Original 45 and Tuning

[evert]

Yes, I've had 3 tuned by V Mach, and wish I'd kept them -
The barrels are a bit soft, but they are probably (with old hw35s) the nicest shooting leather piston washer rifles, and are best left that way -
A V Mach spring n guide set and new or reconditioned leather seal, soaked / trimmed etc - beautiful

Thats inspiring! I find the 45 to be one of the few rifles that works well without "improvements", but it might be worth to try a few springs and some new guides..

[bill57]

I remember seeing one in a custom walnut stock in Airgun World in the early eighties. Pretty sure it was off the shelf, not a one-off.

[Drew451]

Thats inspiring! I find the 45 to be one of the few rifles that works well without "improvements", but it might be worth to try a few springs and some new guides..

I agree. Considering the performance of the standard rifle, I am curious about tuned examples.
Not sure if an aftermarket spring guide is available but springs certainly are.
I do remember a synthetic stock of some kind being listed for the 45 a long time ago. It was pretty cheap. Never seen one in the flesh, though. Or even a picture of one.

[Geezer]

My recollection from back then (1980-90) is that most "custom" tuned springer air rifles were HWs, followed some way back by FWB Sports (esp for FT pre-HW77). You then had a random collection of custom/tuned BSFs, Annie 335s, even Webley Vulcans. And oddities like the Venom Sharps.

For whatever reason, the Dianas of whichever model just weren't a big part of that scene. Perhaps because they were priced low. Expensive must be best, right?

Agree with others that the 45's combination of high power potential, old-fashioned leather seal, good out of the box performance, mediocre stock etc may have limited its attraction to both tuner and buyer.

Back then, almost anyone wanting a custom tuned hunter wanted an HW80 like JD's, and anyone wanting an FT rifle wanted an FWB or, when they arrived in 84-85, a 77.

[Geezer]

I agree. Considering the performance of the standard rifle, I am curious about tuned examples.
Not sure if an aftermarket spring guide is available but springs certainly are.
I do remember a synthetic stock of some kind being listed for the 45 a long time ago. It was pretty cheap. Never seen one in the flesh, though. Or even a picture of one.

I forget who offered the synth stock, but by some accounts it was a bit rubbish and easily broken.

[Geezer]

I checked with Bowket because he carried out a lot of conversions on different spring air rifles in the 1980/early 90s. He did indeed develop one for the Original 45 which used a piston head similar to the one he developed for the HW55. It meant he could shorten the stroke and use one of his universal 24 coil mainsprings to bring it down to below 12 ft/lbs for the UK market. He told me that he used to buy small batches of Original 45s in .20" for the barrels. These barrels were fitted to .177" FWBs that had his high power conversions and shipped to the US the FWB barrels being fitted to Original 45s. Apparently it was cheaper than buying barrels as spares and FWB didnt make a .20". There must be some interesting .177" 45s still gathering dust in grandads loft somewhere.

And some very interesting US-market .20" Bowkett FWBs.

[jonnyone]

Have learnt a heck of a lot about conversion and tinkering with the 45 through this thread. Much more work done on the gun than I gave credit for.
Another school day on the BBS

[the green man]

mine is heavily tuned it also has a 34 k barrel fitted on it I would just love to fit a custom walnut stock to it

[andrewM]

The last big import of 45's were .20 Cal late in the 80's?? They took forever to shift by the look of the discounts offered. The rise of the PCP and that the 45 was now really old hat. There were better off the shelf rifles to be had, prettier and every bit as good if not better. Theobens were producing great rifles for those with the budget.
Early 80's it was cheaper than the Sport or the HW's; not much more than anything offered by BSA or Webley and was better than them. Only thing holding them back is they weren't overly marketed, so really for those in the know and not wanting to spend too much. THey were my recommendation at the time for those without unlimited funds but wanted something good.
The less sexy or expensive German offering.


i've had a few and have just the one now in .177. It shoots as well as anything from that era, well anything factory. I think a good looker, and I like its slightly weight forwardness; pretty well behaved too. Goes with the Annie 335 which was underrated. Both could have done with a walnut deluxe stock option for the fans, but never happened.

There was an aftermarket plastic/fibreglass?? FT Stock produced.

