by Tom Gaylord
Writing as B.B. Pelletier
Hatsan BT65 QE.
This report covers:
- Eun Jin pellets
- Predator Polymag pellets
- JSB Exact King pellets
- Bottom line
This is the final test of the Hatsan BT65 QE. I’ve enjoyed working with this rifle. Once I got the silencer issue sorted, the gun became quite accurate. Today, I’ll try some other pellets, and I’ll also try a group at 100 yards. The silencer parts are still out of the shroud, so there’s nothing to hinder the flight of each pellet.
Eun Jin pellets
I tried the 35.8-grain .25-caliber Eun Jin dome first. Because of the rotary magazine, I was concerned this long pellet might not fit, but it did. It fit fine. And it cycled through the action without a fault. But accuracy was a different story.
These pellets went everywhere except where they were aimed. Only 6 out of 9 stayed on the target paper I was using; but since I had a paper backer, I could judge that the whole group was something like 4 inches between centers of 9 shots at 50 yards. It’s not a pellet I would recommend for this rifle. Given their power, it would have been nice if these Eun Jin pellets were more accurate; but there are several other very accurate pellets to choose from, so it isn’t a deal-breaker.
Predator Polymag pellets
The Predator Polymag was a pellet I really wanted to try in the Hatsan. They’re surprisingly accurate on some powerful precharged rifles, so the BT65 was the ideal candidate for a test. Five were pretty close, but all 9 of them went into a 1.403-inch group at 50 yards. While they aren’t bad, they aren’t especially good, either.
Nine JSB Predator Polymag pellets went into 1.403 inches at 50 yards.
JSB Exact King pellets
Then, it was back to the pellets I know are the best in this rifle — the .25-caliber JSB Exact Kings. By this time, I’d screwed with the scope settings so much that the pellets were not hitting the point of aim. That’s good, because then I don’t destroy my aim point, but it’s bad when I want to hit something other than paper.
A dobsonfly (a large insect that some might call a dragonfly) landed on one of my targets, giving me a target of opportunity. But the scope was set up with the point of impact intentionally off, so I had to shoot 3 times to walk the pellets in. Amazingly, the insect remained still as this was done. I know it sensed at least one of the pellets zip through the paper next to it because it fluttered its wings a bit. Shot 4 landed smack on the large predator’s body and left a brown smear on the target.
I then shot a 9-shot group that measured 0.79 inches between centers and another 5-shot group that measured 0.578-inches between centers. Both of these were at 50 yards.
Nine JSB Exact Kings on the first magazine after a fill went into 0.79 inches at 50 yards.
Five JSB Exact Kings from the second magazine after a fill went into 0.578 inches at 50 yards.
So without further ado, I walked down to 100 yards and put up a target. When I got back to the firing line, I proceeded to put 9 JSB Kings into 1.687 inches. This group landed on the centerline of the scope, but I was elevating the reticle 4 mil-dots.
Even at 100 yards, 9 JSB Kings from the first magazine after a fill still went onto 1.687 inches between centers.
Bottom line
The Hatsan BT65 is a worthy .25-caliber repeater. The one I tested had accuracy problems until I removed the silencer parts, clearing the path for the pellets. If I owned this rifle, I would simply enlarge a couple of the holes in the baffles and put the parts back in the shroud. I’ve fixed other PCPs this way, and I know how easy it is to do. But I don’t own this gun, so I left the parts as they were.
With the baffles installed, the rifle is certainly quiet. The report doesn’t give much indication of all the power that’s on tap.
Hatsan says the rifle is protected against double feeds — where 2 or more pellets are fed into the barrel. I found that to be true only when the rifle is carefully cocked. You have to pull the bolt handle all the way back like you mean it. It became second nature to cock it correctly after a while, but don’t think that a double feed can’t happen — because it can.
The accuracy is stunning! You get what you pay for as long as you stick with the right pellets.
The trigger is fine and adjustable. It’s a sporting trigger — not a match trigger, but you shouldn’t have any reason to complain about this one.
