Hatsan AirTact Vortex .25cal

Just picked up a “new to me” Hatsan AirTact Vortex in .25cal.

I believe this is the cheapest, entry level .25cal springer you can get, and my first impressions would agree with that, but having spent a little time with it, it’s starting to grow on me.

The rifle is almost all plastic, and the only exposed metal parts are a small section of the compression tube where the Hatsan logo is etched into the metal work, and a tiny exposed area in front of the safety. The barrel is entirely covered in plastic and has a large air stripper over the muzzle which the front sight is set on, in a plastic dovetail configuration.
I am quite certain the air stripper does nothing and is there purely for aesthetics.

The stock is an ambidextrous, skeletonized, thumbhole affair, which would probably fit most people. I have size 14 hands and stupid long arms, so I never buy a rifle expecting it to fit me. The pistol grip has molded finger grooves in it, which would suit someone with average size hands, and the LOP is a respectable 36cm, so it is defiantly not a kids rifle!
I’ve fitted a stock extension sock which adds 2cm to the butt length, but I think I’m going to ask a friend of mine to 3D print an extension I can permanently screw on to get the LOP to where I like it.

The rifle comes with open sights, the fiber optic pin type, mounted on the barrel. The front sight is fixed, and the back sight is adjustable for height and windage. Nothing fancy, but certainly usable and I was able to zero it nicely at 20yards with the open sights.
There is a pic rail/11mm dove tail combination, which although is a clever idea of how to combine the two systems into one rail, is unfortunately made out of plastic and has a cheep feel and look to it. I’m not sure how precise your quick release pic rail rings are going to be every time you put them back onto a plastic rail. There is no recoil recess lug for the dovetail, but there is a solid stop at the back of the rail, so your dovetail rings won’t be walking anywhere.

The trigger is a 2 stage affair, and about as user friendly as the standard Gamo trigger.
The first stage is fine, but the second stage goes on forever, and it is a really heavy trigger pull. There is certainly plenty of room for improvement there. I believe there is a screw replacement mod that can be done and adjustments for both the first and second stages, so I will certainly be looking into that.
The trigger blade is one long continuous curve which seems to wrap around your finger and doesn’t want to let go. By the end of the (long) trigger pull the curved end of the trigger almost feels like its getting in the way. I might take a hack saw to that…

This particular rifle was manufactured in September of 2020, so its just over 4 years old. The stock defiantly looks like its had a life before it fell into my hands, but the bore and the breech and the internals all seem to have had very little use and appear to be in very good condition.
There is no rust any where on the rifle, although there is hardly any exposed metal to show rust!
The up side of all the plastic is that this rifle is very light, weighing in at only 2.6kgs! It could easily be carried all day long.

The first thing I did with it was clean the barrel, and wow, what a lot of blackness there was coming out on those patches! Many patches later she was ready for re-leading and some chrono work.

With JSB Exacts King 25.4gr diabolo pellets she is pushing out 17.9FPE at 563fps.
I was hoping for a bit more, but I guess this is the entry level .25cal, so it will have to do for now.
Next some zeroing and shooting.

I considered fitting a scope onto her, but all the big Hatsans have the unenviable reputation of being scope eaters, so I though I’d save my self the money and frustration and just shoot her with open sights for now.

I can get out to 20yards at home, so I started at 6yards, then 10, 15 and 20 yards.
Using a “rested” artillery hold, I’m quite happy with the final walk up I did.

Aiming dead on at each of the 4 distances, 5 shots at each, that would have been 20 dead bunnies. Even the “flyer” at 15 yards would have still been a solid chest shot.
I was very happy with the 5 shot group at 20yards, only 26mm center to center.

When shooting open sights, light becomes very important. Light on your back sight, light your front sight, not enough light on the target, too much (bright) light on the target... Bright light behind the target, shadows on the target, there are many things that can make your sight picture really difficult when shooting open sights. So if you can, try shoot under even lighting.

More shooting needs to be done, need to test a few different types of pellets, do the trigger mod, extend the stock, and just get to know her a bit more. Need some space to get her out to 30yards and work out how far I’d be comfortable hunting with these open sights.
Currently I would have no hesitation taking this rifle out hunting as is, for close range bunnies or possums. Heck, with 18FPE, any pest that comes with in 25yards would be in trouble.

More up dates to come.


Edited by RangerPete - 30 Oct 2024 at 6:14pm

The amount of black gunk that came out the barrel makes me wonder if that was possibly still the factory grease they put in there to protect it from factory to dealer to first owner... ?



Edited by RangerPete - 30 Oct 2024 at 6:23pm

Hi Nunga,
I’ve read that the AirTact, being the entry level model, is lower power than the 130 or 135 or other models in .25cal.
Which model is yours?

Decided to put a scope on her today, just because.
It came with an unfitted Stealth 4x40, so I used that one.
Decided to use the 20mm pic rail because it's almost twice as wide as the 11mm dove tail, so it might just be a more stable connection on the plastic rail.
Zeored it at 20yards and I am pretty impressed, 3 shots in one hole!

I then decided to take it out the stock and have a look at that trigger mod.
I needed a 12mm M3 screw, which I didn't have, so cut a longer one down to size.
It reduces the overlapping bite of the sears by about half, so should be some improvement.
Cleaned up the excess grease that was in lumps all over the place.
If I get a chance I'll try out the "new" trigger tomorrow.

Wooo hooo nice

I noticed a difference in accuracy when I changed from JSB king exacts to the AirArms version. Could be worth a try