I've liked my 34P so much, I bought a 34 Classic about two and half weeks ago or so. It's sat in the corner the whole time until today. It's not been shot yet, but has been cocked and decocked numerous times. Cocking and decocking can tell you a lot about a new rifle before a pellet ever leaves the barrel. On the first couple of "cocks" it sounded a bit dry, but then quieted on up. This also gave me an opportunity to check the tolerances between the cocking arm and the forearm cut out. There were no issues there either. The distance between the cocking arm and the cutout in the wood forearm was more than adequate on both sides. Absolutely no rubbing whatsoever.
I wanted to disassemble the 34 Classic before I started shooting it for several reasons. With my 34P, I wiped it down, cleaned the bore and started sending hundreds of pellets down the barrel long before I ever decided to break it down. And I did this with NO issues at all. The rifle did, has, and still does shoot wonderfully. But I've learned a bit since then and wanted start out differently with this rifle. I wanted to actually see what the 34 looked like inside as shipped from the factory. I also now have a much better idea of what to actually look for. And mostly...I wanted to start this one out with a good massaging and proper lube before I began pumping the lead out. Just a different approach.
First off, all I have done so far is to just disassemble and inspect it. The D34 is so very simple to take down. This one was actually lubed pretty well from the factory. You can see the factory lube on the piston wall and also around the sides of the piston seal. It also had a very adequate amount of lube on the main pivot point of the barrel and receiver. The spring was not totally dry, but close to it. There really isn't a need for a lot of lube on the spring anyway other than quieting things down a bit. The OEM guide was straight and not deformed at all. The cutouts in the compression tube do not have any "burrs" on them at all. I ran my finger all around the edges and found none. However, they do have sharp edges and will get smoothed out before reassembly. The piston seal does have a very slight "nick" on it. I would say nothing at all that would hinder performance in any way. I say this because the seal on my 34P had a worse "nick'" on it and the gun maintained high and consistent velocities with that OEM seal.
This Diana 34 also has a manufacture date stamp on the receiver of 2017. Same as my 34P.
My plan is to of course thoroughly clean every part. Then I'll polish certain parts and properly lube everything before reassembly. Then we will give it a chronograph test and shoot it for accuracy. I'm actually quite excited about this because I have a brand new Vortex 4-12 that is just waiting to get mounted on this gun. After all this......just have fun with it! I will update after it all is complete.
If you read all this.....I appreciate it.
TR
I wanted to disassemble the 34 Classic before I started shooting it for several reasons. With my 34P, I wiped it down, cleaned the bore and started sending hundreds of pellets down the barrel long before I ever decided to break it down. And I did this with NO issues at all. The rifle did, has, and still does shoot wonderfully. But I've learned a bit since then and wanted start out differently with this rifle. I wanted to actually see what the 34 looked like inside as shipped from the factory. I also now have a much better idea of what to actually look for. And mostly...I wanted to start this one out with a good massaging and proper lube before I began pumping the lead out. Just a different approach.
First off, all I have done so far is to just disassemble and inspect it. The D34 is so very simple to take down. This one was actually lubed pretty well from the factory. You can see the factory lube on the piston wall and also around the sides of the piston seal. It also had a very adequate amount of lube on the main pivot point of the barrel and receiver. The spring was not totally dry, but close to it. There really isn't a need for a lot of lube on the spring anyway other than quieting things down a bit. The OEM guide was straight and not deformed at all. The cutouts in the compression tube do not have any "burrs" on them at all. I ran my finger all around the edges and found none. However, they do have sharp edges and will get smoothed out before reassembly. The piston seal does have a very slight "nick" on it. I would say nothing at all that would hinder performance in any way. I say this because the seal on my 34P had a worse "nick'" on it and the gun maintained high and consistent velocities with that OEM seal.
This Diana 34 also has a manufacture date stamp on the receiver of 2017. Same as my 34P.
My plan is to of course thoroughly clean every part. Then I'll polish certain parts and properly lube everything before reassembly. Then we will give it a chronograph test and shoot it for accuracy. I'm actually quite excited about this because I have a brand new Vortex 4-12 that is just waiting to get mounted on this gun. After all this......just have fun with it! I will update after it all is complete.
If you read all this.....I appreciate it.
TR