The Diana Oktoberfest Gewehr.
This report covers:
- The back story
- The deal
- Description
- Trigger and safety
- Sights
- Steel BBs?
- Made where?
- Less complex
- Targets
- Summary
I apologize to all the wives for what I am about to do today. You see, today BB, in his role as the Great Enabler, presents the Diana Oktoberfest Gewehr BB rifle. There is a back story to this one, so get your coffee and get comfortable.
The back story
This BB rifle, and yes, the Oktoberfest barrel does appear to be rifled, used to be called the Diana model 30 gallery rifle. It was used by shooting galleries throughout Europe and I believe the United Kingdom. The rifle has a bolt action spring-piston powerplant that works very much like the Czechoslovakian VZ 3 that reader Starboard Rower told us about in a multi-part guest blog.
I reported on the Diana 30 in two parts back in 2018. But that rifle, owned by John McCaslin, broke during testing so I never finished the report.
RWS USA used to be the Diana importer for the US and either they didn’t want to import this model or Diana didn’t want to sell them here. Either way, the price for a Diana 30 in the US was a cool thousand dollars! When RWS USA stopped importing Diana, a few of these were sold in the US at a drastically reduced price. But you had to know a guy to get one.
The deal
The deal with the Octoberfest is it now retails for $170. That’s six dollars LESS than the Daisy 499! Oh and there is more. This puppy is also accurate. How accurate you ask? Well, like me you’ll just have to wait and see. But I can tell you this. Reader Cloud9 was at my house last weekend and shot it offhand from 12 feet and it looks pretty darn good! Remember, 5 meters is just 16 feet 4 inches.
We’re not done with the back story. So shooting galleries all over Europe had the Diana 30s and there were two shot counters on that gun. One counted the total number of shots fired and the other counted the number fired by the person shooting. That one was reset for each shooter and determined what they had to pay. I guess the counter that counted the total shots was for maintenance? That’s what I’ve always thought.
Shot counters for selling shots and for maintenance?
Description
Enough of the history, BB. Tell us about the Oktoberfest.
Okay, well it is large and heavy. It may shoot BBs but this one weighs 7.2 pounds and is 44-inches long, overall. When you hold it you know you have something.
The manual says to shoot steel BBs, which Diana says in the manual will go out the spout at about 525 f.p.s. The Pyramyd AIR website says you can expect around 400 f.p.s. Naturally we will discover which is correct when I test the velocity for you. I will tell you at this time that the lower velocity sounds more correct, based on what I have seen. When I learned about this four years ago the velocity was quoted as 360 f.p.s. which sounds even more reasonable.
The stock is real wood and the barrel, magazine tube, and spring tube are all steel. The only plastic on the outside of the gun is a partial shroud around the rear of the spring tube, the sights and the triggerguard.
The stock has a square cross-section with no checkering. It appears to be a nice chunk of beech. A thick black rubber buttpad keeps the rifle securely on your shoulder.
Trigger and safety
The trigger is not adjustable and feels heavy. The blade is made of folded metal that is non-ferrous. There is an access hole in the triggerguard for adjusting, but there is nothing to adjust.
The safety that’s located at the top of the stock’s pistol grip is MANUAL! Diana trusts the shooter to be safe with his/her rifle. In other words the safety doesn’t come on each time the rifle is cocked.
Sights
The rear sight adjusts for both windage and elevation. It has a vee notch. The front sight is a tapered post inside two heavy protective wings. Friends, I see nary a fiber nor an optic anywhere on this gorgeous rifle. This one was made to shoot! And there is no provision for mounting a scope or dot sight. You stand on your two legs and shoot this one like an adult!
The rear sight adjusts in both directions.
Steel BBs?
Yes, steel BBs. That is something I cannot figure out. Why rifle a barrel and then shoot steel? The rifling has no affect on steel, so why bear the expense?
The model 30 barrel was also rifled and required 4.4mm lead balls for ammunition. The directions in the manual for this rifle say to use 4.5mm steel BBs, but all BBs on the market are 4.3 mm or smaller except for the larger Marksman BBs, and I will not be trying any of those in the test gun! But I do plan to try lead shot. I discovered while shooting the model 30 in 2018 that the 4.4 mm plated lead balls I have are undersized. But since I saw a larger ball get jammed in the model 30 during testing I will proceed cautiously in this area. I do plan to shoot conventional steel BBs as well.
You load with an aluminum funnel. That’s handy because the tubular magazine holds 120 rounds. That’s part of the gallery heritage.
The rifle comes with an aluminum funnel to load the 120-shot tubular magazine.
The magazine has three windows in front that let you see what kind of BBs remain. And the BBs are fed by gravity, which comes naturally when you elevate the muzzle to pull back the bolt.
