I think I messed up...

[Methuselah]

I know there's a lot of folk here who work on their own stuff, and I probably deserve any chastising I get for failing to do the same. That said...

Years back, maybe around 2016'ish, I bought a new Diana 34 from a discounter after Christmas holidays, presumption being it got returned, quite possibly because it wasn't shooting as it should be.

Short version, I sent it back to Umarex, got it back after no small amount of hassles, and it came back with the same problem. Sadly, I shelved it till last week when I looked it over to see if they did what they were supposed to --- stake the screw holding the front bracket for the forestocks. It was shooting the screws loose on them after every 2-3 rounds. This was the "effect" side of a longer "cause" version.

All told if I had to guess, I've got maybe 20 or 30 rounds tops through this rifle and put off working it because it was supposed to be lifetime warrantied.

Fast forward last week, that screw is staked, but one of the front bracket screws and mating hole in the bracket is in very rough condition, even though you could still tighten it. So, while it could use a new bracket and three new screws, in which the bracket holddown would have to be staked again, OR, drilling and taping for another, larger screw with similar head size --- I took the easy way out and blue LocTite'ed both screws.

THEN I came here and started reading some threads on the 34's and, sadly, find that I should have put washers under the star lock-washers first 

Da*n!

So, now what ? ? ? If I "redo" it's probably going to finish off what's left of the threads, if I fire it, it seems doomed to working loose as the star washers dig into (and damage) the forestocks, and I really don't want to fight with Umarex about honoring the warranty when the word honor seemingly isn't in their vocabulary. Soooo, now what? ? ?

I'm very tempted to just shoot it as is for as long as it lasts, but so far have resisted the temptation to fire it at all since the LocTite was applied.

Very sad 

[splitbeing]

Bummer, Steve.

[Airnut]

Shoot it and enjoy it. It may not work loose.
If it does then deal with it.
If you try to redo it after using loc-tite on them you will probably do even more damage. If they do work loose thats one less thing you will have to deal with.

[Methuselah]

Shoot it and enjoy it. It may not work loose.
If it does then deal with it.
If you try to redo it after using loc-tite on them you will probably do even more damage. If they do work loose thats one less thing you will have to deal with.

Trigger is so light I never even feel "travel", I squeeze, it shoots. Not sure if that's good or bad LOL. It's a T06.

10 rounds and the screws seemed to stay put. One sounded noticeably anaemic and went low turning a 7/8 group into an inch.

Shot cycle is brutal actually, as I'm leaning in so it's resting on bone, but it was honking during cocking before sending it back, at least it's not doing that now.

Five of those 10 were (barely) all touching 5 o'clock inside the 9 ring, probably just bad shooting skills 

Perhaps a scope just to see if it can shoot?

[Roadworthy]

Don't worry about Umarex and any supposed warranty you think you have.  They were not good "back when" anyhow.  If it were my gun (I know, it's not) I would remove the front screws and star washers.  Find a couple flat washers that will fit and put them between the star washers and the wood.  I can't imagine putting enough force on these screws to strip the threads.  Watch the screw in front of the trigger guard.  It tends to work loose allowing the action to move in the stock.  This causes erratic groups.  It's a common #2 Phillips but the head is a reduced size.  A normal one will work but the head won't be flush with the trigger guard.  When you really get into shooting it the trigger can be adjusted for the point at which the gun fires as well as difficulty of pull.  It's a great gun for the money.

[Methuselah]

Don't worry about Umarex and any supposed warranty you think you have.  They were not good "back when" anyhow.  If it were my gun (I know, it's not) I would remove the front screws and star washers.  Find a couple flat washers that will fit and put them between the star washers and the wood.  I can't imagine putting enough force on these screws to strip the threads.  Watch the screw in front of the trigger guard.  It tends to work loose allowing the action to move in the stock.  This causes erratic groups.  It's a common #2 Phillips but the head is a reduced size.  A normal one will work but the head won't be flush with the trigger guard.  When you really get into shooting it the trigger can be adjusted for the point at which the gun fires as well as difficulty of pull.  It's a great gun for the money.

Thanks for responding Thomas

I'm quite torn on this issue. When I got it back I tried it several times and every shot or two I had to retighten those screws.  I wish I took a pic before the Loctite, both screw and hole were so chewed up I was frankly perplexed I could get the screw to tighten at all. Were it not for being a special pitch and the bracket being staked I would have drilled it bigger, tapped for a larger screw and then loctited it. I think I just wanted to be done since it sat since 2016...

