by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
Hatsan Gladius Long.
This report covers:
- H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm heads
- Max power
- Air use?
- H&N Sniper Magnum
- Crosman Premier 10.5 grains
- Baracuda Match again
- Overall evaluation
Today we look at the accuracy of the Hatsan Gladius long at 50 yards. I’m taking some time with this rifle for a couple important reasons. First — I think it deserves the extra attention because of the features it offers. And second — because the Gladius is so similar to other Hatsan PCP platforms, readers can use the report for many different models.
The Hatsan Gladius rifle was easy to shoot from 50 yards.
H&N Baracuda Match with 4.50mm heads
The day was perfect. No breeze to disturb the flight of the .177 caliber pellets. I loaded the rifle with 10 H&N Baracuda Match pellets with 4.50mm heads and started the test. I left the power setting on 3, where it was at the end of the 25-yard test. I wanted to see how much difference there would be at 50 yards, and I was surprised.
The center of the 1.148-inch group is in line with where it was at 25 yards and less than one inch lower. I expected it to drop by 2 inches or more. Apparently power setting 3 is a good spot on this Gladius.
Ten H&N Baracuda Match pellets with 4.50mm heads went into 1.148-inches at 50 yards. The point of impact is less than an inch below where it was at 25 yards on the same power and same scope setting.
Max power
I left the scope where it was and turned the power up to 6, which is as high as it will go. That sends this pellet out of the muzzle at 1138 f.p.s. That is supersonic, but as we learned in the 11-part Pellet velocity versus accuracy test , velocity does not affect pellet accuracy negatively. We also learned in our velocity test that the Gladius moves immediately to a new velocity setting, so there is no need to fire a warmup shot.
Nine Baracudas at this power grouped in 1.063-inches at 50 yards. It’s the smallest group of the session but it’s not enough different from the group on power setting 3 to be significant. The point of impact was higher and to the left. Though the group appears at the bottom of a bullseye, I was aiming at the bull beneath where the pellets hit. The first pellet actually went above the target paper and was lost, which is why I used the bull below as the aim point, and also why this is a 9-shot group and not 10.
On power setting 6, nine H&N Baracuda Match pellets with 4.50mm heads went into 1.063-inches at 50 yards. The point of impact is about 2 inches above the point of aim on this setting.
Following this target I adjusted the scope 2 clicks to the left. I left the elevation where it was.
Air use?
At this point 20 shots had been fired on a fill — 10 at power setting 3 and 10 at power 6. I now shot one additional target with Baracuda Match pellets on power setting 4, to see how the gun performed on the third group of 10 shots after a fill.
Since power 3 and 4 are so close, I decided to aim directly at a bull and see where the pellets went. They did go higher on the bull, but this group is strung out vertically just a little. It’s 10 shots in 1.452-inches between centers. You could still hit game at 50 yards on this setting, but afterward it’s probably time to refill.
On power setting 4 ten H&N Baracuda Match pellets with 4.50mm heads went into 1.452-inches at 50 yards. This group is higher than the one on power setting 3. The pellets are beginning to string vertically.
H&N Sniper Magnum
Now I switched to the H&N Sniper Magnum pellets and cranked the power up to 6. This pellet weighs 15 grains, which is very heavy for a .177. They were ambiguous at 25 yards, and I wanted to see what they would do at 50. As heavy as they are, this would be an ideal hunting pellet for the Gladius if it is accurate.
Ten Sniper Magnums went into 1.696-inches at 50 yards. They impacted both high and to the left of the aim point. I might try them one more time, but if this is the best they can do they are not well-suited to the Gladius, in my opinion. This was the worst group of the test. Maybe I will try them on a lower power setting next time.
Ten H&N Sniper Magnum pellets went into 1.696-inches at 50 yards on power setting 6.
Crosman Premier 10.5 grains
Somebody suggested I try Crosman Premier 10.5 grain pellets, so they were next. The scope was not adjusted from where it had been for the Sniper Magnums. The power was set at 5 — the first and only time in this test at that setting. Ten Premier pellets landed in a 1.56-inch group that was just slightly lower and more to the right than the Sniper Magnums. While this isn’t bad, in light of what the Baracuda Match pellets can do, it isn’t in the running.
On power setting 5, ten Crosman Premier 10.5-grain pellets went into 1.56-inches at 50 yards. I’m using the same scope setting as I did for the Sniper Magnums.
Baracuda Match again
I had now fired 50 shots and was starting to tire, but I wanted to return to the initial power setting of 3 and see if the results with Baracuda Match pellets were the same. This time I put 10 into 1.31-inches. That is larger than the first group, but not by much. The Gladiuis seems very consistent with all pellets.
Back on power setting 3, ten Baracuda Match pellets went into 1.31-inches at 50 yards.
Overall evaluation
One of our readers said he felt his Gladius had a trigger that was slightly heavier and creepier than a Benjamin Marauder trigger, even when adjusted as nice as it can be. I would have to agree with that. So far I have seen accuracy that is very good, but not quite as good as a Marauder. But I didn’t try the 10.34-grain JSB Exact Heavy yet, so there is more to test.
Out on the range I was very pleased by how quiet the rifle is. Even on the highest setting, it’s quiet.
I do like the ergonomics of the rifle. Everything is right where I want it to be. That seems strange to say about a bullpup design, but this rifle is really well laid-out.
I’m also pleased with the number of powerful shots that can be gotten from a fill. If there is a separation between the Gladius and the Marauder other than the triggers and the price, it is the power and management of air.
I see at least one more test for this rifle before we are finished.
Still yet 1″ groups at 50 yards is nothing to sneeze about.
Smaller is better of course. But still should get the pesting job done at 50 yards. Especially if they can shoot that velocity that you say. Mice might be tuff. Oh you know what I mean. It should do the job just fine if your shooting skills are up to par.
I think it’s a cool gun.
GF1,
This thing is not smaller, it is huge. It has over 3 pounds on the Marauder. The Marauder has a better trigger also. I can see where this has potential as a bench rifle, but you would definitely want a bigger caliber and would probably want to change the barrel and do some trigger work.
As for the mice, you would probably want something easier and quicker to handle anyway. I can see you wheeling this thing around trying to line up on some small, furry woodland creature as it scampers along.
RR
I was talking about group size when I made this comment.
“Smaller is better of course.”
And on this comment I meant group size also. Or should I say adequate accuracy for mice.
“Mice might be tuff. Oh you know what I mean. It should do the job just fine if your shooting skills are up to par.”
Wasn’t talking about the weight or size of the gun. It was all about accuracy.
🙂
GF1,
I know what you need to do. Get you a Benjamin Maximus in .22 and put an Hawke 2-7×32 AO on it. Play with it for a little bit and when you get bored with it, sell it to me at a good price. 😉
RR
I doubt that I buy one. Haven’t been to excited about new air guns lately.
I guess that’s what happens when you finally get ahold of accurate ones. The others just don’t seem as interesting anymore. 😉
BB,
I appreciate this type of tests very much. Hatsun made a very good airgun for that price and you shooting it get the best out of that rifle.
Normally when I see this type of entrance pattern at my paper targets (side wise tears near the impact point) I know that the pellets do not have much speed when hitting the target.
It seems here also the case as the pellets you did at max velocity leave nice clean entrance holes.
Is there a better explanation of the side wise tears?
Anyway I would be interested in seeing the the H&N Baracuda Match at 50 yard and top speed to see how they impact and the spread of that set of pellets. Going faster that sound may create its own problems, though.
Regards,
August
August,
The sideways tears mean the pellets are not hitting straight on, which means they are not completely stable. As the distance increases, they will spread out more than pellets that are stable.
I’m not sure I understand your comment about the Baracuda Match at top speed. The second target shows that. Am I missing something?
B.B.
BB,
Sorry, I overlooked that, you did that already. They do tear the target too which means that at higher speed they are also somewhat unstable.
Those Sniper Magnums then are more stable in flight leaving smaller holes, but are not that accurate in this gun. A bit strange as I would expect a stable pellet to do better or at least as good as the other ones, but in real life things come out differently,
Regards,
August
Nice testing. Always good to see you out at the range. Doing the 50 yards is cool as well. I enjoy it when you start pushing the limits on what something can do. I am a “bit” of a fan of that myself. 😉
BB,
In the caption of the last picture you called the Baracuda Match Crosman Premiers.
RR,
Fixed it. Thanks,
B.B.
BB,
This is just a personal thing, but to me the whole idea of a bullpup is something light, compact and easy to handle, most especially in a confined space.
I know with air rifles the philosophy changes. The bullpup design allows for a longer barrel, thereby increasing the efficiency. More power! Yes, it has all the bells and whistles such as adjustable power and hammer spring, but all of that adds mass. Would you want to lug this thing through the woods all day?
I had heard that this bullpup is on the top heavy side and wants to tip. Have you experienced this?
RR,
Know what you are commenting on? Terminology. That’s what I was ranting against. See how it matters? 😉
B.B.
RR,
I should have addressed the tipping remark. Yes, this rifle does want to tip. If I used it on a bipod that would have been very noticeable.
B.B.
BB,
From pictures I have seen it appears that the Hatsan Bullboss has the barrel closer to the air cylinder than it appears on the Gladius. I wonder if that would help a bit with the tipping on the Bullboss?
Bruce
Bruce,
Maybe, but in my experience, all these squared-off guns tend to tip.
B.B.
Hi BB
Thanks for an excellent review thus far. For such a powerful PCP you obviously need the heaviest pellets for more energy transfer downrange. especially when you go hunting. I have never tried the H&N Sniper Magnums and the H&N Rabbit Magnums II (15.7 gr) are rubbish and just will not group at all in my Hatsan AT44-10. Piledrivers (21 gr) are to long, but I found the JSB Exact Monster (13.4 gr) to work very well. They are accurate and I measured them at an average of 903 fps (24.3 ft-lb) at the muzzle, which is very good for a .177. Maybe you can try them.
Vasco,
I will scour my pellet selection and see what I have for the next test. I can’t shoot them if they are too long, but maybe we will get lucky.
B.B.
Thanks BB
I am pretty sure the JSB Exact Monsters will fit. They fit into my AT44’s magazine with a bit of space to spare.
Vasco
I got the JSB exact monster 13.4’s by mistake when I was ordering the 10.34’s. I think someone grabbed a tin of them by mistake when they packed my order.
Any way was shooting them out of a .177 Marauder and Talon SS some years back. They did work pretty good. But I just didn’t like the bigger trajectory arch they made. Needed more hold over and under on the gun than the 10.34’s. So I stuck with the 10.34’s. The 10.34’s were good in lower velocity guns too. So I think your right the 13.4’s just may be a good pellet for this gun with the power it can make.
B.B.
How is this Quattro trigger different that the one in the Hatsan 85?
Do you also use the trigger pull of “back and up” vs just “back”?
Thanks,
-Y
Yogi,
I don’t know and no, I didn’t. I just pulled straight back — the way I would any other trigger.
B.B.
Looking closely at the photo of you at the range, it appears you practice what you preach by having both eyes open when using a scope. Glad to see both your eyes are functioning as they should.
Bob
Bob,
The right eye looks normal, but it isn’t. I still see the crosshairs as crooked lines, although that does appear to be improving slowly.
A few weeks back I shot 5 .223 rounds into 1.5 inches at 200 yards. It was during a test of the Meopta spotting scope, but also to prove to my self that I can still shoot.
Ironically using the computer is the moist difficult thing I do. I can barely focus on the screen.
B.B.
I’m guessing this 200 yard group was done with your AR.
Matt61
Matt,
Yes, it was.
B.B.
ARs can be super-accurate, no question about that.
Matt61
Hi Tom;
Let me see if I understand your post correctly:
Your right eye is the one actually looking through the scope in the photo above.
The crosshairs appear as crooked lines due to previous detached retina issues.
You shot 5 rounds (any caliber works for me) into a 1.5″ group at 200 yards!!!
I couldn’t do that at 100 yards on my best day, not matter what rifle, gun, pistol, bow and arrow, or rock I used at the range. What I really need is for Jack to teach ME to shoot. I may be an old dog but I am willing to learn new tricks. I guess the trade-off is that I spend my day looking at the 3 screens on my computer workstation with no issues.
Have a wonderful day
Bob
Bob, don’t you have an AR? Maybe the first step is getting that rifle into shape. And maybe the second step is getting a Lead Sled rest. 🙂
Matt61
The verdict is in that the sound barrier does not seem to be interfering with accuracy. Theory has taken a hit. I had doubted that a pellet could stay supersonic out to 50 yards, but maybe that speed allows it to cover the distance before dropping below the sound barrier.
The rifle does look pretty cool, but I’ve never had anything against the tactical look. I’ve never heard of any objections to the ergonomics of the bullpup design. In fact, I believe that is supposed to be one of its virtues. The objections I’ve heard to this style are that it places the action right next to your face which is a hazard if it blows up, and it degrades the trigger mechanism by adding an extra linkage. The exploded action is not a problem with an airgun, and it seems that the trigger is not a problem here. As a related fact of interest, I believe that the bullpup design can be extremely accurate. The British bullpup service rifle has received many criticisms, but it has won accuracy competitions in interservice matches.
Fido3030, that’s an interesting point about the grip and point angle of the Randall. Looking very closely at the design again, it appears that the line of the top of the blade with the handle is not straight. It droops a tiny bit. When I noticed this same feature in my Ontario Marine Raider bowie, I was very disappointed with this deviation from the perfection of the straight line. I have a Case bowie that is straight and feels wonderful in the hand. However, I suspect the slight droop is supposed to assist cutting power along with the slightly recurved edge. I’ve also become reconciled to my Raider bowie which feels good in the hand, especially when the back cut is executed properly.
Wow, that is some resource you have in your uncle who is a veteran of Iwo Jima. I bet he has some stories to tell. Get that man’s oral history while you can. I’ve heard conflicting stories about the knife culture of the Marines in WWII. One excellent account of the Battle of Peleliu claims that knife fighting was despised by the Marines who considered it dirty and underhanded. But there is another account of a Marine on Guadalcanal who used a knife to protect a wounded buddy against overwhelming odds and took out a few of the enemy in the “cool Marine way” before going down. And then there is Marine veteran Eugene Sledge, featured in the recent series on the Pacific War, who said every Marine kept his ka bar handy at night to protect against infiltrators. It sounds like the Ka bars got a lot of use.
ChrisUSA, I meant to say that the lockbacks can’t be closed with one hand as you can with liner locks. When I asked the Cold Steel rep about this in reference to a lockback model, he sounded puzzled. But closing the knife one-handed is not a big priority. You’re right that Cold Steel is cheap. That’s one reason why I like them. 🙂 But their products are high quality, sort of like Savage rifles. Cold Steel is also highly imaginative. Thanks to them, I am getting into tomahawk techniques which are a truly American fighting style.
Derrick and I just had a conversation about blade steels. Do you know what steel your Gerber knife uses that is easy to sharpen and retains its edge?
Matt61
Matt61
Unfortunately my uncle passed a couple of years ago. I have his Kabar and Colt .45. It was hard to get a GI .45 at that time so my aunt scoured Southern California until she found a civilian Colt for him. Imagine how she must have felt, but she did what she had to do for her husband. He used the .45 a number of times on Iwo. He, like many Marines and soldiers, didn’t talk much about it. If you average the time between our wars it works out to about 20 years. That is the time for another generation of boy (and now girl) babies to grow up and are willing go through it. It’s truly hell on Earth. How our Veterans have been treated since Viet Nam is a shame on our nation.
