I have a Diana model 34 that I purchased 17 or so years ago and could never really hit much with it. now in the past year I have purchased a benjamin pump and a crosman2250xt, both are deadly accurate then comes my diana limping along behind the pack, I would stand a better chance of hitting the bullseye with this gun by throwing the gun at the target. It is very strong and will shoot almost through a 3/4" piece of plywood, I have boresighted it and even with the bipod it will still shoot 6" either up or to the side and no amount of adjustment even seem to help, I took 2 coils off the main spring to reduce recoil and took the scope off and shoot iron sights have tried all different pellets to no avail the next step is to just throw the gun at the squirels and hope that I hit one. anybody have any ideas? sorry for the long post thanks Howard

also, bipods are not the best platform for springers. have you replaced the
breech seal? did you replace the piston seal when you shortened the spring?
are all screws tight? is your pivot bolt adjusted properly? these are all areas that affect accuracy. you can have more than one issue and they can stack on top of each other.

i don't own a 34 but the feedback i have seen would indicate that yours is out of spec as far as accuracy is concerned. at any rate, a 17 year old gun probably needs some attention.

Springers are so much different to shoot than a pump or CO2 or SSP, or PCP gun. They require a really loose grip. Hardly ever will one shoot off a bipod at all.

I would first find out if the gun is shooting consistent speeds. This requires shooting it over a chronograph. You want good, consistent speeds with small variance in speeds.

If you get consistent speeds, this tells you that the internal piston seal is good. If not consistent, check the piston seal and replace. I would highly recommend a JM kit with fitted spring and guides, and one of his piston seals and his lubes.

Your breech seal can cause issues as well. Put a tissue over the breech and fire a shot. If it blows off, your seal needs changed.

Check that all the screws are at proper tightness, stock, trigger guard, scope mounts.

Find out if your scope is good. They can go bad, kicked loose inside and not easy to tell until you swap it onto another gun that was shooting consistent tight groups with a scope. If now the accuracy problem switches in guns that you've switched scopes, it's the scope.

Is your mount holding well? Mounts can cause slippage that move point of impact.

Is the barrel clean? Push a cleaning patch or q-tip soaked in Goo Gone through the barrel until clean, then dry patches, then wet bore with a good oil like Mp5 oil then follow that with a dry patch. Once this is done, it will take a few pellets to stabilize but will be good and clean and you shouldn't have to do this again for a long time.

You need to rest the gun on a soft surface. If you can shoot a FT position, this is a great way to test for accuracy. Some people use a set of sand bags, others say that you can't do this, which I find funny. The gun will tell you how you can shoot it and I've had great results using a Caldwell Tackdriver big bag, factory filled. It's a big help in sighting in.

Once all above is done, then start trying different pellets. I would want to get fairly consistent with the cheaper pellets then once I know all other factors have been met, then trying a pellet sampler will help further find the guns favorite. Not all guns of same brand like the same brand pellet. One 34 might shoot superdomes best but others might like FTS, or a CP, or JSB, and the list goes on and on.

Here's some links to read that might help. I suspect that you will find a few issues to cure, then other problems might be technique.

http://www.network54.com/Forum/419052/message/1199756141/How+to+shoot+springers+accurately+by+Russ+Best

http://www.network54.com/Forum/79537/message/1164768610/How+to+set+up+your+airgun+(long)

I don't know why these links don't save with an underline but I copied and pasted. It's from the yellow forum, in POM Archives.

Hope this helps and please let us know how you come along and what you find. This is normal so don't feel that you are the first to have this issue. It's common to most that shoot springers to have a gun that is tough to get all sorted out but I've found that my 34 had way more accuracy than I had given it credit for.

Bryan

Shoot Safe,

Bryan

17 years old? wont shoot straight, Sounds like a real piece of junk hmmmmmmmmm I'll give ya 50 bucks for her .


(Rubs hands together)

Problem is, the 34, at least my 31, is VERYVERY hold sensitive!! Mine only groups well, véry well, in 1 stance..
But ín that stance its very very accurate!Stance is, sitting, fist on knee, rifle on fist.
From what I hear, bipods etc, yr not familiar with springers.
Than the 34 is a handfull to deal with.
My 48 is far easier to shoot accurate.
Pellets: try JSB and FTT

As soon as the weather loosens up again I will try a different hold on the gun and see what happens, I will purchase a seal and washer kit when I get a few minutes to work on it again, thanks for all the help.I will let you know with the outcome thanks a million Howard

As others have pointed out, magnum springers are very hold sensitive. The most important thing is CONSITENCY. You have to hold it exactly the same every time in order to get any kind of group. It took me four months of shooting FT to figure out how to shoot my RWS 52. I'll pass along what I found out - I get really good groups from the 'standard' FT position (there is a video on the FT forum) IF I make damned sure that I'm first of all lined up in a position where my unstressed body has the gun pointing very close to the point of aim. I have to be almost dead on in cross range - elevation can be tweaked a little. The point is to not be using much muscle tone to keep it on line. I still have not been able to shoot decent groups from a bench rest, but I haven't tried that much recently.

Sounds like you basically need to learn how to shoot the gun, and that could take a while - certainly some practice.

good solid advice on the shooting from other members of the M34 and I will add

I "cracked" the wood stock of a 34 because the screws were loose, I would aim at the barn and hit the outhouse or maybe the neighbors house

then I found the Mac 1 cup screw kit ($10.00 investment) and a solid one for HW's and RWS's, heck I just wish I could install the Mac 1 kit in my washer, fridge, garage door LOL

another thing I do is send the air gun to one of my friends and they check it and tune the trigger and check for barrel droop, change the breech seal, piston seal, etc.., of course I can do that but another set of eyes' helps with these issues

then comes the part of the hold when you fire the 34, the 34 does not forgive if you hold it wrong but it WILL tell you immediately if you did something wrong and tell you if you hold her right

the 34 is not an easy air gun to shoot but it has POWER for the price ($250.00 ./. by 700 FPS (average) is .3571428 pennies for each FPS in .22 cal after MOD's

for 30, 40 or 50 yards the 34 is perfect if you do your part then the 34 will do his

warren







and remember "it's 30% the gun and 70% the shooter"

Not to correct your math, but you mean $.36 which translates to 36 cents, not .36 cents. Still a great deal. My blowout RWS 46 .22 is 46 cents per fps. My 46e .22 beat that number with .28 cents per fps, but it was the deal that got me hooked on the sport and ultimately cost me a lot more!