RWS Diana LR25

A Very Elegant Hunter

The RWS LR25 is a premium quality and accurate air rifle that follows the tried and tested formulas of quick fill air reservoir, sporter walnut stock, bolt action and detachable magazine. It matters very little that beneath the RWS skin lies a Falcon design, in fact it’s a benefit as it’s a really good action!

As soon as you lift the LR25 from its carton that beautifully crafted walnut stock hits the eye with its sleek slender lines and the smell of oiled walnut gives a traditional old English feel to it.

Minelli Stock
The stock is one of the key design aspects and it can make a good rifle or not. The RWS is certainly a winner in this department, the sleek sporter lines are first class, from the ambidextrous cheek piece and rose wood pistol grip cap all the way to great piece of walnut used. This wood is really good quality, great colour, very striking grain to give interest and importantly to me, that lovely smell you get from an oiled walnut stock that get even better with age.

Minelli in Italy are responsible for the LR25’s stock, which is also available in beech, but my advice is to pay the extra for walnut - you will not regret it. The laser cut chequering is tastefully done and the whole appearance and hold make this feel like a centre fire rifle rather than an air rifle. The long Schnabel forend is elegant and allows the shooter a good hold, and importantly, in any position as well. The comb is high so eye position for scope use is good and the ventilated recoil pad gives a steady hold and gives a 14 inch length of pull.

High Action
This is the only area I am less happy with and this is only visual not functional. The inclusion of the magazine system dictates that the action has to be high enough to accommodate the magazine assembly and as such gives the RWS LR25 a ‘humped’ appearance. Of course this is purely visual, as this bolt action and magazine system is extremely functional and reliable in use.

The 20 inch barrel is fully shrouded with a nice satin black finish along its length. The shroud is actually longer than the barrel within and has baffles to redirect muzzle blast back down the tube, so it acts as a primary moderator. Even so the report is quite noticeable, but as the barrel muzzle is threaded ½ inch UNF, a secondary moderator can be fitted if required. I attached an extremely efficient V Mach moderator and the muzzle report went down to a whimper.

Another great feature of the LR25 is the quick change bolt which can be mounted to the right or left of the action. The bolt knob is attached to the bolt body (or slide) by a single rubber sealed turn wheel. Slacken this off and the bolt can be withdrawn from the twin spigot locator and simply rotated for left or right hand use after the bolt has been cocked. This is a nice idea, and one that will be welcomed by southpaws.

Trigger, Safety and Magazine
The magazine is a pretty standard eight shot rotatingmechanism variant which certainly denotes this LR25 as a true hunter, eight shots is more than enough between reloads.

To load the square box mag is as follows, first retract the bolt fully, give an extra pull rearward and hold; this allows you to slide the mag out on right side of the action. You load pellets into the magazine as you manually rotate the drum wheel, filling each empty chamber as it becomes visible, this is done in an anti-clockwise rotation.

When the mag is full an o-ring retains them. The cylinder is rotated anti-clockwise until it stops (so no pellets are going to fall out), then slide the magazine back into the action and close the bolt fully.

The trigger is a two stage affair and as such is ideally suited for a hunting rifle in my view. With little creep as the pressure is taken up, the sear release is at a light 3.75lbs pull. It is adjustable, which is nice, but the factory setting on this rifle was perfect for me.

The safety is simple yet effective. The small safety lever is sited to the rear/left of the trigger guard; it is in the FIRE mode in the rearward position but a small movement forward makes the LR25 SAFE and the trigger is locked. If you try to pull the trigger you can feel the safety catch with your finger - a good second indication after a visual check.

Field Test
RWS state a 195-200 bar fill for general use i.e. hunting and a lower 185 bar for more consistency if using for field target competition. I filled up with 195 bar in the .177 calibre and achieved between 70-74 shots per charge but with very consistent fps velocity of 16-27 fps spread for most of the pellets tested. To check on fill pressure remaining there is a convenient gauge on the end of the air reservoir.

I tried a variety of pellets both light and heavy to test the LR25`s preference, here are the results in the table above.

Results
The RWS LR25 was very accurate right from the off with a good, easily loaded and reliable magazine system. Top accuracy (and velocity for that matter) went to the JSB Exact 8.6gr pellets, Velocity topped 787.2 fps and gave a healthy 11.8 ft/lbs energy with 16fps shot to shot variation - very impressive. Accuracy at 30 yards ran to tiny one hole of just 0.3 inches.

Not far behind were the Air Arms Field pellets at 8.6gr weight they gave 784.1 fps and 11.7 ft/lbs with five shot groups of 0.45 inches. In the field test these really gave some squirrels a hard time on the farm.

Not far behind were the Lazadome, JSB Exact Heavies and Accupells, those Exact Heavies pack a real wollop with 11.2 ft/lbs on tap.

Some of the lighter pellets Technical Specific ation did not fare so well, which is fine but I would stick to Exacts for hunting. These zeroed at 30 yards and were also bang on at 16 yards; they were just 0.2 inches high at 24 yards, -0.9inches low at 40 yards and just -2.7 inches low at 50 yards. Both hunters and HFT competitors will appreciate this flat trajectory.

Conclusion
What you have here is a well crafted multi-shot sporter air rifle that is seriously good looking and will deliver excellent accuracy and a good number of shots per charge. As far as pre-charged hunting rifles go, it would be hard to find a better looking, more reliable and accurate PCP than the LR25.

A carbine version (the LR20) is also available, which might be preferable for some shooters, especially if a sound moderator was to be fitted, as this would still keep the overall length to sensible proportions. GM