In excellent, MINT condition from Gene, the owner of the GTA forum.
It's a .177 cal. and what a beauty. Very nice dark beech wood on her with checkering (not deep though like my 350) on the grip. Not a scratch on her! Blueing and wood are 99.9% and it was manufactured in 9/02!
The gun has been "super-tuned" by Bob Werner (CDT-CharlieDaTuna) and has a JM spring kit in it with custom guides, piston seal, etc. It's probably de-tuned slightly because Gene said it shoots 850+fps with CPL's and the SS web site says it was tested @ 899fps with CPL's. Probably because of the JM spring. The gun feels much lighter than the 350 even though it's supposed to only be 0.3lbs lighter.
I shot some old Crosman wadcutter pellets that I had laying around from many years ago and I was amazed how QUIET the gun is. It's about 10X more quiet than my 350! Feels like I 'm shooting a kid's gun I hope that's not indicative of its power, but how well tuned the gun is with everything working in "sync" inside with efficiency.
The cocking effort is very light. I would guess around 25lbs at the most. Very nice cocking action and solid "clicking" at the end. Except the cocking lever is a little loose and hitting up against the chamber railing, producing a clicking sound when the barrel is closed or when being touched. Are all 34/36's like this?
The recoil of course is nothing like the 350's and seems to shoot very smoothly with a quick shot cycle. The trigger pull is also very light and I would guess around 2lbs or less. I 'm not used to it so I pulled the trigger prematurely a couple of times but thankfully it was still on target and within the 1" circle from 10yds off-hand. After a couple of rear sight adjustments all of my shots were within the 1" circle shooting off-hand from 10yds. I only shot about 20 pellets as many of these old (cheap) pellets had deformed skirts and I had to carefully sort through them. I thought it was best to wait for the new .177 pellet order to arrive and shoot some high quality pellets. I will be putting her through the chrony testing 4 different pellets tomorrow night or in a couple of days and will report my findings (if anyone cares).
So far I 'm very happy with my purchase of this slightly used and excellent condition 36 .177. The 36 retailed for $275 back in '06. I paid $180 shipped. Seeing the $20 stamp from USPS on it when it arrived today, means I paid $160 for it + shipping. Not a bad deal I think for a 36 in Mint condition with an advanced tune (thanks Gene!)
Here are a couple of pics. If there is a barrel than needs choping, it has to be the 34/36's!! The stock just does not look symmetrical or big enough for that long barrel. The gun overall still feels smaller (it's 2" shorter) than my 350 so I 'm very happy about that.
Look at the difference between using a flash and no flash on the camera. The flash takes away some of the wood's luster.
Harry I swear I was going to buy that gun from Gene that morning. When I posted here for info on the 36 you were one of the ones that responded. Then I reveiwed your E-Mail from the night before about the 36 you were thinking about buying,That gun you sent me pics. of was a POS! For $225? I knew I had to do the right thing & put you on to Genes gun. If you had not bought it I was already on his list! I told Gene it went to a very good home! How about this,,Gene says he owes me 1 or 2 more muzzle breaks, dont know why? Ha Ha! Doing buisness with him has been a great pleasure. I send you the 54 to get those ground hogs in line,You send me the 36,I "chop" the brl.,, recrown it & put a nice muzzle break on it for you. Remember, the 36 is 177 cal.& you hate that.LOL! Man I love messin with you Buddy! The 54 will destroy those "Hogs". Looking for the phone to ring now! LOL! Tim.
Tim I apologize. I forgot to formally thank you for steering me to Gene's 36 and giving me the opportunity to buy it when you could have grabbed it yourself.
Your proposition sounds very tempting, believe me! I 'm indebted to you alreay for passing up the 36 for me. I think I want to shoot the 36 the way it is for a few weeks, but eventually I 'm going to have the barrel shortened by at least 4" and install a muzzle break. If Gene says he owes you muzzle breaks, then I guess opportunity is knocking at my door again.
