Airgun Hobbyist - April 2015

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When the RWS Diana LP8 first entered my life last
summer, I was not sure of what to make of it at first. The
large black synthetic framed spring powered air pistol was
a completely different power plant from the replica CO2 air
pistols that I regularly shoot in warm weather.
While the MSRP of around $300 for the RWS LP8
may seem a bit high at first, the saying “Don’t tell me what it
costs, tell me what it’s worth” comes to mind. And the cost of
ownership may be less than you think.
Me being, let’s call it frugal,
the LP8 gets high marks in the per
shot cost of use category. Being a
break barrel, all that is required
to enjoy the LP8 is air and pellets
making it very economical to use
right out of the box.
I like to be able to just grab
the LP8 and a box of pellets and be
ready for hours of shooting fun. Not
needing to carry CO2 cartridges, or PCP
accessories, I can just sit in my lawn chair and shoot tin cans
for hours without having to get up.
Another benefit of the LP8 is its life time warranty
that covers defects in workmanship and materials. Parts
that wear out such as seals and springs are warranted for 18
months from the original date of purchase. That’s good to
know as my LP8 has had at least 3,000 pellets fired out of in
the last 9 months.
As for the cost of those 3,000 .177 caliber pellets, it
was less than 1.5¢ a round! And provided hours of shooting
pleasure. Maintenance consisted of just of few drops of RWS
Chamber Oil after every thousand rounds.
The LP8 has similar lines as the Diana air pistols of
years ago, along with a few modern changes that include an
automatic safety, fiber optics sights and an integrated rail for
mounting optics.
The red fiber optic front sight has held up well and
remains undamaged during breaking the barrel thousands of
times over the last months. The
fully adjustable rear sight with
green fiber optics makes the LP8
and accurate airgun.
If your eyes are aging like
mine, pistol scopes and red dots
can be mounted to the integrated
11 mm rail.
For the time being I’m
sticking with the factory open
sights. They work well for playing
kick the can. Setting up a tin can approximately 15 feet away,
I can enjoyably hit the can in the correct location to move
forward with each shot. My maximum hitting distance is
around 60 feet. With the addition of a scope, I bet I could
beat that distance.
Cocking effort of the LP8 is
in the neighborhood of 24 pounds.
That’s not bad considering it can
fire 7.9 grain .177 caliber pellets at
560 fps. The LP8 does come with a
cocking assist, however I’ve found
that I do not need to use it. Cocking
and firing the air pistol 100 or more
times per shooting session, I’ve
found cocking the last shot just as
easily as the first, and without feeling fatigued.
An automatic safety is a nice touch, I’m actually
starting to get used to them on single shot airguns. The
way the automatic safety is designed is when the barrel is
broke, the safety is moved from the fire to safe position. The
ambidexterous safety then be moved
from safe to fire (and back to safe).
Out of the box, the LP8
seemed a little stiff. However with
a few hundred cycles of breaking
the barrel and firing the LP8 the air
pistol broke in. Ease of movement
of the safety improved and the
trigger also benefited from the break
in period and became crisp and
smooth.
I found the LP8 to be an extremely fun plinker. The
LP8 does well with paper targets as well. It’s now my go to
air pistol when I want to relax with some informal backyard
plinking.
With foot pound energy of just under 6 FPE, the LP8
would probably not be the best choice to humanely take small
game. However, it should be more than a match for small
vermin at close range.
by Tim Smith
Author’s LP8 with custom Walnut grips from Galbraith brothers.
Custom Walnut grips for the
Diana RWS LP8 Magnum
•Caliber: 0.177 (4.5mm)
•Capacity: 1 Pellet
•Power: Spring
•Velocity: Up to 650 fps
•Weight: 3.2 lbs
•Barrel Length: 7 inches
•Overall Length: 18 inches
•Sights: Fiber Optics
•Safety: Automatic
•Grips: Ambidextrous
•Find it
5!
Automatic safety.
To answer the
question of “tell me what
it’s worth” the price seems
more than reasonable for a
German designed air pistol
that’s well built, economical
to use, accurate and a
pleasure to own.
Airguns, like people,
have different personalities,
and when you first meet
them, you are not always
sure how the relationship
will develop until you’ve
spent some time together.
After spending so much
quality time with the
RWS Diana LP8, I’ve found
a very good friend that I
want to continue to spend
more and more time with. Relatively light cocking effort.