{"id":6078,"date":"2021-03-29T09:00:19","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T16:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/?p=6078"},"modified":"2021-03-29T00:11:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-29T07:11:20","slug":"dianas-model-54-airking-pro-in-22-caliber","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/2021\/03\/dianas-model-54-airking-pro-in-22-caliber.html","title":{"rendered":"Diana\u2019s Model 54 Airking Pro in .22 Caliber"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The Diana Airking Pro sporting the new laminated stock<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Meet the new Diana Airking, a magnum class side-lever cocking,\nfixed-barrel, spring-piston tack driver made in Germany that any airgunner would\nbe proud to own. Available in either .177 or .22 caliber there is also the\noption for a natural beech stocked version or an eye-catching black and red\nlaminate stock. I\u2019ve liked laminated stocks since they first came on the scene for\nproduction rifles back in the late 80\u2019s (I understand laminated stocks were first\nplaced into service on German K98 carbines back in 1937\u2026). They aren\u2019t everyone\u2019s\ncup of tea, but have stayed the test of time due to their advantages. Not only\ncan they be had in a myriad of color combinations, they offer strength and\ndimensional stability over standard wood, plus resistance to damage from most\nchemical and environmental exposure. The flip side is that they add a small\namount of additional weight to the package. In the case of this Airking Pro\nover the beech stocked version we are talking less than one-half pound. The\nlaminate version is a hefty rifle at 10.25 pounds; however, it offers some\ngreat design features for someone in the market for an accurate fixed-barrel springer.\nThis one should not be overlooked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               First is\nthe well-respected T06 trigger, a two-stage adjustable unit that is smooth as\nall get-out. Second is Diana\u2019s \u201cRetrograde Brake Mechanism\u201d which claims to\nmake the Airking almost recoilless. The mechanism allows the entire receiver to\nslide backward 15mm upon firing, absorbing most of the recoiling force. Unfamiliar\nwith this technology, I thought it might be distracting, but it really wasn\u2019t\nand seems to do a great job of reducing the felt recoil. It is important to\nremember to account for this rearward movement when setting up the eye relief\ndistance on a scope. Third is the ratcheting anti-beartrap mechanism which I\nreally liked because it captures the cocking lever at multiple points in its\ntravel. Especially nice since the cocking effort on this gun is quite stout. It\nallows for a change in hand position for better leverage during the cocking\nstroke. Additionally, when closing the action there is a \u201cstair-step\u201d strip of\nmetal attached to the release lever on the left side of the action that limits\nthe lever from snapping back should the sear somehow get tripped. Being\nstepped, it stops the return of the lever along several points if the release\nis not held down until the lever is almost back alongside the receiver. Very\nclever and practical solution to a potentially dangerous problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Airking Pro “Retrograde Brake Mechanism” that absorbs recoil<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

               Other niceties\ninclude plenty of 11mm dovetail rail with several stop pin holes, an automatic\nsafety, a sling stud in the fore-end for attaching a bipod. There is no rear\nsling stud. The loading port provides a generous amount of room but longer\nscopes or scopes with large objective bells may get in the way. It is shipped\nwith a muzzle weight held in place by two socket head screws. A rear sight adjustable\nfor windage and elevation is attached to the receiver and in the kit is a muzzle\nweight with a front sight blade that can be moved along a ramp to adjust its\nheight. And, Diana provides a two-year warranty on the Airking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Airking Pro open loading port showing the stepped anti-beartrap mechanism<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

               Rated by\nDiana at 900fps velocity for the .22 and 1100fps for the .177, it is powerful\nand would make a great hunting rifle for small game. The rifled barrel of the\nAirking is 17.3 inches long with an overall length coming in at 44 inches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               The only\ndrawbacks to the Airking so far have been its long, heavy cocking stroke; I\u2019m a\nfull-grown adult male and find it a good workout to cock this thing. Hopefully,\nit will become a bit easier as the gun breaks in. The other relates to the Owner\u2019s\nManual, which is actually just a pamphlet. The instructions are relatively\nclear, but it references the T05 trigger rather than the T06, which has more\nadjustability to it and that information is missing. Second, there is a small,\nnumbered schematic on the back and no corresponding parts listing, so that might\nhave been a nice touch if it had been complete.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

               Spring-piston\nguns typically require a break-in period of several hundred rounds. Where I\nlive the weather has been less than conducive to me being out on my range as it\nwas buried under feet of snow, plus this is getting rather lengthy, so I will\nbreak this review blog into two parts and follow up next month with how it\nhandled and shot. Stay tuned\u2026\n\nBecause it is so new to the\nmarket, AofA doesn\u2019t even have a page on it up on their website yet. I hope I\u2019ve\nwhetted your appetite and if you are interested in one of these Diana Airking\nrifles right away, please give them a call at 480-461-1113 and I know they will\nbe happy to speak with you about it.  \n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Meet the new Diana Airking, a magnum class side-lever cocking, fixed-barrel, spring-piston tack driver made in Germany that any airgunner would be proud to own. Available in either .177 or .22 caliber there is also the option for a natural beech stocked version or an eye-catching black and red laminate stock. I\u2019ve liked laminated stocks…»<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6078"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6086,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6078\/revisions\/6086"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.airgunsofarizona.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}