Three windows allow you to see what kind of BBs are in the magazine.
Made where?
It’s not hard to figure out. This is a large, heavy rifle that copies one that once sold for a thousand dollars in the US. That one was probably selling for around or just under three hundred dollars in Europe in the 1990s when it was available. This one retails for under $170 in 2022, when Bidenberry juice costs one dollar to four dollars more per gallon than it did two years ago. Where do you think it was made?
Of course it was made in China, but it has the look of an air rifle made in Germany (enable, enable…). Yes, it really does. I’m excited about the Oktoberfest; can you tell? I’m excited because I now have the opportunity to test it. And, in turn, for it to test me! You see, this is an offhand, shooter’s airgun. Old wobbly BB will stand and attempt to shoot the Oktoberfest as Diana intended.
Less complex
Besides making them in China, several design things were done to make the Oktoberfest less expensive to produce. Those shot counters that added complexity were left out, and individual shooters should not notice their loss. The rear sight was simplified a bit to bring the cost down and the trigger is non-adjustable. But you won’t notice any of that because you will be blown away by the quality of the rifle.
Targets
In Germany Diana sells breakable clay targets, but they haven’t sent them to the US — at least not yet. But no worries, because Daisy has given us the Shatterblast targets. They work the same way. And those who can get them can also shoot clay pigeons, spinners, bells, and perhaps the best of all — the BadaBang Interactive Target Shooting System!
It’s like the BadaBang electronic airgun target was made for the Oktoberfest Gewehr gallery rifle.
Oh, we’re going to shoot this one! Yes, we are! BB is excited. And, Pyramyd AIR, I don’t believe this rifle will be returning to you. I’ll send you money, instead.
Summary
The Diana Oktoberfest appears to be done right. By that I mean it’s pretty much what any of us would have made, if we had been asked. I sure hope the accuracy is as good as it seemed when we shot it last weekend. If it is, I think the Daisy 499 has a new friend, and perhaps even a competitor.
B.B.
Love the shot counter idea. I sure hope it catches on as a necessary item. Hope you tear into this one and explain how it works, and when maintenance is done is it resettable?
Thanks,
-Yogi
Yogi,
I think you missed Tom’s statement in Less Complex “Those shot counters that added complexity were left out, and individual shooters should not notice their loss.”
Siraniko
Siraniko,
Thanks for pointing that out. 😉
BB
Sorry Yogi, you lose again.
My life story….
-Y
Unfortunately, I understand.
Looking forward to the accuracy tests!
B.B.
This rig is pretty flippin’ cool; I hope she’s accurate, too! 🙂
Blessings to you,
dave
It’s not a gun for me. Not able to mount a scope or dot sight. Just shot an amazing for me five shot groups a 7 yards with my Daisy Buck. Has a Buck-Rail scope mount and an open style red/green for sight. Normal is about one to two inches. Then, out if nowhere comes this:
birdmove, wow, that’s great for a Daisy Buck! With the open sights on mine, I’m happy that I can hit cans with it at 15 yards. 🙂
BB,
You brought back the idea to buy it which I was fighting against 2 years ago 🙂 My wife says THANK YOU! 🙂
I wait for the further test, what I know for sure, this is a fun to shoot thing, indeed!
tomek,
I got a Thank you from a wife? These ARE strange times! 🙂
BB
Tom,
Considering that the price two years ago was over a thousand dollars and now it’s down to under two hundred I’m not going to be surprised by the number of thanks you will get.
Siraniko
I should write “thank you” 🙂 You know exactly what I mean 🙂
That is true. The price now is a different story. You understand why I said “I was fighting against” – the price was devastating.
Now this is a unique air rifle. Perhaps too unique. I better order it soon. It may be short lived.
That bolt arm placement could use a little folding down, but it sure looks easy to grab as is. Does that top rail section move back with the bolt action?
I would really like a lever action springer made with this quality, shooting around 600FPS. It would not necessarily have to be an exact 1894 replica. Having a tube magazine like this one would be fine. Another variant.
I have the early Walthers and Umarex Cowboy CO2’s and a green gas Matrix A&K Airsoft versions of the 1892 lever action and they are all outstanding builds as well as a handful of Daisy’s. But, no good quality wood stocked spring piston lever action. OK there is the Winchester wood version of the Daisy, but it is just another Daisy.
This looks like it’s easier and a lot more fun than a brake barrel.
BB
Are you sure that rear sight is not sitting on a 11mm / 3/8 dovetail mount Seems like a micro dot may sit there.
