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Thread: Sandwell tuned Diana 280K

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
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    Sandwell tuned Diana 280K

    Hi this is my review of the Diana 280K.

    I recently had a load of bills arrive (sick dog, sick car and bad tooth) so I decided to sell my PCP airgun

    I had a BSA Ultra and the Diana , I needed some cash and ummed and arred about whether to sell , finances eventually won and I sold the BSA. I sorted out my finances and kept the Diana. I hadn't really shot the Diana a lot but just decided to keep practicing as I knew I could shoot a springer ok If I really practiced and kept my eye in.

    I had always liked the look of the Dianas and handled the 280K at the gun shop prior to buying .

    I am one of those shooters who regularly change guns and now had decided to keep the Diana .



    Having bit the bullet sold the BSA and divers bottle ( point of no return!) and kept the Diana I now wondered If I had made the right choice !.



    The gun was bought new the good points seemed to be



    Carbine barrel good for shooting out of a hide



    Threaded for a silencer



    Fairly light ( about 7LB I believe)



    Decent TR06 trigger (which get a very good write up)



    Seemed decent build quality , I rattled and shook gun apart from a very slight rattle from cocking link all seemed tight and well put together.



    Bolt on barrel pivot rather than a pin so barrel can be tightened up should it become loose at all in future



    Decent length raised scope rail as I use a scope



    Nice grained stock , the gun has a large cocking arm as it isn't articulated so the cocking arm slot in the stock is long ( though having had a gun with a articulated cocking arm which graunched and scraped the cylinder may be not a bad thing?)



    Gun just felt nice when I picked it up, well balanced for me.

    I had previously had BSA, HW ect and Diana was a bit of an unknown quantity , I had shot a Diana G80 in the eighties and it seemed as good if not better than the BSA of the day but that was a long time ago.

    I had purchased the gun and gone home to sight it in in my garden. The gun at fifteen meters had been fine an inch to inch and a half group at fifteen yards. Not very good but I am not the best shooter and I had been spoilt by the PCP.



    With the BSA gone I decided to strip the Diana which appeared through the cocking slot to be bone dry and just add a little grease. The gun was indeed bone dry so I added some grease to the spring, and to the rear of the piston. The gun had a bit less Twang and I took it out to a small holding and shot it out to 25 meters .

    The gun was hard to cock, harder than a Theoben gas ram I had previously used after an a hours session plinking my accuracy went to pot due in part to a very tired arm from repeatedly cocking the gun!! .

    I have a manual job and I am not a weakling ,I have shot HW8/77k, Theoben gas rams with no issues so I would say cocking effort (pre tune) is a real issue with these

    I was shooting two inch groups at 25 meters so accuracy was not good enough for hunting ,at fifteen is was very good but just seemed to open up past that range . The gun had a lot of boing! a lot of twang and quite fierce recoil which wasn't aiding accuracy.



    Back to PCP? no I decided to preserve and I sent to the gun off to Sandwell Field sports . I knew a friend who had a Sandwell tuned HW95 and used it to shoot feral pigeons up to twenty meters he rated his highly and stated accuracy was no issue with head shots easily obtainable. I also googled Sandwell the main information was U tube videos from Si PITTWAY from Vermin Hunters . He clearly rated the tuning work done by Sandwell. I am always a little sceptical of some one promoting any thing whether it be cars or guns but his videos appeared genuine and honest and showed some good results so I took the plunge.



    I emailed Sandwell and received a prompt and polite reply stating he could tune the gun as required. I posted the gun off and was advised it would take 8- 10 weeks to return .



    I posted the gun and was pleasantly surprised to get a telephone call advising it had arrived which was a nice touch from any company these days .



    The gun was returned just under eight weeks later. the gun had been better packed than I had sent it which again was good service.



    Tony the owner had put a nice note in advising me of the guns favourite pellet (superdomes) which was nice as he had clearly taken the time to test fire the gun. I had used up a tin of Flat head hobby pellets but the Superdomes halved the group sizes so nice touch testing and recommending a pellet and saved me buying loads of different pellets to experiment



    The gun was now.....



    Easy to cock



    No twang



    Lot less vibration



    Lot less recoil



    Able to shoot decent groups out to 25 meters



    The photo below shows test results from zeroing in at ten and fifteen meters , I have shot the gun at the small holding the gun is now capable of inch or less groups at 25 meters . The photo of target's shows a typical group rather than best and the five shot group on the roundel target is 15 meters with a flyer extending group on left of group (courtesy of yours truly!). The group on the squirrel target is five shots at ten meters.



