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Diana Stormrider Gen II
Dec. 2019
Purchased a Gen II Stormrider on 18 December 2019 from Pyramid Air. Cost was $199.95. At that time also purchased a Diana/Altaros regulator, a UTG Leapers 3x12x32 Mil/Mil Bugbuster and an additional barrel band. Total cost of ownership was about $330.00. This is not a bad price for a magazine fed, regulated 0.177 Air Rifle and Scope combination.
First thoughts: This gun is well thought out and well designed. The design is mature having been on the market for about two years now. The Gen II version was released more than a year ago. There was a safety issue with the trigger which necessitated a recall of about 1400 units and a new trigger for subsequent units. Basically the bugs should have been worked out by now and first impression confirms that has been done.
Fit and Finish: It looks like and feels like a kids rifle, except that the length of pull is right for an adult. It looks like a $200.00 rifle. If you are right handed you will want the wood stock. The metal bits are finished nicely enough. This is not a $500 rifle BUT if you are getting one for your teenager so that he can get in a little plinking or small game hunting you aren't going to get your feelings hurt if he drops it. It is definitely a hunting man's rifle.
The bolt is a little stiff but that will probably work in. Actually the application of a little silicon grease on the bolt did slick it up some. The single feed pellet tray needs a bigger magnet to hold it more securely in place. I have not used the magazine yet and will address that in a subsequent post.
Trigger: The trigger is a two stage trigger. I don't like it at all. I'll be studying it and if I can figure out a way to make it more predictable I'll post that later. The trigger is spoongy to be honest. First stage is very long and the second stage is like squashing a rubber ball. The only good thing is it is really easy to get a clean release because you have absolutely no idea when the darn thing is going to go off.
The synthetic stock version has a cheek piece for right handed shooters. Vendors should realize that ten percent of the population is left handed but they never seem to make that connection. Here is one of those cases. It would have cost the vendor a few cents per unit more to have made the synthetic stock ambidextrous and that would have had a positive influence on the left handed shooters out there. I believe they would have captured a larger market share and recouped their investment if they had done that. As I am left handed I will testify that, all other things being equal, I am going to buy the rifle with the ambidextrous stock.
Diana says the rifle is a 20 FPE rifle in 0.177 and a 24 FPE rifle in 0.22. It turns out that my rifle is a 26 FPE rifle in 0.177. I suspect the transfer port is calibrated for a middle weight 0.22 pellet as it was a Rabbit Magnum II pellet at 15.74 grains which gave me the following shot profile. The rifle started the string at 200 BAR and ended it at 140 BAR.
Looking at the above graphs we can see there is a nice string of ten shots (#8 - #17) which give us the following statistics:
I think that string starts around 185 BAR and ends around 145 BAR on that charge. With my hand pump it took me 20 strokes to get the valve to open and another 90 or 100 strokes to pump the rifle back up to 200 BAR. I would not normally pump this gun up to 200 BAR given that pellet. I would use 190 BAR as my start point. That's not bad for a $200.00 unregulated air gun. The gun, shooting this heavy pellet, was exceptionally quiet. The ping of the hammer and the clank of the pellet hitting the target were much louder than the (non-existent) muzzle report.
That was a very pleasant surprise. I decided I needed to see what the rifle was doing with a moderate weight pellet and shot H&N FTTs (8.64 gr) for the next string. This is what they did:
The above string was shot starting with a 200 BAR fill and ending with 135 BAR remaining in the tank. The best part of the string also falls between about 185 BAR and 145 BAR. Again I looked for and found a nice string of 10 shots which gave the following statistics:
A sharp eye will notice that there is a longer string than ten shots which could be used with this pellet. The H&N FTT would give you more like 14 or 15 usable hunting shots but I am cherry picking. This is almost 21 FPE with a moderate weight pellet. The report was slightly louder with this pellet but still back yard friendly. Pyramid Air rates the noise level of the gun as a 2 but I think they have not done it justice. It is very quiet. Regulated it will be silent death for squirrels.
Again that just ain't bad for a $200.00 unregulated air gun. This rifle is doing exactly what the vendor says it will do and a little more.
Before I regulated the rifle I decided to run some Crossman 10.5 grain through the gun. That resulted in the following shot string:
Cherry picking this pellets data I get a nice ten shot string starting with shot number two and ending at eleven. The following statistics are the result.
So again we get ten very nice shots from the power plant. This string was like the other two. It started about 190 BAR and ends at about 145 BAR.
What can we tell about the power plant on this rifle from this data? Clearly the rifle likes heavier pellets. If you want unregulated .177 or .22 that will give you ten really good shots, that you can pump with a hand pump, that is quiet (especially with heavy pellets), and that you will not dread carrying to the woods I think this is one of those. This is the rifle you leave behind the door or hang in a rack on the truck specifically because you want to eliminate pests.
I also think the power levels you will see with the .22 version of the rifle will be just about the same with the same weight pellets. Why? Well I can't imagine the maker spending a lot of extra time optimizing the power plant for both calibers they make. If it were me, I'd have optimized for .22 and re-barreled/re-tooled for 0.177. It just makes sense from a cost of manufacturing perspective. What supports that is the fact that my rifle delivered 26 FPE with a pellet that weighed 15.9 grains. That is right in the middle of the spectrum as far as .22 pellets are concerned. Also my rifle delivered just at 21 FPE with a mid range 0.177 pellet. So don't expect the rifle to favor the heaviest pellets in .22.
Anyway 26 FPE is plenty of juice to take small game up to and including racoons, groundhogs or even coyote with head shots at close range.
