Hi there, I'm pretty new to airgunning and bought a beeman 1090 rifle about 2 months ago and then realised that it was made in china and not germany when I received it. It worke d okay for awhile, but I did more research and really wanted something better. Lucky for me it broke and I returned it and ordered a diana 350 in .22 and just received it yesterday. What a HUGE difference in craftsmanship and performance! I'm sold! I was hoping to get some pointers on what cleaningis recommended and maybe an easy diy tune. The manual says not to use a wire brush in the barrel, but I've heard a lot of people say it's okay. Also I would like any recommendations on a scope that is reasonably priced and will not break, ideally 4-12x40 or something similar. It sounds like some have not had great luck with Leapers? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

to the Diana Club where our rifles are all made in Germany!

A few of us here including myself have the 350.

I would not put a scope on your 350 yet if I were you. Mount selection is also critical. In another forum there were a couple of people that said their 350 broke even the reveered Bushnell Elite scopes!

Dianas come pretty "dry" from the factory" and need a good "lube job". This helps take away some of the recoil and much of the vibrations (twang). It basically makes it a smoother shooting gun. Not entirely, but it greatly improves those (bad) characteristics of the gun and helps with scopes. I communicated with a couple of people last night that said their new scopes (1 was a Leapers 6-24x50) have been fine since they got a thorough and compelete lube tune for their 350's.

All it takes is a Lube Tune. Only then will I put a scope again on my 350 .22. It's not just the scope. It's the mount screws that come loose as well as the gun screws! I had to tighten my stock screws and other ones twice already with only 250 pellets fired to date. I 've been looking at Paul Watts web site and it looks very promising:
http://springgunning.com/

He 's a little expensive but he came highly recommended and most people say he 's a perfectionist and takes his time, which is why his prices are a little high. I 'm still looking for someone to do it cheaper, but I don't want someone to do a rush job on my 350. A few people on another forum even said their velocities went up an average of 20-30fps! One guy reported 880fps with Crossman Premiers 14.3gr after a lube tune (he already had 1,000 shots with his before the tune)!! That's 25ft-lbs of energy. That's my favorite pellet as far as accuracy and Engery goes. Lighter .22 pellets were also reported at 900+fps just after a lube tune. 5-8% more than the tests conducted by Straight Shooters which were pretty good to begin with (see here):
http://www.straightshooters.com/ourtake/ot350.html

So this is what I am plan to do with my 350 before I put another scope on it.

I took the RWS scope off now that it came with, because everything had started to look blurry and think the 350 messed something up internally. Also the gun kept loosening up all the mount screws, until the adjustable gimbals broke so the mount was useless too. So it chewed up both my mount and scope, and these came with the gun in the Combo configuration. I have learned how to shoot the 350 with open sights now but I probably wouldn't shoot anything passed 20yds without a scope. Maybe that's my limitation but I 'm pretty good up to 20yds with it, sometimes 25 if I hold it right. I miss having a scope on it though.

You can get a Leapers TS scope after you get a Lube Tune. That's what I recommend anyway. Good luck with your Diana!

Um I live in Alberta and when my gun broke down I was asking around.
Finnaly I found a guy in Toronto named Peter he did an EXCEPTIONAL good job on my guns. And he Included that he wanted to clean them all i had to do is re send em in..just may do that..

Bob Werner comes highly recommended in the GTA forum. He supposedly works on mostly springers and has been doing it for 15yrs. I communicated with several people that have used him. He has a 19 step complete tuning system and seems to have reasonable prices.
http://charliedatuna.com/index.html

I will probably go with him for a lube tune and whatever else he can do to remove vibrations in my 350.

thanks for the info on the 350 Harry. is it okay to clean the barrel with a brush or just the cleaning pellets? Do you add a few drops of oil to the compression chamber after each 1000 rounds like the manual says? sighted in the iron sights and it's pretty accurate at about 22 yards. I have a piece of 3/4 inch particle board as a backdrop that sits in front of a big tree. With the chinese beeman the pellet would go in 1/3 to 1/2 of the board. my 350 punches through the entire board! thanks for the names of recommended tuners. are there any in the seattl area? thanks again!

You can use a brush. The RWS cleaning kit came with a brush. I cleaned the barrel after about 100 pellets with a few strokes on the brush and shot 3 cleaning pellets through it. You can clean the barrel after every shooting session if you want or every other one. You don't have to wait 500 or 1,000, etc.

I only have about 250 pellets on the pelletometer (pellometer I call it). I 've had it for just over a month but I don't use it much now that I took the scope off. I 'll wait until I get it tuned and put a new scope on it, then I 'll use it more regularly. I plan on oiling the gun at around 500, 1-2 drops here and there, or let the tuner that will lube the gun internally, figure out what needs to be oiled. They usually do that anyway. Then I 'll probably follow the 1,000 schedule. Believe it or not I 've taken 11 animals with it already just on my property in such a short time and so few pellets fired. It does shoot very accurately on open sights at 20yds or more.

I 'm new to tuning so I don't know a lot of people that do it yet. From what I 've read, there are not that many out there, just a handful of airgunsmiths. Some people do it themselves, especially if they have machining skills or own a lot of airguns. Very few make a living out of it because it's not a "high" paid profession, but those are the ones I want to send my gun out to. I don't want someone who just does it on weekends as a hobby and make a few extra bucks. That's just me. The main thing is to find someone that specializes in springers. I have found a few that specialize in Pneumatics (CO2, pump) only but will work on springers occasionally. They would be at the bottom of my list.

There are a few other 350 owners on this forum that have had theirs a lot longer than me, but don't make frequent appearances. A couple of them tuned their guns themselves.

Oh as far as shooting through wood, my 350 shoots right through 1/2" plywood at 20yds with ease it seems, using Crossman Premier 14.3gr and Beeman FTS 14.5gr (didn't try others). I 've read elsewhere that at 10yds the 350 can shoot pellets through 3/4" plywood. The plywood I 'm using was left over from when they fixed my leaky roof last year. This particular 1/2" plywood has 6 smaller layers of wood in it, but I have no doubt that if it were 1-piece 1/2" solid wood, it would have gone through just the same. Also the exit hole on the plywood is considerably larger than the entry one. This means the hard alloy CP must 've been pretty deformed. No wonder the CP's (and 1 Kodiak) went right through 4 groundhogs, even both sides of the skull on 2 of them.

BTW, I 'm sure you realize your 350 is a hunting gun.. If you need reliable backstop, use a log or a real pellet/rimfire trap. Most pellet traps out there won't do for the 350, because they advertise low-mid powered airguns or 700-800fps maximum Muzzle velocity which is below the 350's max. velocity, even in .22. Some traps say "suitable for Magnum rifles from medium-far distances and short distance for pistols" (??) which leaves it up to the buyer's imagination what would happen if you shot your 350 at it from 10-15yds? Makes me nervous, to me it says it's a weak-a*s trap. 17/.22 rimfire steel ones work best, although pretty heavy at times depending on the size you get.

Clean the barrel when you first get the gun, just to get the factory grease and goop out. If the manual says don't use wire brushes, then don't use them. Don't clean the barrel again until and unless the accuracy starts to drop off.