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You crazy guys...
Having read tons of reviews I can't see what the problem is, generally Hatsans are accepted as functional and worth the money.
Apart from Franchis I can't really see an option for a semi-auto under £300 (read closer to £200, I'm from Yorkshire) better than the Hatsan, at least parts should be available (a-la Lada).
There are one or 2 Remington 100s about, which seem to get decent reviews, most are S2 but if it's easy enough to increase capacity they might be an option too.

Have seen an original Browning Auto 5 online for about £170 delivered.

A few new springs and friction rings, Nordic extension tube and some plastic furniture (if ya so choose) and you have a great strong semi auto that'll keep working forever...

Post 1954 models have the speedload design built in too, which makes for very easy reloads

OOh, where? Cheapest I've seen is £225 so far.
Anyone know anything about the Fabarms? They seem good for the money but I'm not convinced parts would be available.

Demonic69 wrote:You crazy guys...
Having read tons of reviews I can't see what the problem is, generally Hatsans are accepted as functional and worth the money.
Apart from Franchis I can't really see an option for a semi-auto under £300 (read closer to £200, I'm from Yorkshire) better than the Hatsan, at least parts should be available (a-la Lada).
There are one or 2 Remington 100s about, which seem to get decent reviews, most are S2 but if it's easy enough to increase capacity they might be an option too.

What do you want to use a S1 semi-auto for, PSG, pigeon etc?

PSG mate

Demonic69 wrote:PSG mate

I don't mean to sound condescending with the following questions as I've only being doing PSG since last April and I don't know you but 4 of the guys I train/shoot with always finish top ten if not top five every match in the four islands series but:

Do you do PSG at the moment, if not get yourself down to a few matches, see what others are shooting, do a basic safety course (most clubs will insist that you have done one before they will let you shoot a comp if they don't know you, especially if connected with UKPSA) shoot a comp with a sec2?
What loading style do you use/are you thinking of doing i.e. just loading one at a time from a cartridge belt, loading with 4 in the hand (but 1 at a time) from a California caddy, load 2/4 from a chameleon belt or taccom dual/quadloaders?
What do you want from PSG, just have a laugh and enjoy shooting some good courses of fire and not be bothered where you finish or do you want to be competitive?
Have you ever tried a Hatsan Escort?
Do you see many people using Hatsans at PSG comps?

As I said above they are marmite guns, some like Chuck love them but others hate them, I was going to go that route before I started PSG and was set on getting the tactical Hatsan until I tried one, as I thought you can get almost 3 of them for the price of a Benelli M2. My club has a few S2 pump escorts that are used for the ladies and smaller gents when doing safety courses, my wife used one on our course and I had the Benelli Supernova. The S1 semi auto Escort was recommended to her as an ideal 1st gun as she didn't like the recoil from the pump and as we were naïve new shooters we took the recommendation and paid through the nose but she (and me) hated it from day one due to the severe recoil it was producing and cr@p loading gate and she would barely put 25 rounds through it before not wanting to shoot it anymore (compared to the Beretta 1301 she has now that she is happy to put hundreds through without a complaint) and we got rid of it pretty sharpish. Also I know of at least 4 others that I shoot with at comps that had them and also got rid or just chucked in the back of the truck and used for vermin control around farms, so try before you buy otherwise it could just be a waste of money, you may find them good for you but they are cheap for a reason but please think about what you want out of PSG, you can make it as cheap or expensive as you want but match your aspirations to your budget.

Hi Primer
Thanks for the response!
PSG is something I've only just started thinking about and will be chatting to members of my club when the next comp is on.
As it's new to me I'm just researching my options while I wait for my FAC, getting my head around what's available.
For me, there's absolutely no point getting into it if it can't be done cheaply. I'd like to compete but don't expect to come top unless I splash out on the right kit and racing parts, which is fine with me, I'm not into the shooting arms race tbh and I'm not very competitive, more with myself than others.
I didn't think about using an S2, I assumed you'd just be loading constantly while others rocked through 8-10 rounds in no time
All of your questions prove my point, how can I answer if I've not had a go, how can I have a go without spending a fortune?
I really do appreciate the advice given, I'm just tight

