Today we’re looking at the history of DIANA Airguns. This famous German company has a storied and very interesting history that we will explore here…
These vintage adverts show (above) a father and son with their DIANA air rifles. Below (left) the joys of escaping with a DIANA airgun after schoolwork is finished. Right, Santa brings a boy an air rifle for a VERY Happy Christmas (his sister gets a doll)!
The Diana Airguns Name
Correctly represented in the trademark as DIANA (all capitals), the DIANA brand name and trademark of the goddess with a bow dates from as far back as 1905. It’s become a legend among air gunners world-wide in the ensuing 120 years…
So why call an airgun Diana? That was a question which exercised me when I first became interested in airguns.
Well, it turns-out that Diana was an ancient Roman goddess who was primarily considered a patroness of the countryside and nature, hunters and wildlife. But her field extended beyond that to be associated with childbirth, the night and the Moon, among other things. Quite a versatile lady!
In fact, Diana seems to have been a modernized Roman version of the Greek goddess Artemis, a daughