Best deal going on a new air rifle, Cabela’s 34P, initial accuracy at 10 meters.

[Bryan Heimann]

This gun, I swear...

Opened the box- o.k., now I get it.  Diana’s are pretty nice.  Metal of any other gun that I have owned can’t compare.

Pulled the rifle out, cocked it, pretty gritty and dry but I am not gonna complain about that vs. the opposite.  Peering through the cocking slot, I see the sheen of oil on the spring guide, maybe just enough thin lubricant for preservative inside.

De-cocked the gun, folded a .177 Airgun (brushless) bore snake in two and dipped the center in Hoppe’s 9 bore solvent (I can imagine everybody going “oh no not solvent!) ran it through the bore a half dozen times.  Then ran a dry one through a half dozen times.  Wiped/patted the breech face and muzzle dry with some tissue paper and swabs, as well as the t port for good measure.

6 ‘o’ clock hold on the bottom of the 3” circle on the Gamo target.  First shot hit 1/4” high from center.  So I fire 4 more- nice.  That’s gotta open up.  5 more- that is a half inch ten shot group center to center, much smaller if you exclude the one flyer.  These are the first ten shots out of this gun!

Bottom out the rear sight- three full turns.  Come up a turn and a half and fire one shot- this time 6 o clock hold on the 1” white circle.  Crank it up another half turn, fire another shot, but I pull it high and right and called it.  No more adjustments, fire a shot, I can see it near the center of the target.  9 more shots max concentration-  why did I wait so long to get a 34?  This is nearly a 1/4” 10 shot group and not only is the gun not broken in, but I have yet to test for the right hold or the right pellet.  These are 10.5 grain Crosman domes out of the tin!

I took some pictures of markings on the gun, looks to be stamped 2016 on the receiver.  Not sure, maybe they are trying to clear out some old stock?

Yeah, it makes crunchy noise when cocked.  Shot cycle is fast and snappy, but with a tiny bit of spring noise.  Not bad at all in my opinion.  Recoil not bad either, and will surely smooth out.

All I can tell you is if you have ever considered a 34 and you’ve never had your hands on a nice German springer, you should buy this rifle from Cabela’s right now.  There is no way you could get more rifle for your money.  It is the hottest deal going, maybe the best deal I have ever seen on a new gun.  Get them while you can at this price.

Will get better pics of the rifle, mount the scope, test for accuracy, etc. when I can.  Meantime I gotta get stuff boxed and shipped to a few members, that takes precedence.  I also have the HW35L project as well as refinishing the stock on my wife’s 12 gauge.  Lots to do for a guy on crutches.

Thanks for looking, hope I could help some of ya’ll spend your money

[xtred1]

congrats that is very cool!  I would like to see some photos of your rifle.

[Bryan Heimann]

congrats that is very cool!  I would like to see some photos of your rifle.

will post some as soon as I finish packing these guns to be shipped.

[Roadworthy]

I also got a 34P - almost new.  It was dry, crunchy, and hard to cock.  Of COURSE I dismantled it!!  I sized the piston seal a bit and smoothed rough edges.  I cleaned the compression tube and burnished with moly powder.  I made a Coke bottle piston sleeve and lubricated the piston seal with Krytox.  I lubed the cocking slot with Krytox as well.  I removed the pivot washers and added moly powder on both sides.  I also added a bit of Maccari's black tar to the spring.  The gun is incredibly smooth and quiet to shoot with no twang.  Half inch ten shot groups at twenty yards are no problem.  Yep, I love the gun.

[Brazos]

The 34 is a great, simple, rifle with a good barrel and great trigger.  The Cabelas deal is a steal.  They are so simple to work on.  You don't need a spring compressor to dismantle and assemble (yes I know some of you are cringing with that statement but I have worked on so many 34's I learned a compressor is a waste of time and in my opinion more dangerous).  No worries on the Hoppies 9.  I mean think about it.  What oring would get ruined?  The breech seal o-ring you can buy a box of at Home Depot for a $1.50 and can swap out in seconds?  Enjoy your new rifle.  Shoot it for a while.  If you want to bust into it tomorrow and lube, Polish spring ends, etc. have at it.  I do find a 34 will respond well with a vortek spring kit.  They never seem to break-in as well as what a vortek kit will do.  HW rifles on the other hand I say shoot the snot out of them and they will break-in to a nice rifle without a spring kit.
 

[Yogi]

Glad you like it.
Now make it as good as it can be...

How do you de-cock a d34?  Don't think I can do that with my 340 N-Tec...

