This report covers:
- Benchrest rifle
- Adjustable butt
- Adjustable sidelever
- Safety
- Loading the magazine
- Adjustable trigger
- Rubber-covered Picatinny rails
- Silencer
- Tools
- Filling
- Discussion
Today we will finish the introduction of the Hatsan Factor Sniper Long PCP air rifle. Before we do though I want to reiterate some things I said in Part 1.
Benchrest rifle
The Factor is a benchrest air rifle. It’s designed to do just one thing well—shoot accurately off a bench at long distances in a timed match. That’s why it is what it is.
Is it heavy? Yes—at 13 pounds before a powerful scope is mounted the Factor is very heavy. It is designed to be shot from a bench!
Is the magazine large? Yes it is. It is designed to get you through many shots in a timed match, depending on the caliber selected. It is also very easy to load quickly—also for a timed match.
Is the rifle expensive? That depends. If you want to shoot in a benchrest match or to practice for one, the Factor is about as inexpensive as you can get. If you want to carry it in the field while hunting you are better off choosing a different air rifle. This one is too heavy and too large for general hunting.
Just like you shouldn’t buy a NASCAR racer to drive to the grocery store, the Factor isn’t a general-purpose air rifle. It’s built for one purpose and this report series is going to see how good it is for just that.
Adjustable butt
We’ll start with the adjustable buttstock. First, let’s look at it.
It adjusts for length of pull, cheekrest height, the angle of the butt pad, the height of the buttpad, and the height of the stabilizing rear footpad. All adjustments are with little to no slop and several are made rapid through spring-loaded locks.
It’s possible the stock cannot be adjusted for every body type, but unless the shooter is Quasimodo, he can probably achieve a perfect fit. And just that rear stabilizing footpad means the shooter won’t need a $573 adjustable Ransom rear rest! Wanna talk about cost savings now?
Adjustable sidelever
The Factor is a bolt-action repeater that uses a sidelever to retract the bolt, cock the striker and feed the next pellet. And yes, my friends—the sidelever can be switched to the opposite side of the receiver. By the operator!
Safety
The safety is manual. Nothing more needs to be said!
Loading the magazine
The .25-caliber Factor we are testing comes with two 19-round magazines. The manual shows how the mag is loaded but the pictures are too small to see much detail. A magazine loading tool is provided to help you but I find my thumb can wind the spring-loaded mag as far as it goes and then drop one pellet in to lock it open. After that loading is quick. It needs to be because benchrest matches are timed.
The mag is quick and easy to load. The first pellet holds it open for the rest.
Adjustable trigger
The two-stage trigger is adjustable for the amount of sear engagement when the action is cocked, the place where stage one stops and stage two begins and the pull force. As the rifle came from the box the pull was set up heavy which is to be expected.
Before I shoot it for accuracy I will adjust it but I have tried it and stage two seems crisp at this point. And remember—that sear engagement should be adjusted with great care!
Rubber-covered Picatinny rails
There are two Picatinny rails under the rifle. They are covered with rubber sleeves for comfort and the sleeves come off when you want to use them. The rear one is for the off hand when standing. Perhaps the Hulk might do that. The one in front is short and is meant for a bipod. This is another potential savings point because an $800 precision bipod certainly costs less than a $2,250 precision rifle front rest.
The front Picatinny rail is covered with a rubber sleeve until you need it.
Silencer
Yes, the barrel shroud does accept a standard air rifle silencer. And the shroud is drilled with holes at the rear to exhaust the energetic air from each shot.
The rear of the Factor’s shroud has holes to exhaust the energetic air from firing.
Tools
The Factor comes with all the tools needed for all the adjustments and modifications. And there is a more conventional synthetic AR-15 style grip that can be swapped for the wooden one
Filling
Unfortunately the Hatsan Factor male fill connection (the rifle’s intake fitting) is a larger size that most of my standard female Foster fittings will not fit. I tried seven. The larger female connector that came in the tool pack with the Factor rifle did work with the rifle’s male fitting, but it will not seal on any of my hoses—yet. I will work with it and find a solution.
For the time being I cobbled together a fill hose. Fortunately the Air Venturi G9 hand pump has a larger Chinese female fitting that fits the Hatsan male and also seals well so I put that on the end of the Hill Evo-310 hose. This took me two hours of trial and error. It does happen sometimes, so don’t get discouraged.
Discussion
What you have seen so far is the extreme adaptability of the Hatsan Factor Sniper Long PCP air rifle for benchrest competition. But it won’t matter until we test the accuracy at 100 yards, because that is what this rifle is designed for—long range accuracy.
What you have seen and appreciate, I hope, is that the Factor Sniper Long has been built as an entry-level serious competition air rifle for benchrest matches. And it can get you into the game at far lower cost than many of the competition rifles from other manufacturers. Is that good? Yes, if the Factor can compete on accuracy, but only if.
If the Factor turns out to be a serious player then the shooter has time to invest in those costly rifle rests that the top contenders use.
B.B.
Why is there not a universal fill fitting standard?
Next you need to test a Karma and see what the difference is.
