This was certainly the most difficult airgun to reseal of any I’ve attempted.
I purchased this non-working pistol on ebay for far too much but it was kinda pretty. Of course the big hope is that the internals hadn’t been destroyed by firing after the seals had gone or that someone hadn’t made a hash of an attempt to fix it.
While getting it apart it appeared to be a typical story. It stopped shooting so someone just put it in it’s box and left it. The front piston seal was totally crumbled, classic. The pinion gears and the racks on the pistons were in fine shape.
I had it apart, cleaned up and ready to assemble when I found that the usually reliable airgun parts house where I bought the replacement seals had sent me the wrong ones. I had the rifle seals (28mm is memory serves). What’s more the pistol seals were now out of stock. So a quick virtual trip to Italy where I found the seals in stock. Prices were reasonable too except for shipping. (BTW Protek (UK) replied to an email the next day saying they had them. Seem like nice folks, I want to order from them in the future.)
As an old guy, I was worried that if I left the gun disassembled for too long I’d forget how to get it back together.
I finally got it completely assembled today and I’m amazed. It shoots wonderfully without noticeable recoil. Wow! I am thoroughly taken with this pistol. I will say that the cocking is pretty rough so I'm going to have to work on that.
Big thanks to Mr. Garvin for this:
https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/vintage-diana-resources/diana-milbro-airguns-manuals/
and Mr. Carter for this:
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/resurrecting-diana-model-6m-pistol-part_14.html
I couldn’t have done it without them. This is what it looks like:
These Diana Giss air guns are really nicely made and shoot like a dream. I’m hoping that I’ll come across a Model 10 one day as well.
I purchased this non-working pistol on ebay for far too much but it was kinda pretty. Of course the big hope is that the internals hadn’t been destroyed by firing after the seals had gone or that someone hadn’t made a hash of an attempt to fix it.
While getting it apart it appeared to be a typical story. It stopped shooting so someone just put it in it’s box and left it. The front piston seal was totally crumbled, classic. The pinion gears and the racks on the pistons were in fine shape.
I had it apart, cleaned up and ready to assemble when I found that the usually reliable airgun parts house where I bought the replacement seals had sent me the wrong ones. I had the rifle seals (28mm is memory serves). What’s more the pistol seals were now out of stock. So a quick virtual trip to Italy where I found the seals in stock. Prices were reasonable too except for shipping. (BTW Protek (UK) replied to an email the next day saying they had them. Seem like nice folks, I want to order from them in the future.)
As an old guy, I was worried that if I left the gun disassembled for too long I’d forget how to get it back together.
I finally got it completely assembled today and I’m amazed. It shoots wonderfully without noticeable recoil. Wow! I am thoroughly taken with this pistol. I will say that the cocking is pretty rough so I'm going to have to work on that.
Big thanks to Mr. Garvin for this:
https://forum.vintageairgunsgallery.com/vintage-diana-resources/diana-milbro-airguns-manuals/
and Mr. Carter for this:
http://anotherairgunblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/resurrecting-diana-model-6m-pistol-part_14.html
I couldn’t have done it without them. This is what it looks like:
These Diana Giss air guns are really nicely made and shoot like a dream. I’m hoping that I’ll come across a Model 10 one day as well.