-Y

Is she a drooper?

[Roadworthy]

Uncocking a German springer is not difficult.  break the barrel and hold it firmly at the muzzlle end with one hand.  Disengage the safety.  Hold barrel tightly like cocking it.  Pull the trigger and allow the barrel to ease back into the closed position.  They do not have the "anti beartrap" like a Crosman gun.  If you allow the barrel to snap closed you may hurt yourself or the gun.

[Bryan Heimann]

Not sure if she is a drooper yet.

I am sure a debur and a tune kit would smooth her out but I want to enjoy this gun like it is for awhile.  I will say that I asked Ms. Clause for a 12 fpe tune kit for Christmas.  I intend to shoot a match with her as soon as I can.  Want to shoot hft world piston rules.

I said I was gonna do hft with other guns in the past.  This time I’m really gonna do it, hehe.  With my factory 4x32 so scope no less.

Used no loctite on this gun.  In the past, I have used loctite on everything and cranked it down as far as I could make it to without stripping or breaking for low maintainance.

  I have a feeling I will be pared down to this and a cheap multi pump before too long.  Just mounted the scope as well, without loctite.  This RWS mount has much beefier screws then others I have used in the past.  It is a nice drooper and I intend to make it last, for other scopes in the future.

Anyway I feel like I’ll be shooting a lot, probably trying different kits, new springs or seals every year or two, definitely going to upgrade scopes and probably break a few cheap ones.  So I’ll just keep my screws snug enough and check them regularly.

I know I can at least get through 20 shots with no screws coming loose, and the gun obviously shoots better than me.

I am looking forward to the break in process.  I appreciate the crunchiness, I feel like quality hard steel should be crunchy till it breaks in.  The barrel pivot and latch are qua-li-ty and close very nicely.  The trigger is the very best I have used, better than the record on my HW35 but that one has a boogered adjustment screw so who knows what about that.

Looking forward to doing a pellet test and figuring out about the droop, etc.

[SSG Grampo]

Bryan, I'm with you, you can't beat this deal. I would also love the wood version and the pro version both in .177 and .22. We will have to keep a close eye on the Bargain Gate.

[outdoorman]

I am looking forward to the break in process.  I appreciate the crunchiness, I feel like quality hard steel should be crunchy till it breaks in.

  Word of warning. These guns are known for lack of factory lubrication. I got a Diana 34 classic a couple years ago and did nothing to it initially. Big mistake. Due to lack of lubrication and polishing of the rear edge of the piston, it ended up with severe galling of the upper rear part of the compression tube. I have since read of others having the same problem. Took a lot of work sanding and polishing to fix that problem and I now only use Krytox lube as it cannot cause dieseling which was a problem when using moly. The gun has been fantastic since fixing the initial galling problem, going with Krytox and putting in a Vortek spring.

[Bryan Heimann]

A few images of the gun.

I did break down and degrease and loctite the stock screws, as well as the screws in the rings.  I did not apply any loctite to the bolts at the base of the scope mount, because I like to shoot with the open sights.  Did a bit of pellet testing today, so far they did not vibrate loose.

I hate plastic fiberoptic sights, but these are pretty nice.  Obviously haven't hindered my ability to shoot at ten meters.  Also, the post and globe is a separate part from the rest of the sight, with a set screw.  So it can be replaced, possibly with a fine steel post and globe?  And returned to factory configuration.

The metal really is nice.  Fingerprints just stand out on metal like this!

Also a good shot of the texture of the stock.

Photos of this rifle at places like pyramyd do nit do it justice.   It is a slender, very svelte feel to it and the ridges make it easy to be consistent with your hold.  I really enjoy shooting this rifle.

Edit- when I removed the stock to degrease the bolt holes, I also applied a little bit of lithium grease through the cocking slot.  Just a little bit, not a lot.  Does not sound dry when cocking anymore, still a little crunchy but not near as bad.  Doesn't seem to have hurt accuracy either.

Also edited to include photo of the front sight.

[Bryan Heimann]

Also noteworthy- was messaging with Thomas (Roadworthy) and he mentioned that he'd heard only Pyramyd RWS rifles have the Diana logo.  This rifle does not have the Diana logo, only RWS.  I don't have a Diana branded rifle to compare it to, but this is a very nice rifle.

[Bryan Heimann]

Had the house to myself for a little bit before I got a ride to the post office, so I did some pellet testing.  I was kind of in a hurry, so these groups were a little bit rushed.  In that regard, I probably didn't give every pellet a fair shake.  Still, definitely able to rule out the worst.

