Some rare markings & airguns

That Chrome 35 is drop dead Gorgeous

None more rare than this, it reads-

"From Eldy and Rudy"

"Handcrafted for Jess Galan"

Good stuff Mike, your collection never ceases to amaze me!

Mike

Like visiting an airgun museum and never leaving my chair! Wow! Those are some rare birds. Love the RDB 35....outrageous!



JC

Very nice! Some awesome stuff there...always lusted for one of the chrome 35's, and the "Jnc." marking is a new one on me!

I can't compete with the one-offs, LOL, but I think this one fits the theme. Pre-war Diana 45 underlever (the model that Webley copied to make the Mk 3). One of a small batch made for Waffen Jung, a dealer located in the tony shopping district on Calwerstrasse in Stuttgart - still in business to this day. The factory marking is stamped on top of the barrel.

Very nice! Some awesome stuff there...always lusted for one of the chrome 35's, and the "Jnc." marking is a new one on me!

I can't compete with the one-offs, LOL, but I think this one fits the theme. Pre-war Diana 45 underlever (the model that Webley copied to make the Mk 3). One of a small batch made for Waffen Jung, a dealer located in the tony Calwerstrasse section of Stuttgart - still in business to this day. The marking is stamped on top of the barrel.

Prewar German guns are so rare in the states. Especially the underlevers. Everything in front of the trigger block is a direct copy of BSA. Including the turret sight. BSA released the front button cocking lever in 1919. A Lincoln Jeffries patent from around 1909. 

Did any Air Arms ever come with Beeman markings?

This 1910 BSA light pattern has extremely rare factory engraving done for a carriage company in NYC. I've never seen another BSA with anything like this . I hope you can see it well. 

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The little BSA is awesome! Never seen one with US-oriented markings like that.

This is a fun thread!

I've never really sought rare markings per se, but have ended up with some unusual things over the years. Most of them seem to involve Dianas, oddly enough...but here's a Weihrauch to start.

In the 50's and 60's, the German sporting goods distributor Burgmueller had a relationship with Weihrauch not unlike that of Sears and Crosman here in the US. Their "Burgo" trademark is not truly rare, but not often seen on this side of the pond. I have six Burgo guns, the prettiest of which may be this HW 50 with upgrade stock featuring a buttplate and checkered grip.

This one is a very early Hy-Score import of the first post-war version of the evergreen Diana model 27, aka "Hy-Score 807."

Note the delicate "Mod. 807" stamping In the wood under the Hy-Score medallion...which was required because the metal was stamped "Gecado"...! This was a brand name that Diana used in other markets, and is actually OEM correct for the early Hy-Scores. I believe I'm correct in saying that most later examples do not have the model on the stock, since that and the Hy-Score logo appeared on the action by then.

Another Diana, this time a model 60 Tyrolean. The model 60 was the first of the Giss double-piston recoilless match rifles, hitting the market in the early 60's. Although the 60 was replaced as Diana's top match model by the locked-breech model 65/66 action a few years later, it actually outlived those guns, remaining in production as Diana's intro/junior model until about 1983.

Which leads to the odd markings - this 1982-vintage gun (note the first two digits of the serial; the tiny date stamp on the left rear receiver reads "08 82") was late enough to be sold under the RWS logo. This may have mostly been an 11th-hour effort to clear out old parts by Diana; I don't know that the model 60 ever appeared in an RWS catalog, and I'm pretty sure it's the only Giss barrel-cocker to see RWS markings.







The rear sight is a separate semi-rarity in itself. It's the "Diopter 75" as used on the early model 75 fixed-barrel match rifle, which replaced the earlier "Diopter 60" as the OEM fitting on this late-build model 60. Note also the English markings, with adjustment arrows pointed the opposite way from German sights. (The sight WORKS exactly the same; US/British markings indicate the direction you want the POI to move, but Germans prefer to contemplate the problem they are trying to fix, LOL.)

Ah yes, here we go .... I knew Beeman carried TX 200's

https://www.pyramydair.com/article/The_Air_Arms_Fabulous_TX200_November_2007/44



MDriskill,

You state that Webley copied Diana's 45. I've also heard that Webley copied the Haenel Model V. The Model V was available several years before the Diana 45. Did Diana copy Haenel? How do we know which Webley copied?

I always ,as others do, wonder why Webley put the loading tap lever on the wrong side. 

Very interesting! So, it sounds like the good Dr. was impressed by the TX 200, and bought some up, but never actually carried them in his catalog. Odd.

Chris Thrale's excellent book "Webley Air Rifles 1925 - 2005" has this quote from the Webley director's meeting notes of July 12, 1944:

"The General Manager submitted to the board a Diana Model 45 air rifle which it was proposed to adopt as the future Webley air rifle, as it was felt that as air rifle design is more or less standard, we could with confidence copy an existing rifle. The Diana rifle Model 45 had been selected as being considered the most suitable..."

I find it jaw-dropping that an English company would elect to copy a German gun at a time when the UK was embroiled in vicious fighting against the Nazis, but there ya go. I guess in a sense it doesn't matter as most underlevers of pre-war days were basically BSA copies! I don't own the Haenel but I do have the D 45 and some Mk 3's, and I can vouch that just about every detail and dimension is very close indeed. No clue about the tap location though...

Two Diana target rifles from the late 1950's, a model 35/b and a model 50M. Both bear the rare "Peerless" trademark used by AF Stoeger's here in the US. 

I believe I'm correct in saying Stoeger's imported only various version of the the 35 and 50, and only in .22 caliber. Apparently they just didn't think Americans would go for .177, even in a target gun.





This early 50M has one really unusual detail - that protruding cheekpiece is actually made from two pieces of wood. The joint can be seen if you look carefully. This was changed to a simpler design on later 50M's.

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Very interesting thread 

I have an old HW55 that I dont now so much about. Maybe somone can tell me a little more about it, I would be really greatfull! When I got it it was in a awfull state and I had to do a complete restoration. All is fine now and it shots fine. The checkering was gone before I got it.