Any experience with a cheap escort?

[Sterry]

As per the title I’m potentially thinking of a semi auto in particular the Hatsan escort....what did you think!!
Really this is going to a working gun in the hide for the pigeons and the foreshore so like the idea of the 3” chamber and multi choke and lets face it they are dirt cheap. Anyone had one, used one, hated one or loved one.

 

[paul o']

Had a few last one fac x8 shot 3" none have let me down even in the mud fowling , still have a youth 20g gathering dust was my lads .

 

[B&W FOX]

Keep the gas and bypass port clean. Make sure the multichoke is not seized in. Make sure it comes with the stock shims if it's a newer version so you can make it fit yourself. Should cycle all loads.

 

[Smelly Yeti]

Got camo finish one and used it 2 seasons for same reasons - knocking round in the salt marsh after geese & doo’s in the summer. Used a wide variety of cartridges with no feed issues or jams. Cheap, agricultural but does exactly what it says on the tin!

 

[tozzybum]

Had 1 over 4 years ,never missed a beat its a mk2 cost a couple of hundred new .Forget the naysayers and fence post abuse ,any cartridge 67mm and up no dramas .And always after use clean the 2 gas holes to prevent fouling ,thats what stops them .
Doddle to strip and clean and seals are cheap as chips .Likes fiochhi no1 size 7 and Eley pigeon no 6 and steel on the foreshore being synthetic a good wipe over with a oily rag does the hounours

 

[Kernow_Stalker]

I've had a few cheap escorts.
The first one involved a cheap hotel room, and plenty of booze, £50 and no questions asked.
The second I drove quite happily for a few years.

Regards

KS

 

[TomT3]

Had one hate them. Picked it up on a Saturday took it decoying straight away. It kept misfiring and jamming-wouldnt eject 2.5 or 2.75 cartridges. I took it home in disgust took it apart to clean and the weld between the barrel and the circular section which receives the piston assembly was cracked- I couldn’t believe it!!
Never again - you either get a decent one or a a complete shizer as I did. I got a Winchester SX3 which was Infinitely better and the other one I would highly recommend is a browning Maxus.

Obviously my experience is probably an anomaly but still I wouldn’t get one again.

 

[devonair]

Mine was/is Escort mk.2. in camo
Great fun, not had any cycling probs until I deep cleaned and stripped it. Totally my fault, reassembled slightly wrong and wouldn't cycle 2nd round, all good now though.
A lot of gun snobs knock em but I love mine..

 

[big ears]

Cheap cheerful work if you clean them

 

[The Singing Stalker]

I have one in lh, works well, never had any issues, rarely use it now but it is hardly worth the effort of selling so i may as well keep it. No issues at all.

 

[enfieldspares]

Mine was the 1300 Estate. Diamond White...Glacier White...some sort of white anyway. Got stolen twice in Leeds c1978 and always ended up being found in Hunslet/Hunslet Grange. Never wrecked nor vandalised though.

 

[tikka_madras]

Had a nasty cheap escort a few years ago, just for the occasional rough knock about.

One day I wasn’t paying attention and somehow got my finger in the hole as it closed. Lot of very angry words and we parted company shortly afterwards.

 

[Mossypaw]

Bought a mk 1 estate that was advertised as
‘Seat covers £30, car included’
Put it on it’s roof on a gravel road a week later.

 

[imnotrucknut]

Know of two people who owned them. Both broke the firing pins within 6 months a nnd took twice as long to import spare parts.

 

[Rob525]

I've got a 3.5inch supreme, took it to orkney last year. Fantastic gun, never missed a beat for me even on clay loads (try out when I first got it) going for cheap if you want it!

 

[25 Sharps]

Had one hate them. Picked it up on a Saturday took it decoying straight away. It kept misfiring and jamming-wouldnt eject 2.5 or 2.75 cartridges. I took it home in disgust took it apart to clean and the weld between the barrel and the circular section which receives the piston assembly was cracked- I couldn’t believe it!!
Never again - you either get a decent one or a a complete shizer as I did. I got a Winchester SX3 which was Infinitely better and the other one I would highly recommend is a browning Maxus.

Obviously my experience is probably an anomaly but still I wouldn’t get one again.

Did you read the bit in the instructions about only using 70 mm cartridges?

had my escort marine since the week before the brexit vote, no issues until recently after thousands of rounds it started not extracting properly. Had a google, stretched the extractor spring, good as gold now and ejects 65 mm cart’s

 

[hughsurrey]

I have had my Escort Magnum for over 10 years, and I have had no problems with it. I cahnged the faux wood for plastic and bought a shorter barrel and have used it for everything from rough shooting to DTL, and have put all sorts of loads from the lightest of bird shot to shoulder bashing SGs. I understand there was a period where, due to the factory winning a large military contract, their quality control went a bit awry, but I wouldn't hesitate to buy a new one today.

 

[willowbank]

I have an fac 8 shot (from memory) don’t use it use much these days but when it was on song it was impressive against plastic drums at 50-60 yds, kept them spinning and dancing for sometime, lots of fun and sounded like a machine gun.

In Camo it’s a useful Pigeon gun, just doesn’t like light loads but always cycled perfectly through the eight shots with heavier shells.

Willowbank.

 

[Puds]

Can’t fault mine. Use it for pigeons, rough shooting & wildfowling, and it works fine. I normally use cheap Saga 32g 6s in it, but it cycles 28g clay carts well enough too when I’ve taken it to the clay ground with me, as well as heavier wildfowling steel loads and up to 50g no1s for close range fox work.
As others have said, keep it clean but don’t go soaking the mechanism in oil as it’ll clag up.

 

[shakey jake]

i had one sehond hand over ten years ago, awful wouldnt cycle, tried all i could but wouldnt even cycle three inch. maybr it was a duff but i wouldnt go near, berreta or browning for me now