Hatsan Gladius Bullpup QE Adjustable - The Bigger the Better

The Hatsan Gladius Bullpup QE Adjustable isn’t a new air rifle. However, on a recent visit to my local gun shop, T & J J McAvoy, I spotted one in .25 calibre on the rack. This piqued my interest as I’ve had a bit of a love, hate, ‘why?’ affair with any 12 ft/lbs rifle in this often-misunderstood calibre, so I thought it high time to test one.

The Gladius is still a current and popular model, illustrating its worth and popularity, so I thought it’d be interesting for both me and the readership to see how this time-tested bullpup performs in the ‘big calibre’.

Feature filled
The Gladius follows the usual bullpup format but it’s definitely one of the most substantial, which some will feel to their liking. In fact, the stock designers seem to have thought of everything, as it has virtually all the features you could want from a hunting rifle. First, you notice that the whole of the synthetic stock has a slightly rubberised texture, making it very easy to hold, which for all-weather use, is a big bonus.

The rear section consists of a very useful height-adjustable cheekpiece, while the rubber butt pad is adjustable for both length (to alter the length of pull) and height, for a comfortable shoulder fit.
The cheekpiece is generously sized and is a rigid yet soft-to-the-touch moulded cover that goes fully over the top of the action. The height can be adjusted using a thumbwheel positioned on the lower/left of the rifle, slightly below the cheekpiece. The steep drop-down pistol grip is complemented by the over-large thumbhole, which helps with an even more assured hold.

On the underside of the butt, just behind the thumbhole section, there are three cleverly designed magazine holders. These are simple and effective, and fully encase the magazines, ensuring they stay in position and remain dry, clean, and grime-free.

Moving forward
Look to the front and you will see a suitably sized forend that has a well-rounded underside, affording a comfortable hold. Towards the tip, you will find three ABS Picatinny accessory rails, with one on either side and one underneath the stock. These are always useful for adding accessories, like a bipod.

The stock also has two panels of stippling on either side of the grip and three along the top section. I say top section, as only one is really of use for a leading hand hold on the forend, as it’s set on either side of the fore section in a position you can use, just behind the accessory rails, while the other is above the trigger. So, although a couple are cosmetic, the rubberised feel of the stock is by far grippy enough. A thoughtful inclusion is a set of metal sling swivels that are ready-fitted at the front and rear of the rifle.

Air time
At the front of the air reservoir is an inlet port protected by a rotating collar. With the port exposed, you simply inject 200 bar via the push-in QF probe (supplied), and then you are good to go.

As you’d expect on a modern-day PCP, there’s an air gauge (manometer) on the forward face of the air reservoir to indicate air status, and due to it being colour-highlighted, it is quite easy to read at an angle instead of looking head on, which some feel uncomfortable doing.

The unregulated action gives approximately 65-75 shots in the standard calibres and interestingly, the .25 wasn’t far behind. More on this later when I fully assess the performance.

Sideswipe
The Gladius has a biathlon-style side-lever of a very substantial yet ergonomic build. After pulling it fully rearward (which also engages the auto safety), a spring-tensioned magazine retaining catch needs to be pushed forward and turned up into a retaining slot. Next, the metal circular magazine can be removed from the right-hand side of the action.

In .25 calibre it holds 9 pellets, but in the more popular calibres (.177 and .22), it holds 10. With the boss facing you, pellets are simply pushed into the empty chambers of the magazine, which shows a pair of strong synthetic rubber ‘O’ rings around the outer edge to keep the pellets securely held in place. After filling, you slip it back into the housing, re-engage the magazine retaining catch by taking it back from its retaining notch, and allow it to take hold of the magazine, which is then held quite deep in the housing under spring tension.

Pushing the side-lever forward to the closed position pushes a pellet directly into the barrel, meaning you’re good to go. Interestingly, you can see the slide action of the side-lever as it runs on the outer right-hand side of the rifle, like a rail system. When cycled back and forth, it also indexes the magazine around to the next station, so the next pellet is ready for the side-lever loading probe to once again be taken into the breech. In use, the side-lever was smooth, very well-engineered, solid, and dependable.

On the rails
Scope fitting is via a lengthy, raised Picatinny rail that incorporates standard dovetails as well. It’s ideally positioned on this substantial air rifle so that the mounted optic sits approximately midway, ensuring it does not upset the balance or handling. Obviously, what does need to be taken into consideration, like many other bullpups, is that a scope will sit quite high above the barrel bore line, so you really need to ensure you learn where the point of impact will be at closer ranges. The good news is that the adjustable features on the Gladius make it easy to tailor-fit it, meaning you will have no problem achieving perfect head-eye-scope alignment.

Trigger & safety
Everything is quite chunky on this rifle and that even includes the trigger and automatic safety. The 2-stage adjustable unit consists of a very well-contoured main metal blade, with a larger contoured in-guard synthetic safety blade set in front.

Once you cock the rifle, the safety automatically engages, and it’s easily nudged forward for taking a shot. However, if you abort the shot, it does take a bit of heft to re-engage it. Maybe on the rifle I tested it was a bit stiff, but in operation, it worked just as it should. Shots are released cleanly and predictably but the trigger is not the most refined unit. However, it does its job, and the build quality is as rugged and reliable as the rest of the Gladius.

Performance
The barrel has a macho-looking shroud which has the company’s QE (Quite Energy) denotation etched on the side. However, while I found this very effective on other Hatsan PCP rifles that use this system, you do hear some muzzle report on the Gladius.

Once scoped up, the rifle showed itself easily capable of sub-1” groupings at 25 yards. Using 25.4-grain Air Arms Diablo Field, the rifle showed incredible consistency and power, with an average 9-string group from a full charge before a noticeable drop in air status showed the rifle was running at an average 11.9 ft/lbs, with a pellet velocity of 459 to 461 fps. Now to the controversial subject of pellet drop on .25 calibre air rifles. Surprisingly, when pushing out to 35 yards, the pellet drop at the target was only a tad more than ¼”. After that, the trajectory does become quite loopy and difficult to assess, unless using a multi-aimpoint reticle, but this is usual for the big calibre. However, for what is classed by the company as an entry-level PCP air rifle, these performance figures are very impressive. 

Conclusions
The Hatsan Gladius Bullpup QE Adjustable isn’t an air rifle for the young gun, or those who prefer lighter air rifles, as it’s quite weighty and loads up more once a scope is fitted. However, in use, it is super-stable when taking rested kneeling shots, or if used with a bipod. It’s certainly an air rifle that seems to be more user-friendly in sub-12 ft/lbs if you’re thinking of obtaining a .25 calibre, and at the ranges mentioned, it offers a mighty thump at the target.

All said the Hatsan Gladius is a solid, robust, and reliable, all-weather hunter. It’s accurate, highly consistent and despite its inherent weight, balances and handles well. It has a very efficient and smooth cocking mechanism and is very well-priced.