Hello all.
I bought a used 54 model. Year of production: 94. Spring and chamber (blue 28mm diameter) washer are new. Right on the begining it seemed to me it shoots very weak. I looked inside the breech seal hole and saw that the breech seal looked damaged. After I extracted it and put an improvized seal (home made rubber ring O.D.=10.5mm I.D.=4mm thickness=4mm as measured the original seal) and removing alot of rust from the barrel, the rifle "came alive", but still it is not the "cannon" everyone says. (My former rifle = HW80 was stronger shooting than it, although HW80 rated at 970fps and Diana 54 rated at 1100fps).
the Diana supplier sends me 2 new breech seals (In the scheme I indeed see 2 siting in series within the counterbore).
I disassembled the rifle with my home-made spring-compressor, cleaned the piston (was very dirty) and lubricated it with Teflon grease ("Krytox" space-level grease) which I beleive should do good.
Questions:
1. Should I expect the major improvement to happen when the 2 breech washers will be fitted, or that another problem can still be here?
2. I have thin rust color on the external metal surfaces. Do the home black-oxidizers work well? (Gun-Blue, Tetra-gun etc...). Im waiting with this job.
3. I tried to pull the barrel sleeves to examine the 15mm barrel metal status. (I removed the front sight ramp) It looks stuck after it flushes with the barrel end. Is it a matter of more force? I should say thet the front end and grooves looks like it is roughly scrached - maby a light grinding is needed there?
Looking forward to be advised from you all!
Yariv Shamir
Israel
It sounds like your 54 has had some rough use or at least storage.
November 28 2006, 6:46 AM
If the 54 is like the 48 the front barrel shroud should pull off with no problem with the front sight off although there is nothing under there to affect the velocity. The 54 is more complicated than the 48. I would think more than the breech seals are the problem. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will give some input.
I have a Diana 52 that originally was a so-called F-Model for German markets. It means it had limited spring power AND a reduced at the breach seal. Power less than 7,5J.
I think the 19a part in Diana assembly picture is the reducer of a F-Version. It is a very thin metal washer of about 0,8mm thickness and it has a 2,2mm ID hole where the air can pass. A regular seal is put on top of it. It has the regular 4mm ID but it does not work because of the reducer.
A full-power model has only one breach seal and a strong spring. I do not believe there is enough space for two seals on top of each other. Something will get damaged, probably the uppermost sela and/or the closing mechanism.
Try first with one breach seal. That should work because it works in my D52.
Well, My D54 got its breech washer - indeed, a hard plastic ring, and it looks it has its full power as I read in the web. A lightweight pellet sounds like it travels in 1 Mach, range is awsome, etc...
Blackening issue: I did a thorough research and found one of the markets product. The result depends mainly on surface preparation. The gun looks almost like new now.
On my working on exr\ternal surfaces I managed also to extract the barrel sleeve and flexible-sleeve, got them a good treatment, and their back in place.
All I need is to enjoy the machine, looking for a good quality rear aperture sight.
It's good to hear you've got your 54 fixed up. The Williams FP-AG-TK(Beeman sport aperture sight)will work on the rifle as long as it is installed propperly. Another(better)alternative is an Anshutz diopter, I shoot my 48's with them regularly.