Accuracy improvement on my D56

[Mossonarock]

I’ve been struggling with getting tight accuracy from my D56 ever since I’ve gotten it. 1.5 inch groups at 25-35m is what I was getting. The whole time I could tell that the rifle could deliver better accuracy than I was getting. Last weekend, I was intently studying my D56 and noticed how the tab for the automatic push the action forward thing was actually in contact with the receiver and cocking lever.  There’s even a rub spot on the receiver where the push forward thing rubs against it.  The whole sliding action seemed stiff and I was feeling recoil through the stock. I figured the friction was probably interfering with the sliding action and introducing some randomness which was opening up my groups.

So, I decided to take the automatic push forward thing out and see what happened. I don’t believe the part is needed for any other functions. Perhaps someone can let me know if I am wrong about that. Besides, very often I have to push the action forward anyway because it falls out of détente while I’m maneuvering the rifle into shooting position. Yes, I know about tightening up the ball bearing in the slide but that’s not the issue- bumping the butt of the stock on the ground is. Before shooting, I could already tell that the sliding action was moving more freely. I did some target shooting at 25m and 35m. My groups are much smaller now as you can see in the pictures from the 35m groups. Counting the flyers, the 10 shot group is a hair less than 3cm (1 inch) with 6 of the shots fitting into a 1.5cm group(1/2inch). And yes that is a dime next to the group albeit a heavily worn Mercury dime which is the same size as the modern dime. I was very pleased. I’m sure the rifle can do even better than that but I still need to search for good pellets and I think my scope is broke. You can see in the other target pic how the shots drifted away from the red dot. The scope was subject before I even put it on my D56. I took it off of another rifle after it started acting up on that rifle. So, I also need a good scope. I’ve three different scopes on this rifle. However, I think I’m well on my way to getting some good accuracy from this rifle finally.
Now that the push forward thing is removed, I have to remember to push the action forward before shooting. That’s easily done. I have to push the safety forward with my thumb anyway. So, I just have to remember to push the action forward with my thumb before I push the safety forward. Instead of the one push for the safety, I push\push for the action then safety. No big deal- just remember ~push/push~.

Since I’m sharing pics of the rifle, I’m including some off-topic pics too. I took off the OEM butt pad and replaced it with a Pachmayer butt pad. I was lucky in that the Pachmayer pad’s screw holes were in the exact same place as the OEM pad’s screws were. So, I didn’t need to do any new drilling in the stock to replace the pad. The LOP was too long for me with the OEM pad.

I also bought a barrel sleeve for a D54. I want to remove the OEM muzzle weight because I want to replace it with a DonnyFL slide-on muzzle adapter. IDK if that will work but I’m still waiting on delivery for the DonnyFL part. For now though, I have the D54 barrel sleeve on with the OEM muzzle weight. That pushes the muzzle weight forward which opens up the inner-chamber of the muzzle weight. In that orientation, the muzzle weight actually does suppress the sound of the rifle. Its noticeably quieter this way. In the barrel pic you can see the OEM barrel sleeve on the rug next to the barrel so that you can get a sense of the difference in length between the D56 and D54 barrel sleeves.

Most importantly of course are the pics of the mid-section of the rifle with the push forward thing on the rug next to the rifle. Removing it is easy as there is only two screws attaching it to the stock.The cocking lever is slightly opened so that you can see the silvery flash of the rub spot on the receiver. I also included a close up shot of the rub spot. Sorry my pics are so fuzzy. I’m not a photographer.

A bit of back history. I started developing an interest in the sliding action of Diana’s 54/56 rifles after experimenting with putting drawer slides on a .25 cal Hatsan Dominator. Here’s a link: https://www.gatewaytoairguns.org/GTA/index.php?topic=164474.0 My attempt with the Dominator was crude but proved there was merit to some kind of sliding action. So, I had to try a Diana 54/56 at least to compare the two approaches.

[lizzie]

Did you take a photo of the tab in contact with the receiver and cocking lever? (a photo you can post?)
I'd love to see what you found, and I can't get a good mental picture.
Whatever the case, GOOD group!

[Mossonarock]

That's beyond my photography skills. I may be able to shoot but not that kind of shooting (pun intended!) That's also why I included the pic of the rub mark. Its the silvery flash in the center of the pic zoomed in on the rifle's mid section- 5th pic down. That silvery flash is not a reflection of light. The parkerization was completely worn off down to bare metal. For the action to be pushed forward into the detente position, there's a metal tab that sticks up on the right side of the action that the cocking lever sort of pushes against to push the action forward into detente. That part is what I'm calling the push forward thingy because Idk what its really called. That metal tab gets pinched between the cocking lever and the receiver tube(action if you will). Its engineered to work that way. Obviously, that's a lot of friction. I understand why Diana put it there but I don't think its doing the sliding action any favors nor do I think its necessary to have as long as the shooter remembers to push/push before aiming.

I can understand that its hard to develop a mental image of the position of the push forward thingy if you don't have one of these rifles. The part is unique to the D 54/56 and you can see the part lying on the rug after I took it out- 4th pic down. The tab is pinched between the receiver tube and cocking lever and that's why its a hard picture to take.

Thanks for letting me know that's a good group for 35m. I can't say I know what good groups are across the airgun world. So, I do need feedback like that. Sometimes I've wondered if I've been worrying over a molehill or maybe its a storm in a teacup. either way... I got tighter groups now and I hope this tip helps others with their D54/56.

[lizzie]

I lightened up one of the photos, and am wondering if you can point out to me where the rubbed area is.
(If it even includes that area)

[Mossonarock]

I tried my hand at some photo editing. The red arrow points at the rub mark.