The bottom line is that the BT65 is a good air rifle that performs as intended. It’s worth your consideration.
Inch and a half at a hundred yards. For an airgun? Wow!
Have you votten similiar groups out of Air Force guns? Thanks.
Sam,
Some AirForce air rifles are capable of doing such. It depends on what features you are looking for though.
I shot a Condor this past weekend that was every bit as accurate, if not more so. It had an after market shroud extension that made it whisper quiet. It also had a reworked trigger assembly that was to die for. If you like to tinker, the AirForce line is for you. You can do so much with one of these air rifles.
This Hatsan is heavier, but right out of the box it is pretty quiet, has a decent trigger and with the rotary clip you can have a backup shot pretty quick.
Sam,
Yes. I shot a one-inch group at 100 yards with a Condor SS.
B.B.
Since we’re on the subject of B.B. shooting sub 1″ groups at 100 yards….
What happened to the update about his customized AR that shot multiple groups under 1″ at 100 Yards?
/blog/2013/02/my-new-ar-15-part-2/
In part 4 of the AR story 3 of the cases were mismatched and we were promised a report after cases were matched and reamed consistently. I’m still blown away by the accuracy of that customized AR. If not a report an update?
It’s also been almost 2 years since we’ve received an update on the Ballard. I know B.B. is backed up with airgun testing and this is an airgun blog but a one paragraph update would be enough to satisfy my curiosity.
kevin
Kevin,
I am totally whipsawed. Going in 20 directions and some of the people I’m working with are dropping the balls. So I have to be the writer, planner and the organizer for about 5 major things.
I want to get back to those rifles but where is the time? I’ve been to the range twice in 2 months because of the rain. That isn’t good for my business.
B.B.
B.B.,
I live by the credo, “If you want something done give it to someone that’s busy.”
Glad to hear you’re busy. Keeps you out of mischief. I know I feel safer. 😉
kevin
You can consider it under consideration but my Brother just picked up a AK for about$800 that sure sounds tempting too.
Tom,
I talked to Mike Melick about the Weather Terrus while I was in the process of ordering my XS 46 u (Browning Leverage). Mike said he’s getting it to shoot pretty good. He said he went over it a bit and cleaned the barrel and was wondering if you had cleaned the barrel before you shot it.
Brent,
Not yet, I haven’t. But before the next test I plan to.
B.B.
It’s too bad that so far , none of these box stock, .25 cal PCP’s can use a home cast bullet sized with tools that are readily available. Is there any chance that a .25 or .30 cal PCP will ever be offered outside of custom units that will come with the option of purchasing a mould or swaging dies from the manufactuer that would produce a projectile that would be compatable with their particular gun? For me , none of these offer any advantages over a readily available small bore ML firearmshooting a patched RB , except as to the cleanup requirement for those.But I’ll keep hoping and reading. Actually ,as of late , my shooting money as gone to archery equipment. My new crossbow is more accurate than the Bull pup PCP option discussed the other day.
Robert,
I think the problem has to do with the depth of rifling. Airgun barrels are like microgroove barrels and you know how fussy they can be.
I can’t predict whether anyone will make such a gun by accident, but a fellow like you could contact Lloyd Sykes and get him to make one custom gun to your specifications.
B.B.
PRB PCP would be quite fun, very little cleanup. And the barrels are same as BP, so fairly cheap and available.
Dennis Priddy has made very nice ones and they appear to shoot well, but not cheap.
I don’t know why the big bores all insist on using the same proven inaccurate projectiles while rejecting a time tested option, except that they want to tout power and tacticoolness…
BG farmer and BB: Why not a shallow compromise slow twist rifling like in the soda straw barrels in the cheap MSP that actuallyFITS the ball? The British paradox rifling in their Cape Guns(double barrelled rifles/shotgun type) comes to mind. Make it for a RB that is available and keep the velocity to around 7-800 fps at most in .32 cal . The magazine could be like the ones made in Poland for the QB-78. RB would not have the power robbing handicap that these PCP’s suffer from with cast slugs. BG ,I agree.I just don’t know why this is so hard for PCP manufacturers to accomplish?I’m sick of expensive tacti-cool as well. I’ve been fooling with a QB-78 using .22 Gamo RB for a couple of years now with excellent results, and I will build one as a PCP for myself to use .310 dia. RB sometime soon.
