Hatsan AT-P1 Review

This is a Community Review of the .22 caliber Hatsan AT-P1 air pistol by Steve Scialli. He also provided a supplemental test due to poor weather conditions during the initial test. The author of the following review are in no way affiliated with Airgun Depot. The views expressed below are personal opinion only.

Overall Reviewer Rating

Accuracy Ergonomics Quietness Power Trigger

When reviewing Hatsan's Mod 25 Supercharger Pistol a few months back, I dubbed it the “hand cannon." Well, there is a new sheriff in town and it's called the AT-P1... or AT-P! perhaps? As amazing as the sibling Supercharger is, the AT-P1 is simply over the top. Visually overpowering, packed with useful features, and delivering a serious wallop, this new PCP offering from Hatsan demands a serious look. To hold the AT-P1 is to put it on, and it's kind of like slipping into the cockpit of a low slung sports car... everything seems to wrap around your hands and stand poised for duty. Tip to tip, this pistol's ergonomics were a clear focus of Hatsans's. The seriously organic looking handle is only part of the story. Ahead of the trigger lies a very well laid out foregrip that at first glance looked a bit silly to me. But when called on, this sleek looking rest is a fantastic place to put your offhand. It works just as well lying on the back of your wrist or placed in the crook of a tree. The horizontal corrugations work well to let you know where your fingertips are and pull double duty providing some reinforcement to the polymer sheath. Just below the trigger group is a flat rest that supports the top two fingers of one's off hand when double gripping. Back of that, it is pure driving glove as the entire grip seems to have been cast of the human hand. Plainly put, it feels damn good to get a hold of. The quality of everything on board was so good that I found myself looking for something to nitpick about. The pistol grip itself is made of a very tacky silicone rubber material that won't move around in a sweaty hand. If that weren't enough, even the checkering is made of this same grabby material, ensuring your grip stays firmly in place. The plastic sheath that surrounds the trigger and undercarriage is heavy duty and doesn't depress under heavy load. It seems especially dense and impervious to scratching, making this pistol tough as nails. Anything metal is flawlessly finished in a deep blue/black coating and all those parts fit snugly together with a clear pursuit of achieving the tightest tolerances. The action cycles with a tidy easy and magazines drop in and out with simplicity. The AT-P1 is a blast to shoot open sighted, and the unit remains light and agile this way. The sights are of good quality and are easy to read & adjust. If you need to be pinpoint accurate out to 30' and beyond, you'll want to add a scope though. Atop the AT-P1, Hatsan has machined in a very long 11mm rail to accommodate red dot scopes, pistol scopes, flashlights, and lasers... making the possibilities and uses of this compact PCP seem endless. I elected to mount a 2 power BSA scope on mine and was rewarded with some very respectable groups at 45' and 75'. Loading and charging the AT-P1 is a snap. A pressure gauge sits at the end of the air reservoir and is easily readable. The fill port is exposed by rotating a circular cover which cleverly keeps debris out of the important areas. Hatsan provides you with two 10-shot rotary magazines that are made of metal and well crafted. Mine operated flawlessly with the majority of pellets, and never once had a cycling issue. A word of caution though... you can double chamber this pistol if you don't pay attention as there is no fail safe preventing it. Each time you cycle the lever action, it will slide another pellet into the breach... regardless of whether you had fired the previous one. Speaking of shooting, wow! With each shot, there is so much air released out of the muzzle of this shorter design that the gun does buck upward a bit with each shot. It's not bad at all but certainly adds charter, and a fun factor for the user. If you shoot it indoors, it will require hearing protection as this pistol cracks like a whip. The “pop" is enough to cause some discomfort and will certainly have your pets vacating the area. But this pistol is definitely backyard friendly. My brother and father-in-law enjoyed it thoroughly in a small backyard in urban South Tampa. There, it didn't seem loud at all. It was certainly louder that a springer but had nowhere near the snap of a .22 rimfire. Expect about 30 good shots out of the .22 on one 2,900 psi fill up. It