Hatsan is a Turkish company that was founded in 1976 and makes a number of airguns as well as shotguns. My first Hatsan was .22 Long Gladius Precharged Pneumatic (PCP) bullpup air rifle. The Gladius is amazing but I really wanted to find something smaller and more discrete. Even though the Gladius is a bullpup, it is still fairly big and heavy. I started looking for something else and ran across the Hatsan AT P2 and found what I was looking for.
Hatsan comes up with some radical designs that are well thought out and executed. I was very happy with Gladius so when I saw the AT P2 and that it had their proven Quatro trigger, was a PCP repeater, used their great 10 round magazines, and had integral Quiet Energy baffles, I was pretty much sold but kept reading
I prefer .22 caliber airguns for dealing with larger pests. The AT P2 claims 780 FPS so that will make around 19.8 ft/lbs of energy at the muzzle. This matters to me because I need the carbine for pest control – chiefly ground squirrels, tree squirrels and rabbits – all of which tear up our gardens. These animals typically need about 3-5 ft/lbs to be dealt with provided accurate shot placement. This means you need an airgun that can put pellets on target in an area of 1″ or less at the range you expect.
I am typically taking care of pests within 10 yards and rarely out to 20. In digging I read reports that the AT P2 was surprisingly accurate, had a good trigger and could hit surprisingly hard with for 10-20 pellets. Unlike the Gladius, there isn’t a power adjustment plus you are talking about a fairly small 50cc air tank compressed to 200 bar (2900 PSI).
Hill Mk4 Hand Pump
Another reason for my buying the AT P2 was that I could continue to use my Hill Mk4 hand pump that really has proven itself to be exemplery. The Gladius and AT P2 use the same air fill probe so I didn’t need to worry about changing probes or buying a second pump.
I actually find the smaller air cylinder works in my favor with the Hill pump. I shoot one magazine and top it off again to 200 bar. It doesn’t take too many pumps to do that compared to a bigger cylinder where you need to put more air into the tank.
UTG 3-9×21 Mil-Dot Bug Buster Scope
So, I ordered the carbine and a UTG 3-9×21 Mil-Dot Bug Buster scope with an adjustable objective. UTG makes great scopes and I’ve used them extensively on airguns and firearms that are not mission critical. I don’t mean this as a negative to UTG – It’s just that I will go to Vortex for those situations.
The Bug Buster scopes are just ideal for this type of application. They are compact, bright, clear and pretty reliable. I’ve had a few over the years and haven’t had one break or fail to hold zero.
They have a number of models of Bug Buster scopes and I don’t think you will be disappointed in any of them. Here’s the one that is on my AT P2:
If I had it to do over, I would buy a scope that has turret for adjusting the illuminated reticle. The push buttons work fine but I prefer the simplicity of a turret – I guess I am just old school. A lit reticle can make a low light shot either early in the morning or at dusk way easier. Here’s what I would recommend:
Plano 1502 Hard Case
I already had a basic Plano 1502 hard case to store everything in. It comes with a little hard case from Hatsan but I wanted to have enough room to put the carbine with the scope attached inside.
The only con in the case of the 1502 is that it has an interior length of 50-7/8″. That is really long relative to the AT P2. I have the stock extended one click and that makes the overall length 32-/34″ and the height from the bottom of the grip to the top of the scope turret is just under 10-1/2″. The AT P2 could have gone in a far smaller case but I made do with what I had.
JSB Exact Jumbo Diablo 15.89gr Pellets
I really like JSB pellets. I’ve shot over a thousand of the 18.23gr pellets through my Gladius. I wanted something lighter to try for better in flight ballistics and less over-penetration so on a gamble I ordered the 15.89 gr pellets.
How did it turn out?
I’m really happy is what it boils down to. I needed to oil the safety lever to smooth it out but other than that, it shoots like a dream. I tell you what, it definitely takes care of tree squirrels – head shots are no problem at all and the trigger is remarkable.
One thing that surprised me is the target grip. It comes with a right hand only grip set that is remarkable comfortable. If you are a Lefty, you can contact Hatsan USA and they will send you a left hand set.
The removable adjustable stock is clearly innovative. I find it way to big to be a pistol plus I want the stability. I didn’t buy it to use without the stock. Removing the stock is simple – push the big detent button and pull straight back.
As mentioned, it is a big pistol as this next photo shows. Unless I was resting it on a fence or something there is no way I would be able to control it. If you have a lot of arm strength and can keep a big pistol steady, then maybe but not me.
The stock can adjust four clicks to be quite long. I just need to go back one click and I am 5′ 8″. The cheek piece is adjustable but I did not need to do so.
This is what it looks like for me:
It’s also remarkably quiet. I haven’t run it side by side with my Gladius to compare the sounds at equivalent feet per second but I can tell you it is way quieter than by Gladius on power setting four. I think the cocking is louder than the report of the airgun and it will put a tree squirrel down hard. Headshots tend to stop in the cranium but heart and lung shots go through the body.
Conclusion
It’s performing exactly the way I had hoped. It is compact, quiet, powerful and also very accurate. I’d definitely recommend it.
If you’d like more comparisons between the Gladius Long and AT P2 QE Pistol, click here.
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