    I would recommend Sandwell what ever has been done has transferred the Diana from a ok run of the mill gun into a very accurate sweet shooting rifle . I had asked Tony to set the power at 9.5 FTLB ++ with a view to less power , less recoil, he has got it shooting really nice at 10.5 FTLB and advised it should settle in at 11FTLB . It shoots fantastic so I am very pleased



    The Diana (like most springers I have owned from a range of manufacturers ) needs a tune to get the best out of it but is a nice rifle . If I bought another I would get it tuned straight off .Great service from Tony and Sandwell fields sports .










  2. #2
    Join Date
    Apr 2002
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    Thanks for your interesting post.

    I've always fancied one of those little Dianas.

    You didn't mention the calibre but I assume it was 177.
    Arthur

    I wish I was in the land of cotton.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Arthur John Smithsplease View Post
    Thanks for your interesting post.

    I've always fancied one of those little Dianas.

    You didn't mention the calibre but I assume it was 177.

    .22 , just my normal calibre

  4. #4
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    Apr 2002
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    Bolton
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    Thanks.

    Probably the wisest choice for a light weight springer.
    Arthur

    I wish I was in the land of cotton.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
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    birmingham
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    Had exactly the same gun some time back and had it tuned by Sandwell and your right it was cracking. If your planning shooting a bit further I would reccomend rws superfield.

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Jul 2014
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    Mountain Ash
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    Nice review, I am a big fan of Sandwell Tuneing myself, love my Banshee2 in .177 and my Vulcan 2 in .22, Tony Wall dose know His stuff, respect to him and Sandwell, enjoy the work of a master.

  7. #7
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    Mar 2013
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    Thanks for the interest

    Yes shooting well and should get better as it runs in

  8. #8
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    Mar 2008
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    Long Eaton, (Derby/Notts)
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    Very good review certainly echos many of my own personal findings

    I've recently returned to the Diana 280k and have previously owned a few of them now

    I'm pretty sure mine isn't tuned in any way but it actually shoots like a semi tuned gun

    I purchased it second hand but the old boy who had it before me said he had done nothing to it under his ownership and it is as standard as when he bought it new.

    Possibly it's just really nicely run in

    I've always felt there is a litte gem present with these 280's but it does seem others that have tried them do have very mixed opinions.

    My only gripe is people who have no experience of actualy owning one who feel qualified to pass judgement

    Reminds me of the HW99's many years ago it was slated and always overlooked as being the weak link in the HW armoury how times have changed probably now one of the most popular HW's around

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Oct 2008
    Location
    birmingham
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    14

    Cool Hw 77k

    I had my hw 77k 2nd tuned ay Sandwell sports I can't tell you how pleased I am with tony walls work. Tony told me the best pellets to use were AA field and RWS super domed. He sat with me for a good 30 mins on his range up stairs in his shop teaching how use the trigger and how to get the best from my rifle. My hw 77 shoots pellet through pellet at 25y. I would encourage anyone to get their rifle tuned at Sandwell sports Sometime I think why I have a PCP

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Accrington
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    How much did it cost to tune the diana including postage?, if you don't mind me asking. I've always done my own and friends rifles. I don't do much more than polishing and usually fit a washer at the piston end to aid uncoiling and a better fitted spring for the guide and then relube. Guns always shoot better afterwards, curious what they do in 8 weeks?
    Always remember when my mate bought a 'tuned' 77 from airgun centre in the 80's, after missing everything we finally got it checked at MAG as he was the only shop who had a chrono and it was doing 8.5 fpe!! Always did my own after that.
    Always loved diana's over Weihrauch, make sure you sell on here if you do.
    Peter

  11. #11
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    Hi

    80 poundish+ postage , dont know what was done but transformed gun from a twangy , hard to cock , kick kice a mule gun to a nice low recoil gun accuracy improve 100%

  12. #12
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    Jun 2010
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    Quote Originally Posted by Ninapuppy View Post
    80 poundish+ postage , dont know what was done but transformed gun from a twangy , hard to cock , kick kice a mule gun to a nice low recoil gun accuracy improve 100%
    Be good to know what they do? Sounds a top rifle now. I always think they could do better in the factory, though they would probably cost too much then.
    Peter

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