A 34 yo. 34

[Toxylon]

More:

The old lady has a pretty burry muzzle crown to my eyes. I reckon I'll recrown it, to just about complete my Diana 34 fixer certification.

[cjtamu]

That’s just so cool. Not something you see every day. I love seeing old things resurrected. Almost as much fun as doing it yourself!

[Yogi]

Actually, the rim of the bore does not look too bad.
The other scratches should not effect accuracy.

-Y

[Toxylon]

The scratches on the face of the muzzle have obviously nothing to do with pellet flight. Looking at the actual crown with a 20 X loupe I can see the very ends of the grooves and lands look jagged. That can and does affect pellet flight.

[Toxylon]

That’s just so cool. Not something you see every day. I love seeing old things resurrected. Almost as much fun as doing it yourself!

Chris,

Thank you! That's the thing with discussion forums - you get to "take part" in interesting stuff outside your own tool shop / shooting range.

[uglymike]

Your 34 has had a hard life for sure. I'm trying to think what would make those "knife edge" marks, not once but several times? 

[Toxylon]

Mike,

Looking back how I mishandled even expensive stuff I owned at age 10, I think it's best to not think what this poor German lady went through in the '80's.

[Flint]

Great job on the old RWS!!!

I have an old RWS from 1985 - which may have been the first year they are made, I'm not sure. 

I'm about to start a post about it - probably need a new barrel. 

It's cool to see that it's not the only older 34 still shooting

[HectorMedina]

Great job on the old RWS!!!

I have an old RWS from 1985 - which may have been the first year they are made, I'm not sure. 

I'm about to start a post about it - probably need a new barrel. 

It's cool to see that it's not the only older 34 still shooting

The 34 (as a a model designation with THAT number) was introduced in 1984, BUT the basic architecture was introduced MUCH earlier. In the 50's.
Things that changed and meant new model numbers have been: Compression chamber dimensions, piston and piston seal designs and materials, and trigger designs.

Your 34 could, theoretically be updated to a T06 trigger and piston, if you so desired.

Barrels were still being sold by UMAREX up to a few months ago, so it may be wortwhile checking what they have.

Good luck and keep us posted!







HM

[Toxylon]

I tested a select bunch of pellets for accuracy in my 34 yo. 34, shooting 5-shot groups at my customary 30mm bull at 20 meters (22 yards), standing, offhand, using factory open sights.

A black horse turned out the most accurate so far: H&N Baracuda FT 9.57gr. I wouldn't even have these pellets if it weren't for the H&N pellet debacle some six months back that ended up with the company sending me compensatory pellets, among them a surprise tin.

These pellets have a very good cycle and also yield good chrono numbers, at around 248 m/s  /  814 fps and 19.2J  /  14.1 fpe.

The tin doesn't have the usual head size sticker, but  "sample" hand-written on the bottom. I have no way of telling if these are 4.50's or 4.51's, which are the two sizes the Baracuda FT's come in.

FTT 4.52's were second best in accuracy, even if clearly not as good as the BFT. The FTT's are also pretty nasty to chamber in this gun, requiring confirmation pushes with the thumb.

Sniper Mediums were third best. I'm basically relieved they weren't the magic pellet for this gun, these being out of production.

Exact 4.52's were nothing to write home about, shooting much bigger groups than the previously mentioned pellets. They chamber like a rain drop gets eaten by the sea, ie. zero resistance, very different from the H&N's. The Exacts chronoed around 258 m/s  /  846 fps, and 18.2J  /  13.4 fpe.

I haven't tested Polymags yet. Given the hints dropped by the gun so far, I'm not expecting much there, but am very willing to be proven wrong.

[cjtamu]

Interesting. Same experience in my T05 34 with the FTT vs JSB/AA pellets. The Baracuda 10.65 are accurate in my gun as well but the FTT give more FPE. I’ve never seen a 9.57 Baracuda so obviously haven’t tried those!

[Toxylon]

The Baracuda FT's have much thinner skirts than the FTT's, or even the classic Baracudas. I reckon that's the reason they seal so well in a mid-power gun such as this, and with their smaller heads they are easier to load and have no excessive friction going down the barrel, either.

