Folks, I am very impressed by my Hatsan airguns and have no problem recommending them. I’m rally a fan on the pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) guns that have an onboard air tank and can fire 10-20 rounds for hunting plus if you get one if their models with the Quiet Energy (QE) baffle system, they are on the discrete side for pest control.
This is my Gladius Long in .22 and I use it all the time for pest control. Probably over 1,000 if not 1,500 pellets have been shot through that airgun now.
The Gladius .22 has a 10 round magazine and is a bolt action repeater. It carries three spare magazines at the rear under the stock and they come in handy when you need to rapidly reload. It does happen with pest control actually.
The Gladius comes with four magazines. I have one loaded in the receiver, two ready to go securely clicked into their storage bays and you can see I already have one magazine that needs to be reloaded.
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Before I bought my Hatsan AT-P2 QE Pistol, I did a bunch of research. I wanted a very compact yet powerful and accurate pre-charged pneumatic (PCP) carbine or bullpup that was a repeater for quick and accurate follow up shots for pest control of tree and ground squirrels.
I needed something smaller than my Gladius Long, lighter and did not need the power levels that the Gladius Long bring to the table. The Gladius Long is an absolutely wicked PCP bullpup but for what I need most of the time – discrete firepower to dispatch squirrels and rabbits inside of 12-15 yards most of the time – it was overkill. I love it and am not selling it, but definitely needed a different go-to airgun.
So, I watched a ton of videos and decided on the Hatsan AT P2 and decided to go with the QT-P2 QE Pistol. It was compact, lighter, had solid reviews and had both an adjustable stock and in integral noise moderator built in. Hatsan refers to these as their Quiet Energy (QE) line.
In this next photo, I literally set the AT-P2 QE on top of the Gladius Long and tried to line up the muzzles as best I could so you can see the size difference.
So here’s the comparison of the two:
As you can see the actual package weight including the scope of the AT-P2 QE Tact is 4.6 pounds lighter that the Gladius Long and it is 6-5/8″ shorter.
In terms of energy, I did a lot of reading and can’t tell you for certain. Hatsan themselves says the Gladius Long will produce the following power levels but they don’t tell you the velocity or the weight of the pellet.
From the 2018 Airgun catalog, Hatsan reports the AT-P2 QE in .22 has a muzzle energy of 27 joules. All things being equal, that puts it between power levels 3 and 4 of the Gladius Long. I tend to switch between those two settings so for me, the power of the AT P2 is right in the sweet zone of what I wanted.
In terms of sound, the Gladius is relatively quiet at 3 and louder at 4. The AT-P2 QE is remarkably quiet. To me as the shooter, cocking the pistol is louder than firing it!
Both pistols have the noteworthy Hatsan Quattro adjustable trigger. I thought the trigger of the Gladius Long was the best factory airgun trigger I had tried until shooting the AT-P2 QE. From the factory, it is light! I need to measure it but it is a dream to shoot because I can hold it rock solid on target effortlessly. On the point of accuracy, it can shoot 1/2″ groups at 10 yards over and over using JSB Exact Jumbo Diablo 15.89 grain pellets.
Summary
I’m keeping the Gladius Long for distance shots and/or when I want more power. I will be using the AT-P2 QE for my normal close-in pest work.
6/29/2020 Update: Still very happy with both airguns. We now have replacement fill-probe O-rings and caps to keep your fill probe clean. Click here to learn more.
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I’ve had this Hatsan Gladius Long PCP rifle in .22 caliber and Hill Mk.4 air pump for just over a year now and am very pleased with it for pest control. I have a few observations to share but first if you wish to read any of the original posts, here are the links:
At any rate, I’ve probably put about 750-1,000 pellets through this at least. It really likes the JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy Diabolo 18.13 grain pellets. I can shoot overlapping clusters of holes at 30-50 feet over and over. I have some other weight pellets but haven’t had time to test them. I’m hoping a lighter weight will shoot flatter, expand faster and reduce over-penetration.
