Hi boys,
Well, I started to write my post on this topic last night, but I stopped as I thought that I should spend a bit more time thinking about the subject and how I really feel about it before I started to speak.
Please bear with me for a second on this - it IS relevant - I think...
Putting aside the airgun related topics and subject matter for a brief second...from a purely TECHNICAL perspective, one of the MAIN things that I really LOVE about this particular forum is the layout and design.
As a "computer guy", I can appreciate the design of the main page that greets us when we first enter The Dianawerk Collective. All of the topics are displayed in a vertical orientation at the left of the screen where we can browse the current topics, or look for past topics that we might wish to review and perhaps comment on if it has taken some time to formulate an opinion or find relevant information.
With this particular design layout, it is easy for a user to look for topics that seem interesting and click on them to view the comments and information that is being presented; additionally, it is very efficient that when a subject/topic/string is clicked on and viewed, your browser then displays the link that you clicked on as light purple to indicate that you have already viewed that subject/string and if you leave the site and return at a later time and no new comments or information has been added since the last time that you viewed the subject/string the link remains light purple.
If a new comment or info has been added, it displays the link as blue again indicating that new comments or information have been added....BTW...these link color references are based on Internet Explorer browser default settings - they may be different on YOUR computer, but the technical function is consistent across all browsers and computer OS platforms.
SO what does all this hot air that you already know about have to do with this particular topic? Well.....
As I stated earlier, I honestly feel that this fantastic design layout allows the users to EASILY look for and hopefully find things that spark a bit of interest....it is because of the ease of being able to find interesting subjects that I am not disturbed if somebody posts a question about a Beeman or about a Webley - or about a Theoben...perhaps somebody has a question about scopes or scope mounts....or pellets....or good places to shop for related products....I don't know about anybody else, but if somebody knows where to find a good deal on something on this VAST sea of info called the "internet", I for one want to know about it so that I can get in on the deal too!
I have been looking for another English Patriot or a Beeman Kodiak, in .25 (.22 would be ok too - LOL - hint hint) every since I made the mistake of selling my 2 English Patriots and my Santa Rosa Kodiak....if I saw somebody here that was selling one, I would be a nervous wreck trying to get a hold of them to buy it before it was gone...no check in the mail mind you, I'd wire it from my bank to their bank same day or I'd FedEx a casher’s check to them overnight or I'd get on a damm plane and FLY TO THEM with cash in my fist...ANYTHING to get my grubby mitts on it ASAP!!! LOL
Again, posts about things that are not necessarily about Dianas does not bother me as I believe that if we look hard enough, there is really a lot to learn if we just stop and look....and again, because of the great layout of this forum, it is really easy for me to see something that I like and view the topic, and if I don't like it, I pass right over it and don't give it another thought.
If this forum FORCED me to look at every single post, then yeah, I might have different feelings about "non-Diana" posts and topics.
Maybe we don't care to learn about a Beeman R7 piston, but if that post leads us to learn about the techniques involved with, or the value of "buttoning" a piston, then that can't be a bad thing can it?
Perhaps somebody may learn from that post that most Beeman pistons are not hardened like the pistons that you find on a Diana 350 Magnum which are hardened to a Rockwell Hardness of about HRC 60...maybe even 61....believe me, that is harder than what you can imagine if you have never tried to drill, mill, or turn hardened steel. I have a buddy that took the piston out of his 350 Magnum and took it to a large and seemingly capable machine shop in Los Angeles California to have them mill the 6 holes for the Delrin Buttons that made and sent to him....that shop could not mill the holes...they tried with high speed steel 4 flute endmill bits and could not make a scratch on the end skirt of the piston....not a single scratch...not one...they then switched to a solid carbide 4 flute bit and again, they could not make a scratch on the piston's skirt...they switched to a 4 flute cobalt bit and again, no deal...he sent me the piston and I did it for him....BTW, the specs and tolerances on the 350 Magnum are close enough that they really don't require buttons in most cases unless you can identify some galling on the inside of the tube...I prefer to use Delrin strips as "buttons" on the 350 Magnum pistons, NOT drilled holes with Delrin inserts...the strips help to center the piston in the tube as well if you use them PROPERLY....just a thought for you all!
Ya know, when talking about some of my Dianas, I have drawn parallels to my old Patriots, my Kodiak, my 2 Theoben Eliminators, and my little 20+ yr old Crosman 3100 .177 break barrel, and I have had people ask me questions about them...Dave (ZVP) has a little 3100 and he asked me some questions about the trigger...we have spoke of it on this forum and in emails...I gave him some info and he gave me some that I didn't have about the gun....Of those guns, all I have left is the little 3100...I wish that I had all those guns back...sigh....I'm a dumb-A*S...LOL
I have some awesome PCP guns, but I NEVER talk about them for this reason....Diana does not currently produce a PCP gun...simple as that...there is nothing that I could say about them that would or could help a person to better understand a Diana.
My Patriots, my Kodiak, my 2 Theoben Eliminators, and my little 20+ yr old Crosman 3100 .177 are all break barrels....and since Diana produces break barrels, there just MAY be something that these guns share as a commonality with Dianas...perhaps it is a mechanical similarity, or perhaps there is a "theory" that can be applied to all of these guns, Dianas included...like my 350s which are break barrels.
As I have said before, I am not the end-all be-all source of airgun information, and I find many of the conversations here to be very informative, enlighten, and thought provoking....I don't know of any man (or woman), myself included, that knows everything....learning is a "forever" process...I hope I can continue that endeavor until my final breath.
My closing thought is that while not all topics on this forum are Diana related, I find that MOST of them offer me something new to think about - even if it is just a bit of insight into human nature and thought processes...for technical information about airgun related things, well, I might agree, I might disagree, but most everything keeps me thinking.
I don't really want to hear about PCP guns here...there are other places for those topics and discussions....but if a person is talking about stock work or wood, or pellets, or scopes and mounts, or GREAT DEALS on cool stuff, well, I wanna hear about it. I don't care if a Disco is hard to pump up, or if the power drops off HUGE after 20 shots, but one of the forum regulars posted some pictures of custom stock work that he did on his Disco that I thought showed a cleaver use of uncommon materials like the Acrylic spacer at the butt of the stock.
I just hope that this forum won't totally disintegrate into a "general airgun stuff" site as I am proud of my Dianas, and I feel that there is NOT A BETTER DEAL IN THE AIRGUN WORLD for quality vs. price than that which Diana gives us....if they would just get rid of Umarex, well, that is another post topic in and of itself!!!!!!!!
I apologize for being so verbose and I do thank you for following along with my thoughts which I have offered for your kind consideration.....
May happiness and good shooting be yours to enjoy...........
Sincerely,
-Curtis
[/IMG]