Right now with just 10 rounds that loctite seems to be holding. So I hate it could ruin the stock, and don't know for sure what Umarex did to it won't also cause new damages, but I'm generally a by the numbers type. I would like to see it group before devoting more time and effort,  but I don't think I have the shooting skills 

The target filesize was too big before,  hopefully it attaches now. Disregarding that flyer, it looks like 3 groups depending on how I held the rifle. Maybe it shoots ok and I just lack skills and discipline...

One option I'm considering is sending it to a tuner. That could take care of the bracket problem and perhaps get a more docile spring. Another is research Diana in Germany and see if they will step up to the plate, because you are right, rws/umarex do not belong in the same sentence as the word warranty.

I suppose too, if I keep trying to see if I can get it to group and the screws don't hold, I could just put it up for sale with full disclosure. I got it for $125, so it's possible I might not take too big a loss on it. After all, I've still got the Daisy 880 and so far it's 10 times the gun this one is...

[Denby95]

I bought a diana 34 brand new in 2020 whose front end bracket had been cross threaded from the factory. very carefully ran a tap through those threads several times on both sides and all has been well ever since.

Perhaps you could put a very small nut ?

[Methuselah]

I bought a diana 34 brand new in 2020 whose front end bracket had been cross threaded from the factory. very carefully ran a tap through those threads several times on both sides and all has been well ever since.

Perhaps you could put a very small nut ?

Not a bad idea, I'm probably just clinging too stubbornly to the notion that, at least given the round count, its new enough that it deserves to start life in stock condition.

I reckon that's unreasonable 

[Methuselah]

I bought a diana 34 brand new in 2020 whose front end bracket had been cross threaded from the factory. very carefully ran a tap through those threads several times on both sides and all has been well ever since.

Perhaps you could put a very small nut ?

I looked, yes, there's room + extra, so the bracket could be drilled out where the screws stripped, and a bigger/longer screw put in, with a nut on the other side, add locTite (red) to taste...

I wrote Diana factory in Germany asking for the parts (lifetime warranty) and explaining what the rifle's been through, full page it turns out. I'm expecting enthusiastic silence, but I was bored anyway...

I've done nothing but complain about Umarex since I got this rifle, but it actually seems like a pretty decent gun. There, I said it.

[Mark 611]

Yep, this why I no longer buy Diana air guns! They have switched hands too many times since 2015, I got lucky my D460mag .22cal from that time era is a good rifle, powerful accurate and not pellet fussy! YMMV

[cjtamu]

Hoping Hector sees this at some point. He might have some ideas. Getting parts for Dianas is harder than before but still doable. I wouldn’t even try warranty service. Don’t know about the newer guns but I have older D34, D52L, and 56T/H that are all tremendous guns. Worth the effort to lay up small supply of parts and of course after market springs/seals are easy to get. If you like irons try a Williams peep on the rear of the D34.

[Methuselah]

Hoping Hector sees this at some point. He might have some ideas. Getting parts for Dianas is harder than before but still doable. I wouldn’t even try warranty service. Don’t know about the newer guns but I have older D34, D52L, and 56T/H that are all tremendous guns. Worth the effort to lay up small supply of parts and of course after market springs/seals are easy to get. If you like irons try a Williams peep on the rear of the D34.

I LOVE irons, especially peeps, haven't used those since military days with my m16. Aren't the Williams sights priced higher than a new car though? 

[Brazos]

My experience with ALL spring rifles is that when they are new screws get loose.  Check them, tighten them, lock-tite them and they won’t get loose as the rifle settles in.  The RWS 34 is a good rifle.  It has a good barrel and the T06 is a great trigger.  In my opinion they are the easiest spring rifle to take apart and you don’t need a spring compressor.  I find it easier to work on then my TX200.  The 34 will not break-in and smooth out like a HW rifle so if you want instant gratification put a Vortek 12pfe kit in it and it will be really nice.

[cjtamu]

Hoping Hector sees this at some point. He might have some ideas. Getting parts for Dianas is harder than before but still doable. I wouldn’t even try warranty service. Don’t know about the newer guns but I have older D34, D52L, and 56T/H that are all tremendous guns. Worth the effort to lay up small supply of parts and of course after market springs/seals are easy to get. If you like irons try a Williams peep on the rear of the D34.

