Ok, there it is:
As I became an owner of model 60S I'd like to share with other Hatsan shooters, how to make their rifle more friendly. Unfortunately Hatsan brand is not the top one among others. But in Poland we say, there is nothing bad which u can turn to good (or something like that). When Hatsan's gunsmiths didn't do their job 100% correct, well there is a time for owners to fix it. There is a common opinion about Hatsan's that they kicks hard, not very accurate, noisy (not only shot but also mechanism), and often kills your scope. It changed a bit on plus with new models equipped with quattro trigger and SAS system. But still some things are worth to do to make this rifle even better. As I mentioned l got Hatsan 60S. I choose this model coz it was only few hundreds more expensive than the cheapest available at Hahn and it has really nice wood stock. You must know that all models: 7x, 60, 8x, 9x are basically the same rifles with different stock only. So all the tips here you can do for all these models and others as well. The goal is to make rifle more quiet and lower the kick which should help also with accuracy. I did these modifications according to many topics about Hatsan's tuning which I found in internet. Let's start then.
Rifle arrived packed with factory box, no other protection was included except Hahn's stamped wrapping paper.
And in the box: rifle with protective styro for barrel and front sight, manual in few languages, Allen key for trigger adjustment, some warning information and a paper target with 4 holes. As a proof rifle was tested and it shoots
Ok, after removing stock you will see something like this:
You can see SAS system which lowers a kick and vibrations. Well I did only few shots before mods so actually I can't confirm if it works. But I think it helps a bit.
Here some close up on Quattro trigger, safety on (rifle can't shoot):
and safety off (ready to shoot):
Simple but works good.
Ok, now the most important info. On the picture below you can see what's inside your rifle:
Warning: you need to remove the plastic cap which closes the tube at the back very carefully, spring inside the tube is strained even when the rifle is not kocked, so it can jump out with some force.
Spring in my rifle jumped out and flew about 1m hitting baby's bed and making a dent in the wood. After some measurements I noticed that spring has about 57mm of tension when its inside the tube. Such spring makes rifle more powerful and more kicking of course. So first mod to lower the kick was cutting the spring. I will lose a bit from it's power but also from kick. And it should be easier to kock (need to say new rifle it's a bit hard to kock or maybe it's just my feeling). On that picture you can see that the lenght of the spring is 325mm. On the other picture spring is already cut to about 300mm (that's the size of tuned aftermarket springs for Hatsans). I recommend to cut the spring only if your is very long as mine was. I used angle grinder but it can be done with a metal saw. After cut u need to make it's end look like factory (flat). You can do this like this: cutted end put above your oven gas flame to make it hot and using pliers make the last wire touching the other one. After don't put water on hot spring to make it cold, jut let it stay for few minutes to cool it down by itself. Next I used angle grinder to make the ending flat. But using grinder you can't make spring very hot, so I put a water from a tap on the spring end when cutting. You can also try to use files. After grinder I used flat file to make surface more even and after waterproof sanding paper to polish it a bit.
On the picture above you can also see piston which needs some attention too. I polished a bit with waterproof sanding paper the end surface and the long space in the middle (sorry don't know english name for that). Well it's not mirror polished but it's more smooth now and I think should be better. I did it because when kocking the rifle I could feel it's not working smooth, so I hope it will help. If this is not enough I will do it better next time;)
The plastic spring guide is a thing to modify as well, but I don't have access yet to lathe, so for now I will leave it without modifications (anyone can help me with that please pm me).
Well I don't know what are the results of modifications I did, coz rifle is still in parts waiting for other mods I'm thinking to do. But these are basics mods which people normally do with their Hatsans. After, don't forget about proper lubrication (moly grease on spring and guide, copper grease for trigger mechanism).
Now I'd like to add three other mods which I didn't do (coz my rifle is new edition and actually maybe doesn't need them, but I will think about it). First is barrel cut. You will say why to cut the barrel, longer is better for accuracy. Yes, normally is like this. But Hatsans, especially older models (pre Quattro) are exceptions. Please clean the barrel with cleaning rod and take a look inside. Especially the ending. It was very normal that grooves are bad quality, very rough etc. That's one of the reasons of not accurate and stable shots. Here is a picture of Hatsan 70 with its grooves at the end:
And another Hatsan (not sure which model):
As I noticed normally owners do cut about 10cm of the barrel (total length of the barrel shouldn't be less than 25cm anyway). So If you got something like that at the end of your barrel, I wouldn't be think twice. You can use metal saw for that or best is to do it on lathe (I guess angle grinder can be used but with a lot of water). After cut you will have to do a "crown" to look it like this for example:
Another mod which I couldn't do in my rifle is as they call it PET cover. It's a piece of thin plastic (just like from 1.5 l soft drink or X-ray picture), must be flat with no perforation. Properly cut pet you have to put inside piston. It will avoid spring, hitting inner surface of the piston, and will make shots more quiet (with no metallic sounds from the rifle). I couldn't do this with my rifle coz pet I had was too thick. I will be looking for something thinner. I will say something more about this cover if anyone will be interested to use it.
There is really a lot of mods which you can do with your rifle (not only Hatsan). And some of them I don't know yet but soon or later I will try to post here more. I didn't do very detailed pictures, step by step but I will try to answer as much as I can to any questions about modifications.