Back to knives: i think the droop is to help keep the point on line with the enemy for a thrust and to help the little and ring fingers give more power to a cut. On SE Asian knives this is exagerated. Humans are adaptable and can use a wide variety. If you find a knife that feels like it’s part of your hand don’t let it get away from you.
Fido3030
Matt61,
Per the SMKW catalog,….. 7Cr17MoV Stainless steel. Is that good? I may have to go for the “Ultimate”, same, but a fixed blade. It only says high carbon stainless though. I am real leery of that, as most SS blade are junk on a cheaper knife.
Matt61,
I forgot, I close the lock back all the time one handed. Depress the lock, put the back of the blade on the leg and fold the handle over onto the blade. Keeping all digits out of the way,……. of course? 😉
Gunfun1, I’ve been meaning to say that your scope camera has addressed a long standing issue in the blog. It was mentioned awhile ago that a disproportionate number of serious shooters have photographic interests like the Godfather of Airguns himself. And I believe that CowBoyStar Dad is a professional photographer. I wasn’t sure how seriously to take this correlation. It’s also said that many great shooters have short necks. But your camera seems to bring shooting and photography decisively together. Keep those videos coming. I can’t imagine the instructional value of comparing videos of shooters with varying abilities. Superstar shot, David Tubb, claims that he can hold a 30X scope immovable in a standing position.
Matt61
Matt61,
“Short necks”,…. really? That might explain some of the fit issues. Got it nailed down pretty well though with the RAI off-set adapter and the RAI stock on the M-rod. If it is not perfection, it is the closest thing to it,.. that I have yet to experience. 30X standing? Now that is just plain talent. I would take even 1/2 of that.
Matt61
Thanks. And the scope camera has helped my daughter’s already.
They were surprised how much windage hold I needed out at a 125 yards plus the 3 mildot holdover over the weekend to hit a piece of corn stalk laying out in the field. The (+) of the reticle looked like it wasn’t nowhere near the corn stalk. Plus you can see the corn stalk bump when I hit then the little black hole in the dirt under it. So it appears that I miss and hit below. I have the video of it. Bit that’s why I didn’t post it. I guess I will just so you can see it. But I’ll have to post it later. It takes a few minutes for it to upload on YouTube.
But what I don’t like is when I have the camera set at 4× magnification full screen view it makes it look like your closer than you really are. And if I reduce the camera magnification then I get the scope circle and you can’t hardly see the target. So I need to play around with camera and scope magnification so I can show field of depth on the video. In other words strong enough magnification to see the target but also mess with screen or camera magnification to get the full view or close to full view so distance can be seen on the video also.
But yep plan on doing more as time goes. The video’s will be target type shooting. No hunting or pesting video’s. Just incase anybody is wondering. I been thinking about getting a spotting scope again and getting one of the iscope adapter for it. We have wild life right in our back yard usually everyday. I could of got video’s with my scope. But I don’t want the reticle in the video. So wildlife videos will have to wait till I get a spotting scope. But now that I think about it. I do have some binoculars. And iscope does make adapters for binoculars. So there I go. I’m going to get a binocular phone adapter from iscope. So will get some wild life videos too. So far I’m liking this stuff. It has been a eye opener. Pun intended. 🙂
Matt61
Here is the video. I slowed the speed down a little with the slow speed edit. Otherwise if it was at normal speed the hit of the pellet happens to fast to catch with the eye if you ain’t paying close attention. It’s not the best at showing windage hold but you’ll see it if you replay the video card a couple times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6bYatNpySFE
Nice!
Siraniko
Thanks. That’s not that good of a video though. I would like the video to show the distance from shooter to the target better. That’s what I need to work on.
I did post links to some other video’s on the weekend blog too. Don’t know if you seen them. But some where video’s of steel spinners and a couple of reactive targets I made with a can a balloon and cool aid powder.
I could post the links again but I don’t know if BB wants me to keep posting them.