I LOVE irons, especially peeps, haven't used those since military days with my m16. Aren't the Williams sights priced higher than a new car though? 

$70 at AoA for the FP-AG-TK which is the one I have on my D34. For another $10 each you can get the target peep and the twilight peep. Don’t think they make the version without target knobs anymore.

[Methuselah]

$70 at AoA for the FP-AG-TK which is the one I have on my D34. For another $10 each you can get the target peep and the twilight peep. Don’t think they make the version without target knobs anymore.

I wonder if anybody uses cheaper stuff like this ghost ring on eBay https://www.ebay.com/itm/314742200231?

My biggest issue with this kind of thing is I'm OK to good working on stuff that's already been designed to work, not so much with finding ways to make stuff work that wasn't originally designed to work together...

[Methuselah]

My experience with ALL spring rifles is that when they are new screws get loose.  Check them, tighten them, lock-tite them and they won’t get loose as the rifle settles in.  The RWS 34 is a good rifle.  It has a good barrel and the T06 is a great trigger.  In my opinion they are the easiest spring rifle to take apart and you don’t need a spring compressor.  I find it easier to work on then my TX200.  The 34 will not break-in and smooth out like a HW rifle so if you want instant gratification put a Vortek 12pfe kit in it and it will be really nice.

I'm betting you are 100% right about breaking in and screws coming loose, unfortunately the situation snowballed on me ... head start was, IIRC, a bad breech seal (it was 2015/2016...)

I'm going to take the rifle outside and use a trigger gage on it to see how light it is, but I'm not saying somethings wrong with it or the T06 in general, just that I like to feel some stage 2 pull before let off and it's so light compared to my 6# plus Daisy 880 or even the .22's which are mostly in the 3-4# range.

Also agree I believe I'd find the Vortek kit preferable to stock, but I'd like to know it's not going to (continue to) self-destruct during break-in before I consider throwing money at it since it's not the only airgun that's been sitting all this time needing to be worked on.

I've been reading the German gate threads lately, and was seeing some very interesting comments regarding moly vs. teflon based for the piston, and tar on springs. I've already decided since I bought some a long time ago, it will be moly (sparingly  ), but I see the world has been leaving me behind... . Anyway, if a Vortek kit does find it's way into this D34, it will get moly and tar. I do have a question though on the Vortek springs --- how do the lower FPE springs hold up. Are they one and done or do they eventually break. I've heard Titan mentioned for airgun springs and seem to recall a comment that they tend to last forever. Alas, my memory ucks though. (oh look, here's the s)

[Yogi]

The way it was explained to was that metallurgy being the same, a spring with a larger OD will last longer than a spring with a smaller OD.  The stresses created have a larger area to be spread over.
Not really a worry until you get into many thousand shots per spring.
FWIW-My trigger break at just over 1/2 lbs.  Unless your trigger finger is on steroids, how can you shoot a 6 lbs trigger without jerking your shots?

-Y

[cjtamu]

My D34 shoots very smoothly. Almost no buzz or twang, but it’s a 2004 T05 gun. Trigger 2-2.5 lb as I recall. Only T06 gun I have is a 56T/H. Trigger breaks right at 1 lb but there’s still a distinct wall when you hit second stage. You should be able to adjust your trigger to your liking. Although I’ve never tried to ADD weight to a trigger so I can’t say for sure 

[Methuselah]

The way it was explained to was that metallurgy being the same, a spring with a larger OD will last longer than a spring with a smaller OD.  The stresses created have a larger area to be spread over.
Not really a worry until you get into many thousand shots per spring.

I reckon what you're saying is whatever I get will last a while, at least in the docile category

FWIW-My trigger break at just over 1/2 lbs.  Unless your trigger finger is on steroids, how can you shoot a 6 lbs trigger without jerking your shots?

-Y

Idonnaknow, probably just got used to it --- it's got a pretty long pull and once it's moving it might be lighter (pull gage reads peak?)

[Methuselah]

Lyman digital trigger gage said 15.9 oz. Seems like an accident waiting to happen, my lightest .22 is 2 # 12 oz and I have to be mindful how light that is so I don't accidentally jerk it...

Is that even close to normal?