My first grown up air rifle

Welcome these guns are all fun

Congratulations! Which caliber did you get. I have both calibers and they are well worth the price.

Well, there goes that dream mediterranean vacation. Your wife will still probably go tho,lol. My condolences and welcome.

i just ordered a Diana 34 as all I ever owned was lever action and pump bb guns and now at 62 years old I though it was time to try and find one that would be very accurate and possibly hunt small game with it. And glad I found this site for tons of info I will need to set this gun up.

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Good call. You did your research or you are very lucky. Most folks start with an "Umpty-Fratz-Whiz-Bang Magnum 5". They are said to shoot a 70 grain .32 cal slug at 1500 fps with a cocking force of only 132 pounds. But the trigger is a dream as it matches the cocking force.

Seriously though, you picked an EXCELLENT rifle as your starter rifle.

I owned a Diana 34 and was pleased with it's performance. Even in .177 caliber it had plenty of punch for small game out to 50 meters.

If you've got arthritic fingers like some of us, you might consider a "pellet pen', cheap, easy to use, fast load for each shot. Clips right on to your shirt.



Hoot

The M34 doesn't have a tight barrel breech like my sig ASP20 does. Pellets easily insert in below the breech face. Even larger head pellets like the 4.53mm JSB 8.44gr doomed pellets insert with no problem. You can use a ink pen cap to lightly seat the pellet to prevent it from coming loose, or falling out, during the closing of the barrel for firing. By the way, the JSB's are very accurate in mine and I'm getting 935 fps with them !! As has been mentioned, that's pretty potent for rodents and small game at short ranges. Regarding scopes, I have the illuminated reticle UTG True Hunter 3-9x40 on mine and have had no problem with it. This scope also sat on my Sig ASP20 for quite awhile with no problem. The scope is heavier and longer than I like but for under $100 they are well worth it. The crosshairs are a little thick but for 30-40 yards distance they are fine.

Good choice. The RWS is relatively powerful. I also have one in .177 and I chose a heavy pellet, the H&N Barracuda Match with 4.53mm head size. Your specific ammo will make all the difference. Yes, some pellets can be ordered with specific head sizes and sometimes it's magic accuracy when you find the right one for your gun

If you can afford it, the SWFA line of fixed power scopes are priced well below their quality. That rifle would do well with a 10x or 12x SWFA fixed power scope.

Here's a cheap price on a good scope,$24.99.

Tasco Varmint at Amazon.

I'd go with a Hawke scope and a good set of rings maybe BKL. Those springers are brutal on scopes. I also agree with looking for a good quality heavy pellet. It will help stabilize it and give you better groups. 

Hawke has excellent customer service. Here is some good advice.



I'm seeing allot of threads where folks wanna know how to set-up their first springer, or accuracy problems with a new springer and a whole host of other things. I'm attributing this to all the NEW members that have signed on as of late. There used to be a thread on springer accuracy and proper "Out of the box" set-up. But it seems that I'm too lazy to find it and post it for others.

Anyway, here goes.

DO'S

- The FIRST thing you should do when you unbox your new springer is STOP DROOLING!!! Let your heart rate drop and calm down! You've waited maybe 10 days to get it, you can wait a little longer 

- READ THE MANUAL!!! Familiarize yourself with all the controls, adjustment screws and procedures etc. listed for your particular rifle. A little info goes a LONG way!

- Clean it!!! Wipe all the nasties off the stock and metal work. Run a goo gone soaked patch or 3 through the barrel then follow with dry ones until the last one comes out nice n' dry.

- Check ALL the screws. Make sure they're tight, but not TOO tight (especially if they're in a Wood Stock) . You don't wanna end up cracking the stock or pulling the screws through it. For break barrels, check the barrel pivot screw. Make sure IT'S tight. An easy way to check is when the rifle is cocked, the barrel will stay unassisted, in ANY position that it's placed in throughout it's swing. It should also be fairly smooth, with a slight resistance when closing the action.

