Anyone has one, or has shot one? I just got one in .177, and despite one flaw that needs to be corrected I already love it. The beech stock is beautiful, and general finish is good. The gun is pretty lightweight and shoulders very well. Oh, and I need to find a rear sight to put onto it. Breech seal is leather, and barrel lock is a chisel detent, not the usual Diana ball detent. The ''T01'' appellation is misleading, the trigger is actually a common direct sear trigger, and to add to the confusion, the trigger guard has a hole for adjusting a screw. Another thing, I'm pretty sure this airgun wasn't made in Germany, actually there's no ''Made in ........'' anywhere , nothing on the left rear side of the receiver or elsewhere. But I love it .
BoxMarkingsSingle pin action closureAll would say this is a German made DIANA, but probably from the days when MilBro still had control of the brand for some markets. So this little rifle was never intended to be an "export" item.BUT, MANY of these "not-intended-for-export" guns found themselves exported, LOL!The short rear sight is hard to find, but if you remove the pin, you might be able to fit one of the current rear sights.Congrats on a great find!HM
I have a bunch of RWS catalogs from the 80's and 90's, their heyday of importing Diana airguns to the US. The model 20 does not show up in any of them.I do have several German-market Dianas from Milbro days, and those have the standard presentation of the brand name, with the "goddess" logo. The odd look on the model 20, i.e. the big "DIANA" text with no logo, makes me wonder if there is something to the "made in China" hypothesis.Looking back at that old chrono data...I betcha your 20 T01 would love JSB 7.3's or the Air Arms Falcon...
Thank you Hector!After removing the pin I discovered that the rear sight from my Diana 240, which is now scoped, is a direct fit. Except for the FO pieces, this sight is all metal. Screw holes spacing is exactly the same, and its range of elevation adustment is compatible with the tunnel front sight. And it's a true Diana sight!Interesting detail about these rear sight is that they can be used either on flat-top or convex-top breech blocks, there's a radius made into the base. I need to rework the sight though, I want to remove the FO pieces, and the notch is way too wide.
The Blue Book says the model 20 was made 1991 - 2003, which sounds about right to me. But sheds no light on its origin! Also saw some discussion of the guns on a Canadian forum, apparently some had leather piston seals.Does yours have a serial number? I saw one example online that had an 8-digit serial with "03" as the first two numbers, indicating construction in 2003. Diana has used this style of serial at various times in the past.It's cool that the sight fits, one of the greatest OEM open sights ever made IMHO.
Quote from: happymecanic on September 30, 2022, 09:59:13 PMThank you Hector!After removing the pin I discovered that the rear sight from my Diana 240, which is now scoped, is a direct fit. Except for the FO pieces, this sight is all metal. Screw holes spacing is exactly the same, and its range of elevation adustment is compatible with the tunnel front sight. And it's a true Diana sight!Interesting detail about these rear sight is that they can be used either on flat-top or convex-top breech blocks, there's a radius made into the base. I need to rework the sight though, I want to remove the FO pieces, and the notch is way too wide.My pleasure!You COULD buy an older DIANA sight (no FO thingies) for about $35, if you prefer not to re-work the one you have.The M20 is the heir of a long line of extremely simple and inexpensively made guns.It is an exercise in "minimalism".You can clearly see that the "thick" parts are made of spot-welded thinner plates. The piston's body is a rolled tube.Nothing is excessive, or over-engineered.They were inexpensive rifles and so all the parts had to be inexpensive.The sight was a shortened version and was probably the most expensive single piece in the whole gun (apart from the barrel).As a youth rifle it had some success, but we need to remember that 30 years ago videogames became a real attraction and the "youth" of the world was lost to the consoles and the CRT's.Enjoy your gun for what it is: a "polaroid" of an instant in time.Keep well and shoot straight!HM
After buying an old Diana 25 and taking it apart I realized how much the 50's and 60's German guns were copied by the Chinese manufacturers, well into the 90's and beyond.