Hatsan 95 newbie

[medicblue]

Hello to everyone. I'm going to say that I'm new to air gunning. I haven't looked at these since my 20's, and way back then, I wasn't looking at maybe getting serious. So I just unboxed my first Hatsan 95 (Not Vortex) in .22. Chose it from Amazon by it's review score and price.  I've read the "Introduction to air guns for beginners" thread. (Thank you for that). So I'll go slowly and break it in properly. I'm looking to get a decent scope. I have everything to mount scopes solid and level. Of course I'll have questions as I get further along. My first is does anyone know off hand what the barrel twist rate is? And maybe what pellet weight range would be a good place to start?

[Whirligig]

My Hatsan 95s love RWS Superdomes, both in terms of accuracy and FPE.


-W

[medicblue]

Thank you, I found a tin, on its way. I picked up a tin of JSB Match Diabolos with the gun. 18.13gr. I see the RWS are 14.5 gr. Are people seeing better accuracy with the lighter? Or is the 4gr not enough to make a huge difference?

[AG72]

Hello and welcome! All my hatsans in different caliber prefer heavy jsb pellets, so i would think those 18.13 jsb you bought would be god, clean the barrel first cause they are usualy filthy, don´t worry if the shotgroups  get wide after cleaning, that happens all the time for me, it gets better after a number of shots when the barrel get seasoned, then shoot a couple hundred shots to break it in, god luck with your shooting!

[Yogi]

18 grains is to heavy a pellet for the 95.   you are better off with 14-16 grain pellets.   Try a bunch...

-Y

[guero_gordo]

Mine shoots JSB Exact 18.1's better than Superdomes, but I have a vortex piston, so not sure it's comparable.

[Whirligig]

Hello and welcome! All my hatsans in different caliber prefer heavy jsb pellets, so i would think those 18.13 jsb you bought would be god, clean the barrel first cause they are usualy filthy, don´t worry if the shotgroups  get wide after cleaning, that happens all the time for me, it gets better after a number of shots when the barrel get seasoned, then shoot a couple hundred shots to break it in, god luck with your shooting!

Remember that the rifling in an airgun is more delicate than the rifling in a powder burner. I run three cotton swabs soaked in RemOil (one after the other) through the barrel and then two dry cotton swabs (one after the other) to remove any excess oil. Don't use metal brushes. It's unlikely that you will need to clean the barrel again for quite a long time after the initial cleaning.

[Old Corps]

My .22 95 does fine with both the 15.89 and 18.13 JSBs. Most of my break barrel rifles have UTG scopes on them and I've never had one fail...........yet. Hawke scopes are also well regarded here and I have a couple of those as well with no problems. Hawke actually recommends 30mm scopes for break barrels but I have used a 1" on one of mine and it's held up. Both companies have excellent customer service reputations.

Ed

[medicblue]

Thank you for the welcomes and the replies. This is a huge help. I'm off today and have a little running around to do anyway. I'm thinking of heading over to Cabelas and looking over their air gun section. Thanks for the recommendation for scopes too. That might narrow down some choices as well. I have a couple that were pulled off .30-06 combo deals that I figure will holdup and seem to focus down to 20 yards pretty good.

[Old Corps]

Blue-Keep in mind that break barrel air guns are actually harder on a scope than those 30.06 rifles--believe it or not. It's due to the double recoil of their design.

Ed

[SLUGGO]

I was just a Cabelas. A LOT of GAMO and and two Benjamins.  Their pellet selection is laughable.  Just an FYI

[selittle]

My Hatsan 95s love RWS Superdome, both in terms of accuracy and FPE.


-W

I agree. Superdomes rock in my Hatsan 95 Vortex. Hole within hole at 10 yards

[dlee]

Blue - had my refurb 95 Vortex tuned by John in PA. Now it shoots lights out and loves the JSB 18.13gr or the AA Diabolo Field Heavy 18gr. Actually, nearly as good are the Ruger Superpoints (17 gr).

[dw]

I find mine is a great gun-you are really going to enjoy it.

I just use cheap Crosman hollow point pellets and it does fine.