AMEN. I too have a Legends Cowboy 1894 style and love it. My only problem is the faux cartridge thing got old in a hurry. It is tedious and I have to place a moving [ad on my patio to not ding up said “cartridges”. Don’t make the mistake of shooting it while standning on a patch of healthy St Augustine , finding the “cartridges” is dang near impossible :;) . I well made 1894 like bb repeater (not a Red Ryder or the old Daisy 1894) would be great fun.
singleshotcajun, my solution is, I catch the ejected cartridge. Here’s what I do:
– shoot,
– lower underlever smartly (the empty spins up and out – for an easier catch, I tilt the gun slightly away from my body),
– catch empty cartridge (and pop it into pocket),
– raise underlever (which loads next cartridge),
– shoot,
… 🙂
Do you think you could?
I tried to show the moment that a cartridge falls into my hand. Happily they’re cold, ie no gloves required… 🙂
Neat trick there. I may try that some time. Some times I cycle it slowly and just grab the hulls.I like to run my lever guns while keeping my sight picture just as I would with my “ real” ones. Can’t do that with a Red Ryder
hihihi
Now that is some talent. I would like to see you trying that with the full auto stuff ejecting I mentioned above.
Actually …. if you just tilted the rifle a little to the left and turned your hat upside down! 🙂
singleshotcajon,
Lemmy told you what I’m gonna did. 😉
Totally agree with you. Great for a realistic replica but not an all day plinker.
I have a really nice AR Marker that shoots half inch paint / mace balls, rubber balls, Airsoft and BB’s or pellets. … in select fire! You change out barrels and the smaller stuff is mag fed utilizing Teflon or some other plastic sabots that expel out the ejection port. The paint balls are fed from the mag in tin sleeves to prevent crushing in the mag.
Well, you can imagine all that tin and plastic ejecting out all over the place in full auto. Thank God for brass catchers !
Bob
What manufacturer makes that AR Marker you have a pictured? I tried googling but never found it. That would be a pretty useful rifle to keep around the house for any number of reasons.
Ed
edlee
That is a good question. This marker / airgun came out in 2002 and was not a cheap item. Officially a paintball marker. The original maker, RAP, Real Action Paintball, downsized the full-size paintball marker to .48 cal. I believe. Less than a half inch and offered lots of conversion kits to shoot just about anything.
The new thing was a stackable soft paintball magazine to replace the ugly gravity hopper storage container usually installed above the marker. The name RAP was created as a Real (looking) Action Paintball company. RAM4 was eventually used to identify the marker itself. Was RAP4
Replacing the individual .48 paintball ‘cylindrical carrier’ with a small plastic sabot of the same diameter drilled out to hold an airsoft or metal BB they effectively created the first commercially available Full-Auto BB Rifle. They also made copies of the AK-47 and others I believe. Extremely realistic. PyramydAir actually carried it for a while.
Well, the company sold out and the name became the RAM-4. Mine is a RAM 1R, REAL ACTION MARKER with an optional power boost valve.
It may be being made now under both RAP4 and RAM4. One company boasts they are the only one who sells the ‘Real’ RAM Marker so clones may be out there.
However, I don’t believe any of the conversion kits are being made now and it’s 20 years later. Probably impossible to find any conversion kits now? Did not dig into it online.
Look up RAP4, or RAM4 in Wikipedia and to search the web for info/sales on it.
Hi everybody,
sorry if I’m going to spoil the fun a bit.
First of all, this rifle is not supposed to shoot steel BBs but copper coated lead balls (https://www.diana-airguns.de/produkte/originalzubehoer/diabolos/detail/diana-oktoberfest-bbs). Those might be rebranded H&N “Präzisions-Rundkugeln”.
Also, from what I read on the German airgun boards, this rifle is very much *not* a Diana 30.
People have been *very* unhappy with the first Oktoberfest rifles that came out and there have been a ton of DIY fixes and modifications to make this rifle work reliably. That includes fixing weld joints and modifying the mechanism to prevent jams. There has also been criticism that the stock is a very soft wood that gets damaged very easily.
From what I gather, the rifle is now at least in its third revision and some things may have been improved.
Also, Diana actually make a new 30 (https://www.diana-airguns.de/produkte/repetierluftgewehre/detail/diana-30-neo).
It’s probably everything the Oktoberfest rifle isn’t, but at a price of € 1300, you’d have to take your short-range plinking *very* seriously. I suppose it’s marketed towards carnival operators who would otherwise buy used ones that are not much cheaper.
So, all in all, I’m not exactly thrilled by these products.
First of all, I think poorly made products do not deserve the Diana name. Maybe they got it right with the third or fourth revision, but the damage is already done.
Second, the pricing of the “30 Neo” is crazy, at least from an end user perspective. The price of that gun will buy a very capable PCP or two laminate stock HW97’s with money to spare for targets and pellets.
I’m still curious how this rifle is going to perform in BB’s tests.
Stephan
Wow. Talk about the other side of the coin! Now we have some drama. Suddenly, I’m very curious about this rifle and the 30 Neo.
