The Diana two forty.
This report covers:
- BB scolds
- Yes, it is a two forty
- The rifle
- Hand of China
- Plastic?
- Finish
- Sights
- Trigger
- Why?
BB scolds
This report will start with a scolding from BB. Shame on you, Pyramyd AIR, for listing the Diana two forty air rifle you sell as a Diana 240. That’s what I criticized Midway USA for last Thursday. Then a reader showed me on Friday that YOU ALSO list it that way! Shame, shame, shame!
I would have bought the rifle from you if I had found it on your website, but because you are Pyramyd AIR I never thought to look for a Diana 240. If Edith was still doing your descriptions that would never have happened.
Yes, it is a two forty
I thought that perhaps in the year Midway has been selling the rifle that Diana had shortened the name to 240. But when the lithographed box from Midway came out of the outer cardboard box the end flap said two forty.
The end flap on the box says Diana two forty.
Okay, well perhaps the laser etching on the rifle’s spring tube has changed and the box art hasn’t caught up? No, again.
Sorry, Pyramyd AIR. The name has not changed. You need to change the title of your description.
Here is the deal, computers can’t read. Enter one wrong character into computer code and the whole thing doesn’t work. And it’s the same for the titles of items for sale. List a two forty as a 240 or as a two 40, like I have seen and potential customers will never know you have it. If you want to sell something people have to know you have it.
The rifle
What we are looking at today is a .177-caliber breakbarrel air rifle that Diana has made for them in China. It’s a youth-powered (read as under 600 f.p.s.) breakbarrel that’s sized well for teenagers and adults with a 13-3/4-inch pull.
The stock is profiled very full, so it fills the hand well. Add the pull to that and it feels just like an adult air rifle.
The weight is 6 pounds, but the wood stock means that number is approximate. The Pyramyd specs say the cocking effort is 20 pounds, and I intend testing that. The force required is light though.
Hand of China
Do I see any evidence of Chinese quality in the two forty? Yes, I see a little. The black plastic butt plate doesn’t meet the buttstock that well. The wood spent too much time on the belt sander.
I went over the rifle and looked critically at everything. The fit of the butt plate is the only place where the hand of China shows.
The wood is evenly stained with no wood filler that Chinese air rifles typically have. In fact the wood is so finely finished that I suspected it was a photograph, so I looked inside the cocking slot and saw unfinished wood with the same grain pattern.
Plastic?
Yes there are plastic parts on the two forty. The entire front sight and its base are plastic, as are some of the rear sight parts. The cap that covers the end of the spring tube is also plastic. The trigger guard is also plastic but the trigger is solid steel.
On the other hand the stock is genuine wood. That’s something many manufacturers say is impossible to offer at this price.
Finish
The metal is finished an even matte over all surfaces. The barrel locks up with a ball bearing detent and was hard to open out of the box. But having just worked on RidgeRunner’s Diana 34 that had the same problem, I lubricated the ball and got it opening easily after several attempts.
Sights
The rear sight is adjustable in both directions. It has click detents that are both heard and felt, and I want to point out that this is another thing that some people said was impossible to do at this price.
The two forty rear sight is everything we want, except for the fiberoptics.
The front sight is pretty typical, as well. It is permanent on the rifle. I will point out that this photo was taken without flash, so that front fiberoptic tube is bright!
The spring tube also has 11 mm dovetails and a single scope stop hole.
Trigger
The trigger is two stage and non-adjustable. I can tell you now that it has a nice feel, but In Part 2 I will give the specifics.
Why?
The Diana two forty fills a very large niche as a pellet rifle that’s affordable new and an all-day airgun on top of that. It’s ideal for everyone who just wants an air rifle to plink with.
I look forward to this series and perhaps we will go beyond what’s just traditional.
BB,
So, do you see this rifle as possibly filling in the niche left by the loss of the availability of the Bronco?
It looks like a sweet little rifle, especially for its price point.
Blessings to you,
dave
Brother dave,
I do see this rifle as a replacement for the Bronco. I hope testing will prove me right.
BB
I hope so, too. 😉
Dave and BB,
This springer could replace the Bronco if it, ‘at least,’ had the sights below.
/images/PY-4416_Embark-Youth-Air-Rifle_1495049520.jpg
Fish
Tom,
I’m so glad that Diana did not go the way of Gamo and make the breech block also made of plastic.
