GTA
General Discussion To Gateway To Airguns => Airgun Gate => : fxud April 30, 2010, 04:54:15 PM
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Ordered a wood stock .22 cal RWS Diana 34 from Natchez Tuesday night & Big Brown brought it to me late this afternoon. (http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-laughing.gif) Opened up the box and WOW, its purdy. Fit & finish is very good. Metal is a deep dark even blue. The wood is fairly plain but the finish is great. Stain is even and finish is smooth with no blemishes.
I had expected the gun to be heavy but its not bad at all. It is a bit front-heavy but that seems to make it easy to hold steady. I especially like the slim stock. Its easy to get your hand around & will be a breeze to carry in the woods.
The gun does not show any droop when looking down the side of the barrel so maybe I will not have a droop problem when mounting a scope. It has the less-desirable barrel with 12 lands but so far that doesn't seem to be a problem.
This gun has the best sights I have ever seen on an air rifle. Seems like most guns come with pistol-type sights that are 1/8 inch wide, or about twice the width of a starling at 25 yards. The front sight comes up to a slim, sharp point and the rear sight is a modified v. At 20 yards I can aim it almost as precisely as with a 4X scope. Don't think I am going to be in any hurry to scope this gun.
Checked stock screws and they were tight. Ran a few patches down the bore. They came out clean. OK, time to shoot this bad girl. Cocking took way more effort than I had expected -- but still not too bad. The piston made a honking noise, kind of like a goose. Have read that some of them do this but will quieten down as the seal wears in. Already getting quieter. After cocking, it took a lot of effort to close the barrel. Checked all the moving parts & determined that the hinge pin was excessively tight. Loosened it about 1/16 turn and all is well. Loaded a pellet & let it fly at my 10 yard target. Took 5 shots to align the sights.
The shot cycle is very solid, smooth, and powerful feeling with no spring noise or noticeable torque. Just a straight back thump. That T-05 trigger is a sweetheart! I could feel almost no first stage but the second stage is crisp and smooth. Probably about a 3 pound pull - and I am happy with that.
I set up a target at 20 yards and started trying different pellets from the bench. It shot most of the pellets I tried very well. CP, CPHP, Crossman Field Pointed, JSB Exact, Superdomes, and Super Points all shot well. The CPs actually put 5 shots into 1/2 inch -- at 20 yards -- with open sights !!! (http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-surprised.gif) I think this gun is going to be very accurate, plus, it doesn't seem to be at all hold sensitive. The gun did not like Crow Mags, FTS, Daisy Wadcutters, or Daisy Pointed.
Also, this gun seems to be very powerful. When shooting into a phone book it goes through almost as many pages as my .22 Discovery. Don't think it will have any problem at all taking out pests or small game animals.
I am looking forward to getting to know Ms. Diana better. She is a keeper. I think I will just enjoy her with open sights for now. I know she will wear a scope some day, but not today. I know she will get a tune, but not soon. At this point in time I am happy with her just the way she is.
Gary
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Congrat's on the new baby :) and the 34's are darn good shooter's out of the box. Keep us posted on her progress. Ed
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Sounds like an awesome gun. These Dianas are real nice shooters right out of the box. I know I wish I would have started buying them sooner now that I have one. Have fun and cant wait to see pics.
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Nice purchase, Nothing better than getting a new AG, you will not be disapointed I love my Diana 34:)Tony
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Is this where I get to say "I told you so"!?!? LOL's Way to go Gary!! You are in for a real treat. Just keep the lead flying and see how much better she gets!! tjk
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Congrats! It was a 34 that pulled me out of the Dark Side :-). I wouldn't worry about the 8 land/12 land barrel thing, my 07/07 34 has a 12 land barrel and shoots great. Mine likes CP's and hates JSB's, but it gave me a real surprise the other day. Turns out it REALLY likes Crow Magnums! 1/2-5/8" groups at 35 yards, which is as almost as good as it does with CPL's. I still think you'd be better off lubing it before shooting it a bunch, but there's obviously a bunch here that don't agree. Later.
Dave
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(http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-smile.gif)Hi Gary, congradulations on your new shooter. My first Model 34 was a wood stocked .22cal from Natchez also, a great shooter but I sold it to buy another AG. Regretting every day since I sold it. Never will happen again........Shoot Safe and Enjoy........Bill(http://../jscripts/tiny_mce/plugins/emotions/images/smiley-cool.gif)
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Gary my man, you've got a lot of good info on the 34. Daved is also correct with his advise. The one thing he and I have, is that with our experience with springers (like the 34), that we both can tell if a fresh shooter is relatively dry or not. I take a lot of stock in Daved's opinions. I went for a thourough breakin before a tune, .....butttt during the B-in I treated her like see was made of gold. Nice, slow, and easy! tjk