RWS, Original, Diana

[Ajf123]

I have the vaguest recollection from my youth 1970s and 80s that RWS as well as Original were connected to Diana.

I also know the back story as to why German Dianas were called Originals after WW2 until 86 or so.

What I don’t know is why something that looks a lot like a Diana 50 with a plain stock but marked RWS would turn up in the U.K.

I’ve just bought a thing that looks like a 50 but is apparently branded RWS more more less unseen other than a couple of poor pictures. As well as it’s condition (which I fully expect to be hmm) I’m curious about the rifle but I’m not sure even getting the rifle will clear up my question.

Does anyone know?

[Garvin]

I have the vaguest recollection from my youth 1970s and 80s that RWS as well as Original were connected to Diana.

I also know the back story as to why German Dianas were called Originals after WW2 until 86 or so.

What I don’t know is why something that looks a lot like a Diana 50 with a plain stock but marked RWS would turn up in the U.K.

I’ve just bought a thing that looks like a 50 but is apparently branded RWS more more less unseen other than a couple of poor pictures. As well as it’s condition (which I fully expect to be hmm) I’m curious about the rifle but I’m not sure even getting the rifle will clear up my question.

Does anyone know?

Mike Driskill once posted this on the Dianawerke Collective website. See the last paragraph:

ZVP touched on the different brand names that have been seen on Diana guns and that is certainly a rather broad topic!

As he mentioned, the actual company name is Mayer & Grammelspacher. "Diana" is their chosen trade name and the factory is called the Dianawerk. The original 1890's trademark, still in use, is one of my very favorites. That lovely lady on your airgun is Diana, Goddess of the Hunt, tossing her bow and arrow to the ground while reverently holding aloft the all-conquering air rifle!

After WW2, Diana's pre-war airgun tooling was sold to an English consortium and moved to Millard Brothers (Milbro) in Lanarkshire, Scotland. (Diana's own 1950's models were all-new designs, adding the great innovation of the ball-sear trigger, though closely based on the prewar models and sharing many model numbers.) Milbro had the rights to the Diana name in Great Britain until well into the 1980's, therefore German Dianas sold there had the brand name "Original."

The famous Stoeger Arms company imported Dianas even before WW2, and resumed thereafter. Guns for Stoeger were branded "Peerless" and used the Diana model numbers.

Winchester sold Diana guns from 1969 to 1975 under their own name. The rifle model numbers simply had a "4" prefix (for example, the Diana model 27 became the Winchester 427), while the models 5 and 6 pistols became the 353 and 363. For some now-forgotten reason, the model 65 match rifle was the exception, with the odd designation Winchester 333.

Hy-Score of New York sold many Diana guns in the postwar decades with their name attached. They had their own model numbers which pretty much had no rhyme or reason! For example the model 25 rifle was the Hy-Score 801, while the closely related model 27 became the Hy-Score 807, and the tiny Diana 15 youth rifle was the Hy-Score 808.

Beeman imported some Dianas in his early years. These actually had the British Original label at first, and were sold as "Beeman Original" guns. Later he added his own brand name and distinct model numbers, but this lasted only a short time. For example the Diana 35 rifle can be seen as the Beeman Original 35, or Beeman model 200.

The brand names Geco and Gecado were used in other foreign markets, which I know very little about. Seems I've heard our friend Trevor say that Geco was often seen in his Down Under neighborhood! Hopefully someone can enlighten us more on those names.

Dynamit Nobel has imported Dianas to the US since the early 1980's, and has used the RWS brand name. Just about all Diana airguns have been sold as RWS models, and there have even been some oddball guns unique to RWS, such as the models 66 and 68 which were variations of the models 36 and 38 rifles with different stocks. RWS has placed their names on many other brands of airgun as well, of course.

For some reason, Diana also uses the RWS name occasionally for unique models in Europe. For example, the first-type Diana 45 rifle, fitted with the odd stock used on the model 35 Super, was sold in Europe as the "RWS 45." In the US, the same designation was for the Diana 45 with its normal stock!

[Ajf123]

So Diana would just put some Airguns into the U.K. with RWS on them because they were a little bit different to the Original Diana one. This thing I have has a plain stock with no chequering whereas Original 50s all had Chequered grips (and I am not wholly convinced the stock finish it came with at new). Very interesting and helpful. I can see I’m going to have to find this Dianawerke collective site.

[MDriskill]

Thanks Danny...I'd completely forgotten that old bit of my blather, lol!

A couple minor notes to add - the early Beeman imports were actually marked "Beeman's (not "Beeman") Original;" and a couple other brand names used were "Condor" and "Donor." I believe the former was on some oddball European-market models, and the latter by a Dutch distributor.

The model 50 was manufactured for over 30 years, sometimes with multiple variants available simultaneously, and with many evolutionary changes in stocks, sights, brand markings, and other details. You can see a great selection on Danny's "Vintage Airguns Gallery" site:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....iana-model-50/

As to how an "RWS model 50" ended up in the UK, who knows! My guess would be a solo US-market example rather than a special edition...but I've been wrong plenty of times before! I'll look forward to seeing pictures of it.

[Ajf123]

Thanks for this. I will be providing updates to bore the pants off people. I’m looking forward to seeing it. I’ve only seen grainy photos. It could well be as rough as anything but as I love researching and restoring unusual old machinery this is the fun for me.

Always liked the 50. Never even held one.

[Geezer]

While the (vast?) majority of M&G guns from 1950-1982 in the U.K. are branded as Originals, it’s not uncommon to find them marked as RWS, Diana, or Gecado.

Once Milbro had foundered, ending the British Diana brand, you definitely saw more new guns over here branded as Diana or RWS.

As for the older ones, I suspect a combination of personal imports in their possessions by those coming home having been posted abroad with the Army, colonial service, etc (at times when an air rifle did not fit, in the mind of a customs officer, in the same category as dirty bomb or heroin), or bulk sales on the international gun market between dealers.

[Chippendale]

Thanks Danny...I'd completely forgotten that old bit of my blather, lol!

A couple minor notes to add - the early Beeman imports were actually marked "Beeman's (not "Beeman") Original;" and a couple other brand names used were "Condor" and "Donor." I believe the former was on some oddball European-market models, and the latter by a Dutch distributor.

The model 50 was manufactured for over 30 years, sometimes with multiple variants available simultaneously, and with many evolutionary changes in stocks, sights, brand markings, and other details. You can see a great selection on Danny's "Vintage Airguns Gallery" site:

https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery....iana-model-50/

As to how an "RWS model 50" ended up in the UK, who knows! My guess would be a solo US-market example rather than a special edition...but I've been wrong plenty of times before! I'll look forward to seeing pictures of it.

Hi, I have a 50B and I’m thinking of stripping the stock, the top one in your photo gallery, do you know if the stock is finished in varnish, lacquer or simply polished, please.
Regards
Melv

Chippendale (with clothes on)

[Dornfelderliebe]

Hello Melv I've just finished stripping a stock which was factory lacquered purely by sanding down, in the process removing all the little dinks. It shall be posted to Craig for the pistol grip to be chequered, took 5 hours of sanding but looks worth it now to me, Craig to confirm.