seems Hatsan “tuned" the production models as the shot string on the AT-P1 resembled the coveted bell curve that enthusiasts crave. What this means to the end user is that this pistol will provide you 22-23 very accurate shots with each fill. That is some serious performance to consider when shopping for your next PCP pistol. The real kicker is that the AT-P1 packs some real knock down power and long range ability. Expect 19 + foot pounds of muzzle energy out of the .22. That's three times as much power as you'll need to take small game... and the .22 will carry 80% of that energy all the way out to 55 yards! But is the pistol effectively accurate out to that range? I believe it would be. The AT-P1 comes with a Hatsan's match grade Quatro Trigger. It's made from metal, and is adjustable for first stage pull length and weight and for second stage resistance. I never fiddled with mine but as it came from the factory the first and second stages were very predictable and light, but the second stage had a decent amount of creep in it. I'm sure this could have been adjusted out had I tried. My test day was horrid for air gun testing but it was the one I had so I moved forward with my plans. With Hurricane Sandy spinning right off the coach of central Florida, winds were steady out of the N/NE at 24 mph and gusting to 33 mph. Despite all the “push," Hatsan's new PCP pistol delivered... no doubt as a result of all that power and superb engineering. I got on paper at the 5 yard range then set up camp at the 15 yard range. There I got busy testing pellets and was, in the end, rewarded with two that stood out in the bunch. It's important to know that I was not shooting for extreme accuracy in this test... I was searching for any pellets that patterned tighter than the rest. Had I been bench resting the pistol, these groups would have been tighter. For this exercise, I had my arms resting on the bag and the pistol was free to float about with any human error. In all I ran 22 different types of pellets through the AT-P1. I had three or four more types I could try but stopped there after finding at least two that shot extremely straight (the Beeman Field Target Special and JSB's Exact Jumbo Heavy). As for the rest of the bunch, everything grouped out at around an inch at 45'. Taking into consideration the wind and imperfect shooting position, things were looking very positive for the AT-P1. Utilizing a 2x20 BSA scope, the better performers at 45' were the JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy at .38", JSB Exact Jumbo Express at .62", Crosman Premier Domed at .70", RWS Super H Point at .72", H&N Sport at .73", H&N Field Target Trophy at .77", and the Beeman Field Target Special at .83". It's also important to point out that the Beeman Field Target Special printed 4 of its 5 shots into a single .20" hole and the fifth shot was a flyer opening things up to .83". I made the mistake of forgetting to try this pellet at 25 yards but had I... I'm sure the results would have been worth knowing about. At 25 yards, I took things a bit more seriously and rested the gun on the bag. In doing to, I tried to eliminate as much shooter error as I could. Considering that the Hatsan had some serious wind to contend with and a mere 2 power scope, it continued to impress. Shooting the JSB Exact Jumbo Heavy, the AT-P1 was able to print sub 3/4" groups consistently if you take out a flyer or two. All the information supports the notion that this little pistol could be very effective in power and accuracy out to 50 yards and beyond in the right conditions. I wish I had them that day, but I didn't. I've really come to adore the AT-P1. It's as at home in the woods blasting squirrels, as it is in the backyard plinking with family & friends. It even entertains at the range for you long range enthusiasts. Its versatility, ergonomics, and quality are only rivaled by its power and accuracy, and it's available in .177 and .25 too. The refillable reservoir is removable so you can backpack a bunch of them into the woods for all day shooting and it ships with two magazines capable of 10 shots each before having to stop and reload. Add in the match grade trigger and the hard case it ships in and you've got a serious package that is very mobile. My hat is off to you on this one Hatsan.... you really outdid yourself. Steve Scialli
November 27, 2012

Helpful Links:

• Hatsan AT-P1 .22 Cal Air Pistol
• Supplemental Results
• Hatsan Airguns
• Airgun Reviews

Update: Steve did further testing of the Hatsan AT-P1 due to the poor weather conditions he experienced from Hurricane Sandy. What do you think?