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LDH® · Member

First impressions right out of the box, in spite of the fairly hefty price tag ($350+), is this is a cheap a$$ gun... It's heavy for whatever that is worth. Heavier than my Benji NP Trail, but all the weight is way forward and the synthetic stock is like plastic off a child's toy gun.

I will mount up a scope this evening and puts some pellets through it to see how the performance aspect will alter my final verdict, but I am very disappointed thus far. The manual safety is a wobbly piece of plastic that feels like it will break off under the weight of my thumb and the trigger has some side to side play in it.

LDH® · Member

Forgot to mention originally that this is a .177

It takes an amazing amount of cocking effort, but it shoots'em back out like a cannon!

Very little recoil, I'm assuming due to the how heavy the gun is and seems accurate so far. I ran a couple pellets through it just to see how it felt and then sat down to install a Leapers 4x32 AO mil dot scope on it. This took some effort as the dual rail (dove tail and picatinny combined) does not work with any of the Picatinny mounts I have so I used an offset dovetail to picatinny adapter I had which not only solved the mount issue, but also allowed me to mount the scope further back where it needs to be on the rail. That issue is another problem with the general design of the rifle.

Once the scope was installed and everything tightened, checked and re-tightened I grabbed something to shoot at. In this case it was the little black dots you use on a shoot-n-see target to cover up the holes.

Starting left to right it took me 5 shots to get the scope sighted in using some cheapo Gamo domed pellets while standing upright holding the rifle free hand at 10 yards. The 3 consecutive shots were basically on the target dot.

The second dot to the right I switched to Polymag Predators of which I only had 3 left in the tin.

The next dot to the right I switched back to the Gamo dome pellets and I kid you not I put 4 in a row through that hole in the bottom right then made an adjustment to the scope and overcompensated putting the last one above the dot.

Dropping to the dot below the farthest on the right I layed down prone and took one shot which as you can see wasn't my best angle...

The last dot to the right on top I switched to the Beeman Eco-Kodiak pellets. These are some lead free pellets that none of my other guns shoot very well. This gun put it right smack in the middle of the dot so I figured that is good enough for me LOL

Tomorrow when more pellets arrive I will sight in the scope again, but this time at 30 yards which is my normal shooting range.

All in all I am feeling better about my purchase due to the accuracy of the gun and the sheer power it puts out. Just for grins and giggles I put a pellet all the way through a 1/2" thick hardwood board. Granted that is not a very scientific test, but I think the knockdown power of this rifle will make for very humane small pest hunting.

AirGunEric · Site Admin

All Hatsan springers are "heavy" and "bulky"- they do alot better with their PCP product in my opinion.

And using the name "Dominator"- ripped off from Walther- perhaps with the intent of causing some confusion ("I hear the Dominator is a great gun" (Walther))?

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

Shoots good, but I'd definitely reinvest that money

LDH® · Member

I dunno... I'm still on the fence.

Started doing some 30+ yard shooting with it this afternoon just out of boredom and it was nailing shot after shot in a 1" group (freehand no bench etc) and I am still shooting those crappy Gamo domed pellets which are inherently inaccurate. In fact the only shots it put wrong were all on my part not the rifle. I still can't get over how strong it is either.

better picture of the current set-up

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

You could be right, if it does shoot hard, and that accurately. How many fps do you think you're getting with those pellets? The way you described the plasticky parts really turned me off in a hurry Ahhh!

LDH® · Member

I don't have a chrony so I have no idea what it is really shooting, but anything under 6.4 grains goes supersonic

toadmyster223 · Senior Member

Thats a good substitution of information Thumb Up! v2

Can you get any accuracy with said supersonic rounds? My Viper gets pretty crazy with anything that light... If it shoots them tight, it might be a keeper in need of some trigger work hehe

LDH® · Member

ZipSnipe · Veteran Member

Its a good looking rifle ya got, congrats, looks like its starting to grow on ya..

Big Ern · Veteran Member

That is a very nice looking rifle and a great shooter too from what I see. Congrats.

Ernesto

LDH® · Member

It's official... It's heavy, damn near too heavy, but it kills things dead dead dead!

I hate it, but I love it. My arm is killing me from either cocking this thing or holding it or maybe a combination of both, but I am almost orgasmically satisfied with how well it shoots.

I now know why the chassis is so cheap and plasticky... They made it that way to save weight. The damn air rifle is heavier than my tactical shotgun so by using the cheap stock they kept the weight from being a further burden on the shooter otherwise this thing would be unusable.

The 4X32 AO scope is just not enough for it... I'm going to upgrade to the largest 1" tube AO scope I can find. I will most likely end up getting a variable zoom scope, but just leave the zoom factor set statically on 6 or 8 and only adjust the AO as I just don't believe we get a high enough quality scope from the manufacturers we have to choose from to get a variable power scope that does not affect the POI. I'm thinking about something in the 50mm range that will adjust from 10mm to infinity with a mil-dot. If I have the mil dot then even below 10 yards I can still learn to correct by figuring out which mill dot corresponds to the distance through a tiny bit of trial and error.

PS I was shooting completely through ground squirrels at 30-40 yards Shocked

LDH® · Member

Yea this is a little more like it Smile

Unfortunately the weather is shite right now and I cannot get it out to sight it in...

broommaster2000 · Moderator

I actually prefer the wooden stocks on these. They're a bit more controllable that way. Also, I'd have gone for a .22 or maybe even a .25. This also makes the rifle a little more controllable.

By the way, how are you cocking it? I always grab the rifle in the middle while putting the butt high on my upper legg. Most of the time this gets things done, even on really high powered airguns.

LDH® · Member

The cocking lever has loosened up a little bit so it's not quite so unbearable as it was originally. Still way more effort than any other rifle I have shot, but the power it puts out is worth it.

Last night with the new scope I was putting pellet after pellet literally through the same hole at 35 yards when resting the gun on the tailgate of my truck while shooting. It requires a modified artillery hold where you hold the gun much tighter into your shoulder than you would with most springers, but allow the front of the gun to move around with a loose forehand.

I know I should have went for a larger caliber, but I like the .177 for the distance I can get from them.

This rifle also does something none of my other rifles will do. At 35 yards I can shoot Crow Magnums, ECO-Lead Free Kodiaks, Poly Predators or bulk bought Crosman Premiers and all of them hit within the same 1/2" POI.

Having said that it won't even allow me to chamber a Gamo PBA or those Skenco Golden Match Type 4 lead free things that look like bullets, they simply don't fit.