Hector J Medina G
Member
Hello Everyone!
Just to share some interesting results from an outing to my "home range", the Izaak Walton league at Damascus, with a fairly unknown (for the US) RF.
In Europe, DIANA is a brand associated MOSTLY with air-guns, but in Germany, it is known as the only other company that has produced Match quality RF's apart from the "Big Three" (Anschütz, Walther and, to a lesser degree, FWB).
A few years ago, the DIANA brand, and its parent company, was bought by German Sport Guns, which is part of the "L&O Group" that also manufactures and sells firearms under a number of other brands: Sig-Sauer, Blaser, Rigby, Sauer & Sohn, Mauser, Swiss Arms, Minox, and others (I was just informed that Voere is not part of the group anymore, which is a pity....).
SO, the groups profits from a centralization of things that all the companies in the group use (like barrels), and each company has some freedom to develop what best suits their market.
So, while there ARE several RF rifles in the group's companies' product lines, the rifle that now comes to the US under the wholesaler BLS Supply (Part of the Blue Line International Group), comes under the brand DIANA, having been developed by the engineers at Ense (Germany), originally, for BSA under the name "Exocet".
The rifle is a no-nonsense rifle that puts the money of the customer where it is of most use:
Barrel is a cold hammer forged "thin" unit with a reasonably tight chamber. Barrel then gets wrapped and tensioned in a carbon fiber sleeve. Barrel is finished with a good crown and threaded for brakes, or other devices as/where legal.
Stock is a synthetic, equipped with a picatinny section under the forearm's forward end. It is not adjustable, but fits pretty well most builds.
Action is a dual, rear, locking lugs with short stroke firing pin. It feels fast.
There is a Picatinny rail atop that is affixed with screws, so it should be possible to get a "compensated" rail if you ever want to shoot RF's out to 300 yards. As it is, it seems to me to have some compensation, but not as much as air-guns need.
Trigger is crisp with no creep, nor backlash. I am somewhat of a trigger snob, but have found that I did not need to adjust anything in this trigger.
10 shot magazines, that DO hold 10 shots and are somewhat inexpensive.
Scope in picture is a Vortex Optics Diamondback Tactical 6-24X56, FFP, mRad. It has very good definition in the reticle and lots of aimpoints for drop and wind.
Sighting in at 30 yards with Aguila Super Extra Std Vel. was no problem starting from a mechanically centered scope:
The rig needed less than 2 mRads of "up" and 1.5 of "right" to get on target.
And going out in range was very interesting, this is a group (shots 31 to 40) at 50 yards:
Going out to 80 yards:
The little rifle puts all 10 shots into less than 1.5"
By then I had a pretty good idea of what the wind was doing and I was holding off for elevation and windage. DIFTA's rifle range is located in a ravine, so the winds, are pretty tricky, especially in the fall.
I was also shooting directly from the magazines and shooting fairly briskly (10 shots in less than 90 seconds), as the idea is to participate in the "Production" class (or the least sophisticated class) in PRS, or something like that.
It may be possible, in some clubs, to shoot Extreme Field Target, which would also be interesting.
Not bad for an under $600 rig all in ($300 for the rifle, $300 for the scope). AND the rig likes inexpensive ammo (I paid 200 for over 3,000 cartridges a few months ago). I have to test with Aguila Target, to see if there is any difference in performance. I also need to stretch it out to 100 yards. But I need a calmer day for that I am not that good at reading the wind, especially when there are updrafts due to the layout of the range.
It is worthy of note that the barrel is new and it will settle in as it is run in with careful cleaning intervals..
DIANA has been making these rifles now for over 10 years, so the production is stable and the "bugs" have been worked out. If you are not a fan of CF barrels, there is a version with a solid barrel that does not cost any different.
If you are looking for an accurate, not too expensive, RF (it is also made in 22 RF Mag), do consider the DIANA RF 22.
Thanks for reading!
HM
Just to share some interesting results from an outing to my "home range", the Izaak Walton league at Damascus, with a fairly unknown (for the US) RF.
In Europe, DIANA is a brand associated MOSTLY with air-guns, but in Germany, it is known as the only other company that has produced Match quality RF's apart from the "Big Three" (Anschütz, Walther and, to a lesser degree, FWB).
A few years ago, the DIANA brand, and its parent company, was bought by German Sport Guns, which is part of the "L&O Group" that also manufactures and sells firearms under a number of other brands: Sig-Sauer, Blaser, Rigby, Sauer & Sohn, Mauser, Swiss Arms, Minox, and others (I was just informed that Voere is not part of the group anymore, which is a pity....).
SO, the groups profits from a centralization of things that all the companies in the group use (like barrels), and each company has some freedom to develop what best suits their market.
So, while there ARE several RF rifles in the group's companies' product lines, the rifle that now comes to the US under the wholesaler BLS Supply (Part of the Blue Line International Group), comes under the brand DIANA, having been developed by the engineers at Ense (Germany), originally, for BSA under the name "Exocet".
The rifle is a no-nonsense rifle that puts the money of the customer where it is of most use:
Barrel is a cold hammer forged "thin" unit with a reasonably tight chamber. Barrel then gets wrapped and tensioned in a carbon fiber sleeve. Barrel is finished with a good crown and threaded for brakes, or other devices as/where legal.
Stock is a synthetic, equipped with a picatinny section under the forearm's forward end. It is not adjustable, but fits pretty well most builds.
Action is a dual, rear, locking lugs with short stroke firing pin. It feels fast.
There is a Picatinny rail atop that is affixed with screws, so it should be possible to get a "compensated" rail if you ever want to shoot RF's out to 300 yards. As it is, it seems to me to have some compensation, but not as much as air-guns need.
Trigger is crisp with no creep, nor backlash. I am somewhat of a trigger snob, but have found that I did not need to adjust anything in this trigger.
10 shot magazines, that DO hold 10 shots and are somewhat inexpensive.
Scope in picture is a Vortex Optics Diamondback Tactical 6-24X56, FFP, mRad. It has very good definition in the reticle and lots of aimpoints for drop and wind.
Sighting in at 30 yards with Aguila Super Extra Std Vel. was no problem starting from a mechanically centered scope:
And going out in range was very interesting, this is a group (shots 31 to 40) at 50 yards:
Going out to 80 yards:
The little rifle puts all 10 shots into less than 1.5"
By then I had a pretty good idea of what the wind was doing and I was holding off for elevation and windage. DIFTA's rifle range is located in a ravine, so the winds, are pretty tricky, especially in the fall.
I was also shooting directly from the magazines and shooting fairly briskly (10 shots in less than 90 seconds), as the idea is to participate in the "Production" class (or the least sophisticated class) in PRS, or something like that.
It may be possible, in some clubs, to shoot Extreme Field Target, which would also be interesting.
Not bad for an under $600 rig all in ($300 for the rifle, $300 for the scope). AND the rig likes inexpensive ammo (I paid 200 for over 3,000 cartridges a few months ago). I have to test with Aguila Target, to see if there is any difference in performance. I also need to stretch it out to 100 yards. But I need a calmer day for that I am not that good at reading the wind, especially when there are updrafts due to the layout of the range.
It is worthy of note that the barrel is new and it will settle in as it is run in with careful cleaning intervals..
DIANA has been making these rifles now for over 10 years, so the production is stable and the "bugs" have been worked out. If you are not a fan of CF barrels, there is a version with a solid barrel that does not cost any different.
If you are looking for an accurate, not too expensive, RF (it is also made in 22 RF Mag), do consider the DIANA RF 22.
Thanks for reading!
HM
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