Quote Originally Posted by derekj View Post
As much as I like the later Diana's it has to be said that the quality of these rifles isn't on the same level as Air Arms. The under levers are sent out very dry and stiff. You must budget at least £100 for a strip down, clean polish and overhaul or do it yourself if you have a spring compressor. The Diana under levers are particularly model 440 very stiff to cock. The under lever itself is too small in diameter in my view, and is secured by two flimsy ball bearings which is a shame. The under lever should be secured by a spring loaded push button.

The T06 trigger however is very good and precise, again I think I've read that the it benefits from a strip and polish. The matt black finish on these rifles isn't to every bodies taste also. They do have the all important compression tube interceptor lock which Weihrauch still do not build into their under lever rifles, so at least Diana are showing they are a responsible manufacturer.

I would if I were you, try and get hold of a model 470 and see what you think then first before committing to a shipped in rifle from Germany. They are almost there though Diana, they just need more attention given to the innards and sort out the under lever lock up etc.
You are right Diana's out of the box IMO want a spit and polish tune, but you need to look closer at the underlevers the lock up is a weak point but no big deal to fix, but now look a the robustness of the lever its self, it may be the only underlever that when cocked has no looseness and play, its solid and has two spring dome washers have a look

http://imgur.com/vlFqomN

The reason for the heavy for some cocking effort is the position of the pivot pin that gives short fast cocking, to get easy cocking the pin would be here
http://imgur.com/PfVlerb

but then the 115 mm stroke would mean that the cocking stroke would be very long like the 52 so its a trade off