Ok give me a couple of weeks to learn this gun, test it, chrony it, etc. and we 'll definitely do something to improve it. Its looks anyway I like the way it shoots so I don't want to touch anything inside. Gene told me a few more things about the gun and it definitely received "the works" tune from CDT (I doubt it has "Curtis'" polish and jeweling though, hehe). One shot was all it took and I knew this gun not only had been tuned but tuned well.
Fedex early this morning with my .177 pellet and mossy oak soft case (for 36) order as I was getting ready to leave for work. I figured work can wait. I quickly unwrapped everything and started shooting the Beeman FTS and CP Hollow Points off-hand from 10yds on iron sights. I was getting 1 ragged hole shots over and over!! I was like what they hey..I was shaking that time! Nope, this gun puts the pellets where I was thinking I wanted them!
The FTS 8.9gr are very accurate and an excellent high quality pellet. They shot about 0.25-03" higher than the CPHP 7.9gr but CPHP's amazed me too. For 1/2 the price of the FTS they produced clover leaf or same hole shots over and over. I shot 15 CPHP's and 15 FTS's into 2 different 1" circles before I headed for work. About 8 of the CP's went into the same hole and only 2 were not touching, but were only 1/3" away.
10 out of the 15 FTS went into the same hole (!!) and it was hard to tell some times where the pellet had gone. 1 was maybe 0.4" out by itself but the other 4 were just 1/4" around the 10 1-hole shots producing a very nice rugged hole. I hope 8.9gr pellets are not too heavy for this gun. It seems to love the FTS. I did not notice a difference in the shot cycle from the 7.9gr CPHP's. Tonight I 'll test the RWS Superdomes and Meisterkugeln.
I can't wait to shoot the 36 from a bench rest and out to 20yds and chrony this baby so I can plan my next backyard hunting expedition Gotta love a well tuned gun.
PS.
.177 pellets looked so tiny (I 'm used to .22's), I forgot how small they are compared to .22's that I was questioning their weight or size when I opened up the tins I thought to myself "I used these puny pellets to take rabbits and squirrels with years ago before I switched to .22?" My eyes got used to their size quickly though.
If you notice the 36 not only has the better stock than the 34 it also has a better front sight (same sight as the 350) The stock 34 has a front sight that does not have interchangeable front sight inserts.
Love the look of that stock too! Nice one.
I would not shorten the barrel if I were you unless you have Paul Watts or some one else crown and re choke the barrel. The diana barrel is choked. Push a pellet through from the breach and you will feel it in the last 1/2-3/4" and removing it will make the gun harsher and possibly more pellet fussy as well as less accurate.
My understanding is the brls. are not choked,, the process used to create the dove tails for the front sight gives that illusion,(you can feel the restriction pushing a cleaning patch thru)I could be wrong. I was told this by Tom Gaylord,, I put alot of faith in what he tells me! Would like to hear from others here regarding this issue. Tim.
It is actually true. The way the machine works to put the dovetails creates a choke, very even and uniform and predictable from one barrel to the next.
Most pellets do not need a choke. Heck, at certain speeds, pellets do not even need rifling.
As long as you shoot good quality pellets, choke is not that important. It is somewhat important, but not absolutely essential. Firing characteristics will change and it is a toss-up as to whether cutting off a choke is good or not.
I like to keep chokes in my barrels, but that is just personal preference.
Ok my last comment on Chokes. The more power the gun the more important the choke. Without you can get piston slam, (like dry fireing or light pellets) Look out scope problems and other issues. Whatever their internal company policy of marketing or such, if Weihrauch, Feinwerkbau, Walther, and other German makers are all choking their barrels why not Diana?
First Airgun Conversation, then page 3 on that forum, then down to the thread "how did you guys find out about airgun tuners" then down to Bill H post on Feb 19th., then JM's response.
