when i used think of diana crap guns spring to mind,until my mate turns up with a diana firebird,jeez what a monster than was,it would av knocked king kong on his ass haha,that has to be the best springer ive ever fired,but it was a right old weight,ya think hw97k is heavy this firebird is heavier.
Regret to say Dan that 'take it out of the box' is all I have done with it lol. Back when the exchange rate was better.I had it from the fatherland. It was rated at their power level but rose to about ten when the little restrictor disk was removed. And that's as far.as its gone. I've never scoped.it but its certainly a very heavy gun and I would say perhaps ideal for FT. I suspect given to one of the maestros on here and breathed.on it would make a cracking gun for this sport. The stock profile is very high and dedicated for scope use. I would also say that my gun has very negligible recoil and would remain so even if gun tweaked closer to.limit. Its mass soaks up the recoil.
They seem to be more available these days and price seems a bit.more realistic too.
I can't see you being disappointed in one fella
Dave
It's quite difficult to ascertain which models are currently being made and are available in the uk.The website is still down but there is a link to a catalogue.
There are a few new Diana's showing on the two well known sales sites which isn't much but it's something, I suppose.Still in danger of remaining the near sleeper brand that they have become.
Here is a close up look video of a 470 but you will have to play with a flash player
http://raneair.webs.com/apps/videos/...-22-dian-470th
I handled a 430 Stutzen today. It had the fish-scale chequering. It looked absolutely superb and felt extremely sturdy.
As much as I like the later Diana's it has to be said that the quality of these rifles isn't on the same level as Air Arms. The under levers are sent out very dry and stiff. You must budget at least £100 for a strip down, clean polish and overhaul or do it yourself if you have a spring compressor. The Diana under levers are particularly model 440 very stiff to cock. The under lever itself is too small in diameter in my view, and is secured by two flimsy ball bearings which is a shame. The under lever should be secured by a spring loaded push button.
The T06 trigger however is very good and precise, again I think I've read that the it benefits from a strip and polish. The matt black finish on these rifles isn't to every bodies taste also. They do have the all important compression tube interceptor lock which Weihrauch still do not build into their under lever rifles, so at least Diana are showing they are a responsible manufacturer.
I would if I were you, try and get hold of a model 470 and see what you think then first before committing to a shipped in rifle from Germany. They are almost there though Diana, they just need more attention given to the innards and sort out the under lever lock up etc.
I have a diana 52 that has a 22mm skirtless piston fitted
Also the barrel was swapped for an anschutz rapid barrel in .177
Its a joy to shoot and something different to my other rifles .
I agree that new Diana's are often annoyingly dry. Not all of them. I'm not totally with you on the underlever catch as I had an HW97 catch break in under 1500 shots. The Stutzen underlever was secured firmly and took a good pull to release. The lever itself is indeed short and some may struggle with the lack of torque.
The gun seemed very well made and finished. It was too expensive for me however.
You are right Diana's out of the box IMO want a spit and polish tune, but you need to look closer at the underlevers the lock up is a weak point but no big deal to fix, but now look a the robustness of the lever its self, it may be the only underlever that when cocked has no looseness and play, its solid and has two spring dome washers have a look
http://imgur.com/vlFqomN
The reason for the heavy for some cocking effort is the position of the pivot pin that gives short fast cocking, to get easy cocking the pin would be here
http://imgur.com/PfVlerb
but then the 115 mm stroke would mean that the cocking stroke would be very long like the 52 so its a trade off