The RWS/Diana 48 Air Rifle

By Kris Whiteleather
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I couldn't resist the clearance price on a new Diana 48 last month, so a .25 caliber version showed up on my doorstep three days after my resolve failed. My current springer list consists of: Diana 25D .177, Beeman R-1 .177, Diana 350 .177, Diana 54 .22 and a Beeman Kodiak .25. From that list you can see that I have some experience with gentle plinkers and beastly monsters. My report takes that experience into account.

Note: This is an OUT-OF-THE-BOX review. This is my experience with a stock springer of zero modifications. I didn't even take it apart to de-grease or re-grease it. These musings are what you can expect to see when you get your new M48 in the post.

I started shopping for a more moderate powered .25 springer because the Kodiak was becoming dangerous. With the shortish hunting distances offered to me here (10-30 yards) the passthroughs from the Kodiak were ricocheting off of trees and coming back at me. Not exactly a fun event. It also meant that I could not ethically shoot a squirrel off of a branch for fear of the pellet doing some serious damage after coming out the other side. My quest was for a "hammer": a blunt, shock-inducing weapon that would be both deadly on squirrels, AND keep the pellet inside. My first thought was to get another Kodiak and have it detuned to 700 fps or so. But with the $800+ price tag for a new Kodiak, detuned and shipped back to me, the M48 for $270 seemed like an economical answer to my need.

At first blush the M48 looks tight, well-manicured and capable. After 25 rounds of Kodiak Match pellets, it finally quit smoking! Shooting the Kodiaks the M48 gave a solid "THUP!" every time the piston was released. There is NO spring vibration or twang in this stock M48. Pretty shocking since the complaints against ALL untamed springers seem to revolve around some sort of twang.

Likewise, the smoothness issues surrounding stock springers are null and void with this M48. I have never understood what "smoothness" meant, and even after shooting several tuned, magnum springers I cannot point to any particular improvement that could be called "smoothness". Initially there was something in the cocking stroke that felt like a dry spot on the chamber catching the seal. After several shots to distribute any lubricant inside, the dry spot was gone. Switching to Diana Magnum Domes meant raising the rear sight considerably. For spring longevity and a balance between trajectory and energy, the Diana Domes are the recommended diet. The "THUP!" has been replaced with a brighter "THWOCK!" but still the spring has no twang or vibration after the shot, even after 300 pellets.

A word about the sights, well they are fine for what they are, but boy that front post is huge. And because of its length from front to back it is nearly impossible to get a clear silhouette. I think all guns coming with sights should have a front sight that is hooded and with either a fixed lollipop or interchangeable inserts stamped out of thin steel. The stock sight looks like a 2 x 4 and is impossible to find a reliable POA from shot to shot.

I was initially short on mounts and scopes so had started shooting it with open sights. At 20 yards, supported but not benched, all the pellets would stay inside of those 2" blaze orange stick-on targets. They DID eat up all the orange part but still, considering my eyesight at that distance, the trouble with the sight picture mentioned above, and an unfamiliar trigger (T 05 version), it's pretty good. I could reliably toss pellets through a 2" circle with open sights at ranges out to 35 yards. Again, that is a limitation of my eyes, not the barrel.

Cocking the M48 is a breeze, and even without the "return-to-battery" movement of its brother, the M54, the motion is slick and satisfying. It is SO slick in fact that I am leery of letting the lever go since my brain keeps telling me that it is not latched. So far it always has been. Initially the cocking was tiresome, but after 200 rounds I noticed that on cocking it, I kept the butt in my lap and simultaneously pulled down on the lever while swinging the barrel to the left. That is one of the little tricks you learn to make a difficult task easy.

Now I have to admit to some hypocrisy. I have always scoffed at my Diana airgunning brethren looking for ways to replace their plastic parts with steel. It seemed an unnecessary extravagance when really the plastic parts were mere pawns in the game. But with experience finally with plastic on this M48 I must apologize to all those looking for steel replacements. The plastic safety does NOT convey any type of confidence. And the trigger actually flexes when squeezed, making me dread shooting it outside in the winter where I know it will snap off. Jeeze Louise, how much could it have cost to put a steel trigger in there? And the plastic, molded muzzle break just looks tacky. The one upside to the safety is that it is ABSOLUTELY silent. No more "snick" of the metal safety (like Kodiak, 54, R-1, etc) to tell a wary squirrel that he is about to become freezer meat.

With regard to recoil…there really is none to speak of. For me, "recoil" is not so much a thing unto itself as much as it is a thing that might affect my ability to shoot accurately. So, when I say there is no recoil what I mean is that the recoil does not have any effect on my shooting it accurately. What little movement there is after the shot is considerably less than with the Kodiak or even the Diana 350. If I shoot the M48 with my eyes closed so that I can concentrate on the trigger and the movement, it is clear that the trigger will move sideways with very little effort. It also became clear that the gun rotates clockwise on the shot. When concentrating on a target, my brain seems to ignore the trigger and compensate for the rotation.

