Hatsan Escort Shotgun

[oldhoyt]

Does anyone have experience with an Escort Pump Shotgun? They are made by a Turkish company called Hatsan. I'm considering a 20 ga for rabbit hunting. From what I've read, they are similar to an 870, with a few minor differences. I handled one at a Rural King, and it seems like a solid gun for a good price. Hoping someone can weigh in regarding long term reliability. Thanks.

[darinfry]

I was unaware hatson made shotguns. I have a 22 pellet rifle and really like it. They are known for their high quality air guns but I can't vouch for their shotguns

[esshup]

I don't know anything about their long term reliability. Back in the mid 1990's a friend had a Turkish O/U. It blew up on him, luckily he wasn't hurt, but part of the receiver landed over 30 feet away in the parking lot of the gun range. We shot trap and skeet every other weekend. Upon trying to figure out what happened we found 5 shotgun shells in his bag, each had a progressively larger crack showing in the plastic case where the metal of the gun started to crack until it let go.

After his experience, I vowed not to ever purchase a gun that was made in Turkey. Not saying that the Escorts are bad, just relating my personal experience and feelings.

Especially for $100 difference in price. Face it, shooting a gun is the same as detonating a small bomb next to your face every time you squeeze the trigger. I'd find other ways to save $100.

[sakorifle]

greetings oldhoyt
Hatsan are a big seller over here because of there price point.
The only one i have had experience with was the kids twenty bore semi auto, and i can tell you it was a good experience, that gun never jammed or failed once in the years thy used it on clays
At the start the semi auto had rubber seals in the action which used to go and when one did that was ones days shooting finished but they got there act together and copied the browning system and they are good budget guns now.
The pump i have no experience with but over here if a hatsan went wrong there was no quibble it was taken back and a new on given out. And they had a two year warranty.
Check on your dealers warranty.
Would i buy another semi if my browning packed in, after the kids twenty bore the answer is yes i would.
regards
Billy

[oldhoyt]

Thanks All. I've ordered the gun. Should have it within a week or so. Will report on it. I can say I was impressed by the ones I handled at Rural King.

[oldhoyt]

Picked up the gun yesterday. Like the ones I handled at the Michigan Rural King, the fit and finish is what I'd call above average and the wood is nice looking walnut (not stained beech) with a nice finish. Has a quality recoil pad. The gun comes with 3 choke tubes (full, mod and IC) and spacers to adjust drop of the heel of the buttstock. The barrel and receiver have a nice matte black finish. Fiber optic front sight "appears" fairly durable. We'll see.

The trigger group/guard is comprised of quite a few plastic parts, like my Mossberg 500. No problems with that for 26 years so I'm not concerned.

The barrel mates well to the receiver with no movement and no "forearm rattle" like you get with Mossbergs (though I never had a problem with that either, some seem to). The gun appears very much like an 870, with one notable difference being the action release button. It is what I'd call "big" but does not seem like it will be a problem.

Oiled the action and cyled about a hundred times, then tore down and wiped of grit and excess oil. The action is smooth. Not like the 500, but that gun has seen a lot of use. Have not shot the gun, so can't yet comment on function though everything seems good so far. Feeds, chambers and ejects loaded shells as you'd expect.

I've never had an 870 so I'm not sure if this is a problem with them as well, but when I picked up the gun, the dealer told me the action was "locked up" and the forearm could not be moved forward. He wanted to send it back. I asked to see the gun and could easily see the bolt was cocked upward a bit, and apparently bound in position by the forearm/action slide bars. I suggested we take the trigger group out (held only by two pins) and see if we couldn't fix it. He wanted no part of that, only wanted to send it back. I guess he didn't want to break anyting and be on the hook for it. I strongly suspected that a part or two was misaligned, so I purchased the gun thinking I could get it straight. If not, it does have a 5-year warranty. Took me five minutes in the parking lot outside the shop to fix it. The bolt and action lever were just slightly out of alignment. Seemed like a simple thing that any gun shop would be able to diagnose and fix. Like I said, I've never owned an 870, but given there are only a few hundred million of them out there, this should have been a no-brainer. Whatever.

So far I'm happy with the quality and very happy with the price when compared to other guns that look this nice. Will post again once I fired the gun.

Here's the gun with 22" inch barrel next to the old beater Mossberg 500 with 24 inch barrel: