Diana 45

[Gerry B]

I've thoroughly enjoyed reading all these posts .

I was recently given a very nice clean Diana RWS mod 45 in 22 . Marked 1988 .

I was impressed , its a very comfortable rifle to shoot, bear in mind that 6 months ago I sold my HW 95 , just never ever felt that it was a good rifle.
Spread a group a bit too erratically for my liking .
I didn't do any tuning or any thing , just the normal checking , tried 3 scopes, no difference .
I have over the years found rifles you just get on with and others that never ever feel as good as they should.

I played about with the Diana , trying various pellets , open sights .

I don't have a chrono any more , so no idea of power .

But shooting paper at 25 yards , I was shocked how good it grouped with Air Arms pellets ( 5.52 ? ) , compared to my big selection from almost every maker .

As I'm no longer shooting any competition , its going to make a great plinker / fun gun in my retirement .

I have a real tatty old BSA Supersport , that is also a great plinker, ok , its a bit tired , but perfect for playing about out to 25 yards .
Now that I have a lovely rifle, the Diana , I'll get around to fixing up the Supersport and the Mark 1 Meteor .

[Drew451]

Yes, the 45 has its fans on here. I'm glad yours is performing well and you are enjoying it. 1988 is late for the earlier model forty five. Is it the Version with the cheekpiece, stamped checkering on the pistol grip.?

[jonnyone]

Evening Gerry.
Glad to hear that you are having some good results with your 45. Its definitely an "oldie but goodie". I'm quite a fan of Dianas but feel that the 45 was certainly one of their top guns of all time. Its hunting abilities are second to none provided the pilot does his or her bit!
They do still come up for sale occasionally but not quite in the same numbers as years ago. It only dawned on me just this week that I have five examples between the Diana and RWS variants. I rate the gun, though I'm still having some reasonable success with it's stablemate that it came to overshadow the 50T01 - which it shares a basic power plant with.
One surprising thing with the 45 is that it came in a few variants aside of the "Original" and RWS versions. I think there was a Gecado version too.
Keep enjoying a classic fella!
Dave

[Gerry B]

Evening Gerry.
Glad to hear that you are having some good results with your 45. Its definitely an "oldie but goodie". I'm quite a fan of Dianas but feel that the 45 was certainly one of their top guns of all time. Its hunting abilities are second to none provided the pilot does his or her bit!
They do still come up for sale occasionally but not quite in the same numbers as years ago. It only dawned on me just this week that I have five examples between the Diana and RWS variants. I rate the gun, though I'm still having some reasonable success with it's stablemate that it came to overshadow the 50T01 - which it shares a basic power plant with.
One surprising thing with the 45 is that it came in a few variants aside of the "Original" and RWS versions. I think there was a Gecado version too.
Keep enjoying a classic fella!
Dave

Yes , mine has a stamped chequering and cheek piece .

For its age , the rifle is in very decent condition.

I'm pleased , always had good memories of my Gecado 25 , so its no surprise I'm enjoying this 45

[Drew451]

Evening Gerry.
Glad to hear that you are having some good results with your 45. Its definitely an "oldie but goodie". I'm quite a fan of Dianas but feel that the 45 was certainly one of their top guns of all time. Its hunting abilities are second to none provided the pilot does his or her bit!
They do still come up for sale occasionally but not quite in the same numbers as years ago. It only dawned on me just this week that I have five examples between the Diana and RWS variants. I rate the gun, though I'm still having some reasonable success with it's stablemate that it came to overshadow the 50T01 - which it shares a basic power plant with.
One surprising thing with the 45 is that it came in a few variants aside of the "Original" and RWS versions. I think there was a Gecado version too.
Keep enjoying a classic fella!
Dave

One of my 45's is a Gecado in .22. The brand name was used in Aus, NZ & South Africa at least. Not sure if mine came in from one of those countries or never got there in the first place. It's the roughest gun in my collection but it is very accurate. Needs restored and one day it might even get it.

[Drew451]

I've always thought that the 45 is one of those rare guns that shoots just as nicely in .177 as it does in .22. In terms of smoothness, felt recoil, i mean.The Mk1 HW77 is another. Once proper lubrication and the correct pellets are factored in of course.
Anyone feel the same or is it all in my head?

[jonnyone]

I've always thought that the 45 is one of those rare guns that shoots just as nicely in .177 as it does in .22. In terms of smoothness, felt recoil, i mean.The Mk1 HW77 is another. Once proper lubrication and the correct pellets are factored in of course.
Anyone feel the same or is it all in my head?

Well the funny thing is despite owning an RWS 45 in both calibres for about 12 years (they look like twins in the gun rack), I've never shot them together in one session. My .22 is a bit more pokey than the .177, but as you say their firing characteristics are from memory very similar. And accuracy is a common denominator between them. In.my case both are converted over to synthetic heads but I will park that one up right there.
I've recently been testing a 45 jubilee that is remarkably consistent and proving many of my prejudices of leather heads wrong.
Definitely one of the classics of the 70s/80s.
Dave

[Drew451]

I'd like to ask how consistent, if I may be so bold, sir...?

[Gerry B]

One of my 45's is a Gecado in .22. The brand name was used in Aus, NZ & South Africa at least. Not sure if mine came in from one of those countries or never got there in the first place. It's the roughest gun in my collection but it is very accurate. Needs restored and one day it might even get it.

Yes , I had my Gecado mod 25 when I was in South Africa ..

[Drew451]

Yes , I had my Gecado mod 25 when I was in South Africa ..

Evening, Gerry. You might like the YouTube videos in which a South African guy shows of his collection of Gecados and Diana's, amongst other rifles. He refers to the newer models as Diana's, so presumably, they dropped the Gecado tag at some point.
I can't remember his user name on the service, but a search should uncover it.

[jonnyone]

Evening, Gerry. You might like the YouTube videos in which a South African guy shows of his collection of Gecados and Diana's, amongst other rifles. He refers to the newer models as Diana's, so presumably, they dropped the Gecado tag at some point.
I can't remember his user name on the service, but a search should uncover it.

Seen that one. Title something like my Diana collection going strong. He's got some of the more noteworthy of the line up in there. And I bet they are not throttled back either
There's one on there of a guy shooting (i think) a plastic pop bottle from (again- I think 110m or more) with a 460/350 mag whatever.

[Gerry B]

Evening, Gerry. You might like the YouTube videos in which a South African guy shows of his collection of Gecados and Diana's, amongst other rifles. He refers to the newer models as Diana's, so presumably, they dropped the Gecado tag at some point.
I can't remember his user name on the service, but a search should uncover it.

Yes , we could have full power air rifles , although most of my mates went for UK legal because we were shooting FT rules at our club .

It was a struggle finding decent pellets that would stabilize at higher velocity, its ok to shoot through a bib , but being ex military we were all about accuracy , not so much spray and pray .

I spent hundreds of hours at the loading bench and on the range perfecting tight accurate loads for my hunting rifle , and it was better ( read lazy )to just get a sub 12 ft /lb rifle and work up a good pellet / pressure ratio for max accuracy .