Hatsan escort review

Acm

Well-Known Member
I bought the hatsan escort 8 shot semi auto last autumn and have since put 3000 shells through it , I'm very pleased so I thought I'd write a review, a picture of this shotgun can be found on the below link .

HATSAN ARMS COMPANY

Firstly I love the military police style stock , It's perfect for shooting off a quad bike or out of a gator whilst I've been lambing , and it's very easy to bring to the shoulder , my escort is chambered for magnums and the stock has proven to be very comfortable with no complaints even after shooting a box of 3/12 inch 60 gram bbs whilst fox shooting . I also appreciate the fact it comes factory standard with a full set of chokes ( including super full choke ) and a weaver rail on the action . I have a red dot 1.5xmag scope on my escort which makes it great for target acquisition at night on a quad when foxing . My only complaint with the weaver rail was that from new it kept coming loose until I finally applied loctite thread lock on the screw threads .
The iron sights are adjustable and are night-glo type however I found them inadequate for night shooting and so fitted the red dot sight , brilliant for ground level shots , not so good for birds .

The chokes supplied are your usual selection , plus a super full choke - awesome bit of kit , this thing will group 6 out of the 9 lead balls in a magnum sg in a 5 inch square at 55 yards . It's a great tool for foxes , it hits them like a freight train .
The rate of fire on this gun is impressive , you can completely unload all 9 rounds in 3.8 seconds .
I know this is a cheap gun and for that reason I expected it to jam but it just doesn't , I've never ever jammed it , I've shot all loads from a 24 gram right up to a 66 gram and it's always cycles . I don't clean it that often , probably about twice a month and it works fine .

The action is a bit crude but it's fast and it works , it's not as smooth as the franchi spas but it's a quarter of the price and as mentioned above it always cycles .
I'm not keen on the safety , its the standard push over type located behind the trigger .
The trigger pull is 2lbs , for me that's perfect all my rifles are set to this as well .


All in all I'd give this shotgun 8/10 , I've shot franchi , benelli , browning and Winchester autos and although it's cheaper than any of these , I can't think of any reason I'd rather have any of the above as a working shotgun . ( except maybe a franchi spas ) the escort mpa is perfect for a foxing gun to carry whilst lambing its weather proof , rugged , high capacity , easy to shoot and cheap . The stocks also very easy to clean . Id thoroughly recommend this shotgun as a workhorse to anyone . It just does the job with no fuss .


My set up and costs are as follows
Hatsan escort 12ga mpa semi auto 8 shot - £470
Sling and clips - £15
Winchester red dot sight -£25
My favourite foxing load , hull super magnum 3/12 inch 66 gram bb


There is however one problem with the hatsan , me and some mates often shoot rabbits from a pick up truck rear tub frame on a large arable farm and regurlarly use 3-400 cartridges a night to kill 2-300 rabbits . With a shotgun with this magazine capacity you need to watch yourself as its easy to get trigger happy and shoot at things more than one or two times = expensive shooting .another problem when doing this amount of shooting is that the barrel gets VERY hot and off someone is standing to the right of you they are continually blasted by very hot gasses at face level , this gun could do with some sort of directional exhausts to fire the gasses up or down .

I hope you find this usefull . Please comment and add to my post !
 
nice review.
Ive had an escort now for about 6 years i have the 3 shot (non-military style). I use it for mostly pigeon shooting and love it never had a problem and i've put thousands of cartridges through it. My friend bought the second generation model of it and it started jamming up but was sent straight back hatsan fixed it and its now as good as mine.
 
Thanks for the review, I was thinking about buying one of these and after hearing of your own experience, can't see any reason not too.
 
Iteresting review, thank you :)

I've just added a sec.1 shotgun to my FAC, now have to decide between converting a "spare" 2+1 Escort that has sat in the cabinet for 3 years while my older mk1 Escort contnues to work perfectly, or sell it and put the money towards a new MP-A, £439 from Shooting Supplies in Bromsgrove is the cheapest I can find it.

Northallerton Shooting Sports reckon around £45-£50 for the replacement non-crimped mag tube and an extension, the MP-A type pistol grip stock should fit so they're getting me a price for that as well.
 