Greco,
drama? I hope not 🙂
I’m just reporting what I have read about the Oktoberfest rifle in the past few years (I don’t own one).
I’m still sure BB will give us a fair test (maybe paying extra attention to the known issues). Who knows, maybe this thing will surprise us after all.
Stephan
Stephan,
Ahhhh! You give us hope! 🙂
BB
Perhaps I should have said “suspense.”
Ja genau, CptKlotz!
I agree completely. While composing my cautionary thoughts, I refreshed this page to see your comment, CptKlotz, which so effortlessly says exactly what I was struggling to find words for.
I find it hard to accept that the old Diana reputation appears to be being ruined by the current company. 🙁
Stephan,
Okay — you are now raining on my parade! But I think you knew that. 😉
Several people are interested in this rifle and I will continue to be excited until it gives me a reason not to be. I do plan to shoot lead BBs (Smart Shot) and some of my own lead balls, just to see how good it can be, but the owner’s manual definitely says to use steel BBs. Of course it also says to use 4.5 mm steel BBs that don’t exist, so how much of the manual is real and how much had been cut and pasted from past manuals I can’t say.
As for the German-made Diana 30 — wow! Talk about pricy! Ain’t no way BB Pelletier is spending that kind of dough on one of those. But now I wonder whether the thousand-dollar price tag in the 1990s was actually real?
Food for thought.
BB
Stephan,
This sounds like what has happened with the Diana ZR scope mounts. It has gone through several revisions. I have one. I would not recommend it.
If Diana wishes to regain its reputation, they need to stop labeling this Chinese stuff with their name. Call it something else if they are not going to stop selling it.
Amen to that! FM thought it was horrible – still does – when the Chinese bought the rights to the MG brand and started making MG-badged cars, some marketing release claiming MG now stood for “Modern Gentleman.” My arse! Glad to have enjoyed the 2 British-made ones FM got to own, quirks and all. Speaking of that, enjoying my HWs; hope the good people in Mellrichstadt never allow their products to be rebranded just to make a quick buck or euro. Once trust in the quality and reputation of your manufacturing is lost, it is very hard to restore. Denial to the trash!
R. R.
Since one of the brand names of the Snowpeak group is Artemis they could very well use just it. Artemis is the original Greek name of the goddess Diana.
Hmm, maybe they should not. I’m sure they could copy a name from some other product. Or use names from Chinese mythology..
Something like “Wang Po Industries”. 😉
RidgeRunner, I see an alternative for Diana to regain their reputation while employing the Chinese to produce their products.
I believe that many cheap-labour companies will follow instructions / contracts to the letter (I have seen many China-made products of superb quality) and only cut corners where omissions and imprecise descriptions give them the opportunity to.
It takes two to tango, ie I suspect that we, including myself, are often too quick to lay blame… 🙂
3hi,
WARNING! The following is MY opinion! If you do not like it, too bad! Go get your own!
You may be right; however, I am spoiled. I wish to see how many of those Chinese made airguns are still shooting 100 years from now. How many of them will even be rebuildable 100 years from now?
Most of what you see out there are Chinese designed airguns that companies have their name slapped on them and away they go. This particular bb gun MAY be German designed, but I doubt it. It is more likely a Chinese cheapened interpretation of a German designed bb gun. The new Diana conglomerate is not likely willing to spend much on engineering. The German designed and made airguns are very expensive.
I am willing to accept that some Chinese can sometimes make accurate airguns. They have learned that if they want to be part of the American market, they need to meet certain standards. Unfortunately, durability is not one of the required standards these days as we have become a throwaway society. That’s OK fine by me. It allows me to purchase some older, very fine condition airguns at a good price. A prime example of such is I picked up an older Talon SS with a few hundred dollars worth of accessories for under $300 at the NC Airgun Show this past weekend.
RR
I quite agree with you that the Chinese have not been building airguns to last a century. BUT,, they haven’t been asked to.
What are the things that make the airguns you might covet? Certainly the materials,, but the Chinese could source those materials very easily. Or the designs,, they certainly haven’t shown any particular urge to honor copywrite laws. Then there is the hand labor needed to expertly fit and finish the guns. I think you will agree that their cost of hand labor is far below that of Europe, the US or many others. and they have proven over the centuries that they have a lot of skilled labor when they choose to use it.
So,, don’t blame the Chinese for supplying what their buyers want. If the purchasing department of Diana ask for the high quality you demand,, the Chinese could easily supply it. All they gotta do is ask.
But they won’t. When the tolerance demanded are quite literally that it can propel a pellet at a certain minimum speed and to look vaguely like a rifle,,, well,,, you get what you ask for. I would, tho, be very interested in seeing what their Olympic airgun teams are using.