-Yogi
Tom,
This really does seem to be purpose built to get beginning competitive shooters on the bench. Yeah there to many standards of Foster fittings causing slop in the fitting.
Siraniko
PS Section Adjustable Butt last paragraph 1st sentence: “It’s possible the stock cannot be adjusted for every body type, but unless the shooter is Quasimoto (isn’t it Quasimodo unless it’s Igor’s hump in Young Frankenstein), he can probably achieve a perfect fit.”
Young Frankenstein is one of my all time favorite movies.
A lot of outstanding talent with the cast. And good chemistry between them.
Ian.
That movie is great! I enjoy it every time I see it!
Siraniko your literature knowledge is better than WordPress. Quasimodo is the name.
Could be “Quasimoto” is the Japanese counterpart of the Hunchback, featured in a “manga” version of the story?
FM
Victor Hugo wouldn’t be happy with your comments, as far as I can tell.
Siraniko,
As always that was a good call! Fixed it.
Thanks,
BB
Siraniko,
IF they are actually real FOSTER® Quick Disconnect (QD) fittings they will mate.
https://www.foster-mfg.com/industrial-interchange.html
If instead they are, foster (incorrectly used nomenclature) like/style QD fittings, all bets are off.
shootski
Yogi,
Don’t we all wish?
BB
When we saw the rifle at SHOTSHOW, I was impressed with the FEEL of the rifle, without any adjustments made.
I look forward to the accuracy section.
Yes it’s long, (they are owning it as it’s even in the name).
Yes it’s heavy, but it’s also almost 4 lbs lighter than the Red Panda.(and $1,100 cheaper too.)
I hope it brings the accuracy too.
Pyramyd list the Factor a perfect for target shooting, hunting, and pest control.
The last 2 do normally require the possibility of offhand shooting.
You mentioned “maybe the Hulk would do it”.
We know him, he’s an airgunner!
Lou, do you want to bench press the Factor?
Oh wait, you said bench rest, not bench press…
Happy Wednesday everyone one!
Ian.
Ian perhaps we should see this as a heavy sniper’s rifle. One shot – one kill takes place in the field, not so controlled and comfortable environments…
If Tom finally gets good results I will think more seriously about it. Especially when it can be found in the old world for less than €900.
45Bravo,
You don’t need Lou to do the bench pressing!
i will volunteer to do at minimum 1,000 Up-And-On Shoulders if someone will Sponser me a Hatsan Factor Sniper Long PCP in .30 caliber ;^)
shootski
Shootski
For one in.30 cal I could volunteer for some serious workout too.
My personal choice if I ever go down that road.
The Pyramyd Air competition event is coming up soon. Is this rifle planning to compete? I enjoy learning about things that are new to me. And this type of rifle is definitely something that interests me.
There is a device that I have been looking at that I think might work well with this long rifle. It is the bipode stabilizer.
https://accuracysolutions.com/product/bipodext-hunter-rifle-stabilizer/
I think that the benchrest itself needs to be long enough to accomodate the length. But the bipode is adjustable for length if needed. The geometry involved with this concept does seem to work for better accuracy. I wonder if Accuracy Solutions would be interested in a test by BB and company with an air rifle in a competition. Just a thought…
Elmer,
Thanks! I actually have a use for some of these! I can “see” this on a couple of my airguns.
RR, if you do try one, please let us know how if performs!
I will indeed. I might even take a pic or two.
RidgeRunner,
K.I.S.S. ???
i would have you read some of their FAQ if you haven’t already…
What exactly do these devices do between the rifle and the bipod?
shootski
I have some doubts…
tomek
They strike me as answers in search of a problem.
Ed
What cal. did you get? 22,25,30,357?
I’m guessing 30.
rk,
“The .25-caliber Factor we are testing …” Under Loading the magazine.
BB
Though I am not likely to end up with this “monster” residing at RRHFWA, stranger things have happened. I have looked at these, but this old, fat, bald-headed geezer might have difficulty lugging this thing around. It would most definitely be fun to pop off a few rounds from one though.
Is it accurate at one hundred yards? We shall see. 😉
A couple of oopsies
Caption – first picture
The Factor Sniper Long PCP butt is very adjustable! I could spend the remainder of this report describing just this on (one) thing.
I saw another, but cannot seem to find it again. Ah well, my bad.
RR,
I fixed it before you commented.
BB
BB,
No wonder I could not find it.
I would have very much liked to have had that buttstock when I had that Armada here at RRHFWA. That is the cat’s meow.
I will have a table at this year’s North Carolina Airgun Show on the 10th and 11th of October. If I do not find one before, I will be looking for a twelve inch .177 barrel for my Talon SS, among other things. Do stop by and say hi.
https://www.tmacsairgunservice.com/
🙂
BB,
Although it is not on my radar, at least as far as I know, I find specialized machines like this fascinating. It seems to be very well done. It is a pity that a conflict of interest will get in the way of you using the AF tunnel. I guess, you will to test this Long Sniper in the gun range, in spite of heat, noise, wind, cease fires, etc..
Henry