From a pressure perspective, the sweet spot seems to be if I keep the cylinder between 170-195 bar, just short of 200. At 200 the first round is a flier. I am not running a regulator on this cylinder. My second cylinder with the regulator is leaking out the end due to some problem from manufacturing that I need to track down some day. It’s not on my top 2,000 list of things to do.
If I had it to do over again, I would not have bothered buying the spare cylinder. I am using this air rifle for pests – mainly squirrels, rabbits and ground squirrels. I can get 16-20 lethal accurate shots and then I refill using my Hill air pump. I never use the second cylinder not to mention the oddball leak out the very end (it’s not an o-ring).
The scope and ring combination has held up great. The scope has held zero. I thought I would use the cheek riser and butt pad adjustments more but haven’t needed them much. I think the cheek piece is up just a hair.
You know, the magazine design is excellent. Some air rifles (Marauder) have real crappy plastic mags and these are metal and easy to fill.
The Hatsan is relatively quiet. I shoot with power setting #4 most of the time and it will drop squirrels and rabbits no problem. There is definitely a muzzle report and I have to worry about over penetration. It blows right through squirrels. On #3, it is remarkably quiet but I have to be very careful with shot placement on a squirrel within 50 feet and I will not use #3 on a rabbit. So most of the time I am on #4 and am very, very careful of what is behind the target. My preference is a tree or something else solid.
I really like the trigger and the safety. The trigger does the job – I haven’t checked the weight but I am able to stay on target with even ground squirrels. The safety lever in the trigger area takes a bit of getting used to but once you do, it is very easy to engage, disengage or check status.
Follow up shots are really nice to have. Up until the Gladius, I only had single shot air rifles. Now I have up to 10 rounds and a side cocking lever that you can quickly actuate while keeping the scope and your eye on the target.
The Hill Mk.4 pump has held up very well. Depending on my mix of #3 and #4 power setting shots, I can top off the cylinder in 25-45 pumps after 10-20 rounds. Because I fiddle with the power settings and I don’t always wait to shoot all 10 pellets I can’t tell you an exact count. By the way, it’s hard to tell if you are down to the last pellet so when I get down near the end of pellets, I will top of the magazine and either top of the tank then or after one more magazine of pellets.
I do periodically put silicone grease on the shaft of the pump and the Hatsan quick connect air fitting. I did find a little zip lock bag and keep the on the air fitting to keep it clean.
I bought this good sized container of silicone grease that is Mission brand and has worked just fine for me. I use it on the Gladius, car work, etc.
In summary, I still like it and am happy with the purchase. Power and accuracy – it’s a great combo and the Hill air pump lets me easily top it off whenever I want to.
6/29/2020 Update: Still very happy with both the Gladius and the Hill pump. We now have replacement fill-probe O-rings and caps to keep your fill probe clean. Click here to learn more.
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When I bought my Gladius a few months back from Airgun Depot, it came as a package deal with a Hawke Vantage IR 4-12×50 AO Mil-Dot illuminated scope with a 1″ tube [Model 14252].
I had heard some good reports about Hawke so I figured I would give the scope a chance. It is bright, clear and decent eye relief (3.5″). The controls all turn easily and I really prefer adjustable objective scopes (AO) for air rifles. It lets me focus and get a range estimate of the target. Most of my shooting is at 10 yards but I do stretch out further at times.
Oddly enough, the Gladius does not have a standard Picatinny rail on top but rather some unique interpretation Hatsan came up with that allows the use of either Picatinny 22mm rings or 11mm dovetail rings. It looks odd but it works. Personally, I just wish they did a standard Picatinny rail on top vs. both but that’s just me.
First off, I looked at lots of photos of the Gladius and other bullpups and was rather surprised how high guys mounted the scope. An air rifle is still beholden to the laws of physics and trajectories. A scope mount should be as low as possible for two reasons: First and foremost, it causes less parallax. Just think about it this way, the higher the right triangle from your eye to the muzzle, the steeper the angle and the greater the change over a given distance. Second, a lower scope tends to enable a more consistent cheek weld getting the shooter to be more accurate. If you line up differently behind the scope each time, your point of impact will differ. Consistent cheek weld and alignment behind the scope matter.
