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Hello from Levin |
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Andy 
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Joined: 07 Mar 2026 Location: Levin Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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 Topic: Hello from LevinPosted: 07 Mar 2026 at 10:55am |
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Hi Guys,
I'm wanting to get back into air gunning again. Can I ask for some advice please? I've got an old rifle that I'd like to try and sell to put towards a more modern one. It's called an Original 35 .22 Made in Germany and there is a very small 05 77 which I think might be the date of manufacture as I've had it since about mid 80's. Are these old guns worth anything or have they been superseded now by the new gas piston designs?
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Myson
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Joined: 07 Mar 2016 Location: Feilding Status: Offline Posts: 231 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 8:41am |
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Hi Andy,
I had one of those in the 1960's - superb springers. I think they were made by Milbro (?) until Diana got the Trademark back after WWII.... something like that anyway!  Shot many a woodpigeon in England with that rifle! Might be worth a good service (by Ron Young?) and perhaps a keeper? If you're looking for a new Springer, I highly recommend the Weihrauch models: HW77, HW95, HW97 or HW98 are all brilliant. Or are you considering a PCP? |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq7jVyBfFqE
Air Arms S510 US .22 Air Arms S410 .22 Weihrauch HW97KT .177 Weihrauch HW95 .177 |
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-Ec
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Joined: 02 Sep 2025 Location: Matamau Status: Offline Posts: 138 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 12:39pm |
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Hi Andy, Welcome to the forum - you will find many friendly and knowledgable people here who will willingly share their experiences with air guns. Doing a quick google search for "original 35 air rifle" turned up a bunch of links that indicate you may have a fine old air gun that with a bit of TLC will be a good as many "modern" guns. At the end of the day, I guess it comes down to what you want from an air gun. If you are a bit of a tinkerer like many forum members, you may enjoy taking this gun apart, cleaning, lubricating and reassembling it and getting it to work as well as it can. There are numerous videos on YouTube covering the processes involved. A good starting point is the TbT channel which is run by a guy that makes and sells tuning kits for spring powered air guns. He can waffle on a bit and covers much more than just tuning air guns but he is very knowledgable about spring powered air guns, and does respond quickly to questions via email. There is also Canuck Air - which focuses mostly on servicing spring powered air guns including doing full restorations of neglected guns. There are many other YouTube channels, covering most aspects of air gun shooting, but a few of the servicing videos from the two I've mentioned will give a good idea of what is involved so you can decide if you want to go down this path. Also there are quite a few forum members who service their springers and will share their experiences with you. On a slightly different tack, some of the forum members are having social weekend near Taumaranui on the 20th-23rd March. Short notice I know, but I'm sure you would find it very useful to get a good idea of the scope of air gun activities available for you to explore. More info can be found in the SFW (Social Forum Weekend) topic in the events forum. |
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Regards
-Ec |
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kruzaroad
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Joined: 03 Jul 2022 Location: Hastings 4 now Status: Offline Posts: 2822 |
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Posted: Yesterday at 3:00pm |
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Welcome to the forum
What are you planning for the new air gun? What are you looking at buying? Some.of the older air guns are much better built than some of the modern brands. An accurate air gun is an accurate air gun matter the age. Still there is a.lot to be said for modern air guns and not all are what they seem. My advice would be to look at few that intrest you then put them up on the forum and ask what ppls views are on them. You could avoid a pitfall of buying what seems an awsome gun but isn't. You may get a recommendation to spend a little extra to go up in quality massively for around the price. Someone may know of something for sale. For example when i got back into it i brought a gamo new for a little less than a weihrauch ( which i now own one of) Didnt know.about air rifles got lost in the bells and whistles and would have been much better getting the better gun first. Its a pretty big market of models and makes out there and a.lot of them are inferior for the same price. Don't fall for fps as a metric. You'd be suprised at the range a lower power air rifle will take out pests to. Big power does not equate to a better gun. So feel free to ask. We are all pretty friendly and enjoy our guns, and would rather you stepped back into air guns with a good rifle and experience rather than regret your purchase.👍 Edited by kruzaroad - Yesterday at 3:05pm |
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Pauly5
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Joined: 11 Mar 2013 Location: Titahi Bay Status: Offline Posts: 1707 |
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Posted: 14 hours 47 minutes ago at 7:13am |
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Gday Andy,
Wecome here, it's good to see you here. The others have said what I would have said. I would give your gun a good clean, make sure it's firing smoothly, then start putting some pellets through it and familiarise yourself with the feel of it again. You'll then have a good idea of how it's performing. A chrony is a good monitor, but not everyone has one. I reckon if it groups well at 20 m it must be in reasonably good condition. But we are all keen to see photos and any mods/work you do on it. Cheers Paul.
