177 Pellet Recommendation Diana 56 TH

douginont

douginont

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My airgun is on the way and was wondering what is being used with success with the Diana 54 or 56 TH. Both seem to be closely related.
Youtube is not very helpful. At 15 -25$ per tin, it's a tad expensive to sample what's available.
Thanks in advance.
 
Assuming it is a PAL airgun, that is a magnum springer. You would be best to sit middle road for weight. Crosman premier, JSB exact, H&N field target or another round nosed pellet in the 8-9gn weight would be where I'd start. Some guns are pellet fussy some shoot everything. I'd avoid lighter weight pellets (anything 7gn or lower) as well as the heavies (+11 gn) but in between you may find what it likes.
 
Hi
You are gong to want a pellet weight that the gun shoots under 1000fps,preferably in the mid 900's.
This may mean you are going to be shooting heavier pellets.
See if you can order a sample pack of H&N or JSB's
Also, as you might already know the 54 and 56 models are scope killers,no recoil to the shooter because of the moving sledge system, but all that energy hits the scope and mount.
Good luck!
 
I have owned a few PAL rated air rifles in my life and have come to find a few brands and models of pellets pretty decent for .177:

RWS Hobby
RWS Meisterkugeln

I have recently started using some Sig Sauer pellets, Venom and Zero.

Venom in particular has performed well - think it is 8 grain or so.

The Crosman Premiers are popular and have a lower price point. I find the match ones decent.
 
douginont said:
My airgun is on the way and was wondering what is being used with success with the Diana 54 or 56 TH. Both seem to be closely related.
Youtube is not very helpful. At 15 -25$ per tin, it's a tad expensive to sample what's available.
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

D&L Airgun have some sampler packs from RWS and H&N. The H&N packs give you 215 pellets total across 5 types. RWS gives you 500 pellets total across 5 types (100 of each).

That would seem like a good start to finding a pellet. Are you using it for hunting, field target, or something else?
 
H&N have "sampler" packs for different pellets (FT/Hunting). Jocelyn (Cible target Canada, nikkonos on Ebay) is a good guy to deal with.

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Have used these in my Diana 45 for 15 years with EXceptional results in accuracy and knock down power to 50 yards - easily!

>> H&N Silver Point Airgun Pellets 0.177 Cal, 11.57 Grains, Pointed, 500 Count
 
Those are interesting tolerances for the size of the pellets. To the hundredth of a millimeter. I'm curious to know how realistic that is with a lead pellet that I think will be deformed way more than that by the time its inserted into the chamber (is that what's it called when discussing a springer?)

The last H&N tin I purchased online had a crushed lid when I received it. The supplier explained that sometimes the H&N tins come crushed due to their weight when they stack them on top of each other (think pringles can) and then shrink wrapped for shipping. My tin was still in the shrink wrapping (it was the bottom tin) so it made sense. If the tins are getting crushed, what's happening to the soft lead?
 
gr8trapper said:
Those are interesting tolerances for the size of the pellets. To the hundredth of a millimeter. I'm curious to know how realistic that is with a lead pellet that I think will be deformed way more than that by the time its inserted into the chamber (is that what's it called when discussing a springer?)

The last H&N tin I purchased online had a crushed lid when I received it. The supplier explained that sometimes the H&N tins come crushed due to their weight when they stack them on top of each other (think pringles can) and then shrink wrapped for shipping. My tin was still in the shrink wrapping (it was the bottom tin) so it made sense. If the tins are getting crushed, what's happening to the soft lead?
Click to expand...

If you are a serious shooter you sort your pellets.
There are devices out there with holes varying by a hundredth of a millimeter that will sort pellets by diameter.(4.50,4.51,4.52, etc.)
Competitive shooters inspect all the pellets they will be shooting and discard or save for plinking any that are damaged or the wrong head size.
Match pellets are individually separated in a foam tray in a tin.
When I order JSB Exact pellets I get 4.52 dia , I find they shoot the most consistent in my HW97 KT.
Smashed/crushed/damaged tins are really not acceptable, the supplier should be protecting them better.
 
