Diana Model 430L .177

I read reviews before I buy products, a lot. I've always been a touch it, feel it, play with it, buy it in person with cash kind of guy. Up u til recently that is, when I realized some things you gotta look far and wide for, and that why I like reviews. I've always wanted a Diana as a kid, ans so when my kid showed an interest in air rifles and hunting I just couldn't pass up the deal on the Diana 430L at AOA. First time customer. Gun arrived in PA in absolutely gorgeous appearance and double boxed, along with a chrony test ticket showing a stamdard deviation of about 6fps at just over 800fps with some fancy jagermeisterkeugle jagerknaut pellets. Anyway, ...whatever.

Negative things I read about; barrel droop, cocking effort. True. These are prevelant. My 13 year can barely cock it. Big deal. He'll grow.
Also barrel droop, I mounted my trusty Simmons 3-9×40mm that had been on my Ruger M77ll 30.06 for 20 years onto this rifle with a one piece medium height 11mm scope mount. At 20 yards I could only zero to one inch low.... now onto the positve. ...

Here is the good stuff. Never have I ever owned or shot an air rifle that grouped well, and by well, meaning I've shot a Marlin .22 that you could hit a horse fly with at 100yds. Every pellet rifle I've come across shot at minute of golf ball or worse at 20-30yds. Now this rifle is new and far from being broken in, but after cleaning it with some cloth and a cut strip of weed wacker string, both my son and I were grouping inside a dime at 20yds just with some crosman pointed hunting pellets. I had several strings of 4 and 5 pellets touching or less than 1/4 inch group.

We've gone and purchased some small metal targets, and I've shimmed the rear of the scope with 2 business cards of thickness on the bottom. I believe after re-sighting the old scope, we'll have a winner that will hit well at least out to 50yds. Now, the only decision is what air rifle am I going ro get for myself. I almost want to get another 430L but I want some good small game power for possibly small game hunting at distances here in Pennsylvania.

Absolutely excellent rifle, excellent craftsmanship, nice heavy weight and balanced. Very accurate, just very nice. Shout out to Airguns of Arizona for having this in inventory at a great price even with $30 shipping, it came it perfect condition and so far so good.

To think people are spending this much on Gamo or whatever brand,or lesser quality air rifles because they say 1000fps or 125pfps with alloy pellets. Can't kill what you can't hit. What a strange world we live in.

In the land of Retail sales based mostly on Feet per Second this wonderfully crafted,highly accurate German made springer is a ship without a port. Fortunately, someone at AOA took a shot and imported some of these sub 12lb guns. I assume they didn’t get much attention at 360.00 price point for sub 1000fps. Luckily for some of us these rifles were discounted until finally they hit a Black Friday low of 149.00. I had to buy it. This rifle is worth its retail of 360.00. The wood, the blueing, the build quality, TO6 2 stage trigger and pride of ownership alone are worth the price of admission. The cocking effort is not as bad as some claimed. I think it got a bad rap due to the 15 inch barrel and shorter cocking mechanism on its predecessor model 430. This 17 inch barrel on the L gives just enough extra cocking lever to make it a non-issue. Shot cycle is smooth and will get better as all Diana’s do. Pellet on pellet and hasn’t even had a proper shoot and clean cycle. This gun is an heirloom. It will be talked about in the. Ext few years and for years after on GTA and the like. Once these 149.00 guns get out and get shot, tuned and shown off they WILL create their own used market that will no drought exceed selling prices new. I could be wrong of course but this rifle has been anchored off shore and AOA lifted the anchor and raised the jib. I believe it will sail as beautifully as the sail checkering on the stock. Now, please sell me a .20 or a .22 in that ballpark and I will come and swab the deck!

Recently purchased a RWS Diana 430L, an under lever spring-piston rifle (not the carbine) in .177 from AoA. It was my first experience with AoA and a good one. Their packaging was superb with foam padding all around the rifle in the first of two corrugated boxes. The shipment was for just shy of 2000 miles and came off with out a single issue.

