Another lucky grail find this year, the rare and discontinued RWS Diana 48 .20 cal (let's just call this D48 .20 #1
) with T01 trigger unit. The inspiration comes from the possibilities of 1. having a magnum, fixed barrel platform
2. bore, stroke & piston weight designed to make power
3. sidelever cocking which means finally I can take on the challenge of long range prone springer shooting
4. shooting JSB 13.73 with its outstanding BC, having enough impact energy to ring 3" and 4" steel gong targets at distances of 65 yards + (I actually made some heavy duty targets purpose built for this rifle!
more on this later)5. hunting, of course. The Roman Goddess Diana (Artemis in Ancient Greece) was not only the Goddess of the moon, but also the Goddess of the hunt, known for her extremely short temper and fits of rage to punish mortals who offended her. Poor Actaeon! So I find it fitting that THIS Diana will serve to not only hunt but punish intruding or unwelcome critters! LOL
I've had the rifle for a short time and it took a little while to accustom to the sidelever cocking dynamics. Decocking this rifle for the first time was...interesting
. Accuracy seemed decent but I knew it was early days and the trigger definitely needed work for precision target shooting. Heavy pull, and stiff break point without a crisp, discernible wall. Lots of sideplay in both the sear pin that secures the bottom sear and the trigger blade. Long story short, the trigger is now sorted and is very responsive, breaks cleanly with a glassy smooth take up & lighter pull. The sideplay tolerances have been addressed with shims and the blade now has as little sideplay as the T06 blade on my RWS 54 Air King. A drastic improvement!
Power: this is an 18+ fpe rifle. 845 fps with 11.42 gn H&N FTT's and 775 fps with 13.73 gn JSB's. It arrived to me with a Vortek PG2 kit installed.
Accuracy wise: early informal plinking at 65 yards had 5 shots under a dime, from seated FT position with H&N FTT's. This was interesting. Later, testing of 5 shot seated groups at 55 yards showed that FTT's could produce quarter sized groups. Hmm....
Early plinking with JSB's also showed promise, but with groups larger than the FTT's. Later I tested them at 55 yards: seated 5 shot groups well over an inch, about 1 1/8" - 1 1/2". I also noticed that group patterns were dissimilar, despite my best attempts at holding steady with a solid inner position, good follow through, etc. Of course many things to consider (or put the blame on)...I continued shooting it for a couple more days and noticed the groups were getting increasingly dissimilar in pattern, as well as growing in size...
Last night I decided to take a look at the Beeman muzzle brake and the set screw was just 2 threads away from coming out.
My bad, this was totally overlooked! In the beginning I imagine it was tighter, but accuracy started to suffer as it loosened. I went ahead and reapplied the brake after a thorough cleaning of the barrel exterior and the brake shim ID. It was still a bit loose and needed an additional .004" steel shim for a tight, interference, "push and twist" on fit. Wood block placed against muzzle and a couple mallet taps for the brake to secure against the barrel shroud, and set screw tightened.
Experimental Mode: ON
I want rigidity, so I went a step further and placed a wide, black ranger band (heavy duty rubber band) over the area where muzzle brake & shroud meet. Next, a steel band over the ranger band, cut so that it wraps around and covers the articulating area without overlapping. Next, another ranger band to cover the steel, followed by two diametrically opposing torsioning forces: a couple of zip ties
. Laugh with me, not at me. It's an experiment after all, not a permanent solution. Nothing to lose, and tighter groups to gain.This morning I was able to test using JSB's at 40 yards (maximum distance I could scoot back to without the rising sun milking up my Simmons 44 Mag Scope). I warmed up the gun first with a 5 shot group at 23 yards. Nothing noteworthy, especially since the barrel has just received its first "accuracy prep" treatment (deep clean and light polish).
Here are the four 5 shot seated groups shot consecutively with minor changes in my positioning. For group #4 I raised my knees up considerably, and the position felt great, was easier to manage the recoil and follow through was a bit more on target.
A closer look:
Groups 1-3:
Group 4 (I shouldn't have written all over the pellet holes, but wanted to document the shots while memory was fresh):
I knew I swung shot #5 low and to the right, so sent a 6th shot to join the group
5 under a dime at 40 yards (shots 1-4 & 6) we're on the right track. These shots felt like "called shots". I know the rifle is capable of doing better, so onwards & upwards!
Trigger: among some of the modifications done, here you can make out the shims to reduce sideplay and offer a consistent, quality break.
My temporary and highly experimental D48 brake/shroud torsioning apparatus
:And the underside displaying the D.O.T. S. (diametrically opposed torsioning system)
:This is one heck of a springer, and IMO a .20 cal springer grail! It has a very attractively figured beech stock, to boot! Lots more to do, lots more to shoot! I'm truly over the moon to have this D48 .20, how could one not be inspired with a rifle like this?
Thanks for letting me share,
JohnnyPiston AKA
The Spring Gun Whisperer
. Two shots sent in about a minute, video here:
. Fun times!
repaired/improved 52 stock and it's been performing great.