Cheers

Demonic69 wrote:Hi Primer
Thanks for the response!
PSG is something I've only just started thinking about and will be chatting to members of my club when the next comp is on.
As it's new to me I'm just researching my options while I wait for my FAC, getting my head around what's available.
For me, there's absolutely no point getting into it if it can't be done cheaply. I'd like to compete but don't expect to come top unless I splash out on the right kit and racing parts, which is fine with me, I'm not into the shooting arms race tbh and I'm not very competitive, more with myself than others.
I didn't think about using an S2, I assumed you'd just be loading constantly while others rocked through 8-10 rounds in no time
All of your questions prove my point, how can I answer if I've not had a go, how can I have a go without spending a fortune?
I really do appreciate the advice given, I'm just tight

Cheers

You'd be surprised how good some S2 shooters are as some tend to be a damn site more accurate with their 3 shots (or should I say load 2, shoot 2 so you don't let the gun go dry) compared with some S1's that spray and pray, as the S2 shots need to count as you can't just blat 4 rounds off to knock down one target, I often see a few S2's finishing quite well above lots of S1's at some of our big matches, I was beaten by a few on my first match. Also you shouldn't have a problem borrowing a club S2 and a cartridge belt for a match, then at least you can get a feel for it, we also tend to stick most of the S2's in a squad together so you are all pretty much shooting at the same speed and enjoying yourselves and not worrying that you are holding anyone up.

My club now always leaves a few stages up from competitions so that new shooters can come along and have a go, the owner will come out with you, provide you with a S2 pump and belt, take you through a couple of stages and you just pay for the ammo, its a good way to try out without all the hussle and bussle of a comp, so not sure if you have any clubs like that up your way.

The best thing I did was go on a basic safety course it was £75 (+ about £50 for ammo) for 2 days (inc breakfast, lunch, tea, cake where I did my course anyway), I took the wife along and we had a great weekend, had nice big bruises for a week, it was a good introduction to PSG and we both took it up and you may find some clubs may require that you have completed a course before you can do a comp unless its a club you are already a full member of, not sure what clubs you have up your way but any affiliated with UKPSA will.

That's some brilliant info thanks.
Looks like my club does safety courses and they hold a comp once a month. I've got in touch to ask about an introduction and I'm sure they've got an S2 I could borrow to have a go myself.
My club is UKPSA affiliated and I'm a full member, so that's handy
What are your thoughts on pump vs semi? Are the comps split into the 2 groups?

Cheers

Demonic69 wrote:That's some brilliant info thanks.
Looks like my club does safety courses and they hold a comp once a month. I've got in touch to ask about an introduction and I'm sure they've got an S2 I could borrow to have a go myself.
My club is UKPSA affiliated and I'm a full member, so that's handy
What are your thoughts on pump vs semi? Are the comps split into the 2 groups?

Cheers

That's good that your club holds monthly comps.

Yes pumps and semi's are split up in the points, I think there are actually 4 catergories:
Standard Manual (pump)
Standard semi
Modified
Open - box fed semi's, sights, tube loaders, ported barrels

but I tend to just see manual, semi & open on our scoresheets at comps.

Most of overall top ten is filled by Semi's with the odd Pump in there. Our club owner always makes a point of saying if you were shooting a S2 when reading out the scores/positions, probably to embarrass a few of the S1 shooters you have just beaten :lol:

I don't really have a preference between semi or pump to be honest, they both have their good and bad points, pumps tend to be less ammo fussy as you are doing the cycling (as long as you remember to pump it of course) so you can chuck cheaper ammo in them, where as some of the semi's can be quite ammo fussy and require you to buy more expensive heavier cartridges. Pumps tend to have more recoil as none of the energy is used to cycle the action like on semi's and then you have your difference on semi's of gas operated or inertia (recoil) operated actions and gas tend to have lower recoil (but depends on the gun as my inertia operated Benelli M2 has no more recoil to me anyway than my wifes Beretta 1301 which is gas action) but then need more maintenance and cleaning than an inertia, Pumps are much cheaper than semi's. I used a pump on my course and enjoyed it but brought a semi really due to everyone else I shot with had semi's but I have a free S1 slot on my FAC and may buy a pump at some time in the future.