Muskett, out of interest, what pellets do you find are best with your 177 45? I bought my 45 as a teenager (Jan 80 production date) and still have it but, in those days, by far the best pellet was the Silver Jet, which had remarkable accuracy. In second place was the H&N wadcutter/flat heads. Silver Jet have ceased, alas, so when I brought the 45 out of mothballs, I started using Accupells. Not bad - probably about 1in groups from cushion rest at 40 yds but not as good as the Silver Jets (I still have about two dozen left) and the H&N were slightly better than the Accupells I recall. I thought I would try something modern but the 45 seems pellet fussy. I tried some heavy H&Ns (forget the name) but the power plummeted. Thus, your experience would be useful.

I am still a big fan of the 45; ok, it did not look great but it worked efficiently and accurately. I would not part with mine. In my view, it is certainly on a par with the FWB.

[RustyBuzz]

Terry wheeler was the man for the 45 back in the day, winning a national title with his.

He found a properly fitted leather seal was the best solution. The most important mod he did was to replace the two piece breach pin with a single solid unit as there is an issue with the original two part pin becoming eccentric with prolonged use.

Sportsmatch made the aftermarket plastic stocks, they were good to use, but always broke through the pistol grip in the end.

.177s used to thrive on H&N Silouettes, don't be put off by the lower energy at the muzzle as they retain more thump downrange.

Great rifles, luv em.

[Drew451]

mine is heavily tuned it also has a 34 k barrel fitted on it I would just love to fit a custom walnut stock to it

I remember your short barrel swap. What's been done internally to yours?

[Drew451]

Terry wheeler was the man for the 45 back in the day, winning a national title with his.

He found a properly fitted leather seal was the best solution. The most important mod he did was to replace the two piece breach pin with a single solid unit as there is an issue with the original two part pin becoming eccentric with prolonged use.

Sportsmatch made the aftermarket plastic stocks, they were good to use, but always broke through the pistol grip in the end.

.177s used to thrive on H&N Silouettes, don't be put off by the lower energy at the muzzle as they retain more thump downrange.

Great rifles, luv em.

I remember Silhouttes. I wonder why they got dropped from the range.

[HW777]

mine is heavily tuned it also has a 34 k barrel fitted on it I would just love to fit a custom walnut stock to it

Was this a barrel from an old D34 or would in your opinion a current 34 barrel fit a O45 ?

[jonnyone]

Afternoon all.
Being extremely curious about the possibility of grafting a modern Diana barrel to the old 45 I dug out an old beat up model 38 and old 45 Jubilee last night in order to have a tinker (was a bit bored n restless)
Now I have to admit that I have not checked if the 38 and the 34 barrels are identical in layout and size but I suspect that they are. So with this in mind both actions were taken out of the stocks and the 45 barrel was removed. Off came the 38 barrel and the first immediate difference between these two was that the 45 breech block is longer than the 38(it has more length forward of the barrel hinge pin hole). I initially thought that was the end of that but noticed that the hinge pin hole on both barrels were identically placed meaning that in theory at least the barrel should fit and the breech face close and mate with the action. This proved to be the case and the lock up was fine and secure.
However by virtue of this 38 breech block being shorter this meant that when the 45 cocking lever was matched up it effectively pushed the cocking shoe further back in the action to such a degree that there was no room between it and the piston. Thus meaning that in order for this set up to work, the required clearance would have to be restored to these components by carefully grinding off the back of the cocking shoe to ensure it doesn't get struck by the piston when fired.
I think this is what has been done to 45s that have had other newer Diana barrels swapped onto them (though I'm happy to be corrected here). Bear in mind I only had a 38 action to strip and barrel swap as I am loathe to strip actions that are on collectable guns too often. Its possible that the 34 barrel is a better match and wouldn't need alteration of the cocking shoe.
I'd be interested to know how a 45 action performs with a shorter barrel as I've always felt this would have been a logical next step in the development of this gun had it stayed in production longer. Instinct tells me the gun would be improved and perform better than the full length action. But who knows?
In my humble opinion the 45 can still hold its own against other guns in the current Diana range and indeed some other break barrels from other marques..
Dave

[Muskett]

RWS Superdomes are my 80's springer .177 pellet of choice. For farmyard ranges they seems to hold it there.