Sales of 70's / 80's era Original Dianas

[Drew451]

Never seen any original 52’s until that one came up, looked like a nice gun at a fair price!

Contrary to my earlier post, there is an O52 on the Gunstar sales site which has been languishing there for many weeks.
There's just something about "Original" era Dianas that push them well above everything else. More than just something..

[Geezer]

Contrary to my earlier post, there is an O52 on the Gunstar sales site which has been languishing there for many weeks.
There's just something about "Original" era Dianas that push them well above everything else. More than just something..

Weird. I picked up my 52 on here for about £140-160 around seven years ago. No sense then that they were in any way sought after. And a couple of years earlier you could snaffle up the odd but engaging ultra-carbine model for £395 brand new.

I guess it’s that thing that only once they are gone do people miss them. I think there’s a Jonie Mitchell song vaguely about that.

[andrewM]

Weird. I picked up my 52 on here for about £140-160 around seven years ago. No sense then that they were in any way sought after. And a couple of years earlier you could snaffle up the odd but engaging ultra-carbine model for £395 brand new.

I guess it’s that thing that only once they are gone do people miss them. I think there’s a Jonie Mitchell song vaguely about that.

Yes, I think you are correct. Compare them, for example, with the ubiquitous HW99s. These are great rifles, no question about that, but there are so many of them and they come up for sale all the time. In fact, I don't see the point of buying a new HW99 when you can obtain a 9/10 quality for £200, perhaps with a scope as well.

[jonnyone]

Weird. I picked up my 52 on here for about £140-160 around seven years ago. No sense then that they were in any way sought after. And a couple of years earlier you could snaffle up the odd but engaging ultra-carbine model for £395 brand new.

I guess it’s that thing that only once they are gone do people miss them. I think there’s a Jonie Mitchell song vaguely about that.

Yes, I think you are correct. Compare them, for example, with the ubiquitous HW99s. These are great rifles, no question about that, but there are so many of them and they come up for sale all the time. In fact, I don't see the point of buying a new HW99 when you can obtain a 9/10 quality for £200, perhaps with a scope as well.

You make a very good and valid point there Andrew. I picked up a 99 ironically after responding to an advert to pick up a cheap scope that I later found used to sit on the sellers 99. When I bought the scope I noted the 99 lying on a settee across the room. It was 6 months old and was selling for £140 so I bought it more out of impulse for a good deal than an out and out motion of having to have one.
Pitching it against a 280 I definitely put the 280 ahead in most if not all aspects. However I digress from the subject here.
As I've said in other threads two of the guns on my target list of must have guns of the 80s were the 35s and 45 and I'm happy to say that I now have both of these. The 45 has certainly not failed to impress in its handling, power and accuracy stakes. The 35s I tend to think of as a younger brother to the RWS45 as visually they look quite alike.
Definite icons of the 80 despite maybe not shifting in the unit numbers of the HW80. The Originals put a bigger smile on my face than my vintage 84 HW80 these days.
Dave

[johnbaz]

Weird. I picked up my 52 on here for about £140-160 around seven years ago. No sense then that they were in any way sought after. And a couple of years earlier you could snaffle up the odd but engaging ultra-carbine model for £395 brand new.

I guess it’s that thing that only once they are gone do people miss them. I think there’s a Jonie Mitchell song vaguely about that.

Hi Geezer

I too bought a Diana mod52 up, I'm pretty sure it was from the sales forum on here, I think I paid £130 but as I get older, The grey matter doesn't work as good as it used to so I may be wrong!!

It's a fab gun though and still have it



This one is .177" cal, Believe it or not I swapped an electric motor for it! (I swapped two motors for both rifles!)




I still have the older mod35/45/50's too, I love them!



John

[MALINOIS]

Hi just wondering if anyone knows how to contact Tony Leach need a tune up on a Diana 52.

[Dai.T]

Hi just wondering if anyone knows how to contact Tony Leach need a tune up on a Diana 52.

Look on Facebook he runs a site called Lost Volume also goes under the name of Tony Airguntech.
Cheers
Dave

[jonnyone]

Contrary to my earlier post, there is an O52 on the Gunstar sales site which has been languishing there for many weeks.
There's just something about "Original" era Dianas that push them well above everything else. More than just something..

I think that perhaps in this particular instance the certain something may relate to the fact that the Original 52 model came into being shortly before Original regained their Diana brand name. Though it may seem simply a name change- to a collector that makes the early model more desirable since there will be way more Diana branded model 52s around than Original model 52s.
But I also suspect that Diana much like other makes were producing guns back in those days that had that little more of the human touch in their build. I admire the lustrous bluing on my Jubilee 45s and whilst the current Diana bluing is good it doesn't seem quite as good as of old.
Maybe there is more pressure to produce the quantity of units these days and it was more about quality back in the 70s-80s?
Or maybe I've got my rose tinted specs on this morning
Dave