A few weeks ago I was trying to decide between a 460 and the Beeman R1. The more I read about problems with the 460 I am a little concerned about ordering one. I live at about 7000 feet in Colorado and am concerned about too much power loss with the Beemans numbers in .22 caliber. It seems that a 350 may be my best choice in .22 considering the loss of power due to altitude. Please share your thoughts on this and the 350 in general. I currently have a 52 in .177 caliber that I really like but I would prefer something differnt for the .22.

Thanks
James

The 350 is a big gun , but it handles well . The Hunters Gun imnsho . Great accuracy potential when shooter is up to task . Both Harry and myself have found a firm grip to be slightly more accurate and consistant . Heavy pellets and the 350 are where to look for consistancy and low s.d. numbers. I stocked up on 16g pells from JSB & AA . For heavier yet - CrowMags and Kodiaks .

I went with the Williams FP-AG sight as I wanted to keep the gun "low profile". Highly recommend this reciever sight.

Out of the box it was pretty good ,albeit mine was on the low end of the velocity scale. Might explain how smooth it cocked and shot. It didn't *seem* harsh , but a few sessions of 100 shots left me with a fair sized bruise on the shoulder. I put a JM Arctic Steel kit in along with the obligatory deburr and JM lubes . A Whole different gun !  More consistant ,accurate, easy to shoot = more shooting fun .

Can't help you with the altitude issue other than what you already know about the velocity loss .
At 7k' my advice: " buy enough gun " .
Overall as an affordable power hunter - the 350 *is* it .

Thanks for the input kRicktr.

James

I like mine, it's a 22 cal, it is big, heavy and very powerful. Fit and finish are very good. I think the heavy weight makes it less hold sensitive, certainly less sensitive than my RWS 34. It has quite a lot of recoil, but if held firmly against the shoulder, it shouldn't dislocate your shoulder!

I have shot about 2000 rounds through my 350 and it is very smooth, though initially it was a bear to cock.

I have a Williams FP-AG-TK peep sight on the gun and love that combo.

In summary the 350 has quite a "kick" and is difficult to cock, so plinking or target shooting all day, would not be pleasant with this gun. The gun itself is large and heavy so long walks in the woods would be difficult. The trade off to these negatives is great power and accuracy.

Good Luck with your decision.

Thanks for the info Tony. I have a safe full of powder burners so I am not worried about my shoulder. It sounds like it would be a good bunny gun. The weight doesn't really bother me either as most of my powder burners have a varmint or bull barrel so I am comfortable packing a heavy rifle.

Thanks
James

I think understand airgun recoil. Shouldn't the piston be double recoiling, front& back? There's not enough weight in a .22 pellet to generate much backwards thrust. Why do you figure the gun is bruising you? If the piston coming back that hard? (My .58 musket with 505 grain Minie ball and brass buttplate bruises, but that I take for granted.)

Now with what you did on sealing issues and spring/guides I think you will hold a scope POI just fine. As you can see with the sealing problme you can have such a rough shot cycle that you would beat up scopes and mounts - Things that would not smooth out by just shooting it(breaking it in).

I've been told 1 out of every two seals will be bunged up in some way . Judging my track record of 1 seal in 6 being "ok"  , have to say plan on spending a few dollars extra from the get-go on a seal. As long as you're in there ...at least a deburr and lube tune with tar and moly should be done.
If you have reservations about doing this most basic tunes by an airgunsmith are very reasonable.   
Two things for certain are: break-in shooting will not "fix" a bad seal and you will spend at least double on scopes .

The motto " buy once , cry once " comes to mind here. If the factory could do it correctly the 1st time an added $100-200 would not be unreasonable in my eyes. But they just don't anymore for bottom line reasons.

James:

First off, the 350 is LIGHTER than your Diana 52, about 1/2lb lighter I believe. It's 48" long and it seems big at first but you get used to it quick. It's just a little long, and if you 're 6ft or taller/bigger you get used to the 8.3lb weight quickly. Fit & finish is the same as the 460 and checkering is real nice IMO. Very strong and well put together gun. I 've dropped mine twice now, have banged the barrel into walls, doors (it's not easy walking around the house or through doors with a 4ft gun) in my excitement to get to a window and put my open sights on the quarry. The gun is still 100%.

The 350 is slightly hard to cock the first 200 shots and it kicks relatively hard, but as you keep shooting it the cocking effort decreases and the recoil is reduced considerably while it's breaking in. I know have about 2,400-2,500 shots through it and the recoil/kick to my shoulder must be about half of what it was with 100shots. I can shoot 100 pellets in each shooting session with no problems at all and my arm doesn't get tired from cocking either. I shot ~200 pellets on Sunday, the longest I 've ever done with the 350 in one sitting, and I didn't get tired! Don't get me wrong, although I 'm 6'2 I 'm no body builder or anything and need to lose 25lbs. I sit at a desk most of the day and have a gut. Cocking effor does come down to the advertised number of 33lbs quickly, after only a few hundred shots.

