Diana Stormrider .22

[sandog]

In my quest to find the cream of the crop of inexpensive Chinese air rifles, last week I purchased a Stormrider in .22
The 5 lb. weight appealed to me. After adding a 3-12x side focus Bug Buster, the rig weighs right at 6 lbs.
Many PCPs, and a good many new air rifles these days are 8 to 9 pounds before adding an optic.
Another thing I liked about the Stormrider is that it uses the same 7 pellet rotary magazine that another rifle I just ordered uses : the Seneca Dragonfly Mk2.
Although the Dragonfly is a multi pump rifle like my old Sheridan, it is a repeater, using the same magazines as the Diana Stormrider and Bandit.

The lightweight Stormrider came charged to 2900 psi. All I had to do was clean the barrel and mount the scope to start shooting.
I unscrewed the moderator and removed the barrel in order to give it a proper scrubbing.
While I had the moderator off I dry fired the rifle, man it is loud without it ! It might be a cheap plastic moderator but it works.
I installed the BugBuster scope and like it, just like the one I had years ago. The rings that came with it are a bit much, thick double strap ones.
I'll probably replace the rings with some slim and good looking Sportsmatch ones.
The magazine, once you figure out how to load it properly, works great. This is my first magazine fed air rifle, and it sure is nice not having to fumble with pellets getting them into the tray.


The new Stormrider seems to like almost every pellet I tried, except for the Ruger Superpoint.
The first group with the inexpensive Crosman Hollow Point had one shot deflected to the right by the flag hanging from our back porch.
Had the pellet not clipped the swaying flag, that group would have been good as well.
(The bottom groups of the first target are the JSB Exact RS on the left and the JSB Straton on the right).
I can't wait to see how this rifle shoots when it gets properly broken in !


I have another .22 repeater made by Snow Peak Airguns on it's way, the Seneca Dragonfly Mk2. I'll do a short review of it in a week when it gets here.

[dverna]

Are those 25 yard groups?

[Racing]

...one of the most underrated guns there is.

It started out as a dare at the shop during a coffee break. "How far can you push the most lo-life PCP there is"
So.
I went and picked a used 22cal 900 up at like 100$... and we came to throw the entire book at it.



Let it be known. These thing are accurate even as you up power it gets silly, AND/or use slugs. My particular one we´re running at 90 Joules (65+fpe) aaand.. it just delivers.
FWIW what finally broke down as we picked it apart like a zillion times was the threads on the actual valve. We´ve since made a fresh one out of a material known as Alumec (compare to titanium grade 6 approx)

Did i mention we came to throw the entire book at it? Did i? LOL
No matter.
In a word these minescule very light little boom sticks are worth every dime if you ask me...

[sandog]

Don, the groups were 13 yards/39 feet. My lot is bigger but I shoot to the 4 ft tall chain link doggie fence. I plan on doing some 25 and even 50 yard shooting but for that I'll have to pack up the shooting table and target frame and go out to BLM and Forest Service land.
It's convenient to shoot off the back porch, I just wish the back fence was further out.

These Snow Peak airguns have a quality to them you don't see in other Asian products. The Dragonfly should be here mid week, I'm looking forward to getting to try that out as well.
I liked the Stormrider's magazine better than the single shot tray it also came with. I shoot left handed, but from the bench it is more convenient to load the pellet from the right side.That made the SST scoot over to the left. I got where I held the SST in with my left hand, while trying to roll the pellet into the tray with my right. I need to learn to insert the pellet from the left. Makes sense, the magazine goes in from the left too.

Unregulated guns like the Stormrider tend to start out with a full tank shooting a bit below normal for the first few shots, then you'll get to a plateau where you'll get a dozen or so shots that are nearly the same velocity. Then all the remaining shots are dropping off in velocity.
For that reason, while doing the pellet testing above, when I saw the gauge down to 1700 psi, I went inside and charged it back to full with the hand pump.
That was every 25 shots or so.

Racing, it looks like a power adjuster at the back of the tube. Why the big T handle on the back of the bolt ?

I read a lot of threads and reviews where guys bought a regulator for their Stormrider. Some are just a drop in.
With the regulator you won't get as high of velocity as before, but nearly all your shots will be consistent velocity.
Power dropping off didn't affect my groups with low hits, at least not at the shorter range I was using.

[Racing]

@ Sandog.
Altho we came to fool around with this rifle on sorts of a dare the idea was for an older man within the group to have it. As power went up so did hammer spring force and as his hands no longer were what they used to be..
I simply TIG welded on a bar out rear for him to pull on. At the elevated hammer spring pressures this thing runs, WAY easier on the hands.

On that note.
As much as i agree with you that the Artemis on a whole are rather neat guns, that´s not the same as they´re sans flaws. The PR-900 Gen 1 for instance, many of them have had their bolt handle broken off.
This is very very simple to remedy, before it happens. It´s on an M4 thread, which i guess is all good, but the thing lacks a "collar" to draw against at the actual bolt.



By simply turning such a step on the original bolt the unit loading/bending forces will be handled by the larger shank of the bolt - thereby increasing strength of it proportionally.

The Co2 powered CP-2 kit is the exact same gun within and guess what breaks..

As spring power increased in a more severe manner though i opted to step to M5 threads, a "step collar" and way heftier dimensions on a whole. Different story though..
But. To rework the shank on the stock bolt is a good idea. Ditto, when done install the thing with two drops of Loctite. It has a tendancy to work itself loose.

Rear of the tube.
No it´s not a power adjuster in that sense, it is what´s known as a "SSG". Secured spring guide.



