Good for you. I am very reluctant to buy Umarex guns because of reading about what I am sure are defects and poor support. This one goes in the positive column now.I still am a bit shy about shooting my 46ST knowing how easily and without any abuse it broke before.It is a bit of art though.
Quote from: Rabbit\Squirrel Killer on August 18, 2022, 12:04:15 AMGood for you. I am very reluctant to buy Umarex guns because of reading about what I am sure are defects and poor support. This one goes in the positive column now.I still am a bit shy about shooting my 46ST knowing how easily and without any abuse it broke before.It is a bit of art though.Beautiful rifle. Love the Mannlicher-stock.
Quote from: Lt. Dan on August 18, 2022, 12:31:29 AMQuote from: Rabbit\Squirrel Killer on August 18, 2022, 12:04:15 AMGood for you. I am very reluctant to buy Umarex guns because of reading about what I am sure are defects and poor support. This one goes in the positive column now.I still am a bit shy about shooting my 46ST knowing how easily and without any abuse it broke before.It is a bit of art though.Beautiful rifle. Love the Mannlicher-stock.+1 And not something you see every day!
Quote from: Rabbit\Squirrel Killer on August 18, 2022, 12:04:15 AMGood for you. I am very reluctant to buy Umarex guns because of reading about what I am sure are defects and poor support. This one goes in the positive column now.I still am a bit shy about shooting my 46ST knowing how easily and without any abuse it broke before.It is a bit of art though.Wow, beautiful gun.
Spent 2 hours at AoA yesterday, shooting everything they had - HW80/90/95/97/35, Diana 340/350/460/48, and FWB Sport (newer version).Didn't get to shoot the Diana 54/56 because they didn't have a copy out on the rack, and I stupidly forgot to ask to bring one out of stock to shoot. My mistake.Anyway, AoA explained that Diana is no longer affiliated with Umarex/RWS, that relationship was terminated "one and a half years ago" or thereabouts. Diana still makes their guns in Germany, but now Blue Line in USA is the authorized wholesaler and service center:https://blueline.global/warrantyHe said the relationship with Umarex led to quality issues, and believes Diana is back on track by separating from Umarex.Unaddressed questions:- Did the Umarex partnership actually involve Diana using cheaper parts? Or did Diana continue to make everything in Germany but Umarex/RWS just managed the warranty/servicing and marketing/distribution?- He mentioned RWS versions (aka RWS 48/52, et al) are not necessarily same as Diana-badged guns either. Same questions - because Umarex incorporated cheaper parts? Unclear- If there were any physical changes to Diana (or RWS-badged) guns in the Umarex era (2006-2020??), are those guns in any way suspect compared to, say, older or newer Diana's?I'm looking at the Diana 56TH... this thread gave me pause. That lever is a pretty high-torque pull as it is, the last thing I need is for the lever to break in half. I'm sure it's rare, but obviously it wasn't unheard of at the Umarex service center.
This merits taking things from the top, and I hope you all realize that this is not in any way a form of criticism of the OP:ALL parts of ALL guns are designed to a spec in relation to the DUTY they perform.The cocking lever of the 48->56 family is no exception. It is designed to take the 47# of peak cocking force it takes to cock the gun millions of times. It is designed with SOME margin.It is NOT designed to support the weight of a full grown person cocking the gun while the gun is standing butt on the ground. Or any other form of "overweight" cocking.The guns in the 48->56 family are powerful guns, capable of yielding 17-18 ft-lbs in 0.177"; 20-22 ft-lbs in 0.20" and 22-24 ft-lbs in 0.22"The FRAME is limited by its construction to an absolute maximum of 25 ft-lbs.Alas, to get those maximum energy yields the gun needs about 45-47 # of PCF.If you are not able to bring back the lever in a CONTROLLED manner to the point where the safety pops out and the piston stem's button latches, then the gun is too powerful for you. Bringing the lever back and getting the gun cocked on an "impulse" of thrust is, in the long run, asking for trouble.The stem will hit the action locking pins, the lever with fatigue prematurely, the pins that act like "axles" in all the mechanism will star getting "grooved", the pins will fatigue and break, E-Clips will move out of place and jump ship, etc.In 22 years of shooting DIANA airguns, I have heard of only 3 instances where the cocking lever broke and, in all those cases, the real cause was a faulty cocking technique.The cocking levers in the family are forged and then heat treated, the finish is a parkerization process that is very durable and hard. You need carbide drills to get a hole made in these. Believe me they are not flimsy.Could the process make some defective ones? Yes, no system of production is completely infallible.The way to know is by taking a microscope picture of the fracture itself. A catastrophic failure shows a tear, a fatigue failure shows a "crystallization" of the steel's structure.Because the OP stated a "tear" I had refrained from making this comment, but doubting the family because of one specific failure is like doubting the Camaro because of the failure of a few small block Chevy engines.Again, it is impossible to make tens of thousands of things and not have a few "lemons".Just wanted to clarify that.Thanks for reading.HM
I'm picturing the cocking cycle in my head and having owned a D48 I know for a fact, it's takes exactly the same effort to cock one with the butt stock on my shoulder (which, BTW, is nearly impossible to do unless your are a contortionist with the arm strength of Superman) as it does with the butt stock on your thigh or the floor.... providing you are not yamming it past the stop position.I also know that just because it broke midway through the cocking cycle on the particular time it broke doesn't mean that was the stroke that lead up to it breaking. It could have been getting weaker and weaker for some time.