Hatsan PCP's

[GoneShootn]

Thing is a lot of folks tend to lose sight of the fact that Hatsan, Benjamin, Eunjin & many other guns on the market today were made to be and marketed as budget pcps. As a direct result of this there will be those who hat like some brands more than others, and QC issues that may vary from one brand to the next. Allowing personal preference to bias ones opinion for or against one make or another is an individuals privilege. But just keep in mind these guns are what they are and as such will all have shortfalls in one dept or another.

That being said, I love my Hatsans for 3 simple reasons regardless of their downsides.
1-Generally they provide lots of power and accuracy otb
2-They are easily modifiable to whatever needs a shooter may hàve
3-They are based on a ridiculously simple platform. So simple to the point that even if certain parts are not as readily available from the dealer or manufacturer, they can be made by hand I one were to choose to do so. Quite recently I completely remade all the moving parts in the BT 65 trigger group with nothing but a dremel. Ridiculously wonderfully beautifully simple design.

My humble advice to anyone looking for a new gun in the budget PCP area is know your needs, know your budget, and exercise due diligence. Do those things and you'll most likely wind up with what you're looking for. Regardless of who made it or where it was assembled.

That's great info to know. Thanks! I am growing fonder and fonder of Hatsans day by day. It was due to the videos of BWalton, a good friend to budget-conscious airgunners, that I came to consider and then purchase a Hatsan AT44-10, and I like it so far. I will know more when the JSB 18.1 pellets come tomorrow and I do an initial chrony run and 25 yd groups as a benchmark and starting point.

Jere

[William]

Thing is a lot of folks tend to lose sight of the fact that Hatsan, Benjamin, Eunjin & many other guns on the market today were made to be and marketed as budget pcps. As a direct result of this there will be those who hat like some brands more than others, and QC issues that may vary from one brand to the next. Allowing personal preference to bias ones opinion for or against one make or another is an individuals privilege. But just keep in mind these guns are what they are and as such will all have shortfalls in one dept or another.

That being said, I love my Hatsans for 3 simple reasons regardless of their downsides.
1-Generally they provide lots of power and accuracy otb
2-They are easily modifiable to whatever needs a shooter may hàve
3-They are based on a ridiculously simple platform. So simple to the point that even if certain parts are not as readily available from the dealer or manufacturer, they can be made by hand I one were to choose to do so. Quite recently I completely remade all the moving parts in the BT 65 trigger group with nothing but a dremel. Ridiculously wonderfully beautifully simple design.

My humble advice to anyone looking for a new gun in the budget PCP area is know your needs, know your budget, and exercise due diligence. Do those things and you'll most likely wind up with what you're looking for. Regardless of who made it or where it was assembled.

Personally, I don't consider $400 to $500 as being a budget AG, that is still a lot of money to spend on anything! As I have said in the past you can buy a high end Powder burner for less that have some really good quality work put into them, as well as accuracy.

Think about it, you buy a Mrod $500 + then a $150 scope and a few accessories and your at almost $1000, If you are going to pay that kind of money for an AG it needs to be A+ out of the box, and before you say anything, it does not take any more to build an AG than it does a Powder burner.

Yes I pay the big bucks too, but whats a fella supposed to do, I just wish the manufacture's quality would coincide with their pricing (especially on barrels).

I loved my Mrod .25, wish I still had it, it was accurate and very easily tuned to what ever I wanted.
Never had a Hatsan yet, but from what I have seen it seems to be a really good starter AG. Being inline with a Mrod or close to it.

I do agree with what you are saying and a person can indeed end up with a sweet little shooter if they put their mind to it and a little effort.

William

[Mod90]

Yes $500.00 is a lot of money. To some. And then its not considered to be that much by others.
There are guns on the market today that cost a lot more than what youd pay for a hatsan or an mrod. Most guns in the $500-$600 price range are considered budget guns, particularly when you look what you get for what you pay for them in comparison to other units such as the offerings from companies such as FX, Daystate, Anschutz and Steyr.

[Martis 1]

There are a lot of ways to look at the cost vs value of an air gun.  For me, like a lot of folks, air guns were pretty much kid's toys that you were given to learn on in order to prepare you for a "real" gun.  They were very inexpensive, even compared to a low end rim fire, cheap to shoot, and required little or no maintenance. 

Then when I got older, (notice I didn't say "grew up", because let's be honest, none of us on this forum are grown ups... ), I started looking at higher end air guns to supplement my powder burners. 

Yes, when I was told that a $400 PCP was an entry level gun and would require modification to reach it's potential, I was frustrated.  As others have said, for what it costs to outfit a decent PCP, you could buy a couple rim fire rifles that would shoot circles around it for power and probably accuracy.  I couldn't get past this fact and that's why I sent back the first two Discos I bought that had problems.

About that time I really looked at what I wanted a new air gun for.  It wasn't just to deal with the pests in my back yard, but also for more long range precision shooting on my property where I can't fire a powder burner.  Mostly to prepare me for hunting with my rifles without burning tons of powder and bullets that are so hard to get now. 

I also came to the decision that a break barrel is just not gonna work for me.  Nothing against them.  I just don't have or want to take the time to develop the skills needed to shoot something so different than other guns. 

Then... I realized that the comparison in price between a powder burner and a PCP isn't accurate.  To me, there's more to a PCP than there is to a powder burner.  Yes, a center fire rifle is more robust, but the "power plant" if you will, is in the cartridge, not in the gun.  Now look at a PCP.  It not only has to have the rifled barrel and all other components of a powder burner needed for accuracy, but it has to have it's power plant built into the gun as well.  With that in mind, I think what I paid for my Disco and what it provides for that price is pretty reasonable. 

I'll admit straight up though, I'm no purist.  I'm of the mind set of using the right tool for the job.  If an air gun is the right tool, I'll use that.  If a powder burner is a better tool at the time, I'll use that.  If it's a bow, I got that covered too.  Same with fishing.  A lot of fly fishing purists, (aka "snobs") in my area trying hard to get every body of water closed down to every other form of fishing.  Me?  I'll use a fly rod, spinning rod, bait caster, whatever works.  I ain't proud!  

What I'm getting at with that little rant is that I won't spend what it takes for a high or even middle end air gun when my rim fire will out perform it.  That is until the lead ban makes my rim fire impractical.  That's when I'll step up from the Disco.  At that point, I'll be willing to pay the cost for the technology to do what I need... 

[hanleyfan]

I have had a lot of 22 rifles in my life span and none were as accurate as my Marauder with a War valve and hammer set at 930 fps average out to a 100 yards. not to mention the cost of 22's now days. 

[William]

Yes $500.00 is a lot of money. To some. And then its not considered to be that much by others.
There are guns on the market today that cost a lot more than what youd pay for a hatsan or an mrod. Most guns in the $500-$600 price range are considered budget guns, particularly when you look what you get for what you pay for them in comparison to other units such as the offerings from companies such as FX, Daystate, Anschutz and Steyr.

You are correct thats for sure, to bad they are all at least 50 to 60% over priced to start with. When people start agreeing that paying to much is ok, thats when it just goes to far I think, these companies know they could help out a little on pricing.

There are some fine rifles out there thats for sure!

William

[pllagunos]

FX did a fair job on pricing, take the Bobcat for example or the wildcat both are in the same price range of Air Arms and Kalibr Guns, also I don't think they are so "over priced" Yes the cost of materials, workers and machining doesn't match up a bit on the MSRP but all the work done, research, trail and error experiments deserve some value, then there is shipping and finally the company that sells them to us needs to get something, at the end of the day they do cost more than they should, but it's not a 500$ difference...

[redlined_b16a]

My at44-10s was $364 shipped,for a hunter It needed no tuning out the box.
A tune is a preference for more power and efficiency.

[GoneShootn]

My at44-10s was $364 shipped,for a hunter It needed no tuning out the box.
A tune is a preference for more power and efficiency.

I paid $389 for the QE version. Both of those were deals!

Jere

[Martis 1]

I have had a lot of 22 rifles in my life span and none were as accurate as my Marauder with a War valve and hammer set at 930 fps average out to a 100 yards. not to mention the cost of 22's now days.

As an example of what I mean, I have a bull barrelled .22 that I paid right about $200 for, brand new.  It wears a 4-12 scope that I got on sale for $129.  That's about half what I paid for my Disco and pump.  I include the pump simply because I can't shoot the gun without it.  Might be fair, might not.  Anyway, the Disco shoots consistent 3/4", 5 shot groups at 50 yards and I'm happy with that.  The .22 on the other hand, shoots consistent sub 1/2" groups at the same range with subsonic ammo.  The other day, I was shooting clays on a hillside at a measured 125-128 yards with the .22.  Took about 4 shots to get the scope dialed and to compensate for the wind, but then it was pretty much hit for hit for hit.  No way I could do that with the Disco. 

I'm sure you could duplicate that with your Marauder, but I'm willing to bet you've got significanly more than twice the money into it than I do my lowly rimfire.  On the other hand, like I said, your Marauder represents a lot more technology than my little bolt gun too, so in my opinion, the added cost makes sense.

[Sfttailrdr46]

  You can't really make a fair comparison of PB vs AG a tin of premium .22 pellets 500 count will entertain you in your suburban back yard with out disturbing the neighbors. I haven't bought a 500 round brick in literally decades but I know that it is presently more than $14.99. You will also have LEO knocking on your door before you take 20 shots. Yes you can shoot further and hit harder with great accuracy with your Bull barrel .22 and I can take my bull barrel Ruger 7mm M77 and nail the 10 ring all day long at 500 + yards , but part of the reason I can shoot the 7mm that well is because I practice almost every day with my AG's

[Martis 1]

You can't really make a fair comparison of PB vs AG a tin of premium .22 pellets 500 count will entertain you in your suburban back yard with out disturbing the neighbors. I haven't bought a 500 round brick in literally decades but I know that it is presently more than $14.99. You will also have LEO knocking on your door before you take 20 shots. Yes you can shoot further and hit harder with great accuracy with your Bull barrel .22 and I can take my bull barrel Ruger 7mm M77 and nail the 10 ring all day long at 500 + yards , but part of the reason I can shoot the 7mm that well is because I practice almost every day with my AG's

Very true, and like you, part of the reason I can shoot my powder burners well is because I practice in my back yard with my Disco.  However, I would have the same LEO's knocking on my door after 20 shots with my stock Disco before the TKO...

The only point I was trying to make, and I think you actually helped me make it, is that if you're gonna try to accomplish the same task with an airgun that you would with a powder burner, it's gonna cost you a whole lot more money, at least if you're talking about a hunting situation.  On the other hand, like you said, if it's a target shooting or practice situation where you're shooting more rounds, then the cost of cartridges, even for a rimfire, is gonna tip the scales pretty quickly.

Oh, and if you haven't purchased a brick of ammo in that long, don't.  The sticker shock is gonna kill ya!

[Sfttailrdr46]

  No problem there I have about 10,000 rounds in vacuum sealed packages for the zombie apocalypse 

[Martis 1]

No problem there I have about 10,000 rounds in vacuum sealed packages for the zombie apocalypse 

Hope that's enough!  You know how large those zombie herds can get!