Last Christmas I was still longing to buy a 300R since the 7 shot capacity seemed a nice thing to have. I posted this here on this forum and Whiteleather advised against it, telling it is overly complicated and things might just break down. This reply kept playing in my head and gradually my focus changed. Now, I really wanted a powerful springer to complement my collection.
And so the gathering of information began.
Maybe a gasram would be nice: a Theoben Crusader (21.5fpe in .25) or a Weihrauch 90 (RX2). Or a gasrammed HW80 (R1) in .25? Or should I get the webley Patriot ?
Sleeping became a hard thing to do. This may sound stupid, but it is actually very true.
Waking up at night, switching on the computer, searching all forums I could find.
I really got sold to the gasram feature. The gundealer, next to our shooting range, and also an airgun collector (he has nearly every Diana model) strongly advised against gasrams, especially the Weihrauch as lots had problems with leaks, he told. Yes, I thought, but the Theoben HE gasram should be better.
I do not want to collect as many airguns as I have firearms, so I decided to let it rest till after summer.
Today, however, I was in the shop for .22short ammo for the Beretta 950B and saw another customer looking at the airrifles. Quickly I (!) sold him a model 34 in .22 as he needed something to shoot rabbits at 30yards and his budget was 250 euro.
This made the new gun urge unbearable and I posted in front of the Diana's: 350, 48 and the new 460 (sadly only in .177). Price differences where little, the 460 at 525 euro and the 48 and 350 at 475 euro. (a HW97k goes for some 400). Gasrams were forgotten and I realised Dianas are easy guns to change springs and to work on in general.
The 48 seemed outmoded (sorry) next to the long and sleek 460 (beautifun (!) gun!!!) but I really wanted power so the 350 .22 was put in it's box, a discount was discussed, a tin of JSB exacts was chosen, paid, and off I ran to the range.
On airgun fora in Belgium and Holland, the 350 has a bad rep for being inaccurate.
I knew this could not be true and these rumors were launched by people who lacked technique and competition level experience.
So I shot the new baby and was rewarded with 1" groups at 25m (27yds) with open sights. This is actually better than my HW77k (.25) with open sights.
Cocking certainly is not too bad and the 50 pellet string was not fatiguing.
But there is a lot (really) a lot of creep when cocking the gun. I hope this will go away with use.
Back home I measured the power and it was slightly better than 20 fpe with JSB, Superdome and baracuda), a figure, I hope, will go up to 22 - 23 after the breaking in period.
(oops, this post is getting way too long)
ok, I go to sleep now, I jut wanted to share my happiness with my 350, a gun I waited too long to buy.
congratulations Joris the 350 is an Awesome springer
July 9 2006, 6:04 PM
Well worth the wait , power to spare and accuracy to match , and at 8.2 lbs ..not much heavier than a 36 and lighter than a HW 77/97 ..so power wieght ratio is high .
The TO5 is nice ..match type trigger ..don't worry about the plastic blade it won't break any time soon .Sleek and elegant ..classy stock ..its a gun you won't want to sell anytime soon .
The .22 shoots fast enough to give a very flat tragectory , pcp velocites without the connectors and fill bottles .Power that is awesome comming from a springer , the cocking is not too hard ..its a lot easier than the Gamo 1250 hurricane .It smooth to cock right out of the box , definaltely
this gun is a long range shooter / hunter capable of 14 fpe at 50 metres ! I can see why you are excited !
Thanks and enjoy your newe toy Joris. If I am persuaded I may try a .22 model 350 next week. I have only shot the 350 in .177 cal. so far and it makes a racket (outdoors)! It crackerd, I think.
I wouldn't say a 350 .22 is very loud. A lot of the noise often comes from the impact of the pellet, which of course, is powerful and hard.
It's a bit more than a 34, but not far from a 350 .177 that goes supersonic.
See link for a comparison of the noise of different airguns.
Does the 350 produces more than 93 dB at point blank range (shooter's perception of noise, or less? Ninety-three is pretty loud, in my book, as far as the shooter is concerned. Those standing 10m away may feel comfortable but anything above 80 dB seems too loud to me. I wished Straightshooters tested the 350, as well.
Yesterday I took my 350 .22 shooting together with my HW77k .25
Honestly, the 350 is louder than the (tuned) 77 but as a whole, I would say it's not that loud.
I think that tuning/lubing the 350 will do a lot to make it even quiter as my tuned 77 is a lot more silent than my untuned 97.