The Lesser Spotted Original/Diana 35

[T 20]

Well I had no intention of buying another gun, but Hsing-ee put a gun up for sale that I'd been promising myself for over thirty five years and at a price that I just couldn't refuse --- so I bought it.

This gun is one of those guns that should have been great but somehow wasn't --- The Original 35. :-

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Much has been written about the low power of the Original 35 :-

https://www.pyramydair.com/blog/2008...the-contender/

https://www.airgunbbs.com/showthread...ighlight=Diana

And on paper it should have been a reasonably powerful gun, but it wasn't, and it was never one of those guns that featured often in Airgunworld.

So for various reasons I'm going to have a play.

As bought it's doing 425fps with Superdomes and 500fps with Hobbies, which I must point out is more than Alistair told me it was doing when he sold it to me.




All the best Mick

[I. J.]

What date is it?

The '35 is a very underrated gun. I have a couple in my collection and while not a 'dustbin killer' the trigger and build quality put it amongst the more popular but higher-priced competition.

[T 20]

What date is it?

Ah Ian --- I was going to contact you as it seems that they were only made upto 1987.

It's stamped 04 68 so April 1968.



All the best Mick

[I. J.]

Ah Ian --- I was going to contact you as it seems that they were only made upto 1987.

It's stamped 04 68 so April 1968.



All the best Mick

Odd. I have one for sale (on another airgun forum ) surplus in my collection that is dated 10.89 so ....

The one Im keeping is dated 1953.

Another, the rarer B version (.22) is, I think even earlier but has no serial number.

[T 20]

Odd. I have one for sale (on another airgun forum ) surplus in my collection that is dated 10.89 so ....

That's why I was going to contact you Ian.
Another weird thing that I read was that Mayer and Grammelspacher got the UK use of the Diana name back in 1984.

Love those two 35s you've shown, I do have an earlier Diana 35 though as it was made pre WWII but it's a hell of a mess.



All the best Mick

[I. J.]

When I was younger (yes, I was once young ) I lusted after my mates Original 35. It wasn't exactly a 'dustbin killer' but boy was he accurate with it. Ive often seen him hitting (empty) 12B cases beyond 30 yards, standing.
The '35 is a rifle not often tuned and sorted so it will be interesting to see what improvements over standard you can make.

I also have a tatty .177 version that I will get around to sorting and advertising on here when I get a round tuit.

[Geezer]

I have one very like that from the 70s, and one from before they used date stamps (50s? early 60s?) with better build quality.

I like 35s. As alluded to above, they have nice triggers. They handle well (not too heavy, not too light, not too long, not too short, just right). They are well made even in the cheaper post-1966ish versions. They are mostly a little better than contemporary BSA and Webley models (setting aside Webley blueing) and BSFs (setting aside how punchy the BSFs were).

If you can live with 9-10 ft-lbs typical muzzle energy, rather than the 1970s/80s demand for “full legal hunting power”, they are very nice to own and use.

[T 20]

The '35 is a very underrated gun. I have a couple in my collection and while not a 'dustbin killer' the trigger and build quality put it amongst the more popular but higher-priced competition.

Yes, I like the trigger as I also do the T01, bits I don't like are the barrel lockup, the piston seal, the piston stroke and the transfer port.
As the Original 35 was fitted with a slightly longer Spring than the Airsporter and Mercury you'd expect it to be at about the same power level but it wasn't, which keeps me interested.



All the best Mick