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Airgun Hobbyist
by Sue Smith
Don’t let the pink camo fool you, this Muddy Girl
edition of the Hatsan Striker Edge packs a good punch. The
pink camo is very appealing; it got the attention of both my
son and daughter. It was like a moth to a flame. My son
is partially color-blind so he thought it was blue and white
camo. Each one asked whose airgun was it and was a little
disappointed to found out, it was not for them. I’ll talk about
the camo on this airgun at the end of this article since it has a
bit of story too. The Edge is not meant for children. However,
Hatsan does make a youth model called the Striker Alpha
Youth. It too has the optional Muddy Girl camo.
I immediately took it outside to give it a try. After
a quick sighting session, I was hitting CO2 cartridges at 20
yards with 7.9 grain Crosman .177 caliber hollow point pellets.
In my testing, I found that the snugger the pellet fit into the
breach the more accurate the shot was. With the hollow
points, I was able to shoot a touching group at 50ft. I also
tested Crosman wad-cutters and domed pellets but they didn’t
group as well.
The air rifle is equipped with an automatic safety. I
very quickly found when I slid my hand into the thumbhole
stock that my thumb would easily reach the safety and I could
pop it off and be ready to shoot. It also was in reach with
my hand on the trigger, so if I
happened to forget I could take
it off safe I could do so without
losing my lineup.
The Edge does have
an adjustable trigger for both
pull and travel. I did not need
to adjust the trigger as it came
crisp and light with very little
creep right out the box. That’s
just the way I like them.
I personally like open-
sights on an airgun. The Tru-
Glo fiber optics sights are nicely
matched with a red fiber optic
front sight and green fiber optic
rear sights. Aiming this airgun is
quick and easy. The front sight is hooded with a slot to allow
the Tru-Glo to be vibrant even in the shade. I like the option
of the air rifle to be able to shoot with open sights or with
a scope mounted. I find that I get more leverage without a
scope mounted on the air rifle making cocking easier. The
scope works fine for everyday plinking but I would probably
upgrade it for target shooting and hunting. I truly felt that
if my eyes were better then I could be hitting targets even
further with open sights.
The stock has checkering on the grip and forestock
for better control. I liked how this felt and helped give me a
more consistent place to locate my fore hand. The stock is an
advanced polymer molded black, base painted pink and then
hand dipped to apply the camo film.
On the chronograph the airgun shot at 1000
fps. This with done with the hollow point standard weight
pellets. It is not often I chronograph an airgun that actually
comes close to the stated velocity. Of course, shooting over
a chronograph isn’t much fun. So for impact testing we
filled up an empty soda can with water and shot it. The exit
hole split the can from the top rim all the way down to the
bottom rim. Thinking this must be a fluke, we tried it again
with the same results. On most airgun this exit hole is at
most half the height of the soda can. My usual game is to see
how many shots it takes to split a soda can in half crosswise.
With this airgun, it is “let’s see how
many shots it will take to cut a tin
vegetable can in half”. The tin can
I was shooting at, was no match
for this air rifle. Also pears and
kiwi were not a match for the Edge.
The pellet would go right through
leaving good size entrance and exit
holes. The energy of this air rifle
was impressive.
Unlike other manufacturers,
Hatsan markets the airgun by saying
“Hatsan rates its velocity using a
heavier lead pellet resulting in more
IMPACT ENERGY and improved
accuracy than lightweight alloy
pellets.” And that’s what really
matters, foot pound energy and
accuracy.
The airgun has a good feel to
it. It is heavy enough to feel like the
real powerhouse that it is but not too
heavy to be difficult to use or carry.
The Striker Edge that I tested was
the .177 caliber break barrel. The
Edge is also available in .22 and .25
caliber. It has a very beefy cocking
lever. The cocking effort was no
more than the Benjamin Trail I own
and a lot less than Trail XL. With
some of the break barrels I have
tried my hand will start hurting after
about 20 shots from breaking the
barrel, but not with the Edge. I shot
about 60 shots without a problem.
Optima 3-9x32 Scopeon a muddy girl
camo t-shirt
The Edge in the woods