Ed
That would explain the price of the “original” – it was working, long time working fine.
Stephan,
I can’t read German, but at least I can understand the numbers under “Technical Data.”
Looking at the old model…
https://www.diana-airguns.de/produkte/repetierluftgewehre/detail/diana-oktoberfestgewehr
…versus the new model…
https://www.diana-airguns.de/produkte/repetierluftgewehre/detail/diana-30-neo
…I note that the new model (if I am reading correctly) is about the same length and has the same power level as the old model, yet it weighs 2 pounds more (8.4 pounds versus 6.4 pounds for the old model; and the model B.B. is reviewing here falls in the middle at 7.2 pounds…still OK for offhand shooting).
For me, at my age, I’d rather shoot offhand with a 6.4-pound rifle. 🙂
But these are certainly intriguing guns; thank you.
Blessings to you,
dave
BB,
I am not so much a proponent of buying Chinese airguns, but I may give in on this one. There is one in my Wish List right now. We will see if I delete it or not.
From what you describe, the sights are pretty nice. They sound like sights used to be when everyone shot with open sights. I am almost as excited by the blocky sights as I am the glowy thingy sights. 😉 Hey, what can I say. In addition to being a trigger snob, I am a sight snob.
B.B. and Readership,
I got to shoot the Original Diana 30 rifles on numerous occasions while doing tours of duty and deployments to West Germany, they were a lot of fun as were the powder burning gallery rifles. One of the things I remember clearly was shooting out all the flames on the little white candles.
The Original Diana 30 is a quality Lead “bb” gun.
Reading up about the Diana 30 neo (pronounced Neh-Oh) i found this: “Angabe der Maximalgeschwindigkeit mit Bleidiabolos.” Translated in Gist it states: The provided maximum velocity with Lead Diabolos.
So, the Diana 30 neo is a pellet rifle!
Also it is equiped with a Lothar Walther barrel
IF you are a gallery gun collector this might be worth the price especially if you are buying with US Dollars at the current exchange rate; don’t wait too long the European inflation rate is multiples and growing compared to the USA’s.
Nota bene: PA lists the Diana Oktoberfest as a Side Lever Action?
Sure looks like a BOLT ACTION to me…but what does shootski know.
shootski
PS: The Diana 30 neo has one mechanical shot counter not the twin counter system of the Originals
I am looking forward to this one!
StarboardRower
Well, I deleted it. There are too many nice airguns out there to waste my small pittance on a Chinese wanabee.
I do hope that BB does not have any problems with this bb gun and I hope it is a real shooter. We shall see.
RidgeRunner,
You did well!
You need to save your monies to buy BIG BORE Lead bullets or Lead ingots to cast your own! rotometals.com is a great source for bulk Lead buying.
shootski
Shootski,
LOL! I am! I do not see me casting at this point in life, but you never know.
RR
Can’t blame you. Unless it shoots great, I expect it to become a rare novelty airgun. A one-off interesting design collectable here. But that’s what I do.
Will it droop? React better with certain BB’s? Can ‘a’ pellet be inserted? Is there a bolt hold open feature?
I will look forward to finding out about this one.
For some reason it reminds me of a steering column stick shift ?
BobM,
LOL! What gear is it in? I am an old enough geezer to recall using those things.
I have enough bb guns. Also, they are all American made. I need a Chinese bb gun like I need another hole in my head. If this was German, I would think about it.
Now, if you want to get my attention, offer me a Diana K98 sproinger. I will perk right up.
K9R. R.
I’m trying hard to resist the 400eur price tag of a K98 for some time now but you seem to enable me once more…
By the way I admit being enabled to a 92/08 Diana 48, for 50 euros plus a free internal working from a friend. Happyyyy.
Bill,
You are beyond hope if you do not jump on that 48. The K98 can wait. By the way, that is the sproinger, not the PCP.
R. R.(I hope this time there won’t be wrong typing)
The 48 is already up and running in the 16 fpe level, she prefers the 4.53 Barracudas. A little bit up externally but my friend did a fine,free of charge, job inside. Regarding the K98, it’s the springer indeed, no Chinese PCP. Still the 400 eur, that’s a very German price…
Vasili, life is short and you only live once. If 400 Eur. Is too much, look for a used one in nice condition.
Bill,
OK, so the 48 is not the prettiest thing in the world, as long as it functions well. Some of mine are not beauty queens, but boy can they shoot. If I miss, it is me.
Yes, the K98 sproinger is a bit steep in price, IF you can find it. It is almost as rare as hen’s teeth over here. If I had not just bought two airguns last weekend and traded for another, I would get one right now. No, they can keep that Chinese PCP. There are no Chinese airguns at RidgeRunner’s Home For Wayward Airguns and if someone was to give me one, it would not likely live here long. There are too many nice “old gals” out there that are looking for a home for me to waste space on one of those things.
Bob M,
Three on the Tree is the correct nomenclature!
From Neutral a toward you pull and a pull DOWN gets you to 1st. If you instead pull back and push up you will hit the car behind you since you are now in Reverse. Push forward and UP for 2nd and then straight DOWN for 3rd gear!
Then I got my very first FOUR on the FLOOR!
Have FIVE on the FLOOR and have driven SIXES.
The most fun, however, is found in BIG trucks with Over/Under gears!
EASY PEEZY!
shootski
shootski
Know the term well. Was not sure about the younger guys.
My friends Dad gave him a “53 Chevy and a Daisy Model 25. We both learned how to drive a stick in that. Got really good at clearing snow in front and back to get room to develop momentum and drive over a snow berm the plow trucks created along our parked cars.
Shifting first and reverse a half dozen times as fast as you can.
That Model 25 was taken away by New Yorks Finest … for our own protection of course!
Ridge Runner …
Not sure if you were kidding but this air rifle only goes into third gear from neutral and back. Forward and down. up and back. Would be nice if it went into second also, for left handers 🙂
Guess you could call it a “Third Gear Airgun”
Bob M,
I was sort of kidding. I am a leftie, but I grew up learning to shoot right-handed, even bows. I have a real hard time shooting left-handed.
I had a ’71 Nova that had three on the floor. Four on the floor would be foreign to many of the kids nowadays.
The truth is I would really like to have an air rifle that operated like this, just not one made in China.
I guess this is a legacy from the old straight handled Mausers and such.
BB,
The overall shot counter is not for maintenance but for business. It easily allows you to count how many shots were purchased. You can check this number against the earned money to see if the employees tried to divert cash to their own pockets. And it also helps to maintain your ammunition stock and do business statistics.
Well, I have one in the cart but it will depend a lot on the rest of the review. I like everything I see so far but its got to be a decent shooter for that $
I saw a YouTube video from 3 years ago and these were being sold for under 150. I wonder what happened to them?
They have been Bidenized.
No doubt, like everything else.
Indeed.
there is a lot more beer drinking going on at an oktoberfest then shooting lol
mildot52,
I agree that less shooting is happening in the Schießbude…what with the near runaway inflation caused by shutting down all the Nuclear Powerplants in Germany and switching to “renewable” Russian Natural Gas contracts….
Most of the excess Bier sales is caused by Americans who signal (with index finger) the Mädel or Wirt that they want “another one” thereby getting two! Everyone knows that they lost their thumb in the last war; the rest of it is caused by the Germans trying to drown out the memories of the cost of electricity and shortages of Natural Gas for chemicals manufacturing as well as the impending COLD Winter.
Another theory is that the price of Bier was kept artificially low. The idea being that after a few Mass the customers wouldn’t notice the inflated cost of the Schweinehaxe or of the Bratwurst.
shootski
that is life under jewish rule for Germany as well as the entire west
Ooooooh.
Shootski
You don’t suppose getting the bier brewers to sign an agreement to lower production for two years would get the price of the pilsners back up to the right price, do you. It seemed to work for oil.
Ed
edlee
No I don’t Ed!
We would just pump out our Strategic Bier Reserve while prices are artificiality low and then try to fill them back up when the price of Pilsners was artificially high! All that thinking has left me parched.
Mein Stein ist lehr… (My Bier Stein is dry…)
I’ll hold up my Thumb now and say;
Noch einen bitte! (And, another please!)
shootski
Shootski
I had not thought about the SBR. I should have known that Germans would have planned ahead to deal with a shortfall if production. Perhaps it might be best to put brewers in the place of those handling energy production and supply.
Do they also have a SCR in case of a cheese shortage? Heaven forbid it was sausages,, that would be the wurst.
Ed
edlee,
The following is my opinion. Others may share in this, but they must speak for themselves.
One thing to keep in mind is the Diana group is no longer Diana. It is a big conglomerate that bought Diana and is using the name to hoodwink unsuspecting airgunners with cheap, Chinese airguns with the Diana name painted on them. I am not sure who I have less respect for, the Chinese communists or the conglomerate.
I have met communist Chinese. I do not like them. Instead of giving them our money, we should be giving them nukes.
The reason I like these “old gals” is they were made with quality. Our society has been convinced not to settle for quality but buy and use junk until it is worn out and then throw it away and buy more junk. I refuse to accept that philosophy. I have more Chinese junk in my life than I care for. Unfortunately, we have allowed ourselves to be convinced that we need this Chinese junk more than we need well made things and all that is available is Chinese junk.
Yes, with proper supervision the Chinese manufacturers can make quality stuff. If you take your eyes off of them for one moment, they will find cheaper ways to make it and your quality will suffer. I have seen that also.