So, rather than use the high 11 mm Beeman rings that Airgun Depot sent me, I used a pair of low profile UTG RQ2W1104 LE Grade rings. I have used many UTG rings over the years and find them to work fine in non-precision situations. If I am doing a target rifle, I’ll use true precision machined rings from companies such as Vortex. In this case, UTG would work just fine and I used their quick release rings which are nice when you want to get the scope off the rifle in a hurry. What is important is that they need to be snug, Tighten the adjustment screws so you get a nice solid lock up.
Now you may be wondering why I am using low profile rings with a 50mm scope and its because of the big scope mount riser that Hatsan put on the rifle. It’s just fine for the front objective to extend down lower than the rings because of the riser and the rear eye piece clears just fine. This is what lets the scope get closer to the center line of the barrel.
With this set up the center of the scope is 2-1/4-3/8″ from the center of the bore.
I spent the extra money on the Gladius thinking I would need to adjust the cheekpiece but I actually get a real nice cheekweld with this set up. I have almost 250 pellets through the rifle and everything is working fine. The scope and rings are holding zero no problem and I have adjusted the AO and power knob countless times. On some scopes this would be the kiss of death but the Hawke has handled all the adjustments just fine.
The rifle cylinder you see has a regulated cylinder at 130 bar and is getting sub 1/2″ groups at 10 yards with 18.13 grain JSB Jumbo Diabolo Heavy Exact pellets and handles pests no problem.
Normally I would use a Vortex scope but I am quite pleased with the Hawke Vantage II.
Note, I didn’t list the sizes on the Butler Scope caps. The front is too lose and I need to find something better as it wants to come off vs. flipping open right now. That will be a future post.
2/22/2018 Update: The scope and rings are holding up great. I have no complaints at all. The Gladius is an excellent rifle and this combo of rifle, rings and scope have really proven themselves to me. I have not had any problems at all with the scope holding zero.
5/24/2019 Update – still rock solid. The scope has held zero this whole time and I use the rifle Gladius quite a bit for pest control – at least several times per week. I’d say I have well past 1,000 rounds through the rifle now.
2/21/2020 Update – No problems
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Well, I’ve had the Gladius for almost a month and the thing rocks. I have dispatched about a two dozen squirrels strictly for pest control. It definitely does the job and I only have it on power setting three. I actually have to consider over penetration even on setting three the pellets go right through the squirrels.
For pests, I am still quite happy with the JSB Jumbo Heavy Diabolo 18.13gr pellets. I have the rifle on power setting three and am getting about 1/2″ groups at 30 feet. What I have found is that my first round is a flier if I go to 200 bar. Instead, I stay between 150-180 bar and it is pretty consistent. I have a Huma regulator in one of the two air cylinders but am still shooting with the one that came with the rifle until I get some time to use the chronograph and site in the scope with the new changes.
The Hawke scope is holding up just fine. I did spend the money to get some Butler flip up lens caps. Size 48 (2.5″) for the objective and 15 (1.558″ for the eyepiece). They are working fairly well though I do wish the objective fit a bit tighter.
6/29/2020 Update: Still very happy! We now have replacement fill-probe O-rings and caps to keep your fill probe clean. Click here to learn more.
If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.
The stock Gladius has a power setting but it does not have a consistent air pressure supply. What a regulator does is allow you to have the reservoir set at one pressure and then the air fed to the rifle is set at another. For example, the Gladius’ cylinder is rated for 200 bar (3,000 PSI). You can set the regulator for 130 bar, which is a popular setting, and you always get 130 bar until the pressure of the cylinder dips below 130 bar. This not only helps you have a far more consistent pressure but also the number of shots increases because a lesser volume of air is used with each shot due to the regulator.
In talking with folks, the most recommended regulator I could find for the Gladius is made by Huma in the Netherlands. You can order direct from them, which I did and my two regulators arrived in less than a week. I should also point out that they were very prompt in replying to my questions, which I really appreciated.
