Diana Model 25 Air Rifle - Anyone Familiar?

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MarkD
Posts: 3969
Joined: Mon Aug 18, 2008 5:59 pm

Diana Model 25 Air Rifle - Anyone Familiar?

Post by MarkD »

Cute story first: My sister-in-law's mother, who died recently, told her she had her ex-husband's rifle "that he used in the war". It turned out that the rifle in question was a Diana Model 25 air rifle (maybe his job was shooting messenger pigeons?).

So, since what I know about air rifles you could fit in your hat and have plenty of room for a Buick, I thought I'd ask the experts. Anyone know anything about this rifle? I didn't get a real close look at it, but I presume it's a .177. It looked to be in decent shape, some rust and wear but not too bad. Has a picture of the Roman goddess Diana on the receiver.

I'm also assuming that one could try firing it without having a 'smith look it over, it's not likely to explode. Maybe I'll get some pellets.
sam

Re: Diana Model 25 Air Rifle - Anyone Familiar?

Post by sam »

Diana is a well known air rifle brand. A quick google imparts this:
The Diana 25 was a junior rifle produced by the Diana, Original Diana (name speaks for itself) and the Milbro Diana company who acquired use of the name and produced rifles in Scotland. It has been best calculated that around ten million of these Diana 25s were made between them so they are not a rare item, although they are very fondly thought of.
If it works, you should have yourself a nice shooter. Just use some quality pellets.
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Denis
Posts: 6570
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2008 5:29 am

Re: Diana Model 25 Air Rifle - Anyone Familiar?

Post by Denis »

I have a similar Diana Model 24, made by Diana in Rastatt, Germany. Diana rifles are sold under the RWS brand in the US. It's a nice little kid's .177 pellet gun. My post WW-II rifle needed a crack in the wrist repaired, plus a new spring (someone had left it cocked too long), a new leather piston seal and some lubrication. It shoots just fine.

If you need parts, try www.pyramydair.com who are Diana/RWS distributors. If the rifle won't fire, or fires only weakly/erratically, you might need to dribble some Crossman pellgun oil into the air port, and let it sit overnight so that the leather piston seal soaks up oil and expands to fill the cylinder properly. Old airgun seals are often simply dried out. The oil will also lubricate the innards for you a bit.

Have a mooch around www.pyramydair.com/blog for tips and tricks on caring for old air-rifles, search for Diana 25, and you can also post a question in comments there and expect a knowledgable reply.
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