Talk to me about the Diana 54 Airking...

[tinbum]

Always bearing in mind, folks, that those sizes as stated on the tins mean nothing.

Thats why I buy big and put them through a sizer now. I still miss, but I miss with consistency and clinical precision.

[TonyL]

Thats why I buy big and put them through a sizer now. I still miss, but I miss with consistency and clinical precision.

Sizer or not, I'll bet I still miss more consistently than you, Nick!

[Blackrider]

Yet to try JSB RS and looking forward to it !

[eyebull]

Finally got up to a range today - very pleased.

I was shooting 8.44gr JSB exacts (very annoyingly I didn't realise I had both 7.4 and 8.4 gr tins), which the 54 seemed to like. Accuracy was excellent, with PCP-like accessability.

Cocking gets easier the more you do it, and I soon got into a routine of holding it by the fore end with the left hand and bracing it on the hip or upper thigh, cocking with the right hand and then loading with the right hand while the right elbow is braced in front of the cocking lever.
Even with the gun tilted up I didn't find it hard to get the leverage to bring the action forward on the sled. When moving the safety to off I give a good push forward just in case the action has moved back. Not strictly necessary but I like to get into a foolproof routine.

What did take a little getting used to was the scope moving back towards the eye. At first it was making me flinch, ruining the follow through, but with not too much effort I was able to train myself out of it. In fact it's quite useful, because it highlights very quickly any issues you have with scope/eye alignment; if you are offset slightly then you will lose the sight picture as you fire. If you have good eye alignment then you hardly notice anything.

I ran out of adjustment on the scope - perhaps a half dozen or so clicks away from where I would like it - so may need to either get another (adjustable) mount, or I may get away with shimming the scope.

I got a bit of a 'HW45' smell from it after about 50 shots or so, so may think about stripping it and replacing the stock lubricants at some point. Also curious about the internals...

All in all very pleased so far. It's accurate, self contained and quite shootable.

This rifle deserves a bit more attention than it gets.