Siraniko
BB,
/product/diana-240-classic-air-rifle?m=4163#7953
On the link that you mentioned in todays blog, Pyramyd AIR calls the rifle Diana 240 Classic Air Rifle, because it is the ORIGINAL Diana 240 Classic Air Rifle – It was the one made in Germany, not the Chinese two forty. If you deeply look at the photos on the link of the product, you’ll see the logo of the beautiful Goddess of the hunt, Diana. It has the adjustable trigger as well. It says made in Germany. Also check the product number. That one is not the made in China model!
That page has been like that since before the Pandemic. Prior to 2020, the original made in Germany Diana 240 Classic Air Rifle was sold for $149.99 on the Pyramyd AIR website. It says $99.99, because just before the inventory of the original item was depleted, there was a sale for $99.99 – And since then, that page has not been changed / updated.
In 2017, you wrote a report on that one:
/blog/2017/02/diana-240-classispart-1/
Fish
BB,
And that Diana 240 Classic is the air rifle that I want to see with the same open sights on Diana 350 Magnum Premium.
So, get the sights on this one:
/images/PY-396_Diana-RWS-350-Magnum_1538665835.jpg
And put them on this one:
/images/PY-4163_Diana-240-Classic-Air_1468607851.jpg
Then sell with a price tag under $250!
Fish
BB,
You said “…Pyramyd AIR, for listing the Diana two forty air rifle you sell as a Diana 240…”
You were, pretty much, saying the same thing in the blog, and I missed that part. Sorry.
Fish
BB,
You see, I was under the impression that PA would still continue selling the made in Germany Diana 240 Classic.
I thought $99.99 was an old sale for the 240 – not the new pricing for the two forty. Please, accept my sincere apology. I didn’t mean to cause any misunderstandings.
Fish
Ok best scenario…..
Junior gets it for his 10th Birthday. Has it 10 years, 10,000 pellets though of reasonable accurate plinking.
Then what??
Land fill, recycle? Junior has gone off to college and now only cares about 100 yard benchrest.
Worst case scenario, Junior looses interest and the gun meets a similar fate 9 and a half years earlier.
Buy quality one time and keep it for awhile.
B.B. How old is your truck again? How many miles?
-Y
Yogi,
My Tundra is a 2006 and has 101,000 miles. Why?
BB
BB,
My Ford Ranger is a 2004, I put over 200,000 miles on it and just had another engine put in.
BB,
It’s rather sneaky, borderline fraudulent even, for Diana to name the Chinese copy of the Diana 240 as the two forty.
Try calling your local gunstore and asking them over the phone if they stock the 240 or the two forty.
Someone in Diana’s marketing department deserves a slap for obscuring the difference between the two guns in semantics.
Even that master marketeer of adult airguns, Bob Beeman didn’t call his Chinese knock-off of the P3 (Weihrauch HW40) the Pee Three, but the P17.
The plastic isn’t new at all. The German-made 24c I had before the HW30S also had the plastic trigger and spring cap, although compared to both the Two Forty and 240 Classic, the 24c didn’t have a buttplate at all.
Cheers,
Nathan
Nathan,
The plastic safeties, trigger blades and end caps, even in premium models, is why Diana cannot beat Weihrauch when it comes to quality of rifle finish.
Ah pooky! Nowhere do I see a picture of the Diana 240 Classic that has the goddess Diana on it or “Made In Germany”. I did find where BB had done a review of it.
I stand corrected. After looking VERY carefully at the picture on the PA website I do indeed see the goddess Diana.
Tom,
So I gather Pyramyd AIR does not yet carry this air rifle. Of course if it ends up being a good shooter at an afforadble price, my opinion is they shoud indeed carry it. As you and others have bemoaned, the issue is Diana naming the product so that it can and will be confused with the established, German-made Model 240.
Something I have yet to see on air gun retailer websites is a “country of origin” phrase in the list of specifications. This is something a few major guitar retailers put in their copy for each model. Typical of this global-economics world, guitar manufacturers often market pro-grade, expensive guitars made in America, Canada, Europe, or Japan as well as budget line guitars made in Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, and China. The largest online retailer of guitars, Musician’s Friend, identifies country of origin in the last line of a guitar’s specifications.
From Musician’s Friend:
Michael
Michael,
No, PA carries it but it’s out of stock.
BB
BB,
So are you telling us that PA uses the photos of 240 Classic, the name ‘240 Classic’ – and yet, ships the customer a two forty?
In the Q&A section, it says, ‘made in Germany.’
Now, I see what you said. If that’s the case, then please ignore my earlier comments.
I hardly doubt PA will make such an error though. I think what’s going on is, PA hasn’t had the two forty in the inventory yet, and I bet the photos, name and info will be updated as soon as the first two forty arrives to the warehouse. But still, if I preordered it now, I would be under the impression that I were ordering a Diana 240 Classic, not two forty.
