I have already contacted Hatsan and this rifle is going back, along with a sample of Falcon and Kodiak/Baracuda pellets for them to test in it. When I get the replacement I will resume the test with velocity testing.
Tom,
We took some time to test out your sample SpeedFire this afternoon. This was tested “as-is” out of the box – original gun, original magazines. We did experience a larger extreme spread with one magazine (41) versus the other (23) with our Vortex Supreme pellets. The “bad” magazine had some damage around the pellet exit opening on the muzzle side of the body. I expect this might be interfering with and damaging the pellet skirts as they are pushed through.
I took a close look at the pellets you provided. The skirts of the Falcons were mostly distorted or dented. Out of 20 that I poured out into my hand, I found only 4 that still looked good. The Kodiaks all looked pretty good, though. I suspect that the extremely thin skirts on the Falcons are being damaged when pushed through the magazine, causing even more inconsistencies with sealing and power output. I recommend a pellet with a more sturdy skirt for use in this gun. Anything from H&N except the Sniper series should have a tough enough skirt to work well with the SpeedFire. The JSB 15.89 and 18.13 should also be good ones, but I didn’t have any here to test.
I am not sure why we saw such significant differences with the Kodiak and Baracuda performance compared to how the Kodiaks performed for you. We did not see the low velocities that you indicate in your blog page, even with the Kodiak pellets you sent along with the rifle. Our velocities with the Falcon, however, were on par with yours – somewhat negating my thoughts of your chronograph being off.
With the “good” magazine, We tested a handful of pellet types from our inventory as well as the pellets you sent. Each was fired for 10-shots.
Пыщ-пыщ, троло-ло, отстрел через турецкий хронограф
What would you like for us to do at this point, Tom? Do you want this gun back (with a new magazine to replace the bad one)? Would you like for me to send any of the pellets that I tested?