The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men...

Well, as it turns out, my next range day was 4 hours after my last post, ha ha ha! Fortune favors the brave, i.e., those foolhardy souls who will brave a trip to the gun range on a rainy day.

 

I brought my son, Yuri with me, and we both had a blast. Yuri was shooting open sights, from a bench rest, and the guns he was shooting were so big, heavy, and hard for him to hold (he's only 7) that I felt that he would benefit from targets being placed at "point blank engagement range," i.e., a distance of 4 meters (13 feet.)

 

Yuri shot my new (to me) circa mid-1980's made-in-West-Germany Diana Model 5G air pistol, and my circa 1934 Diana Model 27 air rifle. The pistol is made for an adult shooter, and is hard for him to grip properly. The rifle is big, and very heavy (he can barely lift it.)

 

First of all, I'd like to say how proud I am of him; he made some pretty great shots once I showed him how to get the proper sight picture. He also made a great shot that I almost got on camera, but alas, my phone died in the middle of recording it. He shot an empty shotgun shell off the top of a wooden post at 4 meters with the Model 27 (from a bench rest) and the shell flew, spinning forward, end-over-end, like a football being kicked for a field goal! The shell probably traveled a good 15 feet! I wish I had the video of that! We might go back to the range tomorrow after church lets out, just for a minute or two, to see if he can duplicate the feat. If we do, I will post the video immediately.

 

I also tried my hand at shooting the shotgun shell. I used the Diana P5 with BSA red dot, shooting from the same distance, sitting down, one arm extended (no bench rest.) Here is the result. I couldn't believe my eyes! What a powerful little pistol the P5 is!

Yes, that's a pellet lodged in the side of the empty shell!

As for my previous plans, I had to throw them out the window. There are two reasons for this; the first being that it started raining, which cuts visibility way down, even on easy-to-see targets. The second reason is that even my "large" 1-inch bullseyes in a 1.5 inch box are almost impossible to see at a distance of 15 meters. I only took one shot at that distance, before deciding to move the target in closer.

I shot 3 pellets at each target, at a range of 7 meters, which was still moderately difficult to see in the rain. Here are the results:

The 1 shot that I took at 15 meters is circled.

I shot the first target once at 15 meters, and 3 times at 7 meters. I shot the next 5 targets three times each. I made a counting boo-boo, and shot the last target 4 times. Considering the small targets, and decreased visibility, I'd say these are some fair groupings.

By the way, the shotgun shell, and the small targets, were shot with RWS Super-H-Point pellets. All shots fired from a bench rest, using a 1x mag BSA red dot scope.

While I was at it, I also shot the Diana 5G, with hooded front sight, at a distance of 7 meters, using a bench rest. I sighted it in, making adjustments, on two targets (not shown here) and it took about 30 shots to get it right where I wanted it. Once I was satisfied, I shot the following two targets, 5 shots at each, without making any further adjustments:

Closeup of first 5-shot grouping.

Closeup of second 5-shot grouping.

While shooting, I noticed a bunch of gunk (old lubricant?) in the breech of the gun:

 

 

 

Not sure what it was, but I got a toothpick and removed it.

 

 

 

Once the gun was clean, I handed it to Yuri, who promptly shot the following targets (again, at a distance of 4 meters, from a bench rest, old-skool open sights.)

 

 

 

He shot this target 12 times. The red box is 4.5 inches wide. The bull is .375 inches square.

 

 

 

 

He shot this one 6 times. I think this was his best grouping of the day.

 

 

 

 

When he noticed I was only shooting 5-shot groups, he did the same.

 

 

 

 

Packing up, about to leave. "Please, Dad, one more shot?" BAM! Bullseye!
I was so proud of him!

 

 





In the time it took Yuri to shoot these targets (plus a few shots taken at metal targets, and at leftover CHL class targets, etc.) I shot the following targets with the P5, all at 7 meters, from a bench rest, with the BSA red dot. By now, the rain had let up a bit, and there was only a light sprinkle still going.

 

 

Overall performance of the P5 at 7 meters. Shots circled in red are stray shots from Yuri, ha ha.

RWS Super Mag pellets closeup 001.

RWS Super Mag pellets closeup 002.

RWS Super H Point pellets closeup 001.

RWS Super H Point pellets closeup 002.

RWS Meisterkugeln pellets closeup 001.

RWS Meisterkugeln pellets closeup 002.

 I took pictures of the pellet tins that were in use, but I figured since this post was already pic-heavy, I'd forego them this time. The stats on these pellets are well-known, and easy to find.

 

All-in-all, it was a great range day. Yuri did rather well for a seven-year-old who's only been to the range a total of three times. And I had great success with the Diana P5 / BSA red dot. That's the one that Yuri will inherit when he's 16 years old. At 7 meters, this gun has very repeatable accuracy, and it seems to like all medium and heavy varieties of RWS pellet.

 

When I get my other P5 (Tru Glo red dot) and my Hatsan Supercharger back from the gunsmith, I think I am going to sight them both in at 20 meters. Using a pistol to do anything, whether it's field target, bench target, or hunting, I don't think you'll be aiming at anything more distant than 20 meters. I am also going to design some homemade targets for that distance. I will show them to you in the next post. Until then, may all your pellets fly true!

 

P.S. For an old skool, open sight gun, the new 5G shoots like a dream; it's clean, and in what most collectors would call "near mint" or "very fine" condition. It shoots HARD, and must have been excessively oiled by the previous owner. During the first 10 or so shots, every time I would break the barrel to load the next round, a fine wisp of smoke would issue from the breech. Regardless of this, the pistol shoots as well as the day it was made, and is an excellent, high-quality, shining example of fine, German craftsmanship and engineering. Definitely a keeper!