It would be easier to post them now in one place if someone wants to see them. Rather than looking back through the comments on that blog. I think there was something like a 186 comments over the weekend blog. Doesn’t matter to me. I’ll post them if someone wants to see them though.
No worries. I looked at the videos you previously made. Fortunately they were short and to the point which is fine especially with my limited internet speed. What I particularly found interesting about the last one though blurry is that you only used 3 mildots of holdover. What is your zero 50 yards? Even at slow motion the time between you shooting and the pellet arriving was really short that I had to watch it a few times to appreciate it.
Siraniko
That is one reason I wanted to keep them short was to allow for faster load time. I know some internet is ridiculous slow.
And that is my .25 Marauder shooting a 33.95 JSB at around 950 fps the last time checked. But I do zero that gun at 50 yards and I use only 6 magnification on the scope to shoot. It has a pretty flat trajectory actually. I don’t need to start putting hold over in till about 75 yards. And it’s 1 mildot at 75 yards, 2 mildots at 100 yards, 3 mildots at 125 and jumps all the way up to 4-3/4 mildots at a 150 yards. So it’s actually a pretty easy gun to shoot at different distances.
And you know what’s funny my .22 caliber Talon SS with 15.89 JSB’s shooting at 900 fps has pretty much the same hold overs as the .25 Marauder. It took me multiple different scope ring heights on both guns to get them to shoot at those hold overs.
So it was basically finding the right scope height and magnification on the scope to get the mildot holds spaced how they are. Yes a lot of work. But their so easy to shoot now.
And you should see how that NC Star green laser works on the Talon SS. I can put that gun at my side and hit my spinners 15 yu ards out to 60 yards. Not bragging. Just saying the truth about how easy it made the gun to shoot. Time is what it’s about. Getting them the way you want them takes more work than meets the eye.
Siraniko
I forgot to mention also about the video I just posted.
Did you notice that you hear the shot go off. Then see the pellet hit. Then you hear the pellet impact.
That happens in real time also. Not just because of the slow motion video. When I shoot out at 100 yards or more. I can always see the pellet impact first then hear the pellet impact sound. It was real noticeable when I had some 2 litre soda bottles out at a 125 and a 150 yards. They say that our snipers would count how long a shot took to impact from the time the enemy snipers shot. That way they could have a additional way along with scope range finding the enemy’s location. I guess of course you had to have a idea what round they were shooting.
But yep I do like the long range air gun shooting.
GF1,
Very nice. One suggestion for that type of video (showing hold offs hold+over),.. something like a sour cream container lid. That would show the relationship to your cross hairs better. You are getting pretty good with that thing,… the iscope,…… ok,….. the gun too…… 😉
Chris USA
You mean put a white lid out there to shoot at I’m guessing.
I do need to experiment with some different targets to see what works best on the video’s at the longer distances.
You know me. I’ll get the hang of it sooner or later.
🙂
GF1,
Yea, that is what I mean. Something like those little cheap construction flags would work as well. In that case, it would “flag” the object that you are shooting at, if the said object does not show up clearly on video. As for the lid, it would show well and as long as it was (not) anchored well, it would go flying off when hit. Just some ideas.
Chris USA
The 2 litre soda bottles worked nice actually out at a 100 yards and more. The clear ones even stand out. And I could spray paint them white. I haven’t used them because there actually kind of big. But they do stand out. So maybe I should do that just for video purposes.
Have to see what I can do. But can’t even walk out there right now. The ground is real soft everywhere and muddy in spots from all the rain we had. So will have to wait a bit.
I love my Gladius, even though it is clunky and top-heavy. It feels good when shouldered and is both accurate and powerful enough for my purposes. Also has massive “cool” factor
BB
Don’t know about a suggestion to try Crosman Premier 10.5 grain pellets in this rifle. When you last reviewed the Hatsun 85 recently you responded to my suggestion that you would try this pellet. I am just trying to clear up any possible confusion.
Decksniper
Decksniper,
Maybe I am confused. It wouldn’t be the first time.
B.B.