Diana Panther 31 Professional Reviews

foxhill's review has yet to be rated - Be the first!
Report this review

Good Points: Great stock shape and feel
Excellent power
Very accurate

Bad Points: Safety catch
Scope rail
Ball detent weak
Very little to no lubrication when purchased

General comments: Overall a very good gun for the price.
Bad points first:

When I first got my rifle it was very dry internally and made a terrible graunching noise when it was cocked. Disassembly showed little or no lubrication present so I lubricated with some inox PTFE grease and reassabled. After cocking and firing several rounds all friction noise was gone and the cocking cycle very smooth.
The safety catch on this rifle leaves a lot to be desired. It is simply a single piece of plastic designed to slide between the stock and action to block the trigger from moving backwards. It looks and feels flimsy to use and I do not have much faith in it. With the stock removed, the safety catch becomes inoperable so keep this in mind if you are planning to cock your rifle when the action is separated from the stock. It would be much nicer to see a version of Diana's earlier safeties.
The ball detent didn't seem to provide much resistance and the barrel could actually be opened by shaking the rifle up and down (so the downward stroke bears pressure on the barrel). After reducing lubrication to minimal levels around the detent and catch the shake'n'open was harder to achieve but could still be done. I did not notice any movement of the lockup area when the gun was fired, and accuracy has been great so I do not think this is of a major concern. As always, the Diana ball detent locks up smoothly and very quietly.
The scope rail - what were they thinking? The 34 action (used on the 31) is more than capable of giving your scope a tonking with every shot so a quality mount with stop pin is essential. That's actually when the problem starts. The stop pin holes in the scope mount have not been drilled deeply enough (in fact, the entire mount is so thin that they couldn't be drilled deeper without going all the way through) to accept a stop pin and hold it. Anecdotal evidence indicates that the stop pin will eventually exert so much reaerward pressure on the hole that it will gouge away the light metal as it moves. The only solution to this (and it works) is to hang the stop pin over the front of the rail where it can bear the weight in it's entirety. This requires some repositioning of your scope within the mounts to provide correct eye relief.
Now on to the good:
The rifle is heavy. Which is good. Some may say that the barrel weight is a little excessive but I feel that it aids in the overall stability of what is actually quite a large rifle. It has a sleek, black, ambidextrous composite stock that feels nice and compliments the action well. The chequering is a little sharp as are the exposed edges around the cocking slot - a little rubbing with fine sandpaper around the slot and a VERY light rubbing around the chequering gives a nicer feel without any noticeble visual change.
Accuracy was initally a little erratic due to the rifle having to settle in, although this problem cleared up faster than I was expecting it to. After little more than 150 shots I was getting 2" groups at 40 yards fairly consistently (an excellent result for my fairly average markmanship). I expect this to further improve as the rifle continues to settle and my hold improves. This rifle needs a very light touch and if you're too hands-on when pulling the trigger (on any part of the rifle) the accuracy will be severly affected.
Overall, a great hunting air rifle and well worth what most dealers are asking for it! "I would buy again".