Power? I will simply compare it to my Kodiak in .25. I won't bother with a string of chrony numbers since you don't have my Kodiak or my M48. You can go to www.straightshooters.com for a comparison of both models owned by that company. It will mean as much.

At 20 yards, the M48 will send a Diana Dome or Kodiak Match pellet into a 3/8 inch piece of standard plywood with just enough force to cause a bump on the back side. No splinters and no cracks, just a nice smooth bump. The Kodiak, on the other hand, will blow both pellets right through. That is a fine illustration that the upper limit of the M48 is mere childsplay for the Kodiak. I can get the M48 to punch pellet through the plywood, but have to get to 10 yards anyone shooting into wood at 10 yards on a regular basis is nuts. Expecially with the springs in these magnum rifles pushing a 21-30 grain lump of lead. I had wanted to compare the Hornady #3 shot as well. These roundballs fly very well from the Kodiak, and I use them almost exclusively on squirrels. Sadly, the Hornady shot is too loose in the 48. The throat is fine, but once past the throat, the shot will roll forward almost .25". That means that the shot is ALWAYS a loose fit. The firing is very harsh and loud, while the flight is erratic. In fact, if you are overzealous when loading your pellets, you can also shove them past the throat where they will become loose.

My Beeman 5040 mount arrived. I promptly snugged it down on the M48, and strapped in a Bushnell Trophy 6-18x. OYE! Such a H EADACHE I got! The M48 in my hot little hands has a drooped barrel. I understand this is done so that European shooters can use them in 10m competition with a peep…but JEEZE LOUISE! This is a .25 caliber monster souped up to US magnum springer standards and about as pointless for 10m as a Nitro Express. Feh!

Ok, so the 5040 comes off and my trusty RWS C-Mount goes on. The RWS C-Mount is adjustable for elevation and windage, and it is much, Much, MUCH simpler that the BSquare adjustables that are the bane of my existence (you can make all the adjustments of the RWS mount while the scope is installed with ONE wrench. For the BSquare unit you have to remove the scope each time to adjust the elevation of the mount, and need to wrangle 8 tiny screws to adjust the windage!). Windage adjustment was negligible, but elevation adjustment was pretty severe. I needed to RAISE the REAR ring almost .25 inches to get a zero point for my optically centered scope.

I adjust for the droop and zero in at 20 yards. Voila! The Bushnell Trophy 6-18 brought out the consistency that is familiar to fans of Dianawerks rifles. Ragged one-holers at 10, 15, and 20 yards with the same zero. Nice. Off hand shooting I scored a 35 on the standard 50' NRA Indoor Silhouette paper targets. That is pretty good considering that I am scoring in the mid 40s using my Kimber .22lr which has a nicer trigger and more range time in my hands.

At 30 yards I was printing cloverleaves just a hair high of my POA with the same zero. Pretty nice, and more than adequate for plinking steel or hunting squirrels. Would I hunt with this rifle at 30+ yards? You bet. Just because I couldn't get it to toss 5 pellets through the exact same hole at 30+ yards does NOT mean it is unsuitable for hunting. When you hurtle a 21grain, .25" wide lump of lead at a rabbit or squirrel, being off by .25 or .5 inches in any direction does not mean a whole lot.

It was too cold to do the whole yardage breakdown, so I dialed the Bushnell to 100 yards and let her rip. The zero I had set was so versatile I did not want to move it. At somewhere between a 12" and 15" holdover I was able to drop pellets into the 8" circle target. Pellets were strung out for about 10" up and down, but windage was great. Keep in mind that I was shooting 100 yards with an 18x scope and using a "splotch" of mud as POA. The mud splotch was bigger than a dinner plate offering a LOT of room for error, so this was by NO means rocket science. After visiting the target, estimating what was happening due to wind versus my error, I stapled a Poland Spring water bottle to the target. I needed something that would move or at least give me a more specific sound when hit. I should note that all the pellets were firmly embedded in the 3/8" plywood target backer. There was no bump on the back of the wood, but remember this is at 100 yards! Each pellet had penetrated just deep enough to hold the head and half the skirt. The rest of the skirt had sort of splayed forward around the head. Pretty nice for plinking, but this will never replace .22lr for hunting woodchucks at 100 yards.

Jogging back to my rifle and taking aim at the bottle using my mud splotch POA, my first off-hand shot missed. Remembering the way the pellets were strung out, I moved my POA slightly "upwind" and shot again. This second shot made the bottle swing to the right. That means I had to move even MORE upwind. The third shot blew the bottle off of the backstop. Pretty amazing. It was one of those springgun experiences that make you say "Why did I wait until so late in life to start shooting airguns"?

My plan, as always, is to shoot this M48 until something breaks then send it off to Russ. For now, however, it is a fine addition to my springer fun box.

So the take home of the Diana 48 in .25 is this:

 

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