Robert,
Excellent. Please keep us in the loop as you experiment.
B.B.
I think a .32 at that velocity would be right in rimfire range for utility. The paradox rifling seems like an excellent way to force the ball (or maybe even bullet) to size itself to the rifling in the absence of obturating pressure! I think I’ve babbled a little before about the idea of making the rifled section a bit longer but progressive in depth and twist rate to allow narrower lands and a faster final twist rate without ripping up the ball. I think it would help the big bores shooting Conicals as well, but it would require some substantial experimentation to get right!
PS, the paradox has ratchet rifling, which aside from helping shot patterns (I assume) does the same thing as narrower lands, I would think, in terms of lowering resistance while still imparting spin. Pretty clever all around.
The main reason I haven’t got any BP guns right now is because I realized how much less Cate I was giving them than they really needed and my last search for a range rendered no range wanted black powder or any of its equivalents
BB, regarding your quest for an affordable, sweet medium-powered airgun: I found a manufacturer who may just have what you want. Email me if you want to know more.
bb,
How do you rebarrel a breakbarrel springer.
UtkarshGupta,
You remove the barrel of one caliber and install the same barrel of a different caliber. I have done it several times.
B.B.
I thought if the barrel calibre is changed the valves system hammer in pcps also the transfer port and piston weight in break barrels would have to be tinkered with
I’m considering a swap from
177-.25 on my Regal and I think it’s best to just swap barrells and see what I get and go from there,I think it’s way too poweful for the smaller.177 and probably would be best to get a .22.
Reb
Changing barrels to a 22 or 25 most likely tame the shot cycle down a bit as the air has to move a larger/heavier pellet which will require more resistance to the piston compressing the air in the chamber so that would be a good mod to help reduce some of the recoil in the regal and increase the fpe as well.
BD
Triniair,
Nothing changes when the caliber changes in a spring gun. That’s why it is so easy.
B.B.
True, but it’s only simple when the desired barrel (and barrel block) fit the gun. I’ve had great success fitting a Xisico barrel and barrel block to a Diana to replace the original 12-land barrel that would not shoot well with any pellets. It only required a few minutes with a screwdriver. On the other hand, fitting something like a bare L-W barrel to a Diana breakbarrel springer gets complicated, due to the angled breech. It requires a bit of tricky machining and a CNC milling machine or a mill with digital read outs (DROs), at the very least, is almost required. (You could do the trig, make a table, and manually turn the handwheels, of course, but yikes–with all the counting and arithmetic, I’d make a mistake at some point for sure!) It also helps to have a hydraulic floor press for removing the old barrel from the barrel block.
I just love “targets of opportunity”.
Last weekend I re-discovered where the term “tack driver” came from when I got bored with perforating paper and started smashing the push-pins holding the target to the back-stop. Too much fun!
Again, good reporting/testing. Down in this part of the south, we have lots of dragonflies. In my youth I would collect them. I’d shoot the heads off them and keep the bodies. For the record, a dragonfly and a Dobsonfly are not the same.
Bradley,
I know they aren’t the same. But most people think they are. This was a slow-flying Dobsonfly with a fat brown body.
B.B.
Dragon flys eat their weight in mosquito’s , so they get a pass from me.
Interesting. The whole business of accuracy with and without can is something that I am just starting to learn about.
Sam, I know about those more expensive AKs but I am also incurably cheap. My goal is the great bargain. it’s sort of like my version of hunting in bringing down the prize animal. But you’re right that I may as well let deeper pockets do the work for me. The high grade AKs seem to have broken the 1 MOA barrier just as the LWRC piston driven ARs seem to have almost bolt-action performance. If you overbuild enough, you can get just about anything.
