DA* 300 wobble

I have noticed that my shots in the last couple of weeks have become just plain awful. I first noticed it the last time I went to shoot the kingfishers, although the images were sharp there seemed to be a ghost.
Today I went out again today (I'm on leave) and my shots are rubbish, really poor. I assumed it was the TC so removed that and at f8 the 300 on its own improved. So I decided to go back to Forrest Farm and shoot the kingfishers again and got lucky one showed up again. on close inspection they are simply poor. I had with me my Tamron 70-200 so put that on the TC and bang, razor sharp again.
So now feeling a bit depressed because my favourite lens is sick I went home to conduct a bit of an investigation. It didn't take long to realise that there is something seriously wrong with it. The barrel wobbles at the base of the focus ring and can be very slightly twisted too.
Has anyone else had something like this happen to their DA*300 ... btw I haven't knocked it, bashed it or dropped it

Yes, just recently, actually, exactly the same thing. Apparently, sometimes the screws just come loose.

Mine was fixed by Alan Marlow, lens cleaned and tested, and it has come back as good as new, so don't worry.

If you haven't used him before I can recommend him.

Alan has done excellent work on lenses for me too. K.

And for me

Posted today along with my FA35 that has a cracked barrel due to a thuggish wall in Gran Canaria a few years ago that (without provocation) grabbed the camera strap as the wife and I were walking past which sent the camera and lens crashing to the floor , the lens works perfectly except the barrel does reveal a crack when the lens cap pushes it apart.