Quote Originally Posted by Drew451 View Post
Good post. I'm with you on all of that, Tony but I do think Frank Dyke promoted and distributed Originals pretty well. I'm not sure when Dykes ceased the concession but I do think Leslie Hewitt /RWS/ Ruag didn't do Diana's justice. It was then that marketing and availability suffered. The HW boom definitely was an issue for all the other manufactures too.
The 45 arrived in 1978, before the 80 and well before the 77. It did well for a spell but faded. They ran til 1988 but personally, I have seen very few dated after about '82/'83.
I also agree. I think a trawl through some of the dedicated airgun shooting press back in the day would be quite telling both in terms of the marketing profile of Diana and their price point against the competition.

I'm heartened to see Diana doing well and long may they continue in that way. Of course we now have a new crop of low powered/ junior airguns in the range these days. I wonder how these will be viewed in years to come against their more popular higher profile stablemates?
Dave