I recently purchased a Winchester 353 (Diana/Original 5) It has a strong spring but is unable to push a pellet through the barrel. Since the seller said it worked "perfectly" I assume that must have meant he had dry fired it. The date on the pistol is 1970. Did these have leather or synthetic seals? Does anyone know how to replace them and if so is a spring compressor needed? Lastly is there a supplier for the seals other than Cambers in the UK? Thanks

Hello Joe,
The seals are synthetic, I can reseal the gun for you if you want, please E-mail me your telephone number and I will call you with more details.
Regards
Lawrie Amatruda

Does the gun's breech seal appear to be functioning OK?

RWS in New Jersey, the importer of Diana airguns in the US, will provide either parts or service at reasonable rates.

Randy Bimrose, Dave Slade, Tim McMurray and Beeman's are other places providing Diana service.

Stripped it yesterday. The piston seal had totally disentegrated. A glob was still attached to the piston and the rest was stuck in the cylinder. It was not recognizable as a seal. It appeard to have been melted by a solvent. Could this have been the result of using Dri-Slide? Back in the 70s Dri-Slide was heavily promoted by ARH as the greatest lubricate ever.

Well, I guess that settles the diagnosis! A piston seal it is.

I doubt the gun had any particularly noxious lubes, that is simply the typical fate of the nylon seals Diana used in those days. A couple of years ago, Randy Bimrose rebuilt a Diana 60 recoilless rifle for me. He returned the seals in a plastic bag...basically they looked like grains of petrified oatmeal.

Joe,

I have a Diana Model 6G with the identical problem. The pistol was in storage for about 10 years and the Pistol Seal just disintegrated.

How did you ever remove the end cap? Mine is on extremely tight and I'm afraid it will be difficult to replace the cap under all that spring tension.

Any comments would be appreicated.

Regards,
Frank

Joe,

I have a Diana Model 6G with the identical problem. The pistol was in storage for about 10 years and the Pistol Seal just disintegrated.

How did you ever remove the end cap? It's on extremely tight and I'm afraid it will be difficult to replace the cap under all that spring tension.

Any comments would be appreicated.

Regards,
Frank