What's up with this mag tube? (Hatsan Escort Marine 14")

Stereo Joe

Stereo Joe

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I got a nice little shotgun in the mail today. The Hatsan Escort Marine with a 14" barrel.

It's just as sweet as it's bigger brother, the 20" version that I already have. But on this one, the mag tube cap is weird. It doesn't actually cover the mag tube at all, just leaves it open.

Is this normal? Why would they do this? Other than this quirk, the shotgun seems great. Light, compact sized and smooth handling.

Here are some pics:

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I've noticed this on quite a few shotguns now. My guess was that it allowed air pressure to equalize quicker when feeding or discharging rounds from the tube. Or it could be used to run a dowel down the tube to unstick a jammed follower.
 
It's done for ease of manufacturing (they're cutting corners). It's far easier to tap a thru hole than to tap a blind hole, you don't have to run a bottoming tap
 
Haven't held one and the pics online don't show the front view. I thought the caps where to hold things together, protect the mechanism from debris, and have a small hole for pressure?
 
That's technically not even a magazine cap. It's just holding the barrel on.

The thin clip inside the tube is the only thing capping the magazine.
I would call that a weak design.
 
I'm not worried about the guts flying out - the end of the mag tube is crimped all around and there is a steel plate and some sort of plastic piece in there. But it does seem like it could let in some rain or mud (this is the "Marine" version after all). Also, I don't know how I'm supposed to swap out the follower easily. I'll either have to remove the tube from the receiver or ruin the crimping.
I'm debating just cutting the end of the tube off and using a +1 extension to hold everything in.... Probably would void any warranty, right? :)
 
Ok, got the plug out. The metal retaining ring inside the tube is shaped so that when tilted, it can be removed and the mag plug comes out. Unfortunately, there is still another metal plug blocking the spring and follower from being removed.

hatsanplug.jpg


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Zen_Seeker said:
The fun of learning a new firearm. ;)
Had a chance to try it out yet?
Click to expand...

Nope! Maybe this weekend... I will definitely give it a good run through to make sure everything else works before I void my warranty by tearing it apart... Some further Googling has revealed that removal of the mag tube from the receiver is necessary to swap out the follower (heat gun, strap wrench, bench vise, soft jaws, etc.)

Speaking of which, anyone know how reliable these see-through Hatsan followers are? I would preferably upgrade to a high visibility one but seeing as it will be a pain in the ass, I may just run it as is assuming there is no reliability concern with the stock follower.
 
Stereo Joe;
Top of the morning to you sir, I trust the weekend has been good and you're keeping cool enough.

I'm going to guess here - and I'm cognizant how dangerous that can be most times - but perhaps your Hatsan is set up like the Uzkon I've been playing with.

If that's the case then to remove the magazine spring and follower you'll need to unscrew the magazine tube from the receiver.

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Again if that's what you need to do - then here's a link to a thread I did detailing what's taking place in the above photo.

http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1374005-S-amp-J-Uzkon-AS-40

Hopefully that was useful information for you or someone out there in the etherspace.

Good luck with your shotgun and all the best to you for the remaining days of summer.

Dwayne
 
if it's similar to ( or the same ) as the one on the Hatsan Escort, it's durable. I've had my Escort for...4years? Somewhere north of a thousand rounds, & everything has held up perfectly. They're good guns for the price. Not a Benelli, but I didn't expect it would be at 1/3 the cost. It's been much more dependable that I expected it to be
 
Stereo Joe said:
I'm not worried about the guts flying out - the end of the mag tube is crimped all around and there is a steel plate and some sort of plastic piece in there. But it does seem like it could let in some rain or mud (this is the "Marine" version after all). Also, I don't know how I'm supposed to swap out the follower easily. I'll either have to remove the tube from the receiver or ruin the crimping.
I'm debating just cutting the end of the tube off and using a +1 extension to hold everything in.... Probably would void any warranty, right? :)
Click to expand...

My guess would be that hole is there to let water drain if firearm gets submerged, being a marine model.. is regular model the same ?
 
Thanks, guys! I believe you are right about the drain hole. Dwayne, thanks for the info and picture! I managed to get the mag tube off and swap out the follower no problem. There is a locking nut that threads onto the mag tube and against the receiver to hold everything tight. I just used a spanner wrench and everything came apart quite easily. No strap wrenches required and there was no loctite on the threads.
 
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