I try to get odd reviews up on guns I've tried just for a bit of fun and to let people see what they have been like if they are thinking about one or just want some basic info.
Here's one for a Hatsan AT44-10 I recently sorted out as it was in a sorry state when I got it with just some basics needing repaired to bring it back to working life. There are probably so many guns which die a death this way, as having them professionally done, especially at this price point, is beyond some people, so they are left in a corner or attic, which is one reason I often hear guys shouting - "get them out for the lads" in true airgun spirit
So here we have a pretty decent budget rifle from Hatsan, it's got no right to be as good as it is, but for a cheap entry into PCPs it's a great bit of kit, and although I'm not going to trade in my BR target rifles for it, it deserves some praise for doing what it does at the price it does it at
The AT44-10 in a synthetic stock like this one in .177 is available from around £400 up, so it's the entry level option for a full power PCP, and other stocks are also available. It's not going to compete for quality with the big names like Air Arms or Daystate, but bearing in mind the budget, it gets you into the game at least.
The gun has a list of features found on higher quality guns, but you can see and feel where they have "dumbed them down" a bit to get to a price point. Take the adjustable stock for instance, it's ballistic plastic, so can feel a but cheap, but will also take some knocks and not be a write off, so for hunting and playing around without worrying about it then it's no bad thing. The actual adjustment is pretty good in the fact that it's there at all, in both butt pad and cheek piece, many guns twice or even three times this do not have any kind of stock adjustment, so again, it's a win for Hatsan with this.
The gun has a removable 180cc cylinder with a quick fill and gauge. The gauge seems to be accurate enough, and with a 200bar max fill, it will do around 40 good shots before it starts to drop below 11fpe from the max this one was doing at 11.6fpe with JSB heavies. I think these have some sort of basic reg fitted? I'm not 100 % on that, but it does not have a power curve like an unregged rifle, and does around 40 shots over 11fpe before starting to drop by about 0.1fpe ever shot after that, so you can get another 10 shots on target with a touch of holdover, but you need a fill by the time you get to 50 shots at around 140/150bar.
The trigger is marketed as a match trigger with two stages, but in my opinion you can really feel the cost cutting here, and it's quite agricultural along with the whole side lever cocking system which feeds the 10 shot magazine, two of which are supplied. The auto safety take a bit of getting used to, and like the rest of the moving parts, is build down to a price, but as I keep saying, I'm surprised they got it on the gun at all given the price point. The gun comes with a screw cut barrel, but no moderator, so adding one helps reduce the bark as you would expect, but also give it a better look IMO
There is plenty of room for your scope on the 11mm dovetail, and if that's not enough, they have cut a 20mm dovetail into the rifle also - I can only assume that's for other markets as a 20mm dovetail is not commonly used in the UK.
The barrel is quite good, and the accuracy during the 40/50 shots from 200bar is impressive for the type and price of gun. I've mentioned the trigger, cocking and safety all being a bit agricultural, and this feeds through to the rather harsh firing cycle which limits the accuracy a touch as you feel the gun kick, not like a springer, but more than a normal PCP. I'm pretty sure with some time and effort the gun could be tuned to be a lot better, but you would have to be able to do it yourself on a cheap gun, as if your spending money on it you may as well buy one higher up the range to begin with - but did I mention it's a cheap gun?
On the card below you can actually see the accuracy starting to drift from left to right as this was well into the 40 shots. These were 5 shot groups, and the first 5 were a real surprise, but to constantly get those I've got a feeling you would have to refill every 30ish shots, but it's not too shabby at all.
So that's about it then, you have to read between the lines on the advertising on cheap guns, you do get what you pay for, but that can be pretty good, and you can't get sucked in by terms like "smooth operation" or "match trigger", they are what they are, so as long as you bear that in mind, then these are pretty good guns built to a reasonable standard.
James