I make no apologies for making these comparisons especially as the ‘lever’ cocking action and magazine system work so well together. Incidentally, the air reservoir is removable should you want to take a spare, and if going on a longish lamping session or feral pigeon cull you just might be glad you have one ready to replace the original.The action is very familiar in layout reminding me of a cross between the HW100 due to the side-lever cocking whilst the 10-shot removable steel magazine just screamed Webley Raider 10. One not so strange was the air gauge positioned at the very front of the air reservoir. I didn’t realise it at the time but this was only the start of me discovering some ‘strange’ traits and features of the rifle. Charging is via a quick fill push in probe via an inlet at the front of the reservoir and a 190-bar fill gives approximately 50 full power shots, with approximately 40 in.177 calibre.

There does seem to be a lot of air reservoir on this rifle but you’d be wrong in thinking this translates into the rifle having a large shot capacity. I’ve no qualms with that, as a lot of thought has obviously gone into the stock design and personally I was pleased to see both a thumbhole and adjustable sliding rubber butt pad flanking the angular fully ambidextrous medium height cheekpiece.Chequering is impregnated into the moulding at the grip but fluting is used along the top edge of the forend, which is very comfortable to hold due to the generously rounded profile and thickset rear section. However, largely due to the stock design it does have a character of its own and during testing I certainly warmed to the overall format.ABS What Else?Hatsan has chosen to go with the synthetic trend now quite literally taking over on many.

A large selection of these are imported into the UK by Edgar Brothers, so no surprises that they’ve taken it upon themselves to bring in Hatsan’s first precharged pneumatic air rifle.On first inspection you can’t fail to notice quite a few familiar features now seen on established air rifles which I’ll detail as we come to them. Turkish gun manufacturers Hatsan have a long history in producing and powered air rifles.

Webley raider 10 manual