New Diana 350 magnum( T05 Trigger)

[35 shooter]

Just placed the order for a t06 177 cal. Diana 350 with Numrich Gun Parts Corp. for $249.00.
I asked to make sure they were’nt t05’s and was told they were not and could return on their dime and get a full refund if not as advertised.
Supposed to ship tommorrow.

If it truly is a t06 it”s a whale of a deal and was told they have a lot of them in stock... we shall see and i’ll let you guys know what I wind up with when I recieve it.
Even if it winds up being a t05 trigger it won’t get returned as long as it has the German bbl.

Thanks again for all the info. I know what to watch out for now.

[Yogi]

Just placed the order for a t06 177 cal. Diana 350 with Numrich Gun Parts Corp. for $249.00.
I asked to make sure they were’nt t05’s and was told they were not and could return on their dime and get a full refund if not as advertised.
Supposed to ship tommorrow.

If it truly is a t06 it”s a whale of a deal and was told they have a lot of them in stock... we shall see and i’ll let you guys know what I wind up with when I recieve it.
Even if it winds up being a t05 trigger it won’t get returned as long as it has the German bbl.

Thanks again for all the info. I know what to watch out for now.

Good news.
Now figure out you initial cleaning and prep procedure.

-Y

[35 shooter]

Best to use the Diana ZR scope base on the 350 mag?
I know it’s droop compensating, which I may or may not need depending on how the bbl. lines up.
I’ve seen the utg droop compensating base recommended for it in a post or two in the past.

Still have’nt recieved shipping confirmation on the rifle yet.

[WolfyW]

Depends. Mine has very little droop. I put a Hawke Airmax 3-9×40 on mine. And a shorter one piece mount. Everybody out of stock here re droop mounts. But fortunately  not needed in my case. The scope is also magnum rated. It's held up for a couple thousand shots so far. And it does hold zero.

[35 shooter]

Depends. Mine has very little droop. I put a Hawke Airmax 3-9×40 on mine. And a shorter one piece mount. Everybody out of stock here re droop mounts. But fortunately  not needed in my case. The scope is also magnum rated. It's held up for a couple thousand shots so far. And it does hold zero.

Thanks!
Nice bunch of black phase squirrels there! Wish we had those around here more.
Lol, after 7 days they let me know they could’nt read the pic of my drivers license I sent in, had to do it over for them... recieving slated for Saturday by end of day.
 May go with the Diana Zero base just because I have some cheaper( but proven tuff) scopes on hand to break it in with, then decide which scope i’ll Get for it in the end.

[Toxylon]

I had a ruger  air magnum years ago which is a chicom knockoff of the 350 and it was accurate and made quite a bit more KE (19 fp) than any hw95 I ever heard of.  There are more heavy pellets available these days too.  I’d love to shoot some 13 gr jsb’s in a Diana magnum.

Did you catch the .177 cal vs. .22 cal point?

My stock 350 Mag in .177 cal put out 18.4 ft.lbs at best. My stock HW95 in .22 cal put out 16.5 ft.lbs.

the .177 cal 350 Mag wastes so much energy it makes no sense. In .22 cal it blows the HWs out of the water.

[35 shooter]

Just recieved the rifle from fed-x. It was double boxed and well padded.
Lol, I must admit I had my doubts this would be a t06 trigger model since PA had the to5’s for the same price, but it definitely says t06 on the reciever !

Fit and finish looks perfect along with a fairly nice grained beech stock. The pressed checkering on the stock is a bit deeper and more refined than I thought it would be.
All in all, a very nice looking air rifle.
I’ll have to get the girls at the local apple store to show me how to send pics from my phone... computer is on the blitz.

Weight seems perfect for offhand shooting and carry in the field as is, but will be on the heavy side once a scope base, rings, and scope is added for sure.
Now to clean the bbl. and try a few shots.
This one will eventually get a stock and bbl. sling swivels added for carrying in the field.

I think it’s a heck of a deal for $249.00 plus shipping.

[35 shooter]

Just had to clean the bbl. and shoot a few pellets through it before working this afternoon lol.
First thing I noticed... no hard recoil as I was lead to believe from researching this rifle?
Shot cycle quick with No Buzz or twang.
The weight of this rifle must do a good job of absorbing recoil as my gas ram crosman summit ranger in 22 cal. Is Much Harder than this rifle.
Cocking effort is deceiving as it starts out easy and does’nt get “hard” till the end of the stroke being a springer.... i’m In good shape for 67 years old and could cock and shoot this rifle all day.

