The Diana Air King Pro Is Back Again!
Fans of the Diana Model 54 will be delighted to hear that fresh supplies of the latest version of this classic air rifle are shipping to dealers in the USA. It’s called the Diana Air King Pro and HAM readers first saw a peak of it back in this 2020 SHOT Show report.
The Diana 54 Airking Pro model is the latest – and greatest – iteration of the Model 54. It’s available with a choice of stocks: traditional beech, or the incredibly stylish red/black laminate version we have here.
This is an unusual air rifle. It’s a sidelever-cocking springer with a fixed barrel. But more than that, it’s a powerful, “recoilless-feeling”, non-PCP!
Well, actually, the Model 54 action does have a strong recoil. It could hardly be otherwise with such a powerful spring/piston air rifle. However, when fired, the Model 54’s action slides back in the stock in a controlled fashion. This insulates the shooter from the recoil.
So yes, there’s recoil. But no: you don’t feel it much at all.
But – being firmly mounted to the action – the scope will take the full force of both the forward and reverse recoil when the Air King is fired. So it’s essential to fit an “airgun capable” scope to any Diana Model 54.
We mounted a new Hawke Airmax 30 WA SF 4-16 x 50 scope to our Diana 54 Airking Pro. This scope is built to withstand the recoil of powerful springers. For rings, we used Hawke Match Ring Mounts.
Surprisingly, perhaps, the Airking Pro does not feature a Picatinny scope rail. It uses traditional 11 mm/ 3/8-Inch airgun/rimfire scope mounting rails.
So, it’s vital that the rear scope ring has its scope stop screw securely located in the corresponding stop pin hole in the scope rail. This will prevent the scope moving due to the gun’s recoil.
Apart from being beautiful, the Model 54 is a long, large and heavy air rifle. With the Hawke scope mounted, the gun you see here weighs-in at no less than 12 Lbs 7 Oz. The overall length is 44.25 Inches. You need to be strong to shoot this gun!
The manufacturer claims a maximum Muzzle Velocity of 1,100 PFS in .177 caliber and 900 FPS in .22 cal. HAM will be testing this, of course.
As expected, this German-manufactured air rifle includes Diana’s T06 trigger, together with a set of open sights. The rear sight provides both elevation and windage capability. At the muzzle, the front sight provides additional elevation capability.
If you’re using a scope, Diana also provides a plain muzzle weight. We installed that as this HAM test gun will be shot scoped so that we can fully explore its accuracy potential.
HAM specialist springer tester Eric Brewer can hardly wait to get his hands on this gun! We’ll be carrying his full review in Hard Air Magazine in the near future…