I hear good tidings on all hands about the Hornady SST ammo, and I like the idea behind those little plastic tips to make them more aerodynamic. The unknown factor is the Tula ammo which sometimes gets bad reports and other times seems to equal the Hornady SST. I suspect this is a case of the lower quality manifesting itself in erratic behavior.
You’re right about Stoner. Undeniably he had great ideas. The evolution of his platform for many reasons external to him has been erratic, but it is improving all the time and there’s not much that can be criticized now. I suspect that my grand experiment will essentially confirm the main trends in the discussion. Both the AK and the AR are very good with the AK being relatively more reliable and the AR more accurate. Incidentally, I have a cousin who is a distant relation of Eugene Stoner. He is a retired physics professor and is super-smart.
Now, here’s something special for all airgunners brought to you by the same authors who created the Museum Beast. This was a sort of blue-black apeman from the Amazon region gifted with superhuman intellect and physical attributes who runs wild in a museum and right over a SWAT team. Bullets bounce off him. We had some enjoyable thought experiments about how to bring him down with me opting for a Tommy gun and bags of hand grenades.
Anyway, the new scenario is a ravishing Ph.D. in anthropology with shoulder-length chestnut hair who is cornered in the depths of this same museum. Approaching her down a corridor from which there is no escape is a dark complected dirty cop and ex-FBI agent. He’s going to finish her off silently with an aboriginal blow gun that he has lifted from the museum collection and loaded with a poisoned dart dripping a black toxic substance. He approaches within point-blank range. What to do?
She jumps forward, grabs the end of the blowgun, and gives a “mighty puff” forcing the dart backwards into the guy’s mouth. See B.B.’s blog on whether you can shoot a pellet backwards. Then, she boots him in the midsection and races past as he coughs and staggers.
Matt61
The Hatsan has a lot of promise. But, they need to clean up their issues with the suppressor. A rifle pushing $700.00 shipped needs to work out of the box.
Mike
That’s the part that’s got me on the fence about these guns-for just a bit more money you can get the real deal And not have to worry about whether it’s legal to take game with an airgunblog because nobody’s gonna think it’s just a BB gun.
Hello all,…hope this goes through. Posted several times the last couple of weeks and not one showed. Did the “log in” thing and it did not work,…re-did it and this is it. Seems to be working.
At any rate,…these Hatsans are really getting my interest. AT44 and AT65. Nice groups at good yardages. A “hunter” for sure!
BB,….can’t believe no one “beat you up” on the “Dragon Fly”. After all, remember the “bad bee/good bee” isuue a while back. As for me,….I came home to at least a dozen wood borers attacking my vinyl sided house. Between the wasp spray and my size 13 work boot,…they met their demise with 0% regret!!! 56 degrees here,…so I think they were getting warmth from the house instead of their usual shed target. They even went for my still warm brake rotor. Hint…they seem to like heat when it’s cooler outside.
Will be buiding the “Buldawg76 recommended wood borer trap” tommorrow!
Those buzzy house/deck/shed eating little suckers are going away,..one way or the other !!!
Chris
Posted,…..all is good! For “now” anyways… 🙂
Too bad about the log-in failures
Been wondering where ya were.
I was having problems a few back myself but I’m not much of a computer whiz and couldn’t even describe a problem unless it’s happening at the time.
Have you discussed your issues with Edith yet?
Chris, USA
The two traps on my back porch have already paid for themselves with 9 dead bees and continuing to accumulate more each day.
They are not a social bee as when two get trapped in the bottom together its like bee wrestling as they fight till they are exhausted and rest for 15 minutes or so and then are right back at it all over again till they die from exhaustion. just tap on the jar before you empty it because they will appear dead but once you disturb the jar they come back to life for a few minutes so it seems to take three to four day to fully expire.
BD