Dec. 2019
Purchased a Gen II Stormrider on 18 December 2019 from Pyramid Air. Cost was $199.95. At that time also purchased a Diana/Altaros regulator, a UTG Leapers 3x12x32 Mil/Mil Bugbuster and an additional barrel band. Total cost of ownership was about $330.00. This is not a bad price for a magazine fed, regulated 0.177 Air Rifle and Scope combination.
First thoughts: This gun is well thought out and well designed. The design is mature having been on the market for about two years now. The Gen II version was released more than a year ago. There was a safety issue with the trigger which necessitated a recall of about 1400 units and a new trigger for subsequent units. Basically the bugs should have been worked out by now and first impression confirms that has been done.
Fit and Finish: It looks like and feels like a kids rifle, except that the length of pull is right for an adult. It looks like a $200.00 rifle. If you are right handed you will want the wood stock. The metal bits are finished nicely enough. This is not a $500 rifle BUT if you are getting one for your teenager so that he can get in a little plinking or small game hunting you aren't going to get your feelings hurt if he drops it. It is definitely a hunting man's rifle.
The bolt is a little stiff but that will probably work in. Actually the application of a little silicon grease on the bolt did slick it up some. The single feed pellet tray needs a bigger magnet to hold it more securely in place. I have not used the magazine yet and will address that in a subsequent post.
Trigger: The trigger is a two stage trigger. I don't like it at all. I'll be studying it and if I can figure out a way to make it more predictable I'll post that later. The trigger is spoongy to be honest. First stage is very long and the second stage is like squashing a rubber ball. The only good thing is it is really easy to get a clean release because you have absolutely no idea when the darn thing is going to go off.
The synthetic stock version has a cheek piece for right handed shooters. Vendors should realize that ten percent of the population is left handed but they never seem to make that connection. Here is one of those cases. It would have cost the vendor a few cents per unit more to have made the synthetic stock ambidextrous and that would have had a positive influence on the left handed shooters out there. I believe they would have captured a larger market share and recouped their investment if they had done that. As I am left handed I will testify that, all other things being equal, I am going to buy the rifle with the ambidextrous stock.
Diana says the rifle is a 20 FPE rifle in 0.177 and a 24 FPE rifle in 0.22. It turns out that my rifle is a 26 FPE rifle in 0.177. I suspect the transfer port is calibrated for a middle weight 0.22 pellet as it was a Rabbit Magnum II pellet at 15.74 grains which gave me the following shot profile. The rifle started the string at 200 BAR and ended it at 140 BAR.
Looking at the above graphs we can see there is a nice string of ten shots (#8 - #17) which give us the following statistics:
I think that string starts around 185 BAR and ends around 145 BAR on that charge. With my hand pump it took me 20 strokes to get the valve to open and another 90 or 100 strokes to pump the rifle back up to 200 BAR. I would not normally pump this gun up to 200 BAR given that pellet. I would use 190 BAR as my start point. That's not bad for a $200.00 unregulated air gun. The gun, shooting this heavy pellet, was exceptionally quiet. The ping of the hammer and the clank of the pellet hitting the target were much louder than the (non-existent) muzzle report.
That was a very pleasant surprise. I decided I needed to see what the rifle was doing with a moderate weight pellet and shot H&N FTTs (8.64 gr) for the next string. This is what they did:
The above string was shot starting with a 200 BAR fill and ending with 135 BAR remaining in the tank. The best part of the string also falls between about 185 BAR and 145 BAR. Again I looked for and found a nice string of 10 shots which gave the following statistics:
A sharp eye will notice that there is a longer string than ten shots which could be used with this pellet. The H&N FTT would give you more like 14 or 15 usable hunting shots but I am cherry picking. This is almost 21 FPE with a moderate weight pellet. The report was slightly louder with this pellet but still back yard friendly. Pyramid Air rates the noise level of the gun as a 2 but I think they have not done it justice. It is very quiet. Regulated it will be silent death for squirrels.
Again that just ain't bad for a $200.00 unregulated air gun. This rifle is doing exactly what the vendor says it will do and a little more.
Before I regulated the rifle I decided to run some Crossman 10.5 grain through the gun. That resulted in the following shot string:
Cherry picking this pellets data I get a nice ten shot string starting with shot number two and ending at eleven. The following statistics are the result.
So again we get ten very nice shots from the power plant. This string was like the other two. It started about 190 BAR and ends at about 145 BAR.
What can we tell about the power plant on this rifle from this data? Clearly the rifle likes heavier pellets. If you want unregulated .177 or .22 that will give you ten really good shots, that you can pump with a hand pump, that is quiet (especially with heavy pellets), and that you will not dread carrying to the woods I think this is one of those. This is the rifle you leave behind the door or hang in a rack on the truck specifically because you want to eliminate pests.
I also think the power levels you will see with the .22 version of the rifle will be just about the same with the same weight pellets. Why? Well I can't imagine the maker spending a lot of extra time optimizing the power plant for both calibers they make. If it were me, I'd have optimized for .22 and re-barreled/re-tooled for 0.177. It just makes sense from a cost of manufacturing perspective. What supports that is the fact that my rifle delivered 26 FPE with a pellet that weighed 15.9 grains. That is right in the middle of the spectrum as far as .22 pellets are concerned. Also my rifle delivered just at 21 FPE with a mid range 0.177 pellet. So don't expect the rifle to favor the heaviest pellets in .22.
Anyway 26 FPE is plenty of juice to take small game up to and including racoons, groundhogs or even coyote with head shots at close range.
But now that I have it figured out I can give you more data. 
