Hatsan Striker .25 cal

[angrybear]

The first immpression on opening the box is that this is definatly not a starter rifle, this gun has been built to do a job of work.
Fair enough if you really look closely you can see where glue has oozed from under the coloured grip inserts, grey in this case, and the holes for the forestock screws are slightly deformed from the moulding but the whole thing seems solidly built, think landrover rather than range rover.

At 44" & weighing 7lb scoped its a fairly substantial beast but throw it up in to the shoulder and for me at 6 foot -16 stone it's a perfect fit, the well shaped cheek piece has 3 groves that give a nice feel, & once the scope was fitted it came to the eye perfectly everytime, I know its just luck but this could almost be a custom fit stock for me, it fits like a glove!
dispite all this praise there are a couple of faults, the grip inserts have the feel of slime, that strange goo kids have to play with, and the trigger is a bit basic with only 1 screw for adjustment, so longer and lighter or shorter and heavier. Out of the box it was very long & leathally light, its now set so I can at least feel it.

First time on the range was with the open sights and out to around 15 yds they would cirtanly cope for ratting or plinking, initially the barrel pivot was very tight but within 50 shots it had smoothed out but kept a good solid lock up, it takes a fair slap to open & needs to be snapped shut not slowly pushed closed.
I found the safety to be well positioned to release with the thumb but in the manual on & off are marked wrong way round, not clever so I sent them an email.

Being .25 cal it only needs a close range scope so I fitted a tasco world class 1.75-5 x 20, I did have to reverse the scope arrestor to get the correct eye relief but with the scope fitted the balance is superb.
So far in 4 days I've put around 300 pellets through it, its just so much fun to shoot, and with the scope zoroed to 21yds gives a pbr from 7 to 25yds,
To date from 21yds my best 10 shot group put 8 through 1 big hole about 20mm with 1 each side about 15mm wide but I think they were both down to the shooter not the gun, this was with Marksman no3 pellets which the gun loves but I don't know the weight for the chrono.

Ah yes the chrono.......VERY disapointing I'm afraid, these figures are after 300 shots.
When I first tried after 20 shots with the FTT's they gave 9.08lbft
bsa pylarm 18.6gr 446 fps 8.2lbft
pest control 26.4gr 386fps 8.7lbft
super field 24.3gr 403fps 8.8lbft
H+N FTT 20 gr 461fps 9.3lbft
Marksman ? 494fps ?

Considering this gun is built to give 650fps @ 18+lbft, in .25, where allowed, to be this low is not acceptable,
So with these low readings it has to go back to the shop/importer, but dispite that I still love this gun, and I can hardly wait to get it back at 11+ftlb.
if anyone is thinking of getting a .25 I would strongly recomend one, but maybe get the shop to chrono it before you take it away.

I'll update this if & when the power is sorted.
steve.

[sfbm]

Hi,

Liked the review, interesting to see the updated power figures as i'm thinking about getting one of these, shame they don't do a plain black one though.

sfbm

[Vonnegut]

Good review.....let us know how you get on regards the return.

I am tempted by the orange version!....well, its a bit different :-)

[career707lover]

Enjoyed that review mate and as mentioned it would be great if you could let us know how things are when you get it back. I found your choice of scope interesting too, its just that im getting into ratting so, like you, dont need a scope with massive mag/objective lens and for some reason I actually like the look of a small scope even the 4x15 ones . Was just wondering if you notice any difference at the ranges you mentioned compared to a "bigger" scope?

[MattyBoy]

What power output do they claim when they sell it in the UK?

Cheers

[angrybear]

Hi all,
just this second got off the phone with Edgar bros armourer, his reply "oh thats too low, take it back to the shop if they can't change it, it'll have to come back for repair"

re the scope, its ideal up to 25 yds and the 1.75 is very good in 5 yd type situations, anything larger would be overkill.
steve

[Amac]

Let us know how you got on Steve as I am also intrigued about this gun in the big calibre. Andy

[angrybear]

Hi All,
Well just got it back this morning with the power reset by the importer, apparently they had a delay waiting for information from the manufacturer, but I had a phone call Wed to say it was being done that afternoon & a call from the shop Fri to say it was back.

Straight off it feels a totally different rifle to shoot, there is a slightly more pronounced recoil kick, but not to the extent of feeling at all harsh, very similar to my old TX200,
but god what a difference in perfomance !

I put 5 through the chrono to get a speed for "chairgun" which said increase zero range from 21yds to 24.5yds for the best PBR. First group was still 4" high from the old zero!

One very interesting fact is that at the lower power it seemed quite pellet fussy with only the Marksman no3 giving consistant groups, now every pellet is grouping much tighter, I think the Marksman has still just got it, but the H+N FTT is mighty close. Also the 2 heavy Bisley pellets have halved the holdover required. PBR is now 6-27yds

Muzzle velocity is pretty much 60 fps better across the board and chrono figures are now at a level that require very close monitoring, rangeing from 11.4lbft - 11.8lbft, so it may yet need to be turned back down a bit.
Can't wait to take it out in the fields & woods tomorrow.
steve.
Forgot to add, when weighed the Bsa Pylarm is actuly 21.2 grains not the 18.6grain as stated on the tin so the old muzzle energy raised from 8.2lbft to 9.3 lbft.

[Andy001]

If you dont mind me asking, what did you pay for the rifle?
thanks

[brian747]

Andy,. they are about £150-00 in the shop.
regds brian

[hog slayer]

good review

[angrybear]

If you dont mind me asking, what did you pay for the rifle?
thanks

Hi,
Don't mind at all £110 from the Sportsman gun center, Exeter.
steve.

[cambrai1917]

When you said ".....power reset by the importer...." what exactly do you mean?
New spring, coils cut off, tuned, new rifle, turned button up a notch?
Please explain.
I am thinking of a Hatsan .25 cal and I would like to know what to expect.
Many thanks.

[angrybear]

When you said ".....power reset by the importer...." what exactly do you mean?
New spring, coils cut off, tuned, new rifle, turned button up a notch?
Please explain.
I am thinking of a Hatsan .25 cal and I would like to know what to expect.
Many thanks.

Hi, as I said in the origonal post when I first got it & chrono'd it it was only just making
9lbft the importer agreed that this was below acceptable limit so it went back to be adjusted up to around 11.5lbft.
Frankly I have no idea what they did, but they said it was set to factory specs, so maybe someone just left out a washer behind the spring,
It was not tuned, just put as it should have been from the start.
What you should expect is a perfectly cappable, workman like rifle, with a pretty basic trigger & few rough edges, but still good value for money & enjoyable to shoot.
If you want top quality you're going to have to pay more than £110!
check out the what .25 thread in general airgun for more views
steve

[TonyL]

Aha,
Just googled up the gun and came across this old thread, VERY INTERESTING!!