Milbro / Diana production records.

[flatrajectory]

Having just acquired a post war Diana 27 I have googled high and low but can find no production records that will accurately date my rifle. Even on the Dianewerk forums there is no information.
Can anyone point me in the right direction, or are all Milbro records lost for all eternity.?
Pete.

[flatrajectory]

So, after 43 people have viewed this post not one reply. This confirms that indeed NO production records from Milbro have survived. That is such a shame, that we have lost the history of one of this country's most prolific airgun makers of the 20th century. How many people out there have learned to shoot with a Milbro Diana.

Shame 'innit.
Pete.

[Billboy]

That is a shame, my dads milbro Diana g80 wasthe first air rifle I ever shot, about 20 years ago, he's still got it but has seen better days, I hope you find what your looking for

[alan m]

Diana 27 will be about 1950- 1963. G27 1963 on. Should be a date stamp on the base of the butt, some times gets lost due to wear
but sometimes you can just make it out with a magnifier.
Alan.

[Gamocfx]

Flat trajectory I understand your angst...someone somewhere should have some sort of record?? Or did nobody give a s###? Judging by the quality offered probably the latter...which is a shame, I have a couple of G80s and they are super rifles...some people like the Cougar as well. It is odd to think that such recent history might as well have been produced in the dark ages.

[flatrajectory]

It seems strange to me that we have records for BSA and Webley going back to the beginning of the 20th century, but nothing at all for Millard bros.
Does anyone know WHY there are no records.? Was there a fire at the factory or did they just not care enough to keep records.?
Very strange.

Pete.

[hawkeye]

So, after 43 people have viewed this post not one reply. This confirms that indeed NO production records from Milbro have survived. That is such a shame, that we have lost the history of one of this country's most prolific airgun makers of the 20th century. How many people out there have learned to shoot with a Milbro Diana.

Shame 'innit.
Pete.

you are right there , I along with most of my mates learnt to shoot with Diana air rifles or pistols in the sixties and then bought several others later in life ,
I have an early model G80 i bought new in.177 i think this was around 1980 along with a new BSA mercury , I have four model IV pistols some of which are marked Diana and some are Milbro (one boxed ) they were first pistol I ever used before a Gat even

[ogilkes]

Milbro, or at least the pellet company, used to be

Unit 4G
Carfin Industrial Estate
Carfin
Motherwell
Lanarkshire
ML1 4UL

Which I am assuming was close to the original location of the factory which was also on this industrial estate. Not much left now, its mostly a housing estate https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?hl=en&tab=wl&authuser=0

I have always wondered about the 55 too. I did wonder whether Milbro simply took a design for an underlever that Diana never managed to produce pre-war and made it, possuibly even using up parts that were manufactured, hence the short production run. Or were they simply trying to 'be' Diana in the UK? Whatever it was there only real attempt at innovation. I rather like the post 1964 guns, nice stocks and generally quite nice to shoot though. Interesintg read here:

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...nv00011582.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...wApril1995.jpg
http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/e...v000115811.jpg

By all accounts there was a great deal of muttering in German circles about the loss of their trade mark in the uK, hence the buying back of it asap when Milbro wnet bankrupt.

Anyway, Milbros reputaiton as cheapies has meant that few seem to survive in decent condiiton. Most you see for sale are increadibly battered, the result, I suspect of teenagers using them to destruciton in the back garden and then abandoning them in the shed.

[flatrajectory]

To quote Garvin .. "I also wonder what Diana made of Milbro, which apparently had little of the German company's drive to be the best that it could be, despite the British company having something of a head start in the 1950s. Then again, perhaps having to start from scratch with new machinery helped Diana quickly overtake Milbro, with its old-tech pre-War machinery and designs! It's hard to imagine Milbro having come up with the technological wizardry that made the recoilless Diana 60 such a magnificent piece of machinery, for example! " ...unquote

Spot on with that observation Danny, regarding M&G having to start again with new machinery.That is exactly what happened in Japan with the motorcycle industry.Whilst British makers churned out the same old models they were making before the war, the Japanese had to start from scratch after the nuclear devastation. Honda installed the latest machinery and automated assembly lines and we all know how that turned out for the UK motorcycle industry.
Pete.

[trevor1]

We in NZ,had a very "Best Buy British" ethic in the postwar years. Milbro and BSA were THE 'commercial" brands.The former guns seemed mostly handled by hardware stores and were regarded as "kidstuff". I well recall graduating from Milbros to BSA(a Cadet Major) in the 1950's.
Webley always had a limited market,the MkIII was expensive,and so were the pistols and their Junior rifle was made by Milbro.
German rifles, by Diana,HW and Falke, were welcomed as "quality affordable" weapons. As I recall,they outsold all the brands. The advent of the Weihrauch model 35 in particular,was a milestone here.
The arrival of Crosman and Benjamin CO2 pistols around 1959 diminished the appeal of spring-powered handguns. I recall my local sports stores simply not selling the likes of a Diana/Webley or Hyscore pistol from one end of a year to the next.
Brands like Sheridan and Daisy were always available here but never became very popular.
It has all changed now!;-)PCPs and Softies...

[flatrajectory]

Ollie,
Thanks for those newspaper clippings, they make interesting reading.
What we need now is for a former Milbro employee to turn up with all the production records and serial numbers.......!

Pete.