First up, Crosman Pointed.  Although this represents a lot of scope adjustment, the three shots inside the white in the center were fired without adjustment.  Not the pellet for this gun.

Next, Crosman Wadcutters.  Nope.

Gamo Tomahawk-  Showing some promise!  These pellets fit so inconsistently, I was surprized to say the least.

Now the Gamo Red Fire-  Also showed some promise.  We will give them another chance later on.  At about 7 grains, they must really be moving.  They definitely fragmented.  Notice how they blew out the target at the bottom.

Crosman/Benjamin Hollow Points- I have shipped out all my Crosman Heavy and Hollow Point ammo to members with guns.  All I had left was my mixed plinking tin of leftovers, so I had to quickly pick some hp's out of the mix as I fired. These are a combination of different Crosman and Benjamin tins.  Same ammo from different tins often hits at a different POI for me. Definitely showing some promise.

Old Crosman Pointed- Nope!

Final target- Very quickly sighted in with the Tomahawks.  I have a 750 ct tin, barely used.  Might as well use them up on squirrels this year! A half to three quarter inch low should get me pretty well dead on around 20-25 meters.

Most of this shooting was done very quickly.  I got set up, completed this test with photos, plus dialing in with Tomahawks and tidying up my shooting area in about a half an hour.  This is not representative of the accuracy this gun is capable of!

I shot a little more this evening after dark, and learned a bit about the accuracy.  I was pleasantly surprized.

I wrote this segment before that test, and I need to edit the photos, so it will have to wait! 

Here are the images from this morning:

[Bryan Heimann]

More photos

[Bryan Heimann]

I guess I will just cut to the chase-

Started the evening with the Gamo Tomahawks, out of then shots I had 3 wild fliers not my fault that opened the group to about 3/4". Thought I had a picture, guess not.

Switch to Crosman Hollowpoints and fired a 10 shot group that reminded me an aweful lot of the results with crosman 10.5 domes the other day.  First picture.

Looks like about 10 click adjustment to be half inch low, and I use half value adjustments to zero my scopes so I dial in 5 clicks.  First two shots barely nick the top edge of the last group.  Dial in 6 more clicks, fire ten shots, looks a little higher than I like at 10 meters.  Dial down 4 clicks and shoot out everything left between the first two groups, seemingly at will.

The second picture is the same target as the first picture.  It represents probably 30 or more shots at maximum concentration, including the first 10 shot target, with Crosman/Benjamin hollowpoints from at least 3 different tins.  Also represents 2.5 MOA of vertical scope adjustment.  Definitely not a fluke.  The gun likes Crosman hollow points, and is very accurate.

Remember, I very recently posted a rant about my troubles with my spring guns.  Maybe I am getting the feel for shooting a springer again.  For sure the rifle feels like an extension of myself.  I love this gun.

Still haven't messed around with different holds, and I probably won't.  Just hold it soft and follow through, be consistent with good fundamentals, and I get good results.

Pretty much done testing shelf pellets.  Gun likes Crosman 7.9g hollowpoint and 10.5 g dome for sure, Tomahawks maybe if sorted.  Red Fires maybe also.

Trend-  Seems to prefer longer pellets.  Even the poorest quality pellets, if they are a bit long, shoot ok.

Doubt if I will even put a tune kit in the gun.  Might just get a few springs and seals to keep onhand for the future.

[Wolverineshooter]

I have the Woodstock one from Walmart. Mine shoots Winchester HP 9.75grs and Grossman 7.9gr boxed very accurately. I hold the gun medium force.

[Bryan Heimann]

Thanks for the tip.  I have a winchester sampler and daisy sampler on hand, will have to try them.

[Yogi]

At least do a re lube and de burr on the rifle.

-Y

[uglymike]

Imagine what it'll do using QUALITY pellets like JSB, Air Arms, H&N   

[Potpie]

I liked my 34P so much I got a second one,both are very accurate with H+N FTT 8.64g, 4.52 head size.Both were very dry and a little crunchy took them down both were very dry, cleaned them up deburd lite lube put back together they both shot around 725fps out of the box after tune both were about 775fps. Now both are very smooth and what great shooter these guns are not very heavy love the feel of the stock I have a 34 Classic wood stock and both P will out shoot it they seem to be less hold sensitive. Shooting of bag i can hit Rams and Pigs at 50 yards pretty much every shot.I to just love these guns best deal going for 150 bucks