Umarex Strike Point Sight Modifications?

[deadhorse]

Has anyone modified a Umarex Strike Point sights?

I have had the Strike Point for 6+ months now. I like the gun, Its accurate (kinda) as far as the limitations of the front sight will let me be anyway. 

The front sight is so large how can you possibly see anything and the rear sight notch is so small, like seriously what was Umarex thinking? The sights 100% prevent this from being a decent gun IMHO. I am not even joking when I say the dollar store nerf gun truly has more usable sights. Even by minute of pop can standards these sights are bad. Because of this the gun just sits and hasn't replaced the worn out 25yr old pistol it was suppose to. 

The front sight is fixed and part of the entire shroud with a fiber optic through the center and then a hood over that. 

How would you go about to modify this to a much more usable thin sight?

The rear sight should be fine, I don't mind the narrow notch. It just simply does not match that huge bulbous front sight. 

 

[bubbapearson]

Regarding the Umarex Strike Point pistols (.177 and .22 caliber) awful front sight assembly:

I HATE that thing masquerading as a front sight on my pistols (grin), although with regular use, I've finally reached a point of quite enjoying my two Strike Points. Besides, all of my Crosman .177 and .22 pumper and CO2 pistols ended up with shoulder stocks mounted, so the Umarex models are the only air pistols I have that are still pistols. While it seemed pretty Mickey Mouse initially, with some experimentation I actually was able to adjust the rear sights (the bent metal strip with the notch in it serving that purpose) enough to get some good accuracy with them at 30 feet! Now, I like them both quite a bit.

As for examples of front sight mods, try some simple Google/Bing searches. The mod I've seen most often is the removal of the hood, sometimes totally, sometimes not, accomplished with everything from an X-Acto hobby saw to a Dremel (or better) moto-tool. In particular, I remember photos posted with an after-purchase review in which the mods produced something that roughly resembled an M1 front sight: a straight post in the middle (with the fiber optic and without) and the hood cut down to short sidewalls flared out to either side. Surprisingly, it looked very utilitarian and pretty cool besides, with the user claiming significantly better accuracy (the better accuracy claim probably was true, IMO) afterwards.

Some more 'enterprising' online users also had come up with things like a whole new rear sight assembly (everything from scratch-built to Williams peepers) and others even had jimmied up pic rails top and bottom (through as simple an expedient as having epoxied a long rail to the barrel shroud, with others using more elaborate methods), on which was mounted a red dot or scope, and even lighting or a bipod on the bottom rail! I haven't tried anything like these modifications yet on either of my Strike Points (I have both the .177 and .22 versions, each bought for about a nickel less than $50 awhile back), but I think fixing the front sight should be easy enough. My main problem, probably the same one shared by most other users with a front sight gripe, is that infernal wrap-around hood thing obscuring so much of the intended target it's practically a guess as to where the POI will be (!!!!!), although I'm somewhat used to the danged things by now, after years of regular use -- inside with good lighting, I usually can nail the roughly half-inch bullseyes on 2" splatter targets at 25 to 30 feet with some regularity, getting 3 to 5-shot groups of about a half-inch to much less on good days. Initially, I also had some problems with both Strike Points being about as bad or worse than even my Benjamin 392 when it was new, when it came to pumping them up to higher/max power levels. Luckily, they're both broken in pretty well now, so even high/full power pumps are no longer a challenge to my abilities (no more aching shoulders -- thank goodness!). ;-) Actually, this turned out to be basically a moot point, as I almost never use more than 3 or 4 pumps for indoor shooting, which is almost all I use them for these days... Oh well.

Anyhow, fixing that hood thing should be easy enough even for me. It is definitely on my someday to-do list, along with coming up with some sort of shoulder stock addition for both that works well and looks good besides. Actually, I'm very surprised that after all this time since their release, nobody has come up with commercial products like this for the inexpensive and rugged Umarex pumper pistols -- they're quite popular now too and I feel sure most users would jump at the chance to buy well-made, Crosman-like products for their Strike Point(s). Some day maybe.

Anyhow, good luck in your quest for better Strike Point aiming. Enjoy!

Bubba

 

[marflow 777]

so, first i do not own one of these nor do i think i would buy one, just me, but that doesn't mean i can't think of about your dislike
so, with the price of the pistol, cutting off the hood and front sight will not make anyone unhappy but what to put back in it's place
i think a front sight off a Ruger pistol that can be found on Ebay
get it all set up and epoxy it in place
now height might be a concern so you must make sure you have enough elevation adjustment in the rear sight before mixing the glue
also don't remove the casing center line of the front area so you can find center easily
now the Ruger sight will have a concave bottom and if the front stays roundish the sight will stay perpendicular to the gun

just an idea

 

[bubbapearson]

so, first i do not own one of these nor do i think i would buy one, just me, but that doesn't mean i can't think of about your dislike
so, with the price of the pistol, cutting off the hood and front sight will not make anyone unhappy but what to put back in it's place
i think a front sight off a Ruger pistol that can be found on Ebay
get it all set up and epoxy it in place
now height might be a concern so you must make sure you have enough elevation adjustment in the rear sight before mixing the glue
also don't remove the casing center line of the front area so you can find center easily
now the Ruger sight will have a concave bottom and if the front stays roundish the sight will stay perpendicular to the gun

just an idea

Sorry I didn't describe the mods well enough. The simplest and most common 'fix' seemed to be users removing the hood only, leaving the fiber optic topped blade in place (some removed the fiber optic top as well, although I probably wouldn't). Additionally, the surgery usually involved completely removing both sides. A little sanding and polishing to make it all pretty again and viola! It actually looked pretty good and almost certainly improved visibility considerably. That's probably what I'll do, 'one of these days.' ;-) Thanks for the suggestions!