36 fan, How very interesting to learn about chokes. Thanks for your input. What you have to say makes a lot of sense. Please keep posting. Also, viewing the Pomona Airgun web site, I see that to cut the barrel and crown it is only $45.00.
My pellet orders arrived today but no CPL's as I had ordered. MidSouth Shooters got the order right, but D&R (in PA) instead of shipping CP 1250 ct boxes, sent Crosman CPHP's and Match (wadcutter) pellets as a replacement!! I was so mad. I called them up and they said "oh, we thought they were the same pellets that's why we substituted them with the 500ct tins! (yeah right that's why they sent HP's and Match flat pellets). D&R has very decent prices and shipping was only $5.10. They credited my CC and they are picking up the "other" Crosman tins on their dime.
Ok this is what I got on the Chrony with the other pellets in the order I tested them:
Crosman Premier Hollow Point 7.9gr
Avg. velocity: 897fps, 14.1fpe
The Beeman FTS seem a little slow but not bad for a heavier pellet. Perhaps it's not good to shoot this heavier pellet in this gun although it will carry more energy down range.
Overall I think these are excellent test results and I 'm happy with them. I expect the CPL's, once I find them somewhere else, to have similar velocities as the CPHP's except with a higher BC.
Has anyone else chronied their 36?
I know you are not a fan of 177, Can I borrow it?? LOL! I cant speak now, Im all "Choked Up"!! Those numbers will take out a "hog" my Friend,, Head shot please! Maybe Harry will start to like those little tiny pellets?? The veneriable 30-30 has taken many a deer, Ya think the new 17 cal. powder burner cant take a whitetail with a well placed head shot?? Hmmmm? No Harry you cannot borrow "Chopper" (my 177 350) LOL!! Heh Heh Tim.
I chronied it again with a couple of pellets. Got a few 920's with the CPHP's but the avg. was "only" 903fps because of a couple of shots in the high 880's. Dang I guess that's pretty good for a "34 class" Diana.
Tim you 're becoming a poet or a comedian in your middle-age? If you want to borrow my 36, I 'll swap you for the "chopper" for a couple of weeks Actually I get very attached to my guns and I 'm always afraid of the risk of damage during shipping. My brother-in-law used to work for UPS. He says they throw around and drop packages like sacks of potatos on the floor and in and out of trucks.
Once I get some glass on the 36, I may try taking out a g-hog, but it 'll have to be within 20yds or nothing. I want to make sure the pellet strikes with at least 10ft-lbs on impact. I 'm not going to risk it without a scope. I think it's best I wait for the 350 though. Stop encouraging me Tim!!
Now I see why people send their guns brand new from the retailer straight to the tuner. I don't know how this gun shot in stock form because I bought it used and it was tuned already, but I can tell you that there is no way the gun cocked that easily when it was stock, or fired that smoothly with a very quick shot cycle. I did not expect to get >900fps from this gun they way it felt. I thought it was way detuned and shooting in the mid-high 700's (with 7.9-8.3gr pellets) before I put it on the chrony.
A tune is worth what the tuner does to it, basic tune or advanced tune, but there seem to be a couple of different levels of advanced tuning. Advanced tuning should include a trigger tune but some tuners charge extra for that. Go to Paul Watts, CDT's or Ed K.'s web sites to see the different levels of tuning. My tuner even hand lapped my barrel and polished and jeweled the trigger. Most tuners won't do that unless you pay them for the additional time it takes. Everyone is different. The important thing is to get a good metal spring guide, top hat (preferrably all bronze) and a steel washer (in most cases) at the front end of the piston to weigh the piston down a little. That's what my 36 has and that washer/spacer also provides additional power which some people want in order to make up for Maccari's "weaker" springs. These mods eliminate torquing and offer a more efficient shot cycle.
I hope that's not indicative of its power, but how well tuned the gun is with everything working in "sync" inside with efficiency. 
