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Thread: What model is this Diana?

  1. #1
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    What model is this Diana?

    Can’t find it in the books I have? Underlever and tap loading. In my books these smaller Dianas are all break-barrels? Sorry for poor pics.



    Last edited by 45flint; 23-05-2018 at 10:41 PM.

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    Quote Originally Posted by 45flint View Post
    Can’t find it in the books I have? Underlever and tap loading. In my books these smaller Dianas are all break-barrels? Sorry for poor pics.
    Dunno if it's my computer but I can't see a pic or a link!


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    Quote Originally Posted by 45flint View Post
    Can’t find it in the books I have? Underlever and tap loading. In my books these smaller Dianas are all break-barrels? Sorry for poor pics.
    Can't see any pics either?

    Plenty of Diana tap-loading underlevers, models 26 through 58. The prewar mod 26 DRP was quite small.

    Identify it here:

    https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....na-air-rifles/

    Ah, see them now. Looks like a Relum...
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    Quote Originally Posted by Garvin View Post
    Can't see any pics either?

    Plenty of Diana tap-loading underlevers, models 26 through 58. The prewar mod 26 was quite small.

    Identify it here:

    https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....na-air-rifles/
    Fixed pic

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    That looks very much like a Relum Tornado?
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    They are telling me it’s a Diana?

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    What model is this Diana?

    relum tornado

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    Quote Originally Posted by wil95k View Post
    relum tornado
    Thanks, found it in Hillers book, obviously the guy in the gun shop had it wrong. Do these have any good qualities or are they just cheaply made rifles?

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    Quote Originally Posted by 45flint View Post
    Thanks, found it in Hillers book, obviously the guy in the gun shop had it wrong. Do these have any good qualities or are they just cheaply made rifles?
    It's one of the most Communist rifles you can get hold of. FEG used to make these things in Hungary while it was dominated by the Soviet Union; the company still exists now it is back in the happy pastures of capitalism, but now it makes Mauser-type centrefires for wealthy hunters. During the Cold War the Eastern bloc countries used to sell consumer goods like this to the Brits at a bit of a loss so they could get their hands on some exchangeable currency.

    The Tornado is a heavy, agricultural tool with two mainsprings one inside the other. This is a terrible arrangement and is best replaced with a guide and a single mainspring. It has a heavy trigger and a spectacular design fault in the form of a loading tap lever which points forward from the tap, thus it is easy to get it out of alignment. Some people have expended considerable energy on 'tuning' and improving them, but generally their efforts have not been rewarded and the rifle is best kept as a plinker. As far as I remember the cocking has poor mechanical advantage and the piston head is rivetted on which makes improving the gun a machine-shop job, and all in all it's a bit of a clunker.

    They were seen as typical Communist products; sturdy, ugly and not very efficient, but which would still fire after being run over by a T-34 tank and then left in the bottom of a swamp for a year. I'm surprised there's one in America, must have been brought in by the CIA for study. On the BBS it's pet name is the 'Hungarian Swamp Donkey'. The break-barrels that FEG made were a bit better so I believe.
    Last edited by Hsing-ee; 23-05-2018 at 11:26 PM.

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    I've seen a couple versions of these FEG / Relum / Telly underlevers here in the USA, one (maybe a later example?) had the squared-off slabby stock. They may have been imported by Precise Imports Corporation who marketed several Communist air rifles under the brand name "Minuteman". They are definitely a great example of Eastern Bloc crude but effective execution, however I disagree about their durability under a tank attack as one of mine had the cheesy tap lever broken right off.

    P.S: The guy listing the two rifles clearly has no idea what they are, but to draw attention he titled them with names he's heard somewhere.

    Don R.

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    Quote Originally Posted by draitzer View Post
    I've seen a couple versions of these FEG / Relum / Telly underlevers here in the USA, one (maybe a later example?) had the squared-off slabby stock. They may have been imported by Precise Imports Corporation who marketed several Communist air rifles under the brand name "Minuteman". They are definitely a great example of Eastern Bloc crude but effective execution, however I disagree about their durability under a tank attack as one of mine had the cheesy tap lever broken right off.

    P.S: The guy listing the two rifles clearly has no idea what they are, but to draw attention he titled them with names he's heard somewhere.

    Don R.
    That has got to be the most ironic branding ever, considering the original Minutemen as defenders of liberty and the Cold War missile of the same name!

    The tap lever was intentionally sabotaged by quality control so Westerners would be forced to buy another one ..

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    Quote Originally Posted by draitzer View Post
    The guy listing the two rifles clearly has no idea what they are, but to draw attention he titled them with names he's heard somewhere.

    Don R.
    Sounds plausible.

    On a different note: Do you know anybody who might be interested in a nice Cadillac Eldorado?

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    Quote Originally Posted by Rickenbacker View Post
    Sounds plausible.

    On a different note: Do you know anybody who might be interested in a nice Cadillac Eldorado?

    moskvich Capture.jpg
    Any history with it

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    Just been renovating 5 of the Tornados. There were two types of piston and trigger designs in the 5. Power output on these is poor even with the double spring they use, I found they perform better with one decent spring. Guys over here just like them because of nostalgia, they had them as youngsters in the 60's and thought they were great at the time.

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