Hatsan .177 55s

[slowcoach]

.177 Hatsan 55s

http://www.hatsan.com.tr/airguns_mod_55_s.asp

http://www.hatsan.com.tr/airguns_quattro_sas.asp

Hi all

Having a large selection and quantity of .177 pellets sitting around and nothing to ‘chuck ‘ them with I picked up a new in box Hatsan 55s for £85 from the local dealer.
This was only intended to be a back garden open sight plinker to bash a few tin cans and spinners until the ammo ran out then would be disposed of no doubt or shoved in the loft

Quite a nicely figured walnut stock was the 1st surprise, quatro trigger unit and the Hatsan blurb said SAS, shock absorber system fitted.
Blueing is best described as ‘budget’ or functional as is the general finish of the metal work.
Fibre optic sights fitted as standard.

Out of the box there was plenty of spring ‘grind’ as the action was cocked and sounded like a piano being given a good kick when it was fired! All manner of boings, squeaks and clunks that went on for ages after the shot had hit it seemed.
The break action was stiff as well on both opening and closing. Was running about 9.5-10 Ft/Lb with RWS super domes
Ahh well for £85 it would do its job.

After the 1st half tin of pellets things seemed to easing up somewhat mechanically but not in the musical department.
So stripped down completely. Despite the 3 substantial cross pins and a nut and post also securing the cylinder end plug I was expecting some serious spring preload, but there was absolutely none in this sub 12 ft/lb model (I believe they run much higher abroad?)
Absolutely bone dry within, and plenty of gaps between the piston and spring.
1st thing was to manufacture a spring sleeve which was accomplished using a sheet of thin plastic courtesy of a 2 litre milk jug/carton/bottle ( whatever they are called now!) rolled into a cylinder of piston length, the ends cut lengthwise and tucked in so that the spring would hold it against the piston end when inserted.
The cocking slot in cylinder was gently filed and generally cleaned up and immediately one source of cocking grind was eliminated.
Usual lube job followed after the piston was polished using good grease and moly in the right places.
Added a washer to the piston in front of the spring down inside my ‘custom’ spring sleeve.

All back together and back to the range.
After 20 or so settling shots all was transformed.
Nice smooth cocking cycle with a positive click and a nice snappy music free firing cycle.
That shock absorber system, basically a rubber bush in a circular housing that sits between the forward cross bolt that secures the action to the stock does feel different even to my super smooth Weihrauchs, so will assume it’s doing ‘something’ in the overall feeling stakes

There was a faint whiff of burning lubes and power had broken the 12 ft barrier so was thinking that the washer was going to have to come back out but persevered with another half tin and it fell back to a stable 11.4 with .177 Bis mags. Think it may have been the burning lubes I probably slopped about a little too freely (it was dry in there!) but will keep an eye on it.
Well worth the effort for its £85 price tag, got the quatro set up nicely for a predictable break, got ever more impressed by it that a scope was put on and even a set of swivels and a sling.
It won’t be going back into the loft after the ammo has run dry, well over 3 thousand pellets down its barrel so far and it just got better and better.
Power still stable, and plenty of accuracy to boot. Still looks budget in the metalwork dept. but for the money and effort required to transform I would highly recommend