In this blog post I will cover how to install the Huma based on what I learned while trying to install the regular. I would also recommend that you read the instructions from Huma to make sure you get a better understanding of what is needed. With the Gladius, installing the regulator is relatively easy because it goes into the removable air cylinder.
Step 1: Mark the bottom of the cylinder. I put a piece of tape and marked the bottom of the cylinder while it is screwed all the way into the rifle. You must do this because the regulator has a top position that must be oriented properly when the cylinder is screwed back in.
Step 2: Remove the cylinder from the rifle. It simply unscrews counter-clockwise and you may need to pull the cylinder to overcome resistance caused by the O-Rings.
Here are the instructions but before you do anything – MAKE SURE YOUR CYLINDER IS EMPTY [Click Here For Instructions to “degas” the cylinder]. There is a pressure gauge at the end of the cylinder and it should read zero.
Step 3: Remove the brass valve assembly end of the cylinder. Use a 13mm wrench to turn the brass fitting counter-clockwise and unscrew it from the black aluminum tube. This should turn easily. If it does not, install the degas tool, turn the set screw and ensure all air is out. This brass valve assembly should unscrew fairly easily. If it is taking a lot of torque to turn then this may indicate that the cylinder is still under pressure. If it is empty and still does not want to turn then there may be a threading issue and you need to decide if you want to apply more force or contact Hatsan. Again, on my cylinder this came off very easily with me holding the aluminum tube with one hand while turning the 13mm wrench with the other. The 13mm wrench sits on a flat spot on the valve body made just for this purpose.
Step 4: Watch out for burs. The machining inside the cylinder and the valve body are all quite sharp. Be careful when you are turning things by hand. If you see any visible burs remove them or you may slit the O-Rings of the regulator by accident.
Step 5. Prepare the Regulator. The regulator is one piece. The online instructions mention and show a separate spacer that is no longer there. Set the pressure by aligning the brass dial with the pressure markings on the tape. You would do this by removing the small 3mm screw and using a blade screwdriver to make the adjustment. I ordered mine set for 130 bar so I didn’t need to do anything but the screw did confuse me as I couldn’t figure out what it was for – it was loose and just sitting there. I contacted Huma and they told me that this screw is meant to be loose and serves as an air flow restrictor. To set it, screw it down until it stops and then back it off two full turns. I had to do this because I removed the screw trying to figure out what it was before I asked Huma. What I did was hold the screw and rotate the body because that was very easy for me to count two full turns given all the markings. Huma told me to leave the screw loose so that is what I did.
Step 6. Grease and seat the bottom O-ring. Grease everything lightly with silicone grease. DO NOT USE A PETROLEUM GREASE. It must be silicone grease to be safe. Make sure the bottom O-Ring is in place. This must be done outside of the air cylinder and greased there as well. This is critical – if you do not grease this O-Ring and the bottom of the valve then it may well twist out of position as you tighten things together.
Step 7: Option – notch a small V in the front of the top of the tube to better enable venting. Huma reports there are two ways to make sure the regulator can vent properly. One is to simply not screw the brass valve back in all the way or take a file and make a tiny notch on the top inside edge of the cylinder before the threads. I opted to do this as I don’t like the idea of having a loose valve body moving around unpredictably when installing or removing cylinders so I just took a small file and made a tiny notch at the top of the cylinder (opposite from the bottom mark you should have made with the piece of tape). I did this with the valve sitting horizontally and then wiped out the tiny aluminum shavings and then blew it out too. I applied the silicone grease after I filed the small notch but took the photo after I greased it so that’s why you see the grease.
Step 8: Grease everything and insert the regulator. Ensure the regulator, threads and the first 7mm(ish) of the cylinder after the threads have the silicone grease. To install the regulator, you must orient it properly. There is a tiny vent hole in the body of the regulator just below the O-ring that must be at the top of the cylinder where you also made the small notch. Now the screw end of the regulator goes in first. So hole up and screw first. Gently insert the regulator and use a dowel to push the unit into the cylinder. There will be resistance as the O-Ring pushes past the threads in the cylinder walls. You really do need a dowel or something to help you push it in while avoiding that bottom O-ring. If you push on the O-ring with your fingers, it will probably come out — I know this because I did that and it came out and I had to tap the cylinder on my wood work table to get the regulator to come back down so I could fish it out. What you want to do is slide it down just past the threads. The air pressure will push it back against the valve body when you fill the cylinder.
