Finally tore the 350 down to do a lube job. This thing had developed a really nasty torque, made it just about impossible to do a proper follow through, and made not much fun to shoot either. Based on info picked up here and there, and a conversation with Bob, it seemed likely that it was probably pretty dry, and maybe had a burr somewhere.
As expected, this thing was practically bone dry! The only comparison I have is my CFX that had been tuned by Bob, if that's the standard, I'm pretty sure Diana is just waving an oily rag over these things and calling it good :-)! Everything else looked good, but I did do a little polishing any place it looked like it might do some good. For anyone that hasn't been inside one of these things, the main spring is LONG! 13 5/16" is what I get, and with a lot of preload, too, around 3". Vince, if you're interested in adding this to the list, let me know, I took other dimensions as well.
Got it all back together, had one little glitch with the trigger assembly, but got it sorted out and buttoned up. Didn't have time to do any serious testing, but grabbed the first thing in sight, happened to be a tin of Barracuda Match, same as Kodiaks. At 21+ gr. these are the heaviest .22 pellets I have on hand. Shooting these things before was always an exercise in frustration, the damn gun would buck so bad it would practically jump out of my hands. Not any more! With just a little lube and polish, this thing is now almost as smooth as my CFX. I also managed to drop 4 of 5 shots in the same hole at 10 yards, the first one was low, and my fault. I've NEVER been able to do that well with this gun! I also think the velocity is up, I'm hoping I can make time to do some chrony testing this evening. Will post results if I'm right.
One thing I wish I'd done. I just ordered a new piston seal and moly from Maccari for the CFX, I wish I'd ordered a new seal for the 350 as well. There was a bit of a rough edge on the one in the gun. I cleaned it up a bit, hopefully it will be okay, but there's a new Tesla seal in this guns near future. Later.
Dave
