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Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo: Part 5

Posted on March 22, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 116 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Hatsan’s new 125TH breakbarrel is a large, powerful spring-piston air rifle.

Today is the day we see the accuracy of the Hatsan 125TH air rifle I’m testing. I have a surprise for you, and it isn’t what you expect. Just to review, the rifle comes with a scope that’s best not used. It’s very poor optically. And their mounts are very lightweight, so I didn’t use them today, either. Instead, I mounted my favorite scope, a Hawke 4.5-14x42AO Tactical Sidewinder that I have raved about in other reports. It’s the sharpest scope I have (don’t own it yet, but I expect to), so no one can say the Hatsan rifle didn’t get the best optics.

Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo: Part 4

Posted on March 15, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 47 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Hatsan’s new 125TH breakbarrel is a large, powerful spring-piston air rifle.

Today will be something different for many of you. This Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo I’m testing is more than just a test of one new gun. It’s really a test of the Hatsan trigger, the SAS, the scope mounting rail and the potential accuracy of Hatsan air rifles in general. So this is an interim step toward the goal of discovering if this air rifle can shoot.

We saw the potential accuracy with open sights in the last report; but as I noted, the front sight is too big for the notch in the rear. The accuracy wasn’t as good as I believe it can be.

Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo: Part 3

Posted on March 8, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 72 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2

Hatsan’s new 125TH breakbarrel is a large, powerful spring-piston air rifle.

Today, I’ll report on the Hatsan 125TH’s accuracy using open sights. It was a day of learning the rifle, and a lot was discovered. In the next report, I’ll mount the scope that comes with the rifle and test it again. But today it’s open sights all the way. When you read tomorrow’s report, you’ll understand how appropriate this test is.

The 125TH has a post-and-bead sight with TruGlo fiberoptic inserts. Fiberoptics are a poor choice for precision shooting because they cover too much of the target to aim precisely; but when you shoot outdoors on a bright day, they’re quick to acquire. Out to 25 yards, they’re adequate; but never choose them for long-range shooting or for hunting in the woods.

Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo: Part 2

Posted on March 1, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 44 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1

Hatsan’s new 125TH breakbarrel is a large, powerful spring-piston air rifle.

Today is velocity day. Before I dive into the test, I want to say some things about today’s test. This is not supposed to determine the velocity of the best pellet for this rifle. It’s supposed to give a general range of power that can be expected from a rifle like this. That way, you’ll have an understanding of all the pellets that aren’t tested. They should either fit within the range or be very close to it.

The test
I must admit I had some misgivings about this test, because the Hatsan 125TH is such a powerful spring-piston air rifle. I already knew it took a lot of effort to cock. I’d estimated over 50 lbs. in Part 1; and when I tested it for today’s report, the bathroom scale went to 51 lbs. If you’d like to learn how to measure the cocking effort of a breakbarrel air rifle like this, watch this video.

Hatsan 125TH air rifle combo: Part 1

Posted on February 20, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 134 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Hatsan’s new 125TH breakbarrel is a large, powerful spring-piston air rifle.

Today, we’ll begin our look at the first of what I hope will be many new Hatsan air rifles. The Hatsan 125TH air rifle is a powerful breakbarrel spring-piston gun with a black synthetic stock. The advertised velocity for this large .177 Turkish rifle is 1,250 f.p.s. A month ago, I would have decried that kind of velocity, but the results of the Pellet velocity versus accuracy test showed us that velocity, by itself, is not what causes inaccuracy. It is the harmonics of the gun that cause inaccuracy, and they can be moderated or “tuned,” if you prefer, by selecting the right pellet.

Sterling HR-81 .177 underlever air rifle: Part 4

Posted on January 26, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 103 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Now that Vince has tuned the Sterling, it’s time to see how she shoots.

It’s time to see how the Sterling underlever rifle shoots. Benjamin put Lothar Walther barrels on these rifles, so I’m hoping the pedigree will show in today’s test. Vince got the velocity back up to a respectable level, as we saw in Part 3 (and Vince showed you what he did to the gun in his guest blog about the Sterling), so there should be nothing to prevent the gun from shooting its best.

When I went to mount a scope, I saw that the Sterling has two vertical holes that can be used for a scope stop. They’re located where the front ring needs to be, but with two-piece rings that presents no problem.

2012 SHOT Show: Part 2

Posted on January 25, 2012 by B.B. Pelletier ↓ 111 Comments

by B.B. Pelletier

Photos by Earl “Mac” McDonald

Part 1

This is the second of my reports on the 2012 SHOT Show. There will certainly be at least one more after this, and perhaps even more, as there’s simply too much new information to pack into a single report.

The state of the airgun industry in 2012
Before I get to some specifics, I want to make a general observation. This year’s SHOT Show was different for me in a major way, because I saw for the first time that firearms shooters are beginning to understand airguns as never before. In the past, I always had to start my explanations with the cooling of the earth’s crust and then progress through the age of the dinosaurs because each firearms person I talked to thought of airguns as either toys or BB guns. This year, a lot of them were clued-in on what’s happening. They weren’t surprised by the accuracy we get, and they knew about big bores. A lot of them had some airgun experience and more than a few asked me the same kind of questions that I get from long-time readers of this blog.