Quote Originally Posted by Geezer View Post
They are odd aren’t they? I think they came out in 1977, so only a year before the 45, which was much more on the late 70s and 80s zeitgeist for high power at all costs.

I have always assumed the idea was entry-level budget target rifles aimed at the big German 10M match market, sized for kids (25DS), youths (27S) and adults/big adolescents (35S) - all running at German sub-7.5J power.

I strongly suspect that the regular and S models competed heavily against each other, to the detriment of M&G’s bottom line.

Accepting my German 10M hypothesis, i’m not sure what “better” entry-level rifles were eating into Diana sales that would make the S guns a good idea. The stock 27 has a good case as being a near-perfect lightweight mid-power plinker, barn gun, or base target air rifle, especially in the 70s. The 27S (I have one) isn’t so much better as different.

The Webley/BSA/HW/everyone else model of making the same gun in standard and fancy stock deluxe models is a much better business model than making mechanically different variants of the same action at the same level of finish.
They certainly do have the look of the 70s match guns and lend themselves to off hand shooting very well. They must have been one of the earliest angular/ slab sides mainstream springers of that period before others followed suit.
The regular 27 is near perfect in my opinion, but its a tad too small, esp. in the area of the pistol grip for average sized adult hands. The 27S must be an improvement in this regard or looks to be.
Walters book says 1973 for the introduction date of the 35S but thst it didn't appear in Britain in any numbers until, I think, 1977. Mine is a '77 as are the majority (a handful) I've seen are '77's. Not sure when the S series died.
Super owners: let us know your dates.