Mid 40's here in Michigan today.

[MScottLeeman]

So, I went outside to test my Hatsan 135 .30 with a newly installed Vortek piston seal and fresh de-burring,cleaning and polishing. I put 30 shots over my Competition Electronics chrony and so here you go...
High=546
Low=538
ES=8
SD=2
This would seem Great shooting the JSB 44.75's But!! This was done using with their 50.15's!! I didnt want to bore everyone with every single number but I had 4 sets of duplicate velocities and 1 triplicate! Once I finished with the chrony, I fine tuned and fiddled with the UTG 3-12X40 and got to the point of hitting acorn size targets 8 outta 10 times from 20 to about 25 yds. Pretty happy at this point!

 

[MScottLeeman]

BTW...this equates to an average of 32.72 ft lbs. From a flippin SPRINGER!

 

[MScottLeeman]

A few pics. I refinished it with Minwax dark walnut stain followed with 5 coats of Minwax Antique Oil.

 

[Matt247365]

That's one helluva springer! Thank you for posting this. Where in MI are you? DET area here. I too got outside and did a little shooting. It was nice. A little breezy but warm and sunny. Gotta love that in January!

Matt

 

[MScottLeeman]

Thanks Matt! I'm right up in the Midland area on the outskirts of town. I was having so much fun shooting that walleye fishing out on Saginaw Bay (Which I do a Lot) didn't even cross my mind! It was a big sloppy mess anyway,so we said screw it. Really impressed with this big Hatsan! I was apprehensive about buying it at 1st,but i love to tinker and after watching Steve's review on AEAC about the 135 .30 more times than I care to admit (It's All His Fault!)...I picked one up. These rifles Really respond well to a little "TLC"! Since I had it totally disassembled, I decided to remove the original somewhat fragile stock finish and apply my own. Really made the Turkish walnut look nice,at least to me. I gotta say, every time I hear Rick Eustler or anyone else say "Turkish Walnut", I think of Riccardo Montabalm trying to pitch "Fine Corinthian Leather" on the old Chrysler Cordoba. Thanks Again and take care!

 

[Matt247365]

Nice job on the stock. I like the deep, dark color and that little bit of a sheen to it. Tasty.
Matt

Had to do it Just look at that supple leather... and t-tops!

 

[MScottLeeman]

LMAO! Thats AWESOME!!

 

[Guest]

Turkish walnut can be dark with bold grain character...but this light lame version is all we get for the most part. Light colored when 2 layers of stain are removed. Here's an example of a 95 stock I'm redoing;

​ Also of interest is that my Trail .25 got a best of 858/32.55 with the 19.91gr H&N FTT. 50% of the group shots were over 30. So the FPE is close on the two, but mine has a bit more velocity. At around $300 or so, not bad either way.
And what a fellow GTA member showed me in a thread on modding my Striker;

 

[JH4410]

I too remember those commercials, sad to say. Wow you got your rifle dialed in. Run mine through the chony a few weeks ago and it was Like Rick Eustler would say Bang dead on the Money 44gr@550fps. nice refinish.

 

[MScottLeeman]

 Thanks for the kind words Jon! I also got some similar results with my Turkish Patriot,minus the stock refinishing. Used the same Vortek piston seal and swapped out the stock spring Tom had,as well. The Patriot is a .22 and is kinda front heavy and feels Huge compared to the 135 .30 I may be selling it in the future,it just has an awkward feel..to me.