Could’nt get a chrony reading on my Chinese shoot through chrony, low battery I think. Got it charging up now.
It may not give an accurate reading anyway as I had a deformed beeman pellet go 2 1/2” low from 3 ft. a week ago and shoot out 2 of the led lights on the right side. At least that’s my story and i’m sticking to it lol.
May have to wait for a new Caldwell chrony i’m going to order.

Cocking did sound a bit dry and rough and bbl. pivot is tight as a drum... needs adjusting just a bit looser I think.

[WolfyW]

Just had to clean the bbl. and shoot a few pellets through it before working this afternoon lol.
First thing I noticed... no hard recoil as I was lead to believe from researching this rifle?
Shot cycle quick with No Buzz or twang.
The weight of this rifle must do a good job of absorbing recoil as my gas ram crosman summit ranger in 22 cal. Is Much Harder than this rifle.
Cocking effort is deceiving as it starts out easy and does’nt get “hard” till the end of the stroke being a springer.... i’m In good shape for 67 years old and could cock and shoot this rifle all day.

Could’nt get a chrony reading on my Chinese shoot through chrony, low battery I think. Got it charging up now.
It may not give an accurate reading anyway as I had a deformed beeman pellet go 2 1/2” low from 3 ft. a week ago and shoot out 2 of the led lights on the right side. At least that’s my story and i’m sticking to it lol.
May have to wait for a new Caldwell chrony i’m going to order.

Cocking did sound a bit dry and rough and bbl. pivot is tight as a drum... needs adjusting just a bit looser I think.

Congrats on the new rifle ! Seems your first impression is same as mine in every way. I don't understand the recoil hub bub  either, it's just a pellet gun. And, yeah, my pivots were dry too. Lots of lube otherwise, mine took a tin of pellets before the dieseling relented. But no twang. And it settled in at 20.5 ft/lbs.
It smoked a limit of squirrels today, 10-45 yards. The 2 at 10 yards were offhand. Its heavy, but steady. The common theme is to hold these very light in every way, let them do their thing.

[35 shooter]

WolfyW congrats on the squirrels. That’s definitely on my agenda too .
The only heavier pellets I had on hand were some 8.4 gr. Beeman pointed and some 10.5 gr. Crosman piranah’s.

I intially shot sitting at 5 yds. with the iron sights, which turned out centered and about 1 1/2” low, then ten yards standing into a ragged hole with the crosman.
After work I could’nt stand it and put on the only scope and mount I had laying around... a 3x9 barska 22 scope with cheap 2 piece rings lol.
1st 7 shots at 20 yds. benched went into 3/8” c!c.... first time i’ve the piranah’s hold up like that in any rifle.
I shot several more groups in the 3/8” to 5/8” range while adjusting the sights to center.
However, just before leaving for the gf’s house for supper, it started shooting all over the place.... finally figured out the weight of the rifle combined with the recoil had packed the sand in my front bag tight and hard. This rifle definitely does’nt like a hard rest. Did’nt have time to loosen the bag, so put my hand under the forearm on top of the bag and put the last three shots in another 3/8” group.
That was after about 50 shots and I thought the scope had gone bad, or the stock screws were loose, but everything was tight.
Tried the Beeman 8.4 gr. pellets, but they shot 2 to 4 “ vertically.

It seems to shoot well off the bags rested anywhere from the balance point on the forearm or up to the stock screws.
This rifle does’nt seem particularly rest(except from a hard rest) nor hold sensitive, but that opinion may change with more shooting and shooting at further distances.

One other thing I tried was shooting a true 1” pine board at 20 yds. The crosman piranah 10.5 gr. buried 3/4” to the head in it! I believe a pointed pellet may well have gone through it?
Wow...accurate and powerful.

[WolfyW]

Dang, thought mine was unique in shooting it rested lol! If you look close at the pic I posted above, you'll see a small black circle on the stock below the sunshade. That's a piece of Velcro. Once I figured the hold it likes, I put that Velcro there where my thumb would be so the hold will be consistent. Just for giggles I rested the rifle on my shooting bag at 30 yards and shot a group, expecting a pie plate size. Instead, it was dime size. Repeatable. Brought my homemade cross sticks next time and it can be rested an inch ahead of that Velcro. Hence the squirrel sniping. My brother has the same in wood and checkering like yours. I've seen him drop squirrels to 54 yards. I wonder if the 350s would sell alot better if they weren't stigmatized and people realized they really are shooters. If.... you handle them to their liking. They shoot you, you don't shoot them.

