Well, it's been almost 2 weeks since I got this rifle from Marvin aka Melloroadman, but I've had very little time to shoot it. Finally got the chance Sunday to wring her out a bit, so here goes.
First, for those of you not familiar with this particular rifle, it's an under lever springer that loads via a pretty slick pop up loading port, more on that later. It's made by Diana of Germany and was imported by RWS. According to Marvin, this particular rifle was built in 1999, but he bought it as new old stock a couple of years ago. Because it's so old, it has the TO1 trigger instead of the current production TO5. This was one of the main reasons I bought it, I've always liked Diana guns, but I DON'T like the TO5 trigger. I was hoping the TO1 would be an improvement, and I've gotta say, I haven't been disappointed.
Fit and finish on this rifle is typical Diana, which is to say very good, but more utilitarian vs. flashy or pretty. Some say the E in the model designation stands for economy. Don't know if that's true, but this is about as understated as a rifle can get. No checkering, no Monte Carlo cheek piece, just a nice piece of beech that's nicely stained and finished, and very even bluing. I've gotta hand it to Marvin, he obviously takes impeccable care of his rifles, this thing looks new. It's a fairly long rifle, but not excessively so, at 44" it's exactly the same length as a Gamo CFX. The TO1 trigger is everything I'd hoped it would be, maybe not quite as good as a Rekord, but a damn sight better than any of the TO5's I've had the displeasure to deal with :-).
Probably the defining feature of this rifle is the pop up loading port:
I've owned a Gamo CFX, a Beeman HW 77, and I've shot a TX 200, all underlevers. I think this is my favorite loading system of them all. Simple, fast, safe, if you were to use this as a hunting rifle, it's easy to have it loaded and ready to go, then cock it just before taking the shot. Of course, because the transfer port ends up quite long, you lose some power. But it seems to make up for it in accuracy and smoothness. I've heard that Diana designed and built this rifle as direct competition for the TX 200. If that's true, I'd have to say they missed the mark. But not by much! It doesn't have the power of the TX, nor is the trigger quite as good, and I don't think Diana is ever going to beat out Air Arms in fit and finish. But it's also half the price of a TX 200. This could be "The One", that one great springer that even the most die hard Dark Sider needs to have :-). But enough of that, I suppose you want to know how it shoots.
As you can see from the first pic, I wasted no time moving scopes around. This is now wearing the Burris Timberline 4.5-14x32 I had on my AA S200. It's in a brand new BKL 260D7 mount. Just a quick aside, as most of you probably know by now, Air Force bought out BKL, and is now producing these mounts. All I can say is, OUTSTANDING! They've kept the price at the same level it was when BKL shut down, and improved at least the appearance of the product. What more can you ask? Took me 10 or 15 shots to get he rifle sighted in with JSB Expresses. I'd shot it once before, just enough to know this was a preferred pellet in this rifle. BTW, all my shooting with this gun has been at 30 yards. I normally shoot my PCP's at this range, so that's what I'm used to. Funny thing is, I remember struggling for good groups at 20 yards a couple years back with springers :-).
So was it shooting one hole groups? No, of course not. The rifle might be capable of that, but I'm not that good with a springer anymore (YET!). But considering the handicap at the trigger, it was quite acceptable. My WORST 5 shot groups were right at an inch, and most were under that. My best had all five inside half an inch. I like this setup, the Burris scope is a nice fit and works well with this rifle. Not having a raised cheek piece, it would be tough getting a good cheek weld with a larger scope, so the 32mm works out nicely. As far as velocity is concerned, well, here's my chrony sheet:
As you can see from my notes, I think it's shooting a little slow, but that will be taken care of very soon. I already have a JM tune kit, buttons, and piston seals coming, should be there this week. Lubricants I already have on hand. But even after the tune, I don''t expect, or want, this to be a 900 fps rifle. If I need velocity and power, I've got my PCP's. This is most likely going to be a target shooter, and maybe a back door gun for dealing with marauding starlings. If the JM parts and pieces get me into the low 800's I'll be quite satisfied. And in the meantime, I think I may finally have a springer I may hold onto for awhile. Will post more info after I've tuned it up. Later.
Dave
