Diana Model 50 the Begining and the End

[dvd]

I think there was some variation in the parkerized versions. Some did have the plastic sight of the time but mine has the throwback sight like the ones on the old BSA Standards with the wheel that takes it up and down. These have the extended cocking arm because they boosted the power by sharing the power plant of the Diana 45 not the 35 as before.

The finish and the sights are the same as those of the Diana Mod 30 R.
Nice mod 50 you have there, well done.

[Eagleman]

In my early days of airgunning (Mark 1 Airsporter) I yearned for a Model 50. I just thought they looked the dog's business and I imagined them to have enormous power. Of course in those days I had never heard of a chronograph and stuff like "foot pounds". It was all to with how flat the pellet was when striking an iron sheet or how well it killed stuff.


Eventually, about 15 years ago I finally got a Model 50 and boy was I disappointed. It was producing about 7ft lb and I just got rid of it.

[45flint]

In my early days of airgunning (Mark 1 Airsporter) I yearned for a Model 50. I just thought they looked the dog's business and I imagined them to have enormous power. Of course in those days I had never heard of a chronograph and stuff like "foot pounds". It was all to with how flat the pellet was when striking an iron sheet or how well it killed stuff.


Eventually, about 15 years ago I finally got a Model 50 and boy was I disappointed. It was producing about 7ft lb and I just got rid of it.

Yes my early model 50 is the same, in German they were into target guns at the time. Even with a better power plant this later model is in the 9 FPE. Reason I’m sure it didn’t continue as power was king in the 1980’s. In German these older rifles bring a premium given their limits are 6 FPE.

[Geezer]

Yes my early model 50 is the same, in German they were into target guns at the time. Even with a better power plant this later model is in the 9 FPE. Reason I’m sure it didn’t continue as power was king in the 1980’s. In German these older rifles bring a premium given their limits are 6 FPE.

Yes, pre-1970 airguns (that’s when the law changed) over 7.5 joule (5.53 ft-lbs) are still free to own in Germany (“grandfathered” as they say in the states). A niche enthusiast market for pre-70 HW35s, BSF55s, D35 and 50s etc. I’m favourably impressed that the Germans didn’t make the law retrospective.

Happily for the German makers, not long after their domestic market for what were then “high power” premium airguns was ended by legislation, the US and U.K. ones grew rapidly. If the US market for “adult airguns” and the U.K. one for “full legal hunting power” ones had only arrived in the 80s, the history or airguns would have been very different. The Germans would have gone very hard to 10M match, but the US and U.K. markets would have been happy hunting grounds for Webley, BSA, etc.