RWS/Diana 54 Airking- some observations/ramblings

[Brickhill]

A very interesting post Dave. I’ve never heard or seen of a .25 Airking 54.
I have a few tins of .25 ammo lying about. Happy to send you a few samples FOC . Just drop me a PM.

[Drew451]

Very interesting post, Dave. Really enjoyed reading it. I have heard of .25 cal 54's being available in New Zealand and Australia (I think) but never here. Not heard of any .20 cal 54s anywhere. I always thought Diana limited .20 to the old 45's.
I've always thought a nicely scoped & bipod'd 54 would be a great gun. I've thought about getting one often but never have. The accuracy potential of the 54 must be very good indeed. I'd definitely give FTT's a go as they usually shoot very well in smaller bore Diana's.

[oldcurmudgeon]

I too have one of these and a fine old thumper it is 😊

[jonnyone]

I too have one of these and a fine old thumper it is 😊

Would that be in the elephant calibre?

[andrewM]

A very interesting post. It is pleasing to read about high quality rifles other than HW and, in my (humble) opinion, Diana's Original 45 was one of the best air rifles ever made; it is unfortunate they did not upgrade and keep the model going. I rather became lost when they introduced so many alternatives, such as their range with thirty something or other - poor marketing in my view. Everyone had heard of the 45.

There is presumably quite a curvature in the pellet flight on a .25 calibre. If sighted at 30 yds, there must surely be an enormous hold-under and hold-over at 20 yds and 40 yds.

[jonnyone]

A very interesting post. It is pleasing to read about high quality rifles other than HW and, in my (humble) opinion, Diana's Original 45 was one of the best air rifles ever made; it is unfortunate they did not upgrade and keep the model going. I rather became lost when they introduced so many alternatives, such as their range with thirty something or other - poor marketing in my view. Everyone had heard of the 45.

There is presumably quite a curvature in the pellet flight on a .25 calibre. If sighted at 30 yds, there must surely be an enormous hold-under and hold-over at 20 yds and 40 yds.

Thanks Andrew and all.
Yes this 54 certainly has the right build quality and tolerances seem excellent. Like many factory production guns it could do with a spit n polish and relube- but as this is one of the better ones I've encountered of late I'm in no rush to have the gun apart.

The trajectory is loopy as to be expected and its the reason I've robbed a Hawke MAP scope off one of the other guns onto this so I can get accustomed to some aim points at varying ranges. As has been mentioned in practically every .25 calibre thread likely ever posted here I intend to limit hunting range. To be honest I do so nowadays anyhow- irrespective of calibre. I havent done any hard and fast calculations on holdover/under Andrew. Just zeroed around the 20 yards and taken it from there. I did however step things up to the 30 yard mark last weekend and groups achieved were not disimilar to what I can achieve in other calibres (notwithstanding the large impact area) Its never going to be used out to 40 yards though. Ever. I'm happy for close in quarry- such as squirrel and crow for now. It would be good for rat too- but I rarely get the opportunity these days it would seem.

Like you I greatly enjoy the look and feel of Dianas, but as you say a number of models are simply a play on a base model. The 34 for example crops up in a multitude of guises and I for one think that Diana could rationalise things on this front.

The 45 is certainly an all time classic and here again Diana were one of the early (but not only) manufacturers to go off the beaten path and introduce a .20 calibre model. I think all the way back in those days a .25 model would have been a step too far for the times- but I'm sure would have been an equally worthy gun.

Dave

[oldcurmudgeon]

Yes it is 😊