I´m not going to bore you to death with the tech aspects of it, but the basic idea here is to "trap" the hammer spring in such a manner that mainly something known as hammer bounce is reduced.
This becomes more of an issue the stiffer the spring you run, in essence.
However it also carries the benefit of setting the spring such that the hammer CAN be adjusted to a set free flight. This in turn can be a manner in which to tailor behavior and thus power.
As you can see i run two springs, for a progressive setup.

On a whole with these rifles i´ve found that like 40-50J is rather simple. Just drill the transfer port out between the tube and the "receiver"/barrel to approx 5mm. Do the same for the entry port on the barrel and do the same for the exhaust port of the actual valve.
A common drillbit will work a long way here. Just be sure to deburr all holes when done, especially so the one on the barrel (take the inner o-ring seal out, the one that seals vs the probe as you do this. Common 240 grit on a stick will suffice just fine)

Fact is.. if memory serves you won´t even have to touch the exhaust port on the valve, the brass transfer port jobbie and the barrel is enough and 5mm will carry a long way in this case (stock is like 3mm for the brass transfer port i believe?)

This will indeed "soup up" the rifle, and this to a level where it becomes a real nice contender to keep pests around the garden at bay.
Hammer spring on these ain´t adjustable per se, but basically anything that can be used to shim the hammer spring like 5-6mm (approx 1/4") will do.
These two no cost mods will hand you them 50 Joules in a heartbeat. The tube will now suffice for approx 2 mags full power, which is a rather decent trade off in my book seeing the very limited capacity of the tank.

If you scroll down a bit from this your own thread i posted on how i modified a CP-2 gun into a PCP such, and then be adviced that it is to the letter the same gun from a tech point of view as your Stormrider/PR-900
When i did i opted to make the PCP tank on approx 300cc´s, which kind of gets rid of the only drawback the Stormrider has. Tank capacity.
Might sound that i in the same move made the thing a heavy weight thumper, but not so. The CP-2 is an even lighter gun than the Stormrider stock why the add of that weight from the tank actually made the thing way more shootable as a 90J PCP.

For SnG i tried porting the stock CP-2 out in its Co2 configuration and at them approx 60 bar from such a cartridge i ended up at approx 30J, which isn´t half bad if you take the very limited pressure into account.
At 250 bar though it´s of course a completely different story.





Another tip, if you haven´t already, is to take the workings out of the stock to adjust the trigger. Or more to the point, sear engagement.
It´s adjustable stock. Takes a rather small metric allen key (which i bet there´s an equivalent for as SAE. Or more to the point, i know so).
How i do it is that i make sure the gun is low on air and mag out. Check to see it´s completely clear. Then cock the gun. Adjust the allen screw until the hammer falls - by adjustment only.
Now turn 1/4 to 1/3 turn back and try it, as is, from there.
The parts the trigger setup is made of is out of "chinesium" bringing that steel might be but brittle as hell... So work with light hands and touch here.



This is what it looks like as you lift the workings out of the stock. Be aware that the small pins for the trigger assy are in there quite loose. Iow, keep the thing on and over a workbench with good lighting.



PCP´s are/can be rather loud. We´ve been onto this previously here on the Airgun board, but check local laws as far as using a "moderator". In a word it´s a silencer, just one that can not be used with a firearm (innards out of plastic and so on).
There´s a caveat to this with the Stormrider (incl other Artemis/Snowpeak guns) in that they use an M10 thread stock.
Well.
The rest of the industry does not why i at least fabbed me a converter to 1/2"UNF in a jiffy and YES a moderator (a "real" one - in contrast to the stock joke) will make for a tremendous difference in exhaust note.
To the point that a 40-50J rifle when setup correctly will be "mouse fart" silent.



..and yes, they WILL "shoot". Flyer is on me so.. The beauty here is that at 50J using 25,4 grain pills a different world opens up to you and that´s the world of so called "slugs".
To us old timers.. in other words what looks as regular hollow point bullets.
Out to like 50-60 meters difference vs pellets is slim to none, but as ranges extend.. different story all together.



Another beauty here is that these can these days be had as ,216´s..,217´s.. and ,218´s and the rifle will tell what it likes. These rifles shoot just fine with slugs using the stock barrel too.

I keep a number of PCP´s, but mind you they´re all to a large extent tools. Tools as in pest control. The Artemis/Snowpeak guns.. sure. We somewhere somehow have to weave their hang tag into all of this, and seeing that.. yes. I agree. For the money these are neat little guns.
Diana Stormrider and Artemis PR-900W and Snowpeak yadda yadda.. same gun, and this goes for a few other of the offerings.



The P-15/Skyhawk is another such gun. A tad more expensive offering, but a by now rather old one that to this day keeps a following. Mine there "a work in progress" so... far far far from done.

[Racing]

https://castboolits.gunloads.com/sho...-out-of-little

There you go. The thread on the CP-2 gun.

Oh! Before i forget!!!
That barrel band on your Stormrider, try accuracy both with and without. It´s known that some of these rifles had their hole for the barrel a bit skewed and thus the barrel band "clamps down" on the barrel for real and due that kills any and all capacity for harmonic tuning.
The barrel band is real simple to unbolt and need be.. put back.

Mine was off it wasn´t even funny. Thus you see how i cut it down and it´s since just a "hold down" for the innards vs the stock. Accuracy improved big time without as power went up.

[sandog]

Thanks for all the good info, Racing. I'll try without the band as well. I don't see the obsession some have that have done reviews, they all are certain the Stormrider/Pr900 needs another barrel band just by looking at it. So they order a spare barrel band with their new rifle. Then probably lie awake at night thinking they should have ordered two extra barrel bands.

[Racing]

I´ll tell you what.
If it´s ONE thing the Stormrider could make good use of it´d be a way more sturdy install of the barrel at the receiver.
I´ve upped mine to M4 (stock is M3), and yes... that does make for a difference.
Then keep in mind i run mine sans the barrel band, which works just fine - in case.