RR
I have only ever met and spoken with two Chinese (citizens of that country) and both were friendly, and outgoing. I liked them both. One was a student who I met through a friend and the other was an engineer on a project I was working on. He was there to learn a process we were using (post tensioning concrete). Both spoke pretty good English and both enjoyed beer,, so,, we got along.
There was a time in our distant past when we bought all of our “quality” stuff from Europe. Later they bought quality stuff from us. You are certainly right about our “throw away” culture. But we didn’t learn it from the Chinese. In fact, it was our idea,, we just exported it.
We get crap from China because that’s what WE want. Not the you and me WE. But the population in general. We buy stuff from China that Chinese wouldn’t look at. They do it for the same reasons that some of our own manufacturers used to. (of course those manufacturers have since moved overseas)
It used to be “made in Japan”,, until the Japanese labor rate went up. Now it’s “made in china”. Or Viet Nam, or Bangladesh. There will always be a place with lower labor costs producing the junk of the day,, and there will always be throngs of people buying it.
You and I may not be the customers they want,, because we don’t buy enough. They are capable of making better quality “stuff” and would if there were enough of a market for it. But right now,, they are competing with Turkey, a couple of places in South America, and probably soon from India and Africa. They will be forced to improve. Competition does that.
You and I probably won’t live long enough to see it,, but it will happen. And then, whoever is buying air rifles will complain about the quality of the stuff coming from, the moon or mars, or wherever.
I don’t see any difference between people in general. Wherever they are from, what ever color they might be,, they are all people,, with they same hopes and dreams as the rest of us. I guess I just have a different view of the world than many. I hope I’m right about it.
So do I. The Commie I met cursed the sight of the Republic of China flag.
RR
Not much of a “commie” I guess.
Ed
Speaking of resealing a Beeman 800 / Diana 6G, do any of you folks know anyone who does such?
Nobody? Pooky.
I guess I will just have to do it myself.
RR, try resubmitting your request Monday morning, early in the day for max visibility by others. Good luck.
I didn’t read through the comments so I might be bringing up covered territory already.
I like the gun. I almost bought one the other day day before BB’s review. My 499 needs a shooting companion. But now I won’t purchase one till I see his accuracy test.
And 2 things I don’t like but I can live with is the cocking effort being kind of high for a bb gun and it doesn’t have a dove tail to mount a peep sight or scope or dot sight.
And last thing a rifled barrel on a bb gun. Maybe they are trying for less resistance on the bb when fired by having less contact area. But as far as a twist rate, I would say a non twist rifled barrel might be a good thing for a steel bb. ???
I wonder if Diana’s 4.4mm copper coated lead balls are an appropriate ammunition for this rifled BB gun?
hihi
The following statement is from a German store where they sell it;
Important information for the smooth functioning of the DIANA Oktoberfest rifle;
Please only use copper-plated round lead bullets with a caliber of 4.4 mm, which are also designated for the Oktoberfest rifle! The use of other round balls leads to malfunctions!
Thanks Bill for confirming my guess.
I think your comment might prove to be very valuable information for the new owner of the Diana Oktoberfest rifle!
I imagine that getting an oversized or otherwise inappropriate bb stuck in this gun might be a quite a nuisance to clear. I’ve managed exactly that in a similar type of airgun (barrel successfully cleared but gun no longer works). 🙂
Bill,
Interesting. So the manual is wrong?
BB
Tom
You know very well that you are going to prove who’s right or wrong. It’s a tough job but what the heck, someone must do it.
Bill,
After seeing the rifling in the barrel I kinda knew what was right. But they put it in the manual to use steel! Oh, well. 😉
BB
BB,
Is the manual in English, or Chinglish?
If it’s the latter, then no surprise that it’s wrong about the ammo.
I bought one of those Badabang targets. I think the hardware is very impressive but the software is not.
Without installing the Badabang application, the target is useless (the paddles don’t topple or otherwise show they’ve been hit).
I wonder if there’s a way to make it into a purely mechanical target? For example, having the paddles fall over when hit and then somehow resettable. Anybody tried something like that with theirs?
hihihi,
The first is for low powered .177 air rifles shooting Lead pellet or ball.
/product/air-venturi-biathlon-airgun-target?a=5770
This one can deal with a bit more power and you can always increase the range by adding to the reset line length.
http://www.devinmfg.com/targets1.html
These next two are for .22LR rimfire and equivalent power air rifles.
http://www.devinmfg.com/pt.html
This one is actually approved for competitions other than for World Cup points or Olympic qualifications.
http://www.devinmfg.com/targets.html
Just make certain you get your ski wax right!
shootski
shootski I thank you for your ideas. That you provided links as well is quite humbling to me. Here, let me shake your hand in gratitude… [shaking hand emoji]
🙂
3hi,
As I do not have a “smart” phone, I did not waste my money on one of those things. From what I could see, it did not look like it was going to hold up to what I would be dishing out.
