The AirGun Guild

A friendly place to share one's interest in all things airguns.

Yay! Here is my review of the Hatsan Flash.

The Hatsan Flash in (.177 caliber) arrived today (July 3rd).  This is the rifle that I chose instead of the long delayed Benjamin Fortitude.  Initial thoughts:

1) It's light and cheap feeling.  (duh, it's a $300 pcp)

2) It was packed "ok".  The bolt was protruding through the inner (hatsan) box but was not damaged at all.  It came with all the accessories as it should (probe, extra orings, two mags, single shot tray)
 
3) Along with the rifle I also won a UTG bug buster scope  :-)  this scope along with the hatsan rail along with the super-high magazine made for some interesting moments trying to get it scoped!  Out of the crapload of rings I have around, only one ring would clear the mag (kind of...) and work with the bug buster.  I had to use HIGH UTG dovetail rings AND shim the scope.  I was able to trim some of the plastic from the UTG scope for shims  :-)

4) My gun's FPE (23 fpe) does NOT live up to the advertised specs (29 fpe) on the PA web site.  However, the gun's specs in the manual are different than the PA web site (22 fpe).  So I'll be sending PA a semi-nastygram on this one.  It shot at 1002 fpe with Air Arms 10.3 grain pellets.

5) It's quiet!

6) The trigger is significantly better than I was expecting.  I have owned one hatsan before (135).  I HATED that trigger.   More specifically, I hated the angle that the hatsan springers pull at.  This trigger is MUCH better than I could have hoped for.  It's not like my FX trigger, but I would not expect to be adjusting it in the near future

7) It was too dark to do full chrony strings.  I only got random shots to register on my chrony.  But based on the little shooting that I've done, I'm hoping for 3 mags (42 shots) which is shy of the 48 they advertise.

I only shot it off a monopod so I can't judge accuracy yet.  But I DO have a good feeling ....  :-)

9) Yes, the mags are really cheap feeling and there are some obvious manufacturing flaws visible on them.

I'll have more updates later this week.  Happy 4th of July folks!

Pics...

The rifle is 7 lbs scoped  :-)

1st chrony string:




Hmmmm, this is going to be a fun project  :-)

Shot Number   FPS   FPE   BAR / HS
1   1004   23.06   200
2   1007   23.20   
3   1004   23.06   
4   999   22.83   
5   998   22.79   
6   991   22.47   
7   995   22.65   
8   989   22.38   
9   989   22.38   
10   984   22.15   
11   983   22.11   
12   978   21.88   
13   975   21.75   
14   973   21.66   
15   973   21.66   165
16   968   21.44   
17   964   21.26   
18   959   21.04   
19   955   20.86   
20   951   20.69   
21   945   20.43   
22   943   20.34   
23   938   20.13   
24   933   19.91   
25   923   19.49   
26   924   19.53   
27   917   19.24   
28   916   19.19   148
29   915   19.15   
30   910   18.94   
31   907   18.82   
32   902   18.61   
33   894   18.28   
34   885   17.92   
35   880   17.72   
36   877   17.60   
37   870   17.32   
38   864   17.08   
39   855   16.72   
40   849   16.49   
41   844   16.30   
42   836   15.99   100


And the target which was at 30 yards.  Top left group was shots 1-14, top right was 15-28, and bottom left was 29-24.  I started out at 200 bar and the gauge was at 100 after mag 3.  Each group is on full mag (14 shots).  According to the manual the air tube volume is 165cc.

Thank you Bob  :-)  I just need to get an allen wrench that's just a *little* bit longer than any that I currently have!

Looks like you are good to hunt for the first 28 shots at 30 meters, judging by the accuracy.  Maybe even a few more.  Interesting how the last group, at the lowest velocities, was the tightest. 

Kudos to Hatsan support.  They were able to confirm how to adjust the hammer spring.  And yes, it's pretty obvious...   

Cock the bolt and allow to to come back forward.  There is a hole in the receiver where you can access the HS set screw (below the window that the bolt slides through):



Loosen the 2mm set screw and use a 4mm allen in the lower hole (closest to the trigger).  I was able to use a normal length allen when I pulled the bolt back a little bit.



Unfortunately I ran out of light and could not shoot a full string but I was able to capture some shots from my 1st and 3rd magazine.  It is now showing what appears to be a more normal unregulated curve.  I still need to test velocities at different tensions, but here's what I got.  This was 200 BAR down to 150 BAR after shot 42.  Before adjusting I was at 100 BAR after the same number of shots...

Again the shots here are not consecutive.  I think most of the 1st magazine are here and then a handful from the 3rd magazine...  (I really need to get some lights for my chrony!)  I hope to shoot shoot some real strings later this week or weekend ' :-)

Oh, the setting...  I backed the hammer spring fully clockwise (increasing tension) and then turned 12 full turns clockwise (decreasing tension). 



Ignore the BAR column in the graph above.  This is what I saw for air consumption according to the hatsan's gauge:

mag 1 / shots 1-14 / 200 bar down to 190 bar
mag 2 / shots 15-28 / 190 bar down to  160 bar
mag 3 / shots 29-42 / 160 bar down to 150 bar

What i would try ... IF apt to go into the mechanics ?
Install or fabricate a smaller transfer port if possible ... that would help in flattening the shot curve some in all likelihood.