I think Diana should get rid of the name ‘two forty,’ along with the fiberoptics.
Fish
Fish,
You are going to end up with a two forty. The Maximus was not in stock for a long time before PA finally dropped it.
Tom,
I think Pyramyd air should include country of origin in its list of specifications. It need not be large print, but many of the folks who shop for air guns are also the sort of folks for whom “Made in USA” is of significance. Consider how many times in the Q&A sections that question is asked.
I have no problem with a quality product coming from China. I own quite a few Chinese air guns. But I also very much respect it when retailers are straightforward when a product is of foreign manufacture, especially if the brand is an old, established, western one.
Michael
Michael,
They should change the name to two-forty and replace the photos of 240 with two-forty’s. Also the info like Q&A, manual, diagram, and etc… should be updated. I really thought PA would continue selling the 240; you know sometimes some particular models are avaliable only through certain vendors kinda thing.
Fish
Fish,
Good points all.
Recent history shows that low-powered youth/adult springers are a tough sell if they are pricey. Even if they are medium-priced, like the Bronco was, they don’t sell in large numbers. The low-knowledge air gun shopper who wants to plink and teach his kid how to shoot looks at $150 springer air rifles and sees one that is mostly wood and metal but has a maximum velocity of 600 fps. and several others that have maximum velocities anywhere from 800-1000 fps. Being a low-knowledge airgunner, he doesn’t realize that the powerful rifles will be much harder to cock and thereby discourage plinking by adults and learning to shoot by youngsters. The extra power is useless for plinking, and it is unlikely to be as accurate and/or calm-shooting as the better-made, less powerful model.
The HW30s is an outright classic and has a niche among higher knowledge airgunners who will save up for an heirloom quality air rifle as well as those who have the extra disposable cash for a European metal and wood air gun. Lower powered Dianas fit the same bill for discerning airgunners who are looking for value for their dollar.
Tom has written about this many times. Regulars readers here know this by now because he has taught us. But the average person just doesn’t have the air gun knowledge to know these sort of things.
Michael
30S comes with four different stock shapes, the new sporter, deluxe, R7’s, and synthetic. I think currently there is a right comb height for every user in the US. Just wanted to mention that here – in addition to your comment – in regards to the recent 30S related concerns. I am very excited to witness how HW30S is slowly becoming BB’s most favorite air rifle.
Michael what you say about airguns really resonates with me because of all my previous comments on that topic. I went through the same analysis and nearly made that mistake, but luckily I found P.A. and this blog and restarted my airgun research from scratch. However what you say also applies to all kinds of sports equipment that we might buy for our kids at big box stores. For example, tennis racquets. I showed up to my kids tennis lessons with Wally World tennis racquets and because they showed some potential, I eventually was advised to upgrade their racquets. Another anecdote is when I bought cleats for my son’s soccer camp. I asked the clerk to show us the soccer cleats and he sold us baseball cleats. But for a cleat at the toe, they were identical, but that toe cleat is dangerous to play soccer with.
What is needed is a the best youth starter gun, like the 240 (without fiber optic sights and either with a good adjustable rear sight or a decent peep sight) or an Embark with an endorsement from someone who is relatable to kids and has some success in target shooting competitions. This would balance against the velocity wars. Hmm, who might such a person be? Sorry, B.B., I wasn’t thinking of you. ;o)
Fish,
Once upon a time PA had a lot more integrity than they do now. They have grown to be a large company with many change overs in personnel over the years.
BB
Historically I’m guessing Diana airguns have two characteristics that have not changed. All meet expected accuracy performance. Even the Chinese made Chaser I have has impressive accuracy at 25 yards. The other constant is that the Greek goddess Diana is displayed only on German made Diana airguns. Do you or anyone want to respond?
Deck
Deck,
There is no Greek goddess on this rifle.
BB
Deck,
i have four Diana air rifles, all accurate, all German made. I also have a nearly vintage CO2 revolver branded Diana, featuring a Diana, German-made barrel, but the rest of the pistol was made by Gamo. It was called the R357. It, too, is accurate.
Michael
Another.
Another.
And one more.
Michael, I like the looks of that revolver. 🙂
Dave,
Mee, too. I think it is based on the S&W 27. There were other Gamo-branded ones in a series they did called “R77” They were mostly heavy, durable plastic, well-made CO2 revolvers with full lugs (unlike the partial lug on their Diana branded one above). They had full cylinders that rotated, unlike the Crosman, Daisy, and 2000s era Umarex revolvers with partial rotating cylinders and fixed ones for looks.