I have had a 3 shot pump action escort now for 5 years or so and really like it. The catch in front of the trigger guard which releases the pump forend took a bit of getting used to because, when carrying it, it was easy to release it without realising so that when you shouldered the gun it wasn't cocked properly. I just had to learn to carry it differently which worked out fine. Other than that I've never had any technical issues with it. As mentioned above on the semi-auto, the chokes are great and make it very versatile.

It was originally bought as a cheap driven boar gun for one trip to Croatia but now I use it for wildfowling on the muddy foreshore, foxing and rabbit control in woodland and gorse scrub and also on the pigeons. It's also good fun for clays at home. It's a great tough, cheap tool which I enjoy using and don't have to be precious about. If it was a knife it would be a frost. I've used a few benellis and consider these to be in a different league so am very content with the escort's function for its price. From my experiences with the pump action, if I was looking for a new semi-auto I would consider hatsan.
 
Iteresting review, thank you :)


Northallerton Shooting Sports reckon around £45-£50 for the replacement non-crimped mag tube and an extension, the MP-A type pistol grip stock should fit so they're getting me a price for that as well.

The stocks great mate you won't regret it
 
Ive got a 2+1 Escort that I picked up for £220. Its bang on and only jammed once when I didn't clean it after a few 100 put through it. Internals are now spotless and the outside gets a quick wipe over when I get back in and comes up like new.
 
I'd love to try it on boar , the gunship I got it from has the slug barrel on his shelves too which came with it , unfortunately it's not on my fac to use slugs :(

As long as the barrel is smooth bore and not less than 24" you do not need an FAC to own it.
Most slug barrels are usually 24 and a Half inches with iron sights so they can be bought and sold freely.
Mine came with two barrels 29" and a 26" both have variable chokes but the 26" is my favourite and could quite easily be used for slug if I was authorised and so wished.
 
Good write up!

Have to say though, I've heard far to many negative reports about the hatsan to consider buying one. If you shop around you could get a second hand SX3 for £550 mark which isn't much more than a new Hatsan. Good report though and I'm sure the majority of Hatsans are problem free
 
Small update.

Rang Northallerton Shooting to see what they had sorted out for me, short answer is nothing. Chap who was dealing with it flew off to Egypt on hols yesterday and no one else knows about it.

So, rang Shooting Supplies in Bromsgrove for a new MP-A as they had 3 on Guntrader, they weren't sure if they had one or not or if they did it may be a 2+1, 5+1 or a 7+1!, rang me back and it's a 7+1 :) will be at my RFD tomorrow :D
 
I'm picking up an MPA stock for my 2+1 Escort on Friday, £41 from Edgars through Plucky Pheasant up here. Love the look and now just got to think of justifying a section 1 SG on my FAC to the missus!! mmmmm, may take a while...
 
I have a 7+1 Hatsan MPA. I have genuinely put no more than 8 rounds through it to give it a try. Its as new and in the box with all its bits and bobs.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Edgar Bros Warranty. Only a couple of months old.

Cracking practical gun. There are just things I would get more use from.

If you fancy one drop me a PM and tempt me with a sensible offer.

I am on the A303 and M3 every week. I get to Aylesbury, West London and Bath regularly for face to face.

Just throwing it out there if of use to someone.
 
As the Hatsan MPA is £470 new - which to me is not a cheap gun - I for one would much rather invest money in a 2nd-hand S.1 semi auto; of which there are LOTS to choose from and many bargains to be had as a result

Most RFD's will also tell you that they make a better margin on 2nd-hand guns than new anyway - so everyone wins
 
Thanks for the review, I was thinking about buying one of these and after hearing of your own experience, can't see any reason not too.

I have been using a sect1 for nearly 3 years and put countless cartridges through it without any problems at all, never jammed even when hot, to the point that the barrel was uncomfortable to touch, its a good honest workhorse.
 
I have a 7+1 Hatsan MPA. I have genuinely put no more than 8 rounds through it to give it a try. Its as new and in the box with all its bits and bobs.

Absolutely nothing wrong with it. Edgar Bros Warranty. Only a couple of months old.

Cracking practical gun. There are just things I would get more use from.

If you fancy one drop me a PM and tempt me with a sensible offer.

I am on the A303 and M3 every week. I get to Aylesbury, West London and Bath regularly for face to face.

Just throwing it out there if of use to someone.

HI, Im looking for a FAC MPA, Have £400 cash to spend if your interested
 
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