...I have become absolutely infatuated with the stock Diana 34 sights. Between the excellent hooded post front (kindda reminds of the unit seen on some of the K98 and Yugo Mausers, only quite a bit finer) and the versatile, positive-adjusting, four-notch rear, I find I am able to extract all the accuracy needed for most uses, up to and including short-medium range hunting and pest control. And please keep in mind, this is with a 34C, which only has a 15.5" barrel (IIRC). The full-size rifles should be that much more effective with their 19 inchers.
I have very bad eyes and am no good shooting offhand, especially with powerful springers. Yet I find myself able to hit targets as well with with an open-sighted 34 as I can with a scoped Crosman 1077 or QB78/.22, sometimes better if I really concentrate. There's just something about the simplicity and lack of headaches (mounts, rings, parallex, scope creep ect.) afforded by using irons. As I say, I'm blind and no marksman, so I'm sure somehow who has good eyes and a steady aim could do real wonders with a 34's sights. An additional boon with this setup is that a. it's darn near perfect for adding a peep to, and b. the front sight can be removed and replaced with another offering (perhaps) more precision, and versatility in the form of inserts. There are quite a few shooters on this forum who use 34s with aftermarket and/or modified sights systems and many have report excellent results. Quite a few still use their guns with the stock sights and are also happy with that setup. Old-world craftsmanship, sigthing technology (please don't laugh), and simplicity--all come together on the Diana 34 series to create one of finest airgun values on the market today.
Now I must confess, I have added a Simmons red dot to my 34C. I only did it, however, for reasons of economy (I had it laying around and I didn't have enough cash for a good peep at the time) and because I knew I would be using the carbine under conditions of low or less than ideal light. With my bad eyes and the black-on-black open sight picture (my only gripe with the Diana sights, which could be fixed rather easily but I've been too lazy to do so)low-light work is a hit or miss thing, hence my adoption of the Simmons. The dot, coincidentally, fits on the rail in such a manner as to allow full use of the open sights for use in better light and as backup in case the dot ever fails or runs outta juice. Eventually, I would like to add an insert-capable front sight and a rear peep to this wonderful airgun, but for now, I'm quite happy with the sighting system/combination.
If you MUST go for a scope, the Barska has a good rep so far and I'm sure the BSA would work ok too. The Bushnell Sportsman and Tasco Golden Antler lines are also worth a look imo. I've heard nothing but good things about the Bushies (they offer an AG rated, non-AO 3-9x32 version with capped turrets and a 17 yard parallex setting which sells for around $40 and would be my pick of the bunch...I don't care much for AO's on airgun scopes) and I have one of the Tasco's (3-9x32, AO, non-capped target turrets ect.) for which I paid less than $40 at Natchez (www.natchezss.com) which I've been quite pleased with. If your not set on a variable, I think your best bet would be a BSA 4x32 AG scope. Natchez was selling them for $26 last time I checked, and for that price I don't see how you could wrong (capped target turrets, A/O, good optics and lifetime warranty. There are a number of good red dot sights out there as well, most of which are quite reasonably priced and reliable. If you want to try something other than irons, don't need or want magnification, and are interested in at least some low-light capability, they are worth a look.
Until my eyes crap out completely though, I'm sticking with irons on the 34s
Sorry for the excessive length and/or rambling and I hope this helps you out a bit.
Best of luck of in your decision and kind regards,
~~ Nate S~~
P.S. Whichever way you go, have fun and enjoy that 34...these buggers rock!
