Hatsan 30 cal

Hi, 

Anyone have any experience with large caliber Hatsan break-barrels?  I live on a 4-acre life sentence block at the very end of a shingle road, surrounded by farmland.   We had seen and heard a few possums so my son-in-law (I live in a tiny home on the same property as my daughter, son-in-law & grandson) got himself an air rifle and has managed to get two so far.   As I have more spare time and the garden was showing signs the possum issue was getting worse, a few weeks back I bought a 2nd hand .22 Gamo on Trade Me.

I also picked up a cheap trailcam on Temu that arrived this week.  I set this up in the chook run next to the feeder.   This has been in place for three nights, and now I know why the chooks have been going through the food so quickly! The camera is showing multiple possums helping themselves to a feed throughout the night.  While I could simply lock the feeder at night, the little buggers have also been attacking the veggie garden and the roses.

While I did have a FAL, I let it lapse in my mid 20s when the law changed.  Rather than go through the hassle of renewing my FAL it has been suggested that I would be better off with a 30 cal air gun to deal to them.   Also have a few wild turkeys, magpies and hares that could do with culling as well.

Looking online, it looks like the only .30 air guns that don’t require a FAL are the Hatsan Model 130S  QE and Model 135QE (basically the same gun with different stocks) These seem very well priced but not a brand I have ever heard of.  Anyone know if these are any good for pest control within 30 meters max and probably often up in the trees?

THANKS

-Ec

The .22 Gamo whisper you have chosen will deal with the possums in the trees. 

If your going to go with a hatsan, I would go for the .25cal over the .30

I received my hatsan .25 days before going into lockdown back in 2020 and it was a weapon on feral cats, possums, rabbits etc.. and even a wallaby.

I passed it on to a young friend of mine in Dunedin who is still shooting rabbits and possums and he took a small goat with it a while back with a clean head shot.

What ever calibre you choose, you will need to spend alot of range time linking away to learn the full ballisc curve of the pellet to comfortably take down game at what ever range but that is just the joys of air gunning.

If you do end up with a hatsan with a vortex piston, if you have a failure with the piston I amoung others have the equipment to rebuild the piston. (The seals in my vortex gave out after about 500+ pellets)

I was surprised that it did work, I have only practiced on targets. I had someone else using the Cree spotlight set on high so there was plenty of light. 

I don't dislike the Gamo - other than the cheek rest being too low for the scope which makes it difficult to ensure EXACTLY the same position behind the scope each time.  I do have a slip on pad with different size inserts that will hopefully solve that.   The SAT doesn't seem too bad - but then I have never done a lot of rifle shooting before this.  It seems reasonably accurate when I get everything right.

Another Hatsan .25 owner here confirming that power is pretty reasonable. I chrono'd mine again today with about 8-10 shots all between 669 and 674fps, so around 27fpe. (Jsb hades) 
You should be aware they need some tinkering to make shoot nicely and are a bit of a "project gun" Definitely a labour of love more than a reliable workhorse. 

Have taken possums and a wallaby with mine, though to be honest my gamo .22 Mach 1 IGT (23fpe) has actually been a more effective hunting rifle - it's lighter and I can aim it more easily, and I find it slightly less hold sensitive (but still very hold sensitive) and I wish I had a FAL to get a PCP.. 

If you're coming to AKL in the near future, you'd be welcome to pop in and put some pellets through my Hatsan QE135 .25. 

Edited by Loud_Whisper - 16 Sep 2025 at 11:06pm

nunga wrote: I would go for the Hatsan .25 over the .30. I have .25 and it is powerful enough to take goats out to around 30 yards. I have shot many no problems and the .25 have a way better pellet choice over the very limited .30 range.

Yeah but refer the wee note at the bottom of your posts.
Mere mortals like me might struggle to achieve your "no problems".  

Have you checked for poi movement with torch on?