Hatsan Factor Sniper Long

Right.
So i was told that for this particular model Hatsan had gotten their *hit together.
Well.
Spoiler alert, not so.

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As sorts of a review then, i guess.
Sniper Long. As in a loooooooong gun, make no mistake. Flaw or a feature? Well, i guess it´s massive size will increase sales? You tell me.
As most other Turkish made guns, heavy at that.

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Uhu. As you undress the barrel from its shroud and diffusor out front, yes. That´s a full 760mm worth of it. 25cal as can be seen on the goodies box.

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Unit carries a few "neat thoughts" to boot. Like these small rubber protectors for the Pic rails when not in use. Yep. A sling swiwel, right there. Correct. Now, why anyone would want to carry this behemoth around.... whatever.

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"Taking one for the team". Hatsans barrel crap shoot. This time out though someone at least spent more than 30s on the barrel as can be seen from the machining on the muzzle end. Sorry to say using dull tools, wrong rpms and so forth why it´s full of chatter marks.
Yep. Barrel got a go around on my lathe to get rid of that, no surprise.

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Bottle and reg pressure gauge. Have referenced them vs a known good one and they are reasonably on the mark. Plenum size is by Hatsan on 100cc´s. To my findings it´s actually a tad beyond that. Regulator capable of being adjusted from the outside. Sorry to say the adjuster on mine wasn´t even put on there, it was even set in skewed. Easy fix though.
However.
Doing so the spindle for said adjuster of course came to seat different vs the housing rednering a leak. Again, simple enough to cater to.
Btw. Also be aware that this is a 300 bar fill unit.

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Then for this. Why Hatsan insists on using the same valve body with all them exhaust ports around the circumferance is just beyond me, and as it turned out.. this became an issue.
To note is that in contrast to any other Hatsan the openings are now on 6mm dia, 5 of them per usual.



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Trigger assy per usual Hatsans "Quattro" trigger. Nothing special to report really. There´s a few design points here though where the SL differs from the Factor, charging handle being one such.
That large screw closest in the picture btw is one of them "ball pen" ones, which i presume is intended as an anti bounce device. Works, what can i say?

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Knowing all to well what i was getting into though i redid the poppet setup right off the bat. Nope. Hadn´t fired as much as a shot before tearing into it. The 2mm poppet spindle stunt always helps in my opinion so..

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Yeah. At first i thought this was just my bad as i had weakened the valve body at the ports by threading the holes and installing inserts. However, having looked around a bit this had happened more than one why..
To add insult to injury, i was sitting there with the unit on my lap adjusting the trigger, as that thing ruptured the forward piece ran back vs the hammer with such force that the sear on the trigger assy broke as did the "fork" on the hammer spring adjuster.

FWIW a "hidden" tidbit here. As the AT series guns the SL also sports an adjuster screw within the hammer. In other words you can dial that AND the hammer spring adjuster that´s visable to hearts content really.
None the less i came to replace the stock HS with one for an FX Impact. Did for a rather profound difference all said.

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So yeah. A new "top hat" was turned and then brazed to the stock lower part. Did so by what´s known as "sweating". Ie; silver solder on both parts, the jig it up and add heat until solder melts.. a tad of force and the two parts flow together. Makes for a very strong bond.
Now of course with an indexed exhaust port and what not, so a WAY stronger solution vs stock.

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Seeing the mishap i of course spent a wee bit of time checking the other ends n bits of the setup too. As it turned out the hammer and so forth ran on a rather coarse surface why i first up opted to hone the hammer bore out using one of them simple dingle hones (see pic) and then handing the hammer as well as plunger for the closing spring and in turn pellet probe a trip on the lathe at 2000rpms using 240 grit and light oil.
This made for a rather profound difference in hammer flight and action, let me tell you.

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I was down on the actual sear though as it broke into three pieces. Lo n behold though as i two days later found the one missing bit right there on the floor! So out the TIG welder came and done deal.
Works as it should once again.

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So this was a bit of a bumpy ride then huh?
Yes, and then some i´d say. In short i do NOT think Hatsan got it right even with this unit, that as far as i know is to be regarded as their flagship. In short the SL too needs to be picked apart to be all it can be.
Oh! On that note!
There´s a bracket that runs between the HPA part of the unit and the receiver, and this bracket together with the trigger guard/stock is removed to adjust the trigger. Do NOT run the unit as such!! Note do NOT!!
The few allen stoppies that keep the HPA part of the gun to the receiever is NOT enough to keep it on there upon firing!
As you are to adjust the trigger remove the HPA part entirely and THEN adjust the trigger to your liking. Then reassemble the gun.

But.
..and this is the BIG but...
Will it shoot? In short, is it worth the effort?

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Yes. Yes it will shoot. All said it´s actually quite accurate and will no doubt hand what´s needed. Doesn´t really seem to care if pellets or slugs.
 
