That Original 66

[Hsing-ee]

Dunno but I nearly bought a cheap one to put in a normal sporter stock and thus create the ultimate back-yard break-barrel plinker ...

[Drew451]

I find the 66 in standard form very manageable for a match rifle.

[PhatMan]

Phil,

IIRC, it was designed like this to allow a less slow way of replacing the mainsprings

The slave piston head came off, then the springs could be replaced without any further dismantling.

If only Diana had designed the rifle like the FWBs & Anschutz 250, whereby the 'complicated bits' can be removed as a single unit by undoing two (2) screws !!

Having fixed spot welded cages, and the need to remove zillions of pins and bits & peices, and the jigsaw of replacement definitely stops people like me from even thinking about stripping them

The 66, IMHO, is definitely a collectable, and a superb shooting rifle.

I really, really like mine - it groups better than my FWB300's (300 & 300 SU), and indeed better than my Diana 75

A very fine rifle

Have fun & a good weekend

Best regards

Russ

[Benelli B76]

They are lovely rifles to shoot and probably collectable but people seem nervous to buy them due to repair costs. Once they have a new set of seals and springs they will probably never need touching again.

Baz

[boof]

Is it for sale?

[Phil Russell]

Thanks Russ... very interesting about spring replacement. Original must have had a quite specialised jig to do it but I guess a good spring compressor could be modified with a screwdriver head that allowed rotation to lock the head in place ... note that the screwdriver slot in the head is not a simple slot but a dished one. Presumably this would also allow the newly sealed pistons to be inserted and locked into place by the pinions before the springs are added. This would aid pinion replacement but maybe require a tad extra push on the slave head to get the slave piston locked in place.
Fascinating. I wonder if all this was revealed in the patent?
As for costs .. the complete reseal / spring cost was about £75 .
And sorry, not for sale as it is not mine ... I am sorry too.
Cheers, Phil

[hwtyger]

They definately count as collectable imo