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KiwiTR6
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Joined: 04 Nov 2022 Location: Stratford Status: Offline Posts: 417 |
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Posted: 8 hours 59 minutes ago at 1:01pm |
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If I remember correctly "Original" was the name used by the original Diana manufacturer after WW2 when their name and designs were being produced by Milbro in the UK as part of the post-war reparations. The company was eventually able to buy back the Diana name when Milbro went into liquidation. Unfortunately their current product is nothing like their old stuff. I imagine it's a cracking gun that will be far superior in quality to most of what's available these days and my recommendation is also that you send it to Ron at Youngs Airguns for a full service as the seal at least may have have badly deteriorated since it was last used. It would be a shame to use it as it is and risk damaging the internals. The cost won't be terribly expensive as Ron is very reasonable with his charging and he has many years of experience. |
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Daystate Red Wolf .22
FX Dreamline .22 Diana Outlaw .22 AA S410 .22 HW98 .177 HW30 .177 Diana 340 E-Tec .177 FWB Sport 124 .177 Gamo 900 .22 Baikal IJ-22 .177 Crosman 2240 Custom .22 Brocock GP .22 |
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Andy
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Joined: 07 Mar 2026 Location: Levin Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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Posted: 7 hours 51 minutes ago at 2:09pm |
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Thanks everyone for all the replies and encouragement. I really appreciate it.
Just a quick history, it came from the UK had it since I was about 15 years old when we lived there in the 80's. Great info KIWITR6 I always wondered why it was called Original and that helps explain it. I've decided to send it to Rons Airguns as you have said but I contacted him and this is what he told me: "You will need to courier the air rifle through your local sports store to us. We will service it and send back the same way" By sports store does he mean a gun shop that sells airguns? The only gun shops near me that I know of are Hunting fishing Otaki & Palmy and Gun City Palmy. I'm guessing these shops will want to charge for their time as well as the courier fee? Tor those who have done this before what did it end up costing you? |
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-Ec
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Joined: 02 Sep 2025 Location: Matamau Status: Offline Posts: 138 |
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Posted: 6 hours 42 minutes ago at 3:18pm |
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Hi Andy, Some registered firearms dealers will only send or accept guns via another firearms dealer. Some will do this for little or no cost over and above the courier fee while others will charge a "handling fee". There probably is firearms dealer in Levin who may be able to help and possibly will be more accommodating than either Gun city or Hunting and Fishing, so worth asking around. Coming from the UK it is most likely a sub 12 foot pound gun which may sound underpowered compared to many new spring powered air guns in NZ where there is no power limit for spring (or gas ram) powered air guns you an own without requiring a firearms licence. However there is nothing wrong with an accurate sub 12 air gun. Power means nothing if you can't consistency hit what you are aiming at. |
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Regards
-Ec |
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kruzaroad
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Joined: 03 Jul 2022 Location: Hastings 4 now Status: Offline Posts: 2822 |
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Posted: 6 hours 41 minutes ago at 3:19pm |
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Basically a licenced fire arms dealer. Laws and all that sort of stuff.
