Diana HFT Diana 48

I used a 48/52 in HFT, went with JM using 10.3JSB. About 14.5fpe straightened the barrel (zero droop) added tensioned shroud & heavier stock. Excellent rig! But hard on a replaced shoulder. The rig I got the GOB TN State BIG prize with and I do believe a better shooter could have taken 1st place.
You'll have fun.

John
 
I ordered the Maccari spring and new seals today.

I also ordered a bipod for the Diana 48. I would not normally shoot a stinger off a bipod. But the bipod has an attachment thing. Like a bump on the bottom of the stock . I can use that as a reference point when I am setting up on shooting sticks in HFT.
Plus I have read good reviews of the bipod itself. And I have found a bipod makes working around the gun on the bench easier.
It’s also an out of production rifle and this might be hard to find in a couple years so it’s in the mail.
 
My new Maccari spring is scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
So I took everything apart. I took a little more than necessary because of my spring compressor. I’ll make some changes to that later.

But this rifle is brand new. I cleaned and inspected everything. I ordered new seals but I’m not going to put them in . I’ll have them for later.

I don’t normally clean an air rifle barrel much. But since it was new I ran a patch with alcohol then three dry ones and it’s nice.

The trigger.
I don’t know why people don’t rave about this little gem more. I don’t have that much experience with high end triggers but the T 06 trigger feels so nice. The weight screw is dialed all the way out. I watched a video that said remove one coil. I did than and bent the end back nicely. Originally it was two pounds. After cutting it was one pound. I set it to 1.5 and that was only a couple turns of the screw from all the way out.

I see the part they say to bend to tighten up the first stage, but that does not seem necessary in this case.
I made dummy pins and turned the stage screws a little but hardly at all. This trigger feels so nice.

Except there is a chip in the front of the blade.
How do you suppose that happen? I got it out but had to reblue the trigger face.

Everything else looks good.

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Got everything together. The spring is about two inches shorter than the factory spring. I brushed on a very light coat of included tar and polished the washer at the base of the spring and the end of the spring. I hate metal things to touch without polishing them and adding some lube.
The bipod is surprising to me. I did not expect the rifle to flop side to side. It sits on the pins that have springs in the legs and springs on the swivel top. So basically it rifle is floating and you have to hold it . I kinda like it. But I can’t use it for Hunter class field target. But the base mount is a very nice plastic piece that will help me position my shooting sticks in the same place every time.

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My knowledge is somewhat dated by the fact I have been a bit sidelined with med stuff. Five years ago or so, the general consensus, and my own experience with several rebuilds, was that no one makes a better spring than Maccari. His seals are very good but often must be sized to fit. Vortek seals were well regarded and did not seem to need fitting. The fitting puts some people off, but it is not rocket science.

There were reports that the Vortek springs were good for 2-3k. It was fairly common practice to use a vortek seal and maccari spring.

This is old news, and I would suspect that things are different now.
 
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Finally got to do some crony testing after putting in the new Maccari spring. Definitely likes the heavy pellets.
I tried the 8.4 diablos and has a standard deviation of 11 the factory spring was at 4 . 980 down from 1060. But that was fresh after the rebuild and there could have been some oil or something.

But the 10.3 not only had a standard deviation of 4 and a lot of duplicates . Plus at 20 yards I just made a big hole. The three lower left were me touching the gun in the front.

The bipod is not bad and the low left shots were when I was absentmindedly holding the front of the stock. With my arm on the table it one hole.

More testing is definitely needed. But this is a really nice rifle.

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After about seven different pellets I am going to settle in on a 10.3 weight. Probably the Air Arms Diablo field heavy. But I have not bought pellets in a couple years. Is there something new I should know about?
I tried some 13 grain pellets and they were all over the place with extreme spread of 165.
Two different 10.3 pellets went to 4 on the extreme spread. The Diana still kicks like a mule. But it hits the target.
Over all I am very happy with my spring from Maccari and Airgun headquarters. It is at 17.64 ft lb of energy. That is really exactly where I wanted it to be.
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Maybe try a tin of the new Benjamin 10.5? - they group well in my .177 guns that have been doing well with the AA 10.3 - just a thought

 
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And much quieter!
I bought a pretty nice 22 for 100 yard target shooting . I don’t know how rim fire ammo works but when I clean measure weigh and oil my pellets . The rim fire ammo seems inconsistent by comparison. And you don’t get 1000 rounds for forty bucks.