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I tend to gravitate to heavy pellets for guns in that speed range.

The reason is that heavier pellets have thicker skirts. Thicker skirts handle the high pressures without deformation better than lighter pellets.

I did try a set of those forming dies to control the diameter and that was a waste of money.... don't bother with that.
 
Maple57 said:
I tend to gravitate to heavy pellets for guns in that speed range.

The reason is that heavier pellets have thicker skirts. Thicker skirts handle the high pressures without deformation better than lighter pellets.

I did try a set of those forming dies to control the diameter and that was a waste of money.... don't bother with that.
Click to expand...

The rig I mentioned does not form the pellet, it just separates different head sizes that arrive in the same tin
Basically a metal sheet with various sized holes drilled in it that corresponding size pellets fall through.
 
Many Diana /RWS airguns like RWS pellets although H+N and JSB are also great pellets.In a magnum powered gun especially in .177 use heavier pellets like Kodiaks etc. I used 10.5gr Crosman heavies in a RWS 350/.177 I once had.Body shot grouse didn't even flap just fell over paralyzed.JSB Predators are killers too.
 
flyr said:
Hi
You are gong to want a pellet weight that the gun shoots under 1000fps,preferably in the mid 900's.
This may mean you are going to be shooting heavier pellets.
See if you can order a sample pack of H&N or JSB's
Also, as you might already know the 54 and 56 models are scope killers,no recoil to the shooter because of the moving sledge system, but all that energy hits the scope and mount.
Good luck!
Click to expand...

I thought the whole idea of the sled thing was to save the scope and help with accuracy . Felt recoil to the shooter is almost non existent even with a magnum springer . The jump of the spring is what effects accuracy and kills scopes. But I have never owned one of these guns with the sled system, so maybe I’m all wrong . I do own a Diana model 48 though. Same gun as the 54 minus the sled recoil system. Had it about 5 years now and have a few thousand pellets through it, and my Hawke scope is still holding zero with no issues .
 
Rokon1976 said:
I thought the whole idea of the sled thing was to save the scope and help with accuracy . Felt recoil to the shooter is almost non existent even with a magnum springer . The jump of the spring is what effects accuracy and kills scopes. But I have never owned one of these guns with the sled system, so maybe I’m all wrong . I do own a Diana model 48 though. Same gun as the 54 minus the sled recoil system. Had it about 5 years now and have a few thousand pellets through it, and my Hawke scope is still holding zero with no issues .
Click to expand...

The sledge system removes some of the guns weight from the equation, and most of the the recoil energy goes to the scope on the moving sledge.
The weight of your 48 helps slow down the recoil impulse and mitigates a bit of shock to the scope.
Hawke scopes are usually pretty tough.
 
I did buy an assortment of pellets from 8.4 gr to 10.5. I may buy something in the 11 gr. mentioned in another post here. Still waiting to get this paper puncher working. I bought an Element Helix SFP for a .22lr but figured it was better used on this platform. Guys calling it a scope killer has me worried because I thought it was recoiless. The scope is springer rated and sold by an airgun dealer in Peterborough. I tried to buy pellets from the airgun forum and even though I have a log in name, it wouldn't recognize me. 3-4 attempts and the frustration factor peaked.
Thanks for the input.
Cheers.
 
It's recoilless for the shooter. The barrelled action rides in a sledge. When the gun is fired, the whole assembly on the sledge recoils inside the stock, minimizing the force transmitted to the stock and the shooter.

Since the scope is mounted to the spring tube, it will recoil together with the action. I suspect it's actually experiencing more force and movement than in a gun without the sledge system like the Diana 48 since there's more mass (that of the stock itself) absorbing the recoil impulse when the action is rigidly mounted in the stock.

Video here (already keyed to the timestamp just before the shot):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWxN8Of5BLA&t=227s
 
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My Diana likes H&N FTTs but its not a magnum. I would look at H&N for sure Barracudas were the ones mention on the box when I got my 280
 
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