Matters not how nice a gun is if you can't shoot it...

[thebookdoc]

I just bought a Hatsan mod 100. I liked the idea of it because it had a flip-up loader on an underlever. One of the features I hate (capital H) on underlevers is the breach loading where you have to stick your fingers in harm's way. So this seemed like a good solution. However, there is apparently not a pellet on the planet that fits the breach. So sure, I got a pristine rifle, but this is NOT one I have heard of before. TWO previous owners and not a shot fired. Why? You can't get the pellets in.

So, do the sellers get a negative on the BOI and GTA? Or Do I just eat it out of the goodness of my heart? My heart is pretty expansive.

FOLLOWUP:  Glad I didn't rush to the trigger -- so to speak. Please see the followup later in this thread:

http://www.gatewaytoairguns.com/airguns/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=28929&mid=226720#M226720

[thebookdoc]

BTW -- several features were/are wonderful. the way the flip-up breach locks in is nice. the way the underlever cocking handle locks in is better than any underlever I've handled. there is a lot here that reminds me of the RWS 48 ( i know, a sidelever...but the weight and feel). However, if you can't shoot it, what is it worth?

[jay morgan]

What's wrong with it bookdoc?to small, to big,smashed?I read when you wanted it & the guy said it did xxxf.p.s,Sooo in my opinion my heart would only be so big.

[Magnum]

This does not sound good I looked at the new hatsan web site and they sure caught my eye. Not worth much if you can not load it Tho!  Do you see this as a design flaw or something you will have to send back for a correctly machined breach? I have a Diana 46 and one of my favorites:)

[thebookdoc]

I tried 7 different kinds of pellets...all .177 in the flip up, on both sides, and in both sides of the loading area. It is too tight for ANY of them. You'd think a pellet would fit in one of four places. And the calibre is stamped on the barrel, so I'm not using the wrong thing. Everything looks fine. Nothing fits. I've loaded a few pellet guns...I have about 15 of them...

[thebookdoc]

I like everything about the gun... but no joy when it came to loading. I've never had this problem before, and I guess I should have been suspicious when the last owner went to sell it unshot. You can't shoot what you can't load.

[Toolmaker]

Any chance we can see a pic of the breech?

[Mark 611]

I had a B40 like that almost sent it back! untill I took a piece of emery cloth fine grit and and worked the breech  untill it would fit the pellet I was trying to shoot and it turned out to be one of the most accurate rifles I've ever shot so thats something you might want to try!

[CharlieDaTuna]

It does sound like the breech may have a bit of distortion in it. It takes very little to prevent loading a pellet....just a thousandths or so out of round or rough edge.

I would think that it could be checked for any flaw and with the careful use of the right tool such a tapered sanding/grinding stone and dremel tool and then fine sanded with 600 grit, be champhered just a bit and opened up. I have done a lot of chambers/breeches in the past using that method.

[thebookdoc]

To follow up... a) I was a bit PO'd that the rifle was unloadable and I vented. b) I sat back and took inventory.

I got out a loupe to take a look at the 4 holes, but still assuming I was supposed to load at the barrel as the other 3 holes made much less sense (alignment and seam issues could prevent a pellet from passing, and that would really take away from the advantage of a fixed barrel somewhat). but I checked all of them. Sure enough, the barrel breach had a ding, like someone tried to stuff a BB in it and missed (I cant say that was it, that's just what it looked like). So I took out the dremel and honed that down. 10 minutes later I was shooting 1-holers at 10yards off-hand. Half an hour later I'd gotten used to the shot cycle and beside some grind in cocking (which I expect I'll fix) it was pretty awesome. Unlike other underlevers (and side-levers) that require the cocking handle to be open when you load, you can cock and load this in any order: load-and-cock, load-while-cocking-arm-is-open, cock-and-load. It feels so much better and less awkward than holding the cocking arm open!

So...I went from PO'd to convert in about 2 hours. I thought I'd love the flip-up, and I do. Quite frankly the accuracy is a surprise with all the bad I hear about Hatsan/Turkish guns. The lock for the cocking lever in simple, but clicks nicely into place with a spring action plunger that locks the cocking arm closed. You have to release it with a light tug from fore-finger and thumb. In all, a pretty clever design. I wish the flip-up was not plastic as I might feel it'd last longer, but everything else is much better than it should be for a $90 gun.

apologies for panic. I think I'm going to have this one grow on me...

[tjk]

Awesome news!! Nothing better than a happy ending. How's the trigger? tjk

[rbshoots]

Yeah the newer Turkey guns have gotten a bad rap IMO....... I had a Turkish made Winchester 1000X .177 that was really quite accurate and very powerful....the only bad thing about it was a not so good trigger pull which was remedied with a slightly longer adjustment screw..... gald you got your problem fixed