Shootski has presented you with some nice choices. If you look around, you can find some other nice ones. You might think about some resettable FT style targets or something like one of these.
http://fieldtargets.com/id25.htm
I have one of the “old” targets this is based on. Simple spinners are great. I have one that is only 3/8″. I built a shooting tree out of scrap 2x4s, a hand full of small spinners and a few hanging empty CO2 cartridges. I also have some magnets along the top to hold those little animal targets. If worse comes to worse, there are always feral soda cans.
Ah RidgeRunner, “…it [Badabang target] did not look like it was going to hold up to what I would be dishing out.” has given me thoughts for a final send off, if I can’t make it work without the app… 🙂
The target you kindly provided a link for is interesting. I like how it works horizontally, is resettable and works like a rocker switch.
As for a field target, I have one of those. I’ll upload a picture of my latest three paddle targets… 🙂
3hi,
They are some pretty hefty targets. Being able to change the hole sizes is nice also. They would probably take 20 FPE in stride. Those horizontal rockers are pretty nice. You can adjust the tension on them so they will be easy or hard to flip.
Some dueling trees are made like that.
https://www.amazon.com/Air-Venturi-Dueling-Airgun-Target/dp/B0765XGG7S/ref=sr_1_34?adgrpid=1338106221594215&hvadid=83631710885165&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=86776&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83631996007349%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=9660_10612404&keywords=target+dueling+tree&qid=1667747239&sr=8-34
1) I had a look inside my Badabang target and noticed that the four target paddles pop up when the box is opened by a spring that is situated behind each one. So, removing that spring should make the paddles floppy, or fall-overable. 🙂
2) Ok, here are all the bits off of one paddle when dismantled (pulling out the tiny split pin lets everything come apart). Next step is to reassemble all but without the spring, easy peasy… 🙂
3) Finally, for the purpose of resetting the target paddles from a distance, I bent a stiff wire to roughly the shape of a lever behind all 4 paddles, using a couple of the same pivots as the paddles. And over on the left end of the wire I formed a small loop to which I tied a long cord. Fiddly (for me) to get the wire shaped but I managed… 🙂
4) And here it is, my portable ex-Badabang target in a fold flat box that, to my surprise, works, ie the paddles topple over backwards when hit (I’ve shot the first and third paddle in the picture) and pulling on the string raises them back upright, hurrah ! 🙂
Awesome, hihihi! What are you shooting them with in your last picture with the clear iris front sight and at what distance?
Thanks Roamin Greco, when I unreeled the resetting string I found it to be 15 metres long. So that is the distance over which I used my Feinwerkbau 603. I chose it for it’s effortless accuracy, you see, I wanted to test the functioning of the target and not my ability to hit it. 🙂
3hi,
I used to have a FWB601. I would not recommend you use anything with more power on that. I would hate to see it destroyed,
Yes RidgeRunner, with that thought, I looked up the Badabang target and found it to be rated for up to 12 footpounds of energy. As it’s built like the proverbial tank (like carrying a bag of 6 metal boules/petanque balls, ie a lotta metal), this doesn’t surprise me at all. 🙂
Here in France, license free airguns are limited to 14 3/4 footpounds of energy (20 Joules). Therefore I can safely shoot the target with all my airguns (except ball bearing shooters of course) over 15 metres or more and all that’ll happen is welded on lead splatter. 🙂
Besides, as my designated mobile target, it’s now back in it’s carrying bag, waiting for an opportunity to be used in some random, temporary and new location. Which is to say that it won’t get much play anyway… 🙂
I look forward to the continuation of this discussion. I suspect that steel BBs are NOT the feed for this piece, but lead balls (copper coat ’em if you got ’em!).
I suggested to BB, in an article some time ago, that the real desire in my mind is an adult Daisy Model 36 up gunned, so to speak with a rifled barrel shooting LEAD ROUND BALLS in the 600 fps range and a longer, adult-length, pull.
Further, we don’t need the wonky take down ability of the original, just weld the pieces together for accuracy and consistency. If the slide pulls harder, it’s just ADULT training and carido fitness.
While I would prefer for such a thing to be made in the USA, keep in mind that the Chinese ARE capable of great sophistication. They can and will do what the imperialist roader capitalist managers contract for! LOL One gets what one specs in the contract. Remember, these same Chinese people were able to manufacture Ming Vases and built a culture some 5 K years old.
If, back to the task at hand, the Octoberfest rifle isn’t what one expects, it’s not the Chinese worker, but the contract that determined what level of quality that one receives. One get what one contracts for….