Diana Out with the old

Jump to latest Follow Reply
extradrygin2001

extradrygin2001

Member
Apr 13, 2020
327
371
WI, United States
So I just sent back my brand new broken HW80, and to make myself feel better I purchased a Diana 48 .22.

Seeing as I have a TX200 and a HW77 the 48 seems like the perfect addition, plus it has open sights. The open sites is the reason I originally bought the 77 however my face is too fat for the comb of the stock. None the less I’m sure I’ll be given Hawke or Athlon some business in about a month. Something that I think is awesome about the 48 and its side lever is being able to attach a sling to the barrel. Anyway any of you fine people have Diana 48 story’s?
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: mh, Mike_OH, maxtrouble and 3 others
I have a HW97KT and just love it....

Since we're talking about the Diana 48, I love this rifle as well. It took a couple cans of pellets to get the 48 "broke in" but now, I can't miss. Anything I aim at, I hit. I can hang a can off a string and shoot the string off 6 out of 10 times at 20M. In addition, I really like the large side open breech, real easy to load. I shoot them both equally, I can't say I favor the one over the other. My wife is unable to cock the HW97 because it is all or nothing. The 48 is like rowing a boat and has a ratcheting beartrap so, she has no problem.

The TX200US has me thinking on purchasing, I've never seen or had one in my hands but the furniture and blueing look amazingly beautiful.
 
  • Like
Reactions: abslayer and Bandito
Upvote 0
WoodWelder said:
I have a HW97KT and just love it....

Since we're talking about the Diana 48, I love this rifle as well. It took a couple cans of pellets to get the 48 "broke in" but now, I can't miss. Anything I aim at, I hit. I can hang a can off a string and shoot the string off 6 out of 10 times at 20M. In addition, I really like the large side open breech, real easy to load. I shoot them both equally, I can't say I favor the one over the other. My wife is unable to cock the HW97 because it is all or nothing. The 48 is like rowing a boat and has a ratcheting beartrap so, she has no problem.

The TX200US has me thinking on purchasing, I've never seen or had one in my hands but the furniture and blueing look amazingly beautiful.
Click to expand...
TX200US finally walnut Ambi stock !!!! lefties rejoice !!!
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: WoodWelder
Upvote 0
A little over a year ago I had to let my 48 .22 cal go, not because it wasn't an awesome gun, but because I got a 52 Luxus .22 cal, and couldn't justify keeping two close-to-identical springers.

This is what I wrote then:

Looking at the 48 one last time, I just can’t but admire the design feat the Diana engineers pulled through, back in the 1980’s (Yes, I know Anschütz laid the groundwork in the late 50’s). Such an efficient, functional, unconventional weapon! Accurate, powerful, dependable, pointable…the list goes on.

Just the look of the closed, steel-hued loading gate in the blued receiver makes the 48 look more like a real weapon to me, compared to the boyish breakbarrels. A short barrel and an even shorter transfer port really make for a better weapon.

-

I think about my departed 48 at times. The short, combless, thoroughly smooth 48 stock (as opposed to the 52) has a nifty charm all of its own. One of the best value spring guns out there, as Gaylord put it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: WoodWelder, bf1956 and fishing43
Upvote 0
I bought mine used in 1992 from Beeman. It was made in March of 1987. I never had to do anything with it until about 5 years ago and came to find out it was the alt. that caused most of the power loss. I've since installed a 52 stock which has really helped me shoot more accurately. I'm 6' and believe it or not that 1 inch longer LOP and the cheak riaser really helped. It will be the last airgun I sell.
 
Upvote 1
The 48 is a great springer, wish I had never sold mine. Heavy, but easy to set up with sling studs, so no biggie. And if I might add, a great squirrel gun.

10-31-2011QUAD015.jpg


Morgan adjustable recoil pad helps a lot if one can't source a 52 stock.

10-27-2013Dianas005_zps3043ce40 (1).jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: fishing43
Upvote 0
I got my Diana 48 .22 today. I can say that I am 100% impressed with this rifle. It’s making 19 ftlbs with H&n FTT’s. The shot cycle with factory spring and guide is quick and smooth, has zero buzz and actually recoils about 1/2 of what my HW80 did.

I grinder out 200 crosman pellets through it to get it a little broken in and the shot some groups which resulted in about the same accuracy I get out of my HW77.

Another bonus is that all the linkage I can see on the external areas of the rifle are held together with clip ended pins, much like a TX200 leaving me to believe the rifle will be easy to service.

Now keep in mind I only have a couple of hundred pellets through the Diana 48 but I can not see an advantage to either my HW77 or my TX200. I can honestly say that if anyone asks me what spring piston gun they should buy I will tell them to get a 48

Oh and let’s not forget the Trigger on this Diana is every bit as good as the TX, or the HW it’s clean and crisp. I do not understand why the 48 is not held to the same light as a hw or TX.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fishing43, Fixedflinger and WoodWelder
Upvote 0
extradrygin2001 said:
Anyway any of you fine people have Diana 48 story’s?
Click to expand...
Oh boy do I, and it's a long one so grab a cup of coffee.

I wanted one for a long time but could never bring myself to spend that much. Then one day I was at a shop that had a huge used gun inventory and air rifles. I saw the side lever from 50 ft. away and immediately rushed over and picked it up. As I'm looking the gun over I noticed a father and son walk toward me and start watching as if they were also going to inspect the gun after I set it down. I looked straight in his eyes and said "sorry man this ones not leaving my hand's". So I purchased the gun and excitedly headed home.

So in my barn I had my 15yd range set up, I put fresh paper on the block, I take my first bench rested shot and it's high and to the left. I was slightly surprised that the sites would be off that far but it was a "refreshed" gun so no biggie, I'll just keep it on the bull and go through 4 more shots like always. So I take the second shot and it's off the paper! I'm thinking "what the heck, these are suppose to be actuate guns". Slightly miffed I take the 3rd shot and it's off the paper again and I'm screaming "I just got ripped off with this piece of junk". So I walk down to the target to see where its hitting and I'm not seeing anything fresh in the backstop...then I look really close at the hole in the paper and I can just barely see 3 lead lines in one of the edges of the hole. I dug into the MDFB block and sure enough there was 3 pellets stacked on top of each other. Then I when from mad to happy LOL.

After that I realized 15 yards was just to close for this gun. In the following days I shot it so much that I gave myself tendonitis from cocking, but I did master my hold (loose hold) in those first few days and it's been one of my favorites ever since.
 
  • Like
Reactions: fishing43 and WoodWelder
Upvote 0
The HW80 was sent back, it did not meet velocity expectations. The card I was sent with tested specs was shot with 11.9 grain pellets, so my HW80 was only making 13 Ftlbs. So basically I got a brand new piece of junk. It was a very nice looking rifle, however my Diana 48 out performs the HW80 in every aspect.

In the future I will pick Diana over HW
 
Upvote 0
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back
Home
Forums
Resources
Menu