds through it. Over the weekend it stopped working. It seems like it's in the trigger or charging handle mechanism. It started firing bb's as the trigger was released and then it would only fire randomly when pulling the trigger many times and then it just stopped firing. It's still under the 90 day warranty so I sent it off to Umarex to get fixed or replaced. I was more than a little disappointed given Umarex's reputation for building air guns and that I was off Monday while my wife was working so I had the house to myself for a fun day of shooting. Instead I had to box it up and send it off for repair. Shipping was $16.00 UPS ground. The love isn't there anymore. They said it would be a couple week turn around. I'm hoping this is an isolated incident and that I won't have any further problems."
Community Discussion
Mohawk Mike wrote: "interested to see what they find... i have been looking at the Steel Storm and the Steel Force for a future plinker..."
josixpack wrote: "Me too. It arrived at Umarex today at 9:45 A.M. I hope it doesn't take them too long to fix or replace it because it is a hoot to shoot. I had the house to myself on Monday and since i didn't have the Steel Force I picked up the XBG Carbine. I put a red dot and laser on it and it's a fun plinker. It's not real accurate but I wasn't expecting it to be. However, I have a problem from time to time where a couple bbs will come out the end when I release the spring after loading the magazine or when inserting the magazine into the gun all the bbs come flying out. At the moment I'm a little dissatisfied with Umarex."
josixpack wrote (follow-up): "Not sure what was wrong and it appears that they sent me a new one. As with any product some are defective. Hopefully that is the case here. I've put around 1500 rounds through it and so far it's working fine. My brother-in-law is coming this weekend for Christmas with his three girls and their oldest daughter's boyfriend so we'll give it a good work out then. I ordered the IZH Drozd and the Winchester M14 which will arrive today. Should be fun comparing the three of them. Especially the Drozd to the Umarex Steel Force. I've got the JimC Mix N Match barrel system and AR stock arriving Monday for the Drozd. Can't wait for the modifications to start. Happy Holidays and safe shooting!!"
josixpack wrote (months later): "So I got a second Steel Force shipped a few months back after having problems with the first one but I'm having a similar problem with the second one. I also have a Drozd MP611K so I haven't been shooting the Steel Force as much. I'd say I have maybe shot 10 co2 magazines and I swear that I followed the instructions meticulously but now the gun is misfiring. Sometimes the gun would fire 1 shot and stop or fire 10 and then stop. It seems if you pull the charging handle after a misfire it would start firing for a while and then stop again. I called Umarex and had 1 day left on the warranty so I've spent another $16.00 to return a defective gun still under warranty to Umarex so it can be looked at with no guarantee of getting fixed or replaced. Really??? Very disappointed but I guess I'll wait and see what happens. I think I've wasted $120.00 of my hard earned cash which really stinks."
Calloway wrote: "Keep us posted! I have a Umarex Steel Force as well, and I've probably put around 1000 rounds through it with no problems. I'm very curious to see what Umarex has to say about it."
josixpack wrote (final update): "Well, they didn't say anything but did send me a new Steel Force which showed up last Saturday. However, this one had problems firing right out of the box. I shot 30 rounds on single shot burst without any problems. I reloaded and switched to 6 round burst and it would only fire one 6 round burst at a time and it was very weak. If I pulled the charging handle sometimes it would fire another 6 round burst but not always and if it did it was very weak. To rule out the co2 cartridges I put in another set of fresh co2 cartridges and the gun did the same thing. I took out the co2 cartridges and put the gun away. The next day I thought I'd double check things and try again. When I pushed the button to release the co2 magazine there was a release of pressure as if there were co2 cartridges in the magazine even though there were none. I put the co2 magazine back in and released it again with another release of air pressure. I did this a few more times until there wasn't any more pressure being released when I removed the co2 magazine. I put 2 fresh co2 cartridges in the magazine and gave it a harder than usual pop when inserting it into the gun. The gun fired fine after that and I've gone through a couple co2 magazines without any problems. I don't know why that would make a difference but hopefully it will stay working. I'd make sure you get a couple thousand rounds through your gun before the warranty is up."
Tags
umarex · steel force · co2 · reliability · warranty