Thay also had an 8 pellet (yep, PELLET) capacity.
Michael
Here.
Another two.
Michael
Nice pictures of revolver. I was not aware of it until now. Glad to hear that it also met your accuracy expectations. I tried to find it in a Blue Book of Airguns but I have misplaced my latest edition. How does one misplace a book that big?
Deck
Pretty cool 🙂
Decksniper,
Two characteristics of Diana rifles I appreciate are that there are good washers on each side of the breech block so that the breech block and fork do not rub against each other and also secondary lock screws to keep the breech screw at the proper tension.
David Enoch
The Model 24 J I did the guest blog on awhile back was made in Germany in 1988 (iirc) and was branded RWS and Diana, but no Goddess.
Off, off topic here. Need opinion of the hunters amongst this blog on what they consider a practical and humane air rifle for taking out a racoon – if any – other than the big bore thousand dollar ones.
Fred DPRoNJ
I used to hunt. Raccoons are smart, tough and can lead hounds on quite a chase especially if there is a stream with exposed rocks to climb on. Humane hunting requires big bore airguns when done at night.
Deck
Fred
what is your most powerful airgun and your accuracy with it?
I believe that answering this question will be of great help, either directly to yourself or to anyone of us willing to suggest a solution
FredDPRoNJ,
Caliber certainly plays a role so in general .30 and larger is somewhat of an insurance policy for humanely taking a coon. In the end it is shot placement and Terminal Energy. Heavy .22+ caliber pellet, or better yet, accurate .22+ bullet (slug) with 18+ muzzle FPE out to NO more than 30 yards. Greater range with better Energy/ballistics and shooter skill. A .25 caliber Marauder is almost perfect; powerful (with the right tune) enough, not US $1,000+, QUIET…with a repeater available.
Alternate opinion from https://pestcontrolweekly.com/ for your consideration:
https://pestcontrolweekly.com/where-to-shoot-a-raccoon/
shootski
Very, very informative. So a .22 air rifle is adequate for a chest or head shot. Hmmm. Time to double check my laws here in GA. As for weaponry, my most powerful two air rifles are the Talon SS (tuned for 21ft. lbs) and my .22 Marauder – (which is also 21.5 ft. lbs). With the most accurate pellet (H&N Baracuda for the Talon, I get one hole groups at 20 yards. Off hand is another issue but I would be about 10 yards from the critter. THANK YOU, Shootski.
Fred
Head shot, either one, you’re good.
Fred DPRoNJ,
Either of those is sufficient Fred.
What Canadian pesters think:
https://www.skedaddlewildlife.com/blog/5-raccoon-habits-you-should-know/#:~:text=Raccoon%20Habit%20%233%3A%20They%20like%20to%20stay%20up%20all%20night.&text=They%20usually%20sleep%20during%20daylight,lakes%20supply%20their%20favorite%20meals.
Georgia: https://georgiawildlife.com/available-now-2022-23-ga-hunting-seasons-regulations-guide#:~:text=Raccoon%20and%20Opossum%3A%20On%20private,No%20bag%20limit%20for%20raccoon.
Just make certain to know what is behind your coon in case you get a pass through or have a near miss; both of those will carry a long way. You coons will follow a fairly predictable routine that you can easily learn. Then you can set up for a safe elimination.
If you need more light just leave a light on for a time and they will learn to ignore it.
shootski
I really appreciate your advice, Shootski. Thanks.
Fred,
I’d kindly suggest the solution below.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/71OTSIXf9+L._AC_SL1478_.jpg
Fish
Thank you and I’ll consider that but I just had a thought. I volunteer with the county Sheriff’s office and several guys who also volunteer, grew up in the South eating squirrels and I think, raccoons (as they said, if they wanted meat for dinner, they had to provide it for the family themselves). I’ll have to have a talk with them 🙂
Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA where I have to thin out the herd
Umarex and Hatsan make $500ish PCPs in .25 that produce 75 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle with heavy pellets. I don’t hunt, but if I did and the quarry were raccoons, I’d look for one of the $700ish PCPs in .30 that produce muzzle energy of 95 foot-pounds, presuming that the termnal energy is significantly more than more affordabe .25 PCPs. I’m part Irish, so my approach to almost everything is “to be sure, to be sure, to be sure.” :^)
If you knew you were going to be able to get quite close and confident that your shot placement and springer shooting technique would be precise, the cheapest route would be the Hatsan MOD 130S Vortex QE or 135 QE Vortex in .30. That would require a lot of practice shooting a springer that requires 50 pounds of effort to cock, however.
