RWS Diana 48 makes its 1st kill!!

[only1harry]

Litterally first kill.  The 48 .22 is a brand new gun that I have only had since Friday night.

The gun is still not scoped because I am trying to break it in and put at least 500-600 shots through it.  I am probably close to 275-300 pellets now so about half-way there   I have been shooting it with open sights and it amazes me how accurate it is.  I was confident I could get a squirrel with it no problem between 20 and 25yds. 

Today I was busy with work and didn't get to check the trees until about 12:30 just after Noon.  To my surprise there was a nutter in one of the trees 24-25yds out.  The love this particular tree in the Fall only, because it produces some good size nuts that takes them a little while to crack open.  They are sort of black & green and about the size of a quarter.  One of these days I will look them up.  They might be butternuts but I 'm not sure because they are usually eaten by the squirrels before they hit the ground.  I could hear the squirrel making that familiar noise with his teeth trying to crack it.  It sounds like a cricket, or a bug or someone rubbing 2 stones together very fast: "jeejeejee..".  After 1/2hr I still could not spot him.  Just too many leaves up in that tree and a lot of good cover for the squirrels.  All of a sudden another 2 squirrels come flying in from my right and end up in the same tree!  They chased away the 1st squirrel and they took over the tree.  The 1st one just kept going without stopping until he was off my property. 

Well another 30min. went by and I still could not get a shot with my new 48 .22 on one of these 2 newer squirrels but I could hear them up in the tree sharpening their teeth on these nuts and cracking them open.  But there was something different about these 2.  They would often run down the main tree trunk every time frequently with a nut in their mouth and then I 'd lose them again because one of the lower branches bents forward and hides the lower part of the tree trunk down to the ground.  I decided my position lacked promise and I needed to move, because 1hr has gone by, and I could not get a shot off at any of these squirrels running up & down this same tree.  I walked out of the porch and on to the staircase but had only made it down the 1st step (from the 2nd floor) when I spotted 1 of the squirrels on the ground near the same tree trying to open his nut.  He saw me and I froze.  It was just over 25yds out and sitting on my 25yd target - a log which still had paper on it I had been shooting just yesterday!  I quickly raised the 48 right where I was standing in the staircase without leaning on anything, and put the front sight's blade on its neck figuring if I 'm off a little it could hit the chest, or go the other way and hit the fusebox.  The 48 balanced beautifully off-hand and I squeezed its beautiful crisp and predictable trigger. I heard the ol' familiar "THUD" and the squirrel goes on its side and doesn't move!  I reloaded and climbed the 14ft tall hill a little behind my house until I got to it.  Distance was around 25.5yds.  There was a 3ft long stream of blood coming from the nutter when I got there.  The 14.3gr CP had hit it right in the neck!  I love this 48!!

It was a female and there was also some blood coming out of the ear, but you will see in the pics the shot was just behind the ear in the neck and it had broken her spine and hit a major artery.  It had been a while since I saw steady blood flow 3ft down the hill from a squirrel. I had a bridge call in 2min., so I grabbed the camera and snapped a few pics very quickly.  I would have liked to do a better job since it's the 48's 1st kill, but I was in a rush and messed it up with the chain link fence and all..  Next time I 'll have better "nature pics" of the 48 and its 2nd kill   Also the wood does not look as good in the pics, but they usually don't.  It's nothing fancy, but not too plain either.  The flash would come on at times making it look yellow in some pics   Well it is what it is, and I 'm just really proud of my 48 and very glad I finally got one. 
I recommend a 48 to anyone that likes Springers.  It balances in your hand unbelievably well for very accurate off-hand shooting which comes in very handy when you are hunting in the field.  I also tested it again through the Chrony just a little while ago and the velocity for all the pellets had gone up by almost 10fps!   It is now at 788fps avg. with CP's and 791 w/SD's.  My next shooting session will be with the Preds which were also up into the mid 760's from high 740's 200+pellets ago! That's 20.7fpe   So everything seems to be breaking in nicely.  I don't expect to see much more gains and I really don't want to.  19-20fpe was all I was hoping for, and it's right there where it's supposed to be with the 14.x pellets, so I am happy   I took pics of both sides..

[Tpatner412]

Awesome shooting with that new 48 Harry.  Congrats on the new blood

[Nomadic Pirate]

Man, ...you don't mess around !

[timegoat]

Very nice, Harry! Very very nice.

[only1harry]

Thanks guys!

No Manny I don't  I got this gun for hunting in the woods or when I go to the State Land or a private farm.  But I think it's too nice now.  The woods is semi-glossy and so smooth, I am afraid to take it, hehe  But I 'll have to.  It's the best gun I have right now to shoot off-hand or acquire the target quickly.  I cannot believe the awesome balance of this gun.  It is well beyond my expectations.  I don't understand how the front sight just doesn't move up or down when I hold this almost 9lb gun off-hand ready to shoot.  It just stays on target so easily, so it must be about its center of gravity.  I 'm only going to put a fixed 4x or 6x scope on the 48 for easy acquisition.  I also like how it stays on target through the shot cylce.  It really surprised me for a 20fpe gun.  It doesn't have anywhere near the recoil of the 350 or any torque(ing) at all.  The front of the gun just slightly goes up very very little (due to the weight I guess) and then back down to the target so you can actually see hitting the critter.  When I used to shoot my 350 .22 or my 350 .177 now, I completely lose sight of the target and the muzzle of the gun could end up anywhere after the shot cycled through. Not with the 48/52!  
Now I definitely need to look at getting a 54 since I am starting to really like side-levers  The 54 has got to be an awesome Springer.  All it needs is a sling for its 10bs    I 'll be putting a sling on the 48 very soon!

