Canadian Airgun Forum

long story short, my Diana 34 started shooting weird and inaccurate this morning, by afternoon i had it apart and discovered a broken main spring, i had a kit for a 34/airhawk here, i can't explain why but the replacement spring is 3 inches longer, i don't want to put it in there and have the rifle shoot 1500 fps

so i'm willing to cut some coils, but how do i finish the end, even if i grind it down, the last coil won't be touching the one before it, is there a trick to bend it

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

phew, its ok, found a document on line that tells you how to do that, so i chopped a few coils, heated up the metal to bend it, quenched it, and then finish the end with almost a mirror shine, thanks

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

still trying to make sense of it all, a brand new Diana 34 that had 1 tin gone thru it, to get a badly damaged main spring like that, the spring was even bent in 3 places

since i had her apart, i polished the piston skirt, attached it to my press drill and used 1500 grit paper till i got her to shine, the inside of the gun was clean....too clean IMO, i wanted to swap the seal with the one on the pic, but again, wrong seal, it just would not go on as the opening of the new seal was too small, but that's ok the old seal was in great shape, lubed and got her back together, ran her on the chrony

when she was broken in a few months ago, with JSB exacts she did ; 869, 865, 863, 861, 861
when i noticed the inaccuracy today, i tested with the same pellets; 769, 788, 771, 783, 772
re-tested with the new spring using the same JSB's; 868, 863, 869, 865, 869

i would say she's back up to specs

on a side note; the Diana is way easier to take apart than its clone Airhawk, very little pre-load on the spring, i probably voided the warranty.............there was no way i was loosing my rifle for weeks / month

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

Glad you got it working again. How did you bend the coil closed? It looks like a tricky thing to do, especially if it's red hot!

i used a propane torch to heat up the half that had to bend close, and when its orange/red hot, you take a big enough pair of pliers and you squeeze it using the lower coil as leverage, it is a bit tricky yes, but doable obviously

took it outside to re-zero the scope at 30 yards, 5 shot groups, i still have to do a bit of fine tuning but the results are encouraging

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

Did you set that spring before you cut it?
How does coil count compare spring to spring?

_________________

Walter

not sure what "set the spring" means but;

the original spring; 34 coils, wire 0.128 mm, OD 0.820 mm

the new spring; 33 coils(after cut). wire 0.125 mm, OD 0.825 mm

i guess the original spring was thicker but had a smaller OD, and the other way around for the new spring, the new one has been cut to match the length of the original, you can look at the first pic and see the big difference in length, after installation the chrony shows the same FPS from original to new spring, so lucky guess i suppose

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

A new spring that has not been compressed is not "set"- you must install it in a rifle and cock it- it will then "set" and lose (depending on the spring) anywhere from 1-3". You will have lowered the output of your 34 by cutting it before it was "set", but it may take some time to settle in to determine how much velocity was lost/the final output. That wire diameter difference may not seem significant, but when you take a difference of .003" think of this over 3 feet in length (i.e. if the spring wire was completely straight) it will add up.

_________________
Please note: I do not conduct business through Private Messages (PM's) in online forums. Please do not send a 'PM" with a business-related question.

now i get what you're saying, the spring would compress and become its real length, so far i shot 250 pellets in it, i re-chronied the gun today just after my last shots, the velocity has remained pretty much the same(average of 877, ES of 6), at 30 yards the accuracy has yielded groups of over two inches and like magic got close to a ragged hole at the 200 mark, it has remained pretty consistent(odd flyer out of every five groups), if the velocity does go down, i would find it acceptable to have it as low as 800, speed isn't everything

thanks for the tip....now i know

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?

Don't know what a stock 34 "should" shoot- but as your original spring went bad quickly, it's possible it was weak to start with and you may end up quite close to what you are at right now (i.e. the output with the original spring was perhaps not what it should have been).

_________________
Please note: I do not conduct business through Private Messages (PM's) in online forums. Please do not send a 'PM" with a business-related question.

pellet 274 to 289 at 30 yards, she's breaking in nicely

since new, cocking it produced that dreadful sound that reminds you of those screen doors you open at your summer cottage, did the same with the new spring, but that sounds is almost completely gone now, not sure if this is what's called the "honk" associated with some Diana's, cocking is incredibly smooth now, in fact better then when it was new, take away shooter error, this one might become a tack driver

_________________
Can empty space really exist ?