Btw.
As i note, this is a REALLY long gun. By FAR the longest pcp i´ve got. With a mod attached the thing sure doesn´t grow shorter by any measure, why it should be noted as it becomes of a downright cumbersome length.

Would I have been happier with this one built as a bullpup?
No doubt, yes. It would IMO have made for a way more usable piece of kit.

As such, i´m current looking for a hinged bracket for that AR rear stock so if anyone knows where to pick one up sans going bankrupt hook me up please.
 
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Right.
The saga continues i´d say.
Issues?
Well, nothing to write home about really but.. more of pet peeves maybe.

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As this thing is as long as it is i tried 3D printing a barrel band. More than anything to act as intended, a support for the rather long barrel.
No real issues from that to be honest, why i again wonder why the thing wasn´t so equipped from Hatsan.
Fact is, a more n more dominant feeling i´ve got as far as this pew is that it was put into market either to early or with a eff it kind of attitude as far as being "done".

The forgiving, important, trait i guess being that it actually shoots very very well. There´s no arguing that.
There´s a few of us that compare notes between us, as SL owners, and sorry to say we´ve arrived on about the same conclusions.
First up the adjustable reg pressure setup. To be blunt it´s just designed poorly. Very so even. ONE of the issues with it is that the bearing surface on the actual housing where it sits is simply to shallow.
The adjuster rides on that hole and as that adjuster is stiffer than you know what to turn, that brings that you "cock" the adjuster and as that happens (due to marginal lining area) the sealing o-ring will not only leak but almost rupture. At that rate it doesn´t exactly help that the "steel" involved seems to be recovered coke cans from far east Asia. Material is so soft that a snowball in hell has greater chances to survive unharmed.
Thus.
What at least i am going to do is turn me an insert for that there hole out of tool room steel and thread that thing in place once and for all. Will add an easy 10mm height to it vs stock, needed to make sure the adjuster can´t move around on radii to hearts desire.
Fed up with it?
Yes. My point here being that both that threaded sleeve and the adjuster that rides that hole will now be tool room steel and on WAY closer tolerances in an effort to be done with that there Mickey Mouse setup once and for all.

Truth of the matter is, as the adjuster is as hard to turn as it is do that like 4 times and the entire adjuster setup is skewed beyond control and needs to be replaced. This really is a poor solution and the bean counters at Hatsan needs to know this as far as i´m concerned.

Ditto.
As you´re aware i ripped the valve assy in two. Sure, i´m to blame to part here but.. issue is as it turns out i´m not the only one.
Those of you owning SL´s be warned, if you´re to fiddle around with trigger settings that brings undoing the grip frame and that in turn means removing the reinforcing bracket that runs between the reg housing and the grip frame.
This leaves the valve assy to be held in place by a few mere allen stop screw and the mere truth is that this doesn´t suffice to keep the valve assy on there.
Due this my take at least is that any SL owner that wants to really dwell on trigger adjustments, remove the entire HPA side of the gun completely.
In essence just to rather be safe than sorry.

Then.
No doubt a very very long gun. As i shoot this thing from a bi-pod only the heft and length doesn´t really matter all that much when shooting. However, touting the thing around turns just silly.
I run a 220mm LDC out front (which is direly needed to cope with taming the bark of this thing as power goes up) and this of course add to the situation.
So.
What´s the remedy?
First up i´d say is the install of a hinge to make the stock foldable and such a solution exists as it turns out. Was basically going through FX´s offerings as far as spares and what not when i noticed the hinged setup for the Dreamline.
This sports the "standard" AR threads why it will work on basically anything AR stocked.

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Stock as much as half way extended brings a total length of this thing of 149cm. Insane.

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Well. The FX offering isn´t overly expensive to be honest (like 70€) and makes for an absolute WORLD of difference. Adjusted correctly any and all slop is just plain out and with the stock folded away per the pic above we´re talking 118cm.
That´s a rather profound difference to say as it is and i for one feel the gun really should have been so equipped as it left the factory.

So?
This a lot of critique isn´t it?
Maybe so, but if the intent on Hatsans account was to improve their rep they crashed n burned miserably IMO and the sad part is that the major part of this could have been easily avoided if they really would have put their hearts to it.
Instead these guns will HAVE to end up in the hands of us that first up know our way around pcp´s and second up carry heavy machinery of some kind.
This to iron out the issues these guns got BUT...
That done a different picture evolves.
Yes. The unit is still extremely long and carries the heft that goes with that but.. what comes out the other end is a rather powerful (at wish) 25cal pcp that leaves a LOT of other guns behind in the dust IMO.
Worth the effort?
Well, yeah. I´d actually say that it is. Just be prepared for somewhat of a wild ride getting there.