On at least three occasions over the last two decades, I owned RWS / Diana 54 Air Kings. They were great rifles but I always seemed to have someone that wanted them worse than I did and I would let them go.
As my PCPs shoot so accurately and effortlessly that I find myself getting bored with them, especially in the cold winter months when I am limited to indoor shooting, I still really enjoy shooting more traditional springers. I am fortunate to own an Air Arms TX200 MKIII in .177 and a Weihrauch HW97K in .22, both of which have been custom tuned by Scott Schneider at Motorhead Airgun Tuning Services - CA, and both of which are extremely accurate at +/- 14 ft lb of energy.
Since the RWS/Target Hunter arrived on the scene in .22, I have studied all of the materials and videos available, believing I would like to add a side cock rifle to my spinger collection, just for something different. As I refuse to own an air rifle that won't shoot a 1" to 1.5" group at 50 yards, and most of my shooting is from a bench, everything I would read or watch led me to believe that maybe the 56 TH would best fit my criteria. Still, I could not find any really good information on how well it really did perform.All of the on-line information was about shooting batteries, or rocks, or targets at +/- 20 yards, and mostly in .177.
What follows is a comprehensive review of the 56 TH in .22 for those with interest - with ballistics and performance experienced "right out of the box."
I am not going to spend much time discussing cosmetics or first impressions as others have done. What I will say is that while perfectly adequate, the fit and finish of the stock and the bluing are not as deep and/or rich as one would find on my TX200 or HW97K. Again, it is ok, but not magnificent.
The gun arrived after waiting for more than two months, ordered from PA. The T06 trigger was not at all accuracy friendly as received. It had a very long approach trigger pull in the first stage, and was lengthy and very "mushy" in the second stage. I got on line, ready the adjustment instructions, watched a few You Tube videos (thanks for posting guys), and within about 10 minutes afterwards, had it breaking fairly clean and at least acceptable.
I called the service experts at Hawke and asked them if a Sidewinder 6-24x56 FFP scope would hold up on this rifle. After assuring me that it would, I installed a UTG droop compensating picatinny base, upon which I secured a UTG fixed 30MM ring scope mount, complete with 4 bolts and two recoil stop pins, all sitting on the rifle's 11mm dovetail. I proceeded to sight the rifle in at 18 yards, the length of my indoor basement range. Even with the droop mount in place, I still did not have enough scope adjustment. Two thicknesses of paper-backed aluminum duct tape on the back ring served as the perfect shim and everything was easy to dial in afterwards.
I have been shooting in a basement range for two decades. One observation that I might share is that not once in that time period, has my wife every commented on the noise of any of my rifles. She did comment on the 56, indicating that it was "very loud." It does have a pretty violent sound as the heavy spring drives the piston home.
The rifle is very front-end heavy, but with the configuration of the fore-end and the weight forward, it makes for a very steady bench gun.
I then set-up my Chrony Pro approximately 1' from the muzzle, and proceeded to shoot two ten shot groups (at 18 yards) with each of eight different pellets, for accuracy and consistency . All 20 shots were recorded across the Chrony.
Once this exercise was complete, I moved across town to my indoor range where I have up to 150 yards available. The same exercise was repeated with the same eight different pellets, except at 50 yards and without the chronograph. At both yardages, sandbags were used under the fore-end and the butt pad to be certain that the rifle was adequately stabilized. The temperature in both cases was +/- 65 degrees. There was no wind to affect the outcome and lighting was more than adequate. All pellets were pulled straight from the tins with no special sorting for weight or shape uniformity.
Note that the output was consistently +/- 21.5 ft lb of energy - exactly as advertised by the manufacturer.
Below, you will find photos of the rifle set-up, photos of the groups experienced at both 18 and at 50 yards and the performance summary chart. As you will ascertain, the smallest group achieved at 18 yards was .37" using the H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 grain pellet and the best average 18 yard two shot group size equated to .48" shooting the Air Arms Diablo Field 18.0 grain pellet. The smallest group and the two group best average at 50 yards was achieved shooting the H&N Baracuda Match pellet, resulting in group sizes of 1.25" and 1.47" respectively, with the Air Arms Diablo Field 16.0 grain and 18 grain pellets coming in a very close second and third.
You will also note that the AA 18.0 grain and the H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 grain pellets had a standard deviation across 20 shots of only 3 fps. This is regulated PCP performance territory.
While there is obviously room for improvement, one should keep in mind that all of this work was done within <400 pellets from coming right out-of-the-box. I am certain that it will only become smoother the more it is shot. I do plan on sending the rifle out to Scott Schneider at Motorhead within the next few days, allowing him to work his special magic, and I am certain it will come back shooting at an even greater performance level.
For now, see below. I hope this information helps those with interest in this rifle be more informed as to whether or not it might be for you.