Step 9: Reinstall the brass valve body. As mentioned previously, you have two options – either make the notch and screw the body back on all the way or do not thread it back on all the way so the air can vent from the regulator more readily.
Just for reference, if you don’t want to notch the inside edge of your tube, they say to tighten down the brass valve assembly and keep about a business card thickness gap in it. Again, I made the notch in the top and tightened mine down.
Step 10. Pressurize and check for leaks. So, I used my Hill hand pump and gave myself three targets taking breaks at 50, 100 and 150 bar until finally I reach 200 bar. It is a fair amount of work so take your time, take breaks and let your body weight work for you if you go that route. At any rate, I checked for leaks at each stop with soap water. So far, so good.
Now I just need some time so I can do some shooting and compare my unregulated cylinder to my 130 bar regulated cylinder and report the speed, accuracy and air consumption. That will be for another day.
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The Hatsan Gladius is a really cool bullpup precharged pneumatic (PCP) air rifle. One really neat feature is that you can simply unscrew the air cylinder and install another. A second cylinder is way easier to carry around than an air tank of you are hunting or doing pest control. Also, you can have different cylinders regulated at different pressures that are tuned for combinations of pellets and distances. Now the base rifle is not regulated and really all a spare cylinder does is give you a backup air source. I’ll cover installing a Huma regulator in another post but this one will focus on how to degas, or empty, the air cylinder of the Hatsan so maintenance can be done. For example, if you want to drain moisture, etc.
First, I need to give you a safety message. A Hatsan Gladius cylinder may contain up to 3,000 PSI of air pressure in it. This kind of pressure is dangerous. Do not mess around when you are working with high pressure air (HPA) or you may get injured or killed. Respect it and be cautious. If you haven’t read the manual for your Gladius, do so. If you lost your manual, click here for an online copy at Hatsan.
Okay, depressurizing the cylinder is very, very simple. Hatsan includes the tool you need in the small white tool box that came in the original case with your rifle. It consists of a heavy brass cap with a set screw in it and the appropriate sized Allen key. The first step is to back the set screw out so when you thread it onto the cylinder it does not touch the conical shaped nipple on the end of the cylinder. The third photo shows what the set screw will look like when you back it out. You want to be able to screw the brass cap on all the way without that set screw touching.
Next, thread the brass tool all the way onto the cylinder by hand. Do not turn the set screw until the cap is fully seated. Note the little vent hole shown in the next photo. This is where the air will vent.
Now, turn the vent hole away from you and do NOT look straight at it to protect your eyes. Very slowly turn the set screw clock wise. As it threads into the body of the cap, it will depress the conical nipple and high pressure air will start to vent. It’s going to act like a jet and you will feel the cylinder move. I don’t advocate cranking it wide open so you don’t blow dust every where and you can maintain control of the cylinder. It will empty very fast. In the next photo, you can see the set screw turned in. The only reason the vent hole is showing is for the photo. Normally I have it turned away from me.
Last step – the cylinder should be empty when you no longer hear air exiting. Double check the gauge. To remove the end of the cylinder should be very easy because Hatsan uses some form of silicone grease on the threads and doesn’t tighten it much. If it is taking a ton of force, double check the gauge as there may be air in the cylinder.
That’s all there is to it. I hope this helps you out.
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One of my favorite things is to do research. Before I bought my Hatsan Gladius Long Bullpup in .22, I did a lot of reading and also watching of videos. Youtube is a goldmine of reviews and insights that one should tap in to. Here are three videos that helped me learn more about the Gladius and especially get a better look at its features and how loud it was.
The first video is my favorite as the two guys set up the rifle and then go through each power setting and record three shots along with their velocity and calculated foot pounds of energy (FPE) for the pellet they were using. For some reason they did levels one through five but not six. Regardless, I was pretty much sold by the end of these three videos.
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