Christmas present Kim gave me early. Winchester Model 435, date code of 12 68. Actually, I asked her to take it out and inspect to be sure it wasn’t damaged in shipping and she said, “Just open it” ha! It was advertised as "immaculate" in "unfired condition". Neat gun with incredible workmanship and I'm keeping it, but not quite immaculate. Looks like some rust has been removed, if you look at the pic of the date code you can see scarring just above the stock and it's also on the other side of the barrel. There was some rust on the breech block face as well. Rifling looks great. Some streaking on the right side of the stock you can see in the pic. Doesn't look refinished, going to chalk that up to a factory defect. Sights look great, all of the front inserts were still in the sealed bag. Love the grooves cut in the grip. Gun cocked and fired using AA Falcon 7.33 gr but was low on power, not shooting as hard as Kim’s HW30. Based on target penetration, been raining too much to chrono. Was a little gritty when cocking and shot cycle wasn’t smooth. Especially when I shot it back to back with the HW30! Put a couple of drops of 50W silicone oil in and let it stand overnight. Big difference, hitting harder and much smoother. Takes 6+ FPE at muzzle to penetrate the planks I was shooting from where I was standing and it’s now going through. Really sweet little rifle. Going to take it apart and clean and relube before I shoot it much. The 3 ball bearing trigger is really interesting, been reading any info I can find.
Winchester Model 435
- Thread starter cjtamu
- Start date
Nice rifle! I have an old Diana 45/Crosman Challenger with the same grip checkering and grooves. If that 435 has a leather seal then Neatsfoot liquid can be used to condition it. I picked up a bottle at D&B Supply for about $10.
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Yeah, Diana sold rifles under a bunch of names. Besides the Originals and Winchesters there were Gecado and Hy-score made by them. Didn’t know they made any for Crosman. I‘m going to order some Abbey SM-50 today for leather seals.
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The model 35 is just an uber-classic. Comfortable size, great handling, fine trigger, excelent sights, high-quality barrel, enough power for 90% of legit airgun jobs.
Zillions made...seldom seen for sale, which tells ya things!
Zillions made...seldom seen for sale, which tells ya things!
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Absolutely ecstatic with these chrono numbers from a 54 year old all original gun. I’ve done nothing to this gun yet other than the couple drops of silicone oil. I believe this is right where it should be? More I shoot it better I like it.
That’s the good news. Bad news is, I intended to do a 10 shot string but ran into what I assume is a trigger issue. Gun would cock, but not fire. Trigger was very soft and never hit the wall before end of travel. Hoping it’s just an adjustment, was getting late and when it happened a second time I just put it away. Going to post a little more detail in the excellent post MDriskill just did on this trigger.
That’s the good news. Bad news is, I intended to do a 10 shot string but ran into what I assume is a trigger issue. Gun would cock, but not fire. Trigger was very soft and never hit the wall before end of travel. Hoping it’s just an adjustment, was getting late and when it happened a second time I just put it away. Going to post a little more detail in the excellent post MDriskill just did on this trigger.
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I bet it just needs a good clean and lube. I would do that before trying to shoot it anymore.
It looks like a really nice rifle.
It looks like a really nice rifle.
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Thank you. Worked on it this week and the more time I spend with it the more I’m impressed. I have HW, and Walther, and other Dianas and the quality of this is as good or better. The bluing is spectacular. Talked to someone on GTA who also has a 1968 and he said the bluing rivals his TX200. Shooting beautifully after a clean and lube but the trigger issue popped up again. Have to take it apart again and figure out what’s going on.
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