The 430L was fitted out with an Hawke 3x9 40 AO scope in a RWS Drooper Mount and installed by AoA technicians. It was not sighted in but was tried out and a chronometer reading was done. Averaged about 800 fps, which was to be expected for this air rifle. The rifle was in perfect condition as received.

The 430L was perfectly blued and polished. The stock was flawless and the checkering was without fault. I applied and am still building up coats of Minwax on the beech wood and wipe the metal components down regularly with Sheath/Barrier oil. Other preparation involved oiling the hinge points and the air chamber with RWS Air Chamber Lube. Finally, I lapped the barrel with 50 strokes of a brush loaded with JB Bore Paste. This was followed by several dozen felt pellets, the last series of them were oiled with Sheath/Barrier oil until they came out clean.

After all this preparation work and an overnight for all things to dry and move about (particularly in the air chamber, the shooting began.

I started with H&N Excite wad cutters at 7.48 gr and switched to H&N Sniper Lights at 7.50 gr. Within about 4 bulls (40 shots) I was regularly in the black and quite often in the 10 Ring. The lower power of the 430L makes it quite accurate as well as the fixed barrel and the Hawke scope. It will improve with use and my returning to shooting in the basement range over the winter non-bicycling months.

Commentators have reflected on the weight and cocking effort required for the 430L. I don't agree with many of these assessments that both are more demanding than desired. As an avid springer shooter, and having an Hatsan M-135 and several RWS Magnum springers, I do not find the 430L either too heavy or hard to cock. If this 72 year old can hoist and cock it, there's no real issue.

What, therefore, the 430L offers is a very accurate spring rifle without the smack and vibration of magnum springers. The reports of heft are, in point of fact, what helps damp down the spring oscillations that are far more severe in my other RWS, Crosman and Hatsan pieces.

There was no registration that I found in the paperwork in the shipping container (which, by the way, I am keeping intact for any return for service). I utilized the UMAREX website for registration of the new 430L as UMAREX is the office repair vendor for RWS Diana in the US. No problems in getting it in the system whatsoever.

If the 430L is like the rest of my RWS fleet, it will only improve with time and use. Properly cared for, it will last for generations. My RWS M-136, for example, was purchased in June of '89 and has had three main springs and a complete rebuild in 2018. I has shot tens of thousands of rounds in its service life and just keeps going. I have come to think will shoot accurately anything one can fit in the bore! The Germans know how to make an heirloom air gun.

My final word is "Buy one of these before AoA realizes they are almost giving them away!" This is a great deal on a fine air arm.

JSB 8.44 gr 761 fps 10.9 fp muzzle energy + - . Accuracy for me .200 5 shot group 20 yards probably do better after some more practice . Forget light artillery hold, firm shoulder medium check , rest forearm open palm. Like others have stated surprised at cocking effort for a sub 12 fp gun . That being said , very nice fixed barrel rifle it is like a 460 magnum just a little smaller but not by much . Excellent build quality built like a tank . Looks like it will last several life times . This is not a cheap throw away gun . If you are in the market for a sub 12 fp .177 this is it , without breaking the bank. Plenty of power to take small pests got a starling at 38 yards no problem . Great for target shooting also . It is just what I was looking for a non magnum spring gun to do light pesting and target shooting .