Michael
The hardest cocking springer I have is my RWS 350 but it’s not as accurate as the Marauder or Talon. That gives me 17.5 ft.lbs using an H&N Field Target Trophy 8.64 gr but it’s also .177. At 28′, I get 1/2″ groups. Time to take this to my club and see how much the groups open at 20 yards. I appreciate all the help and thoughts here and y’all have given me some things to do.
Fred formerly of the Demokratik Peeples Republik of NJ now happily in GA
Fred
I hesitate bringing this up, but having read all of the comments, below,, and many others, here, about “pesting” , I thought I would take the chance.
First I would ask why you want to kill this raccoon. Your reasons are likely sound, to you and many, here, but just to clearly understand, I ask.
I do not choose to kill animals that I don’t plan to eat. I have made exceptions for groundhogs in the past, but no longer. Squirrels are game animals in Pa, and so have a season (and they are tasty). Even sparrows are not on my list.
But back to “pesting”. Each of us have to decide what conduct an animal must have that earns it that name. I know a number of farmers, locally, who feel that way about deer and turkey. Several have asked me to remove them, both in season and out. They have suggested a method, tho they claim to have never used it.
They said that if I shot the animals in the “boiler room” (meaning the stomach) that it would run back to the woods to die, saving us the trouble of dragging it from the fields.
I chose to politely decline. But,, if one chooses to rid themself of an animal,, for whatever reason,, perhaps this might be a useful tip. In this case, shot placement wouldn’t really be an issue, nor would caliber.
I would hope that no one, here, would do what I have described,, but, then, I would also hope for more tolerance of wildlife in general. Killing humanely is, after all, still killing, isn’t it?
Ed
edlee,
I believe i understand your position but must take exception to your implied equality of killing humanely to killing in general.
There are many types of killing that are under that general roof. As an example of the extremes there are methods that can be used to prolong the period of time until life is extinguished and there are others that make that period of time as close to instantaneously as is possible. There are wanton killings with no discernable purpose and then there are lawful executions of confessed child killers.
I find the farmer’s attitude you described to be reprehensible and morally indefensible regardless of any actual damage or loss suffered by the farmer that is just not how depredation management should be done.
shootski
I agree completely concerning that farmer. Unfortunately, he was my father in law,, so short of a divorce I hadn’t much choice but to associate with him.
If you think about it, tho, he thought of deer and turkey as vermin. If he could have poisoned them, I believe he would have. He came from a time when crops were necessary to support a family. At that time, there were as many in agreement with him as opposed.
Things have changed a great deal, since then,, thankfully, and yet there are still a great many who think that if they can then they should. Looking at Tube one finds that a great many air gunners take pleasure in seeing how long a shot they can make when shooting pigeons. At 100 to 150 yards, not many I know of can count on a humane kill.
I suppose that is the reason I chose to comment. Most, here, seem to be dedicated to shot placement. But please understand that you are rare in the sport. For every field target shooter, there are hudreds of “duffers” (pardon the golf term) who wouldn’t know a kill zone from an end zone.
I was once a pretty fair shot, but those days are behind me. If a raccoon proves to require elimination, I have weapons better suited for my use in that endeavor,, a 20 ga side by side. If they are too close to the house, then I have a properly sized trap. (the one we use to catch, neuter and rehome feral cats).
My pesting days are well behind me,, through choice. Doesn’t mean I look down on those who don’t agree with me and make a different one.
Ed
edlee,
I get that father-in-law problem completely. I had a father-in-law problem (on a different topic) too.
I do, however, understand a farmer or rancher’s position and ire t-on depredation by wild animals.
As far as knowledge based ethical hunting or management of excess animals caused by the absence of a balance in predator and prey it is a problem in most parts of the USA.
I find the Trophy animal management biased hunting laws/rules/tags in most states to be the most objectionable since they are all revenue based.
shootski
B.B.,
In BB Scolds:
Then a reader showed ( ) on Friday (me) that YOU ALSO list it that way! Shame, shame, shame!
BB You are Friday?
shootski
A package arrived at RRHFWA this morning. It took me most of an hour to unwrap it. Even OOPS, I mean UPS could have hurt it.
I cannot wait for the opportunity to pop off a few pellets with it.
RidgeRunner,
Sounds like something fun you received. Pics and a mini blog to follow?
Siraniko
Siraniko,
Indeed. My Diana 34 is back home from BB’s. From what little I have fooled with it, I have to say “WOW! I can now break it open just by grabbing the barrel and giving it a little nudge. As BB said, it was already smooth shooting with a crisp trigger.
Hopefully, I will find some time to shoot it some today. It is my intention to expound upon this reworked jewel. We shall soon find out.