I recently acquired a Canadian Hunter D18 break barrel, and I heard that this rifle is said to be a Chinese copy of the Diana model 20 T01. Not long after I came upon a Diana 20 for sale and bought it. It was then easy to have both guns side-by-side and compare features.
But a little history before. The Diana 20 was made from 1991 to 2003, and was marketed as a youth rifle. The rifle weighs 5 lbs 6 oz, is 40 1/4’’ (1020 mm) long, length of pull is 13’’(330 MM), and the barrel is 17 5/16’’ (440 mm) long. The stock itself is small-sized, but very well proportionned.
While surfing the net looking for infos on the D20, I came upon a nice and seemingly well-informed article written by Gnom256, a member here on the CAF :
http://gnom256.narod.ru/obzori/diana20.html . This is a non-HTTPS site, be warned.
In his article he says the Diana 20 is actually a dressed-up and re-branded Chinese B-1 air rifle, and he shows pictures of both side-by-side. He also mention the fact that originally, the Chinese B-1 is actually a clone of the venerable Diana 25. So with all these things put together, one can say that the Diana 20 is a modern version of the model 25, and the first Diana air rifle made in China.
As for the Canadian Hunter, I learned that it was probably designed by a Canadian importer specifically for the Canadian market, and sold from the late ’90s to around 2010 I think. The rifle is actually a re-branded China-made BAM XS-B11, pretty well made and finished. The gun weighs 5 lbs 8 oz, is 41 1/8’’ (1045 mm) long, length of pull is 13’’ and the barrel is 17 5/16’’ (440 mm) long.
Now when comparing both rifles side-by-side, there’s a big visual resemblance, but an exact Diana 20 clone the D18 is not.
First, the stock on the D18 is sensibly more massive than the Diana 20. It’s evident when holding the pistol grip, the Diana is much thinner, and the buttstock of the D18 is also a bit higher. Forearm is thicker too on the D18. Both are nicely finished, shoulder very well and are true ’’iron sights’’ stocks. The Diana 20 is a true youth rifle, and the Canadian Hunter is more of a medium-sized rifle.
Now if we look at the action, it’s easy to see the difference in the receivers’ length and breech blocks size. The Diana 20 is truly D25-sized – I compared it to my Gecado 25, and the D18 is more Diana 27-sized. I have a ’70s Chinese clone of a Diana model 27 (Star model ST901), the action is amazingly similar to the Canadian Hunter D18. The Diana 20 barrel does fit on my Gecado 25, and though I didn’t try it, the CH D18 and Star barrels seem to be interchangeable.
The D18 has a ball detent for barrel lock-up, the Diana has a chisel-type detent (B-1). The D18 has synthetic piston and breech seals, the Diana has a synthetic and authentic Diana piston seal, but had a leather breech seal (B-1). The compression cylinder ID on the D18 is 26 mm, and on the Diana it’s 1’’. Yes, one Imperial inch; this is the size the Chinese used for the B-1, and I saw that this seal may not be available anymore as a Diana item (but other Chinese seals may fit). Both rifles use the direct sear-type trigger; the D18 has an automatic safety, the Diana has no safety. Trigger guard is steel and kinda square on the D18, and more rounded and steel too on the Diana, and both have plastic rear receiver caps.
Machining and bluing is better on the Canadian Hunter, with almost no left-over machining marks on the visible areas and good, almost polished, metal surface finish. The Diana has machining marks on the receiver, and has a not-that-smooth surface finish. Bluing seems a bit deeper and darker on the D18.
So far I can’t comment on the durability and reliability of the guns, as I got them very recently. But both are decently built, and responded well to a light tune. They’re both smooth, non-PAL shooters, and I guess if well taken care of, they will last for long
.
In the pictures, Canadian Hunter D18-B top, Diana 20 T01 bottom.
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. Lovely rifle indeed!
. Mine was made in April of 2007, it has a 28 mm comp. cylinder bore and a 55 mm piston stroke. My first gen. D18-B (XS-B11) has a 26 mm comp. cylinder bore and a measured piston stroke of 67.5 mm. Though not identical, I believe the Canadian Hunter is closer to the Diana 27, but I could be wrong.