I hate Diana!

[secretagentmole 1,701]

It started when my wife bought an accursed 280 carbine with the T06 trigger, that would never fire right.

No matter what you did, it fired when you looked at it, the trigger was so light it was a hair trigger. Gun shop could not set it up, so she got a refund. Bought herself a secondhand one a few years later, exactly the same problem again, once again could not get it anything like right, so sold it on and made buyer aware.

When we were picking up my Phoenix mk 2, I was made aware of another gun the seller had. An Original 45 (as in the gun marque was Original, model 45), but this was a factory made .20...

Never had a .20, not one, had to have it. Now bear in mind this rifle is knocking on for 40 years old, she did not look in bad condition, in fact I have seen rifles new in the box in worse condition than this baby.

Now the 45 is an interesting turning point in Diana history. Diana? I hear you cry, yes Diana.

You see at the end of the second world war, Germany was being made to pay for damages to occupied countries, in anyway possible. This included guns. Now obviously the Mayer and Grammelspacher factory was bombed into oblivion, being a supplier of parts for Mauser. After 1945 arms production was curtailed and the name Diana was sold to Milbro as part of a reparation deal. Milbro then did their best to destroy the name with a succession of increasingly crap rifles. Mayer and Grammelspacher started making rifles again in the 50s, but used a variety of different names due to Milbro owning Diana.

 

The Original brand was supposed to convey the fact that they were made by the Original Diana makers (geddit?). The 45 was their first take in what can be construed as a modern air rifle. The trigger is a complete separate unit, that can be detached as a whole, not a whole bloody mess of bits.

 

Early reviews said they twanged and shook themselves to pieces, later ones had additional bolts in the stock to stop this happening. I have one of the first with the anti shake rattle n roll bolts.

 

Now this gun might just have been fettled, like a lot. Like virtually no recoil. On the other hand it does weigh the same as a Volvo 740 estate, diesel.... It makes a 77 feel like a Gat. But like I say there is little or no recoil and boy is this quiet. I can see why some people reckon you do not need a silencer on a spring rifle with this baby. She is remarkably quiet yet still making 11.05 ft lb. Grouping is good, providing I am doing my job right. This is how a Diana should be.

 

Now with the brand owned by the Chinese and being slapped on guns more reminiscent of Milbro (whose name is being slapped on guns made in China - oh the irony) I do not think we will see the likes of spring guns this good bearing the Diana name again. 

 

As she came in with a nondescript scope on

 

As she is now with a cheaper Hawke on top.

 

[johnbaz 363]

Hi Moley 

 

Have to say that your 45 looks very nice!

 I've two and a half Mod45's, (The half is an action I bought without a stock!!)..

 

This one was a Jubilee model, It would have originally had two panels at the forend that bore the pic of the M&G factory and a badge saying 90 Jahre and Rastatt below with Dianawerk in the middle, Someone removed them before I bought it   The badge is on the other side, I made two walnut panels to fit the recesses..

This one is .177"

 

The other 1.5!! A mate gave me the full one, He'd tried making it in to a cannon by sticking an ox in with weights too! (The nut and washer!), He couldn't get it to cock so stuck it away!, Roll forwards twenty years and he gave it to me (I gave him an old Bayonet in return!), I stripped the gun and there was what seemed a bucketfull of copperslip within!
I removed it all and cleaned the parts then rebuilt it minus the bits!!, It's fine now and very smooth fron an old beat up thing!! Both these are .22"..

 

I like all Original guns but the ball sear ones (35 and 50, I think there may be some more too in the range) are gits to rebuild!!

This one is an Original mod35 in .22"

 

This is a mod50 type 01 (Same trigger as the 45) in .22"

 

Here's another mod50, An earlier one with an almost half hearted Schnabel!!

This one is .22", It's been apart for years , I refinished the stock whilst on furlough and bunged it back together!!

 

 

, Three fifties, The one in the last pics is the middle one of these as it was before I refinished the stock!

The top one is ,22", Bottom is .177"..

Another .22" in bits, Been like this for almost a decade!! 

This one is a Gecado mod35, The tradename 'Gecado' or sometimes 'Geco' is for guns that were destined for the U.S., Australia and South Africa but some ended up here, I had a Gecado mod50 but let it go 

 

 

Cheers, John