- Take a few test shots WITH OPEN SIGHTS!!! This will tell you how the rifle will group or not with the particular pellet that you're using. It will also start the dieseling process. The frist few shot may sound like a Steroid Benji Pumper or a Rimfire Rifle going off, with a slight puff of smoke and the smell of being in traffic behind a city bus. Don't worry!!! This will go away in short order.

- If all is to your satisfaction so far, then mount the scope. CLEAN CLEAN CLEAN the dovetail with alcahol, acetone, laquer thinner etc to get ALL the oil and grease out of them. Make sure NOT to get any solvent on that nice new stock unless you plan on refinishing it soon! Also clean the clamps and screws on the mounts, add a bit of blue locktite to the threads of each of the screws and install the mount. The rest should be pretty easy.

- Refer to the very FIRST thing I listed! WAIT!!! DO NOT SHOOT THE RIFLE UNTIL TOMORROW!!! You should wait until the LockTite has completely cured. Otherwise all the work you've just put into cleaning, LockTiting and careful mounting of your scope may be thrown out the window on your fourth or fifth shot.

- Sight your scope in.
I'm not really going to go into this as there are LOTS of posts and an article in the Library as to how.


DON'Ts

- Don't skip the barrel cleaning. There may be junk left in there from Manufacturing that you don't want embedded in the rifling. There's usually also oil in the barrel that will diesel like a MoFo.

- Don't Dry Fire the gun. You'll ruin it!

- Don't add ANY oil to the spring, into the barrel OR into the transfer port. At the very least, the gun will diesel. At worst, it could explode in your face when you pull the trigger. I haven't seen it happen, but it could if there's a defect in the reciever tube or any number of other parts.

- Don't skip reading the manual! There's LOTS of information there which may come in handy in the future!

- Don't mount the scope right away. The gun may be bad from the git-go and mounting it would be a waste of time.

- Don't shoot at ANYTHING that you don't intend to kill, maim, hurt or otherwise want to punch a hole in. That's pretty much common sense there folks...


Well, that's all I can think of for now. I'm sure others will chime in and add to the post or disagree with me on one point or another hehe.


And remember... WHATEVER you do... BE SAFE AND HAVE FUN!!!

If you are worried about crushing the wood when tightening the stock screws. You can always remove the screws, take the action out of the stock and then use THIN CA GLUE, not the gel, but THIN. Wick it all around the screw holes and let it soak in good and dry completely before putting the action back into the stock. It will make the wood harder and keep from crushing it so bad.

Ray

Enjoy ! I have been shooting quality German made spring powered rifles since 1979 when I happyly bought a FWB 124D. The price was hefty , but Robert Law of Air Rifle Headquarters convinced me of the quality and accuracy of a German made air rifle. Yes , most of my friends thought I was nuts. But they did not know. The FWB 124D is one of 4 springer rifles in my collection , but perhaps the most accurate. An HW30S , a HW35E , a Air Arms Pro-Elite, and the FWB 124D is just a little bit more accurate. At 25 yards , the HW30S is very close. An Anshutz 380 I sold was probably more accurate , but only by a little. 

Welcome to the club. Good choice with the Diana, can't go wrong with a quality made rifle. Trust me, it will be the first of several (many).

You probably will have issues with the stock screws coming loose. The front trigger gaurd machine thread screw might give you some problems but responds well to blue Loctite. The forearm screws are a far bigger problem. I tried Loctite with just the star lock washer. No good ! I made some flat washers (out of brass #10 washers) to use under the star washer. No good ! Decided to scrap the star washer and just use my flat washer with Loctite. Totally solved the problem on my .177 M34. They still barely loosen on my .22 rifle after 20-25 shots. It's doable ! I may in time use JB Weld on the forearm screws like AGN member seven08 does. To remove the screws after using JBW just heat a screwdriver fairly hot (not red) and hold it on the screw. The heat from the screwdriver will travel down ( conductivity) the screw and loosen the hold of the JBW. I'd try the easier fixes first.