Bought this rifle some weeks ago from AofA and have been hooked shooting it ever since. The D430L is giving me 1/4 inch groups using the inexpensive CP 7.9 Hollowpoints, velocity 830 FPS average and 12.9 foot pounds. I thought at first that this baby brother of the D460 - which I also have - was going to be to weak for hunting- that was disproved when I shot down two large 6 to 8 pound iguanas at 40 plus yards. The thing is that it doesn’t have the power of D34 or the HW95 but it’s only a couple of FP less , but the accuracy you can get with is pin point. My came with a Diana 3-9x40AO scope and the wonderful Diana Zero mount. I was really surprised to see that when I open the box the scope was mounted, adjusted and tested- excellent service from AofA. They had it on special the whole package for $270 plus shipping - what a birthday present! Have to mention that the box it came on was really impressive, foam all around, top and bottom, couldn’t bring myself to throw it away ; it’s the type of box I would expect for a $2,000 rifle - Diana is definitely doing thing right.
The only small defect I have found in the D430L is that the grub screw that tightens the muzzle break tended to come loose after a number of shots and this in turn would on occasions make the cocking rod come loose from is anchor. This small defect I repaired with blue locktite on the grub screw. The materials, finishing and the beautiful checkered wood stock are top of the the line and do not have to envy at all the other very expensive German and English springers. To me it’s just as good and accurate as the TX200. Maybe some day I’ll have it tuned but right now it’s shooting marvelously, hardly no twang for a springer that hasn’t been greased and it is not pellet fussy at all will shoot the HNs 8.64 or the Gamo 7.56 wad cutters great.
Almost forgot the rifle is a bit heavy specially with the scope I mentioned, but the accuracy is excellent. I have a collection of Diana’s and this one is one of the top ones on the list. Thank you AofA.

Once again AoA has put together a really great little Diana combo. The first one I purchased was the AM03 Stealth N-TEC combo, which proved to be so good that when I saw they had another one in their pre-owned section I told my buddy to snatch it up quickly (he did and loves it, too)!

This 430L combo is also really well put together and the price is amazing when you consider that the scope and mount alone would run you $192.00! When thought of in those terms, the rifle itself is only $78! I'm here to tell you that this is NOT a $78 "cheapo/budget" rifle. It is very high quality for the outlay. Is it a HW98? No, of course not. What it is, though, is a very well balanced, accurate, German made fixed-barrel hunting/pesting rifle. Its power level makes this a perfect rifle for squirrel/rabbit hunting in the woods. Mine has taken several of our state's endearing, yet hated pack rats on my property. They are terribly destructive creatures and this rifle makes dispatching them not only a breeze, but a pleasure. The last one was a head shot at 35 yards standing supported against a wall. If you need more accuracy than that for this price, then I don't know what to tell you.

Mine came with some pretty good looking wood and I have found the loading port to be generously sizeable for loading, even with my clumsy fingers. The trigger is the awesome T06 2-stage and has been upgraded to metal along with the safety. The cocking effort is, honestly, stiff but manageable. It's also a little heavy for the size and power to be carrying all day, but if you put a shotgun sling on it you won't know the difference.

All of the parts AoA has put together in this combo compliment each other very well. Being a moderately powered rifle (12ftp), the scope's magnification range is just about perfect for the distances that this rifle is made for and includes a parallax adjustment up front. The Diana Zero Recoil Mount included is really a very well thought-out and designed bit of kit and not at all a gimmick. I have several of these on my airguns and have had very good luck with them keeping firearms designed scopes from dying a horrible death on magnum springers.

I am constantly seeing posts on FB airgun groups asking for a decently priced springer for squirrels/pesting and I always suggest to them the Diana 430L combo from AoA. I think you would be hard-pressed to find a combo of this quality, accuracy, and that instills pride of ownership in this price range. It really is one of the hidden gems out there.

I switched to the 430L combo at the last moment when it was on sale for $259 . I wanted something accurate! First the pros. This gun is accurate, at least to the 30yrds I’ve tested. I need to take it somewhere I can get further, the scope is clear and bright and the bulls eye mount has spring, after I mounted the second time. Gun looks great, we’ll made with big area to get thumb in to load pellet.
The cons: heavy gun, and has a heavy pull to the caulking lever, I hope this gets lighter with time, not a small kids gun for sure. Had trouble with the mount at first install, it did not recoil so I uninstalled and reinstalled and working now. I need have to make shims to be able to zero in the scope but hitting within 1/4” at 30yrds on rest.
I’ve neyhad a break barrel so I thought the under barrel would stay true . Happy so far. Did I say this gun is heavy

Fit, finish, stock all very nice. The issue I had was the enormous cocking effort required for a less than 12 ft/lb rifle. Not an all day plinker unless you're King Kong, not a sub-adult rifle. I dumped mine, quickly.