I used to think the 350 was purely a hunting gun but now that it has smoothed out a lot I can easily plink and target shoot over 100 shots at at time. The gun will get a lot better after 1,000 shots and continues getting better. 1,000 may sound like a lot but it really isn't. A couple of weeks if you shoot regularly. Jim Macarri makes spring/tune kits for it if you want to go that route and have a much smoother and accurate gun. I have already bought the Arctic Spring for it but haven't installed it. I would like to hear from others what the power loss is if any, but Rick refuses to put his through the chrony There is also the 3-9 Ultra spring for the 350 that JM makes once in a while and advertises in the "today's specials" pages. Noone knows what the difference is between the 2, at least we here don't (someone out there does) or which one provides closer to OEM power. I understand that with the Arctic spring the power goes down typically about 1 foot-pound. If it 's more, it might not be worth it for you since you are at such high altitude and have power loss to begin with.

The 350 .22 will easily take rabbits out to 50-60yds and beyond with well placed shots. Within 50yds most small game will fall to the 350 quickly even without a head shot. Vital shots work well as the 350 delivers large amounts of energy down range. Just make sure you use high ballistic coefficient pellets like the CP 14.3gr, JSB Exact Jumbo 15.9gr, etc. Kodiaks and Crow Magnums shoot pretty well too but I limit those to ~35yds since they tend to drop more than the others after 30yds. The Crow Magnum is extremely leathal to 30-35yds as it has amazing expansion capabilities compared to other hollow points. The CP & JSB Exact will shoot pretty flat to 40yds and offer excellent penetration. Large groundhogs/woodchucks, possoms, racoons are no problem for the 350 with head/neck shots. Squirrels fall and always expire in <5secs with upper chest shots or from the middle of their body and up, no matter what the range. Crows, no problem with chest shots (see my post "Great Morning from yesterday). This is Diana's big hunter like Rick said. Once you master the hold (the 350 prefers a tighter hold for most pellets, except Superdomes for some reason) the 350 can be an accurate sportster rifle and strike within the killing zone when you need it.
Good luck
Harry - NY

PS.
The 460 is a great gun, probably better than the 350 as far as smoothness. You can't go wrong with any Diana but it's a little disconcerting to me that some 460's shoot 780fps, and some 850+fps with 14.3gr pellets. I started seeing this trend last year. The 350 will always shoot in the 800's and >900fps with Hobbies. I have not seen a 350 shoot less than 820fps with 14.x pellets so we know that's a sure thing. Most are around 850fps, some more, some less. We have someone here with a 350 that shoots 870-880fps with 14.3gr pellets and so on (lives under sea level?). Maybe he keeps it dieseling all the time, don't know but if it's power you seek, power you will get with the 350 and decent accuracy to boot.

Diana 350 Mag .22
Hammerli 850 .22
A few Crosman CO2 & Pump .177

Following on Harry's comments,the Arctic Spring took my 350 from around 860 down to 800 fps w/ CPs. Minus 3 ft lbs. Smoother? You bet. But smoothness is not what I want out of a magnum. I want MAGNUM out of a magnum. When I want smooth, I grab the ProSport. I plan to reinstall the factory spring.

I would like to thank all of you for the good information you threw on the table. After reding and digesting all of it I have ordered the 350 in .22 caliber a few minutes ago. I ended up buying through Airguns Of Arizona for $329.00 with free shipping and two free tins of pellets. It should arrive Friday if all goes well. I feel confident it will be a good addition to my RWS 52 and Beeman P1 both in .177 caliber. Thanks again guys!

James

Robert at AoA is good people . You're going to enjoy your purchase !

James, You done good,you are soon to put your hands on a true classic airgun. Enjoy! Keep us posted. Airguns of Az.? Yeah Ive been looking at them for awhile. Please post your exp. w/ them & your 350. Tim.

I can tell you it was ordered a few minutes before 2:00 pm and was in the UPS system by 6:15 pm and will be here Friday. I bought the Beeman P1 from them last week. It was ordered on Tuesday and delivered on Friday in perfect shape. I will be doing more business with them and I would certainly recommend them based on my transactions so far.

James

Hi james,
I also live in Colorado above 7000 feet and my experience with Springers at this altitude is that whatever the stated velocity at lower elevations will see a drop of around 100 fps for a mag gun not withstanding any mods.
My R9 in .177 shoots at about 800 fps with a 7.0 gr pellet. as the pellet get heavier the velocity will drop a few fps.
.22 seem to hover around the mid 700s fps for an HW 80 firing a 11.9 gr pellet
I have taken plenty of bunnies and squirrels with both rifles,and do not feel under gunned.My 30 year old HW 30 .177 in the 550s and is my choice under 25 yards.


S/SP


S/SP

Thanks for the info Sylvan. Where are you in Colorado?

James

James,

tried to email, couldn't find email for you.

Sylvan

S/SP

Thanks for that info on the Arctic spring Stepar. 60fps is a lot to lose I think, well for some people anyway. Maybe I 'll hold off on installing the Arctic spring for a while. Perhaps the 3-9 Ultra from JM is closer to OEM. This explains why JM always avoided answering my question in his e-mail replies about how close an Acrtic spring is from OEM power..

Supposedly a good or professional lube tune and debur can also make a completely stock 350 smoother so going back to the OEM spring may not be all that bad with a good basic tune.

Diana 350 Mag .22
Hammerli 850 .22
A few Crosman CO2 & Pump .177