DZ
------
View attachment 1574997876_2030470625de08f74b328d4.22190303_Performance Summary Table.11.23.19.pdf
As my PCPs shoot so accurately and effortlessly that I find myself getting bored with them, especially in the cold winter months when I am limited to indoor shooting, I still really enjoy shooting more traditional springers. I am fortunate to own an Air Arms TX200 MKIII in .177 and a Weihrauch HW97K in .22, both of which have been custom tuned by Scott Schneider at Motorhead Airgun Tuning Services - CA, and both of which are extremely accurate at +/- 14 ft lb of energy.
Since the RWS/Target Hunter arrived on the scene in .22, I have studied all of the materials and videos available, believing I would like to add a side cock rifle to my spinger collection, just for something different. As I refuse to own an air rifle that won't shoot a 1" to 1.5" group at 50 yards, and most of my shooting is from a bench, everything I would read or watch led me to believe that maybe the 56 TH would best fit my criteria. Still, I could not find any really good information on how well it really did perform.All of the on-line information was about shooting batteries, or rocks, or targets at +/- 20 yards, and mostly in .177.
What follows is a comprehensive review of the 56 TH in .22 for those with interest - with ballistics and performance experienced "right out of the box."
I am not going to spend much time discussing cosmetics or first impressions as others have done. What I will say is that while perfectly adequate, the fit and finish of the stock and the bluing are not as deep and/or rich as one would find on my TX200 or HW97K. Again, it is ok, but not magnificent.
The gun arrived after waiting for more than two months, ordered from PA. The T06 trigger was not at all accuracy friendly as received. It had a very long approach trigger pull in the first stage, and was lengthy and very "mushy" in the second stage. I got on line, ready the adjustment instructions, watched a few You Tube videos (thanks for posting guys), and within about 10 minutes afterwards, had it breaking fairly clean and at least acceptable.
I called the service experts at Hawke and asked them if a Sidewinder 6-24x56 FFP scope would hold up on this rifle. After assuring me that it would, I installed a UTG droop compensating picatinny base, upon which I secured a UTG fixed 30MM ring scope mount, complete with 4 bolts and two recoil stop pins, all sitting on the rifle's 11mm dovetail. I proceeded to sight the rifle in at 18 yards, the length of my indoor basement range. Even with the droop mount in place, I still did not have enough scope adjustment. Two thicknesses of paper-backed aluminum duct tape on the back ring served as the perfect shim and everything was easy to dial in afterwards.
I have been shooting in a basement range for two decades. One observation that I might share is that not once in that time period, has my wife every commented on the noise of any of my rifles. She did comment on the 56, indicating that it was "very loud." It does have a pretty violent sound as the heavy spring drives the piston home.
The rifle is very front-end heavy, but with the configuration of the fore-end and the weight forward, it makes for a very steady bench gun.
I then set-up my Chrony Pro approximately 1' from the muzzle, and proceeded to shoot two ten shot groups (at 18 yards) with each of eight different pellets, for accuracy and consistency . All 20 shots were recorded across the Chrony.
Once this exercise was complete, I moved across town to my indoor range where I have up to 150 yards available. The same exercise was repeated with the same eight different pellets, except at 50 yards and without the chronograph. At both yardages, sandbags were used under the fore-end and the butt pad to be certain that the rifle was adequately stabilized. The temperature in both cases was +/- 65 degrees. There was no wind to affect the outcome and lighting was more than adequate. All pellets were pulled straight from the tins with no special sorting for weight or shape uniformity.
Note that the output was consistently +/- 21.5 ft lb of energy - exactly as advertised by the manufacturer.
Below, you will find photos of the rifle set-up, photos of the groups experienced at both 18 and at 50 yards and the performance summary chart. As you will ascertain, the smallest group achieved at 18 yards was .37" using the H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 grain pellet and the best average 18 yard two shot group size equated to .48" shooting the Air Arms Diablo Field 18.0 grain pellet. The smallest group and the two group best average at 50 yards was achieved shooting the H&N Baracuda Match pellet, resulting in group sizes of 1.25" and 1.47" respectively, with the Air Arms Diablo Field 16.0 grain and 18 grain pellets coming in a very close second and third.
You will also note that the AA 18.0 grain and the H&N Baracuda Match 21.14 grain pellets had a standard deviation across 20 shots of only 3 fps. This is regulated PCP performance territory.
While there is obviously room for improvement, one should keep in mind that all of this work was done within <400 pellets from coming right out-of-the-box. I am certain that it will only become smoother the more it is shot. I do plan on sending the rifle out to Scott Schneider at Motorhead within the next few days, allowing him to work his special magic, and I am certain it will come back shooting at an even greater performance level.
For now, see below. I hope this information helps those with interest in this rifle be more informed as to whether or not it might be for you.
DZ
------