It will cost and not every shop will charge the same. So check them all out first. No idea on costs. Ask Ron if he can chrono it for you, if you dont have one and he if je does that. That will allow you to work out how much energy it puts out with different pellet weight. Next thing pellets. The air rifle chooses the pellet it likes, and it shows in accuracy. Do not think you can just buy what ever pellet you want and thats that and the gun will be fine with it. Air rifles are hell fussy on what they like shoot well. So if you find its not holding good groups, try a different pellet. (After you have checked there are no loose screws causing it) Dont go for flashy hollow points, springers don't really have the power to expand them. I suggest finding a good diabalo pellet as they give good performance and penitration. Keep away from gamo pellets unless nothing else is working well. They have a terrible veriation per tin ive found though there red fire and rabbiters have always seemed to be ok. You may end up with a few tins of half used pellets trying to find the right one. Ive found field target trophy have work well in all my air rifles but currently only use them in a couple as im having better resaults with jsb in my main hunting gun and one of my bird guns. Having said that ive just got a couple of tins of h&n barracuda 18 to try to see if they preform as well as jsb of the same wieght. There is a good chance if its from the uk your rifle is sub 12 foot pounds. That isnt a lot but if the poms taught us any thing its that you can take critters out at some pretty good distances even with sub 12fpe. You can up grade to higher powér springs later if you want. Edited by kruzaroad - 6 hours 35 minutes ago at 3:25pm |
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Myson
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Joined: 07 Mar 2016 Location: Feilding Status: Offline Posts: 231 |
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Posted: 6 hours 30 minutes ago at 3:30pm |
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Hi again,
Here's an idea Andy. Take it to Keiran at Turners Sports in Feilding - he can send it to Ron and receive it when Ron has serviced it fully for you. Then when you come up to collect it, you can pop in to my place and we'll put my Chroney on it, try different pellets in the barrel and get it shooting beautifully. And you can try my Weihrauchs at the same time.... I have ranges here on my lifestyle block. If that helps, I'll send you a private message (PM) with my contact details, address, etc.?. |
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq7jVyBfFqE
Air Arms S510 US .22 Air Arms S410 .22 Weihrauch HW97KT .177 Weihrauch HW95 .177 |
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Andy
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Joined: 07 Mar 2026 Location: Levin Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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Posted: 6 hours 27 minutes ago at 3:33pm |
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Thanks Kruza & EC I'll make some call in the next few days and see what I can find out re shipping.
I was tempted to put it in a box and courier it myself to AKL but I might end up looking pretty stupid if he doesn't accept it...
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kruzaroad
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Joined: 03 Jul 2022 Location: Hastings 4 now Status: Offline Posts: 2822 |
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Posted: 6 hours 21 minutes ago at 3:39pm |
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Then you have find the courier. Mainfrieght still do firearms as I believe.
Looks like you got a great offer from Myson too. Sweet. Don't be shy take him up on it. That sort of offer is more valuable than ten trillion words on here. Edited by kruzaroad - 6 hours 21 minutes ago at 3:39pm |
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Andy
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Joined: 07 Mar 2026 Location: Levin Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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Posted: 5 hours 57 minutes ago at 4:03pm |
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Hi Myson very generous offer, that would be great thanks
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Andy
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Joined: 07 Mar 2026 Location: Levin Status: Offline Posts: 5 |
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Posted: 5 hours 53 minutes ago at 4:07pm |
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Good info Kruza. I'll get a tin of Field Target Trophy pellets as a starting point
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Myson
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Joined: 07 Mar 2016 Location: Feilding Status: Offline Posts: 231 |
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Posted: 2 hours 48 minutes ago at 7:12pm |
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Just sent you a PM, Andy....
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eq7jVyBfFqE
Air Arms S510 US .22 Air Arms S410 .22 Weihrauch HW97KT .177 Weihrauch HW95 .177 |
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