[Toxylon]

Sighting the 34 in, the sad fact was:

The factory sights cannot be adjusted low enough for medium distances:

at 22 yards, with the rear sight bottomed out, the mid-weight pellets (c. 8.5gr.) printed app. 5 – 6” high, the mid-heavy pellets (c. 9.5gr.) app. 4 – 5” high, and only the heavy pellets (c. 10.5gr.) leveled with the target.

The front sight would need to be higher than it is, for the sights to be usable inside 25 yards. How much higher? I haven’t done the calculations.

I’m semi-seriously thinking I need to start making my own iron sights to get something usable. Too bad I don’t have access to a machine shop. But hey, small parts for guns were shaped with files for centuries, and surpassing the quality of the factory sights is far from a Herculean task.

[Toxylon]

Recently I upgraded my rescued 34 Sport with a new D36 Commemorative stock. The original 1988 Sport stock was just too slippery, flaky-scratched, and 80’s blue.

The new stock was a reduced-price specimen, due to ambiguous damage. I didn’t get a picture of the damage that I asked from Schneider, so I took my chances, and am glad I did: there are some tiny, innocuous splinters on the inside edge of the inletting, affecting neither function nor looks. Pretty good for a 14 % discount.

The stock has a longer LOP, a much-needed rubber butt pad, plus a raised comb and checkering. It’s just an all-round a classier, better-fitting proposition than the Sport stock. Still, it has the shorter, old-style front stock that leaves the pivot joint exposed and accessible, which is a definite plus to me.

A surprising issue did turn up, though: When I installed the new stock to the 1988 metalwork, the gun would not cock. There’s just a solid, dull stop at the end of the cocking stroke, before latching would occur. The breech block, the barrel and the cocking arm travel freely, the stop is internal in nature. Echoes of the coilbound issue I reported here last fall, but that cannot be the issue now: the gun cocks and locks perfectly in the original stock.

As far as I can tell, the D36 receiver inletting, detailing and dimensions are identical to the original stock (see the pic). The only visible difference is the depth of the trigger guard inletting, which is much shallower on the Sport. Consequently, the 1988 trigger guard doesn’t fit the D36 stock.  But with or without the guard, the gun doesn’t cock.

What might be the issue here?

[Toxylon]

Forgot to add a picture of the gun in its new stock:

[Toxylon]

To test things out, I fitted the D34 with the D36 stock with the plastic trigger guard off my 350 Mag. Not only is the plastic guard much thicker at the base than the steel one, it also has a slightly different type of front screw, which also grabs the action at the rear.

Lo and behold, the gun cocked and locked normally! Problem solved, although I lament the forced switch to a plastic trigger guard, which I don't have a spare of, or the front screw, anyway. In retrospect, I should've ordered these with the new stock from Schneider. They charge really hefty S&H for the tiniest of orders, and I just checked off my wish list with a big order off them, so things have to wait.

At least I can test shoot the new-stocked 34, since the 350 Mag is in bits for now, anyway, with its detached front screw yoke waiting for supplies and time to fix.

[Toxylon]

As noted earlier in this thread, the original 1988 front sight of the 34 Sport is too low to zero in at 25 yards, even when the rear sight is bottomed out. To correct this, I needed to further modernize the 34, using the tunnelkorn front sight of my 350 Mag, which is a couple mm's taller.

The 350 Mag Tunnelkorn had been taken apart with the downfall of its parent gun. To my surprise, I had real trouble getting the fine thread of the knurled bead-tightening ring started on the tunnel - the ring desperately wanted to tilt a bit and seize up, risking stripping. A bit of WD40 (which I rarely use on airguns) on the threads made things turn perfectly.

The original front sight was tightly screwed to the barrel dovetail, with it's extra hardware store nut. A screwdriver couldn't hope to move the screw, so I loosened the nut with tongue-and-screw pliers. After that, the switch was smooth sailing.

I hope to see this Sunday how the rescue gun with the new stock, trigger guard and sights works.

[Sigwally]

Schneider Stock.  Do you happen to have the website for Schneider stocks? Did a search and could not find them. I have a newer Diana 34 classic  (NOT EMS!) and would like a better stock. Thanks and great info so far!

[qotsarock]

Awesome job on this.

[Toxylon]

Try this:

https://www.versandhaus-schneider.de/product_info.php/cPath/40_94_140_700/products_id/4274

Schneider sells replacement stocks for Weihrauchs, Dianas, and assorted other airguns. They aren't Schneider stocks, but OEM ones.

And thanks guys!