[SteveP-52]

Here's an inexpensive way to test pellets and you won't end up with a bunch of tins that don't shoot well. $35 from Straight Shooters and has something like 18 different types and weights of pellets in different brands:

http://www.straightshooters.com/straight-shooters-full-pellet-sampler-.22.html

For scopes, just decide how much you're willing to spend, then make sure they're air gun rated. Your mileage may vary but I have quite a few Hawke Vantage scopes on my rifles and to date have never had an issue with any of them. Also have a few of their Airmax scopes. They cost a little more but designed for springers and at least in my lame opinion, worth the extra money. For a more budget friendly scope, have a look at the Hammers 3-9x40 AO scopes on Amazon.
Depending on how you like your scopes to sit for eye relief, you might find like others have (I'm one of them) that the scope rails are a bit too far forward but that's easily solved with either an offset scope mount or rings and you can get those from either UTG or Hawke.

Last but not least for now is that Quattro trigger. You can search here or Youtube has some pretty good videos on adjusting it. One other trick to shooting with it is that it actually pulls up, not back and for that, I keep my thumb on the stock just behind the safety and picture myself pinching my thumb and trigger finger together to get that smoother upward pull. Took a little practice but once you get used to it, you'll do it without even thinking about it...lol

Hope some of this helps a little

[guero_gordo]

I'm new to airguns and optics, so putting a few hundred rounds over iron sights before bolting on a scope kept things simple for me

[Whirligig]

I'm new to airguns and optics, so putting a few hundred rounds over iron sights before bolting on a scope kept things simple for me

Make sure you check the tightness of all the external screws (even the ones on the scope) before and after every shooting session. My Hatsans, more than any other brand of airgun, have been notorious for screws loosening to the point of falling out.


At the least, check the two screws at the front of the forearm, the screws at the trigger guard, and the two screws holding the metal scope stop onto the back of the receiver. Hatsan will send you new screws if they fall out, but it's not great for the gun to be shot with screws that are not snug and you probably don't want to lose any shooting time because a screw fell off your 95 into the grass, never to be seen again.


If screws are loosening all the time, consider using some blue loctite or even just nail polish on the threads to keep them put.

[medicblue]

OK, so I dropped back in and found quite a few more replies with some really good advice.

So I hadn't made out to Cabelas yet and sounds like I don't need to waste my time.

The more I look into it, the more a springer worthy scope might have to be considered. For initial shooting I'll try one of the 06 scopes I have laying around collecting dust. Hey, if they're not so good, no big loss. I saw those Hammer scopes, and UTG's might be in the budget range. Unless no one tells the wife what the Hawkes cost. I want to set the iron sights first though.

I have 3 tins of pellets including some Crossman's from Walmart. The sample pack is a great plan when I get broke in. The eventual goal is a little hunting so I'll want the tightest groups and sufficient energy on target.  Here in Utah, so far, I only know of two huntables, Jacks and Collared Doves. The doves are what set this off in the first place. Not much use for Jacks and there's not that many of them. This year, the DNR's regs have "Can be hunted with any weapon you legally own." Soooo.... I'm still searching and might even stop into the DNR and ask a few questions. Unless I can catch a warden at the lake.

I think checking screw tightness is good advice and I'll do just that.

Thanks for the tips on the Quatro trigger. I watched the Artillery hold video. Sounds like a little trigger pull technique will fit right in.

Thanks for all the tips. I'm glad I found this forum.

[SteveP-52]

I've found since others recommended it and trying it myself, that Vibra Tite VC-3 works better than Loctite. Goes on the same but if you ever need to adjust those screws, you can with Vibra Tite and not have to reapply it like you do with the blue Loctite.

As far as scopes, one place to watch and it's free to sign up, is a website called Dvor. When they have scope sales, you can get some seriously good deals on any number of scope brands. During their last one, I grabbed a Hawke Airmax 4-12x40 AO scope that normally sells for $230 for $165 delivered to my door:

https://www.dvor.com/

[Bryan Heimann]

Welcome to the GTA, and welcome to the addiction   Lots of good advice here so far.  Personally, I think you ought to look for a common pellet on the store shelf that your gun likes.  You might be surprised, every airgun bore is different and what they like is what they like.  Order the good stuff and play with those too, when you find one it likes get several tins and keep em tucked back for hunts or days you really want to hit small targets or stretch the range.

An aweful lot of guns shoot cheap store ammo well.  Sometimes you just get a bad tin too.  It can be a crapshoot but it is alot of fun.