[longislandhunter]

Congrats on the harvest Harry.  Rifle sure is a looker.  As for being to pretty to take into the woods...  she's a born hunter Harry,, please don't make her a "closet queen".  Take her out into the woods an introduce her to the wild nutters 

Jeff

[Mebits]

I don't think I could have made that shot with mine, I can tell you. Maybe 30 years ago with my Blue Streak. Maybe. Probably with my Weatherby .22, though.

That was my favorite target spot, back when I was a squirrel hunter. They just stop and drop.

Nice shooting.

[dk1677]

Ok now I can say it Harry  Nice shooting and great way to break it in!

[Lochlainn]

Nice shooting! Another one for the pot

[only1harry]

Thanks guys!  
Dave, I bet you were waiting with your fingers on the keyboard to type it    

She definitely won't become a closet queen Jeff.  I am planning on installing swivel studs so I can comfortably walk around with it.  It's not a gun you want to carry in your arms for more than an hour after it gets scoped and goes up to 10lbs, maybe more.  It's funny.. P/A's web site says 8.5lbs but I looked at the owner's manual and the RWS tag that was hanging from the trigger guard and they state 9lbs.  P/A deceiving people again..  I could tell it was a little heavier than the 350 by a little more than 0.3lbs.. but I 'm used to it.  It's around the same weight as an average adult Groundhog

Speaking of G-hogs, that blond G-hog has not moved into my property yet.  I saw yesterday morning in the neighbor's and it was running the other way!  The neighbor has been out all weekend and this week working on a couple of his cars and my wife has been doing a lot of gardening outside, so I think he decided there was too much "traffic" around here, and thought he 'd try a new spot down the street.  That's ok.  At least I know he is around and he/she should breed in the Spring to keep me busy in the off-season

Tomorrow my wife is going out shopping with her sister most of the day so I 'll cook this one up along with the other one from 3 days ago and I will have a very nice meal.  I 'm going out to get some veggies tonight   It's also nice to know I have 2 other squirrels 

[daveshoot]

Nice shooting, with a very nice rifle.  You certainly broke it in with authority.

I love my '48- and I'm still shooting it open sights as well. Somewhere I got the fancy droop compensator mount for it but never got around to choosing the lucky tube that will sit on top of it.

[longislandhunter]

Harry, you're going to love  it when you get a sling on the 48.  I installed a nice sling on mine and it makes so nice when you're out on long hunts.  You can hunt all day long with a sling equipped 48

Jeff

[Atchman2]

You guys would like putting a sling on a cinder block too I suppose?   Great shooting man! 

Paul Capello on his show filed down the front sight of his 48 so it wouldn't be so blocky.  I'm not sure if a B21 has the same sights but to me they are just really too large for shooting accurately.  I guess you have them figured out though! 

The droop compensating mounts are really good for the 48/B21.  However, to me at least, they put the scope too far forward.  If mine wouldn't move, I'd put regular mounts on it, but it was shredding them and breaking the stop pins off. 

I'm just guessing a "real" 48 is a much superior rifle to the clone.  Again, I wish I had held out for the real thing, but I only have $70 in mine   I can suffer a little for that. 

[longislandhunter]

I used an accushot 1 piece mount and just shimmed it a bit with some 35 mm film negative to take care of the droop (which was very slight on my 48).

Jeff

[only1harry]

Thanks guys.

Yes, most likely I will be ordering the UTG Weaver base with the droop compensation, but what if my 48 does not have much droop at all?  Shimming would be another option so don't have to max out the scope's settings. We 'll see.  I can't really tell if it has droop by looking at it.  It's not as easy to tell as with my 350's and 36.  I think it's because the 48's barrel is a lot wider in diameter and shorter in length, making it hard to tell.  I am thinking about a Hawke Airmax or one of their other scopes, or a Leapers. 

[timegoat]

You might not need the droop compensation mount. I've got one on Dorina and it works well with her 4x scope, but I had to order the flat UTG mount for Mori. Apparently she doesn't droop at all. I love those mounts!

Dunno which way you should go for the 48, but at least they're not very expensive. Wait a sec... the 48 is a fixed barrel? Perhaps flat is the way to go?

- Mark

[only1harry]

Yes it's a fixed barrel and was thinking I may not need a droop-compensating base/mount.  I could not find the non-droop UTG Weaver base in P/A for the 48/52/54.   They only had the one with a 17" drop compensation at 30yds for the RWS side levers.  They list a non-droop one for the Diana break-barrels only.  It must be the stop holes in the dove rail are in different spots in B/B's than on the side-levers.  It's the only thing I can think of. 

[timegoat]

Is this the one? https://www.pyramydair.com/product/utg-sub-compact-ita-red-green-dot-sight-30mm-tube-weaver-picatinny?a=3897 That's the one I picked up for Mori.

Never thought about the holes in the rail. I just measured the holes on mine and as near as I can figure the centers of the holes are around 0.875" and 3.875" from the front of the rail and look to be about 0.2" in diameter. Perhaps that helps? I'm using and engineering ruler (inch divided into tenths) for the measurements.

Dunno why Diana would make rails different, but stranger things have happened.

- Mark

[shadow]

Fine shooting and pic's Harry and that's how you break em in. Ed

[only1harry]

Thanks brother Ed

Mark, yes that's the only one without droop compensation that I could find, but it says for RWS "break-barrels without droop..".  Maybe it's a mistake and they meant to say fits "most" RWS Diana rifles?  I will call them and ask if it fits the 48/52.