[35 shooter]

Wow, nice 30 yd. group for sure! I’m new to springers so i know I can’t judge it by what I did with it today.
lol, I may wake up tommorrow to find I don’t do so well with it.... we’ll see.
I held off ordering a base and scope for it till I determined if it needed droop compensation. From what I saw today it won’t be absolutely necessary.
May just get a utg one piece base and maybe a utg 4x12AO scope for it.

[WolfyW]

Wow, nice 30 yd. group for sure! I’m new to springers so i know I can’t judge it by what I did with it today.
lol, I may wake up tommorrow to find I don’t do so well with it.... we’ll see.
I held off ordering a base and scope for it till I determined if it needed droop compensation. From what I saw today it won’t be absolutely necessary.
May just get a utg one piece base and maybe a utg 4x12AO scope for it.

Sounds like you got a good one. UTG on mine, too.  Gotta like the trigger, too, eh ?

[35 shooter]

Yep, forgot about the.trigger. It was set hairy from the factory. That’s the only thing that changed as I shot it.... it got a bit harder after about 30 shots... guess the trigger screw backed off a little?
It felt like a 2# trigger to start with... now i’d Guess about 2 1/2 maybe 2 /34#.
But yeah, I like it. Just a bit of take up slack, hit’s a definite wall, then breaks like glass.

[35 shooter]

Well, my next shooting session did’nt go as well.
Groups with the Piranah pellets opened to over an inch at 20 yds. benched in some cases.
May just be my inexperience shooting springers or maybe the new bbl. needs cleaning again during break in?

I tried a lighter (Winchester dome) pellet, but it sounded like it border line detonated on me... still a lot of oil left in the compression chamber I suppose.

Got to order some different pellets to try in it from about 8.4 to 10 plus grains... can’t find anything locally much lately.
Looking forward to working with this rifle more!

[WolfyW]

Apart from snugging stock screws, I like to pull a patch through the barrel every so often during the break in. Surprising how much gunk ends up in there from dieseling. Its surprising how specific they may want to be held, too. I can get away with alot with my HW 97. I discovered with my 350 it doesn't want to be held with an open palm nor all fingers wrapped around. It specifically wants just thumb and fore finger gripping the stock, at that specific location. Then magic happens. I had a large variety of pellets on hand already, but just one stood out from the rest. My opinion, keep shooting and breaking it in. When things settle in, then see what you have. Mine is. 22 cal, never shot one in .177. But any info I've seen says heavy pellet in .177 or bust. Yes, hard to find in these times. That virus really interrupted manufacturing.

[WolfyW]

Sent you a coupla pm's 

[35 shooter]

Managed to get a chrony avg. for the 10.5 gr. piranahs.... just a 4 shot avg. at 950fps. at 3 ft. from the chrony for 21 ft. lbs. That’s IF my chrony is still accurate. Had a 32 FPS. spread though... it’s still diesling a bit.
Also caught the cheap 2 piece rings sliding back on the rails bit by bit... may account for some of the random grouping I got today.

Tommorrow i’ll Probably order a BKL dropper base and a nice scope for it, plus a few other different brands of 10.5 gr. Pellets.

[HectorMedina]

Managed to get a chrony avg. for the 10.5 gr. piranahs.... just a 4 shot avg. at 950fps. at 3 ft. from the chrony for 21 ft. lbs. That’s IF my chrony is still accurate. Had a 32 FPS. spread though... it’s still diesling a bit.
Also caught the cheap 2 piece rings sliding back on the rails bit by bit... may account for some of the random grouping I got today.

Tommorrow i’ll Probably order a BKL dropper base and a nice scope for it, plus a few other different brands of 10.5 gr. Pellets.

What's written here:

https://www.ctcustomairguns.com/hectors-airgun-blog/the-diana-430l-second-entry 

Applies to ALL airguns as far as barrel "breaking in". It takes time and patience, but in the long run it will pay off big time.

HTH





HM

[35 shooter]

Thanks for the link Hector.

In the meantime I ordered a 3x9x32 utg scope(for now), a BKL dropper base with 6 screws, and some crosman 10.5 gr. Domes, and some H&N 10.65 gr. Pellets.

I tightened the 2 piece bases down again and it’s right back shooting tight groups again from the bench.... can’t wait to get the BKL base and new scope on it.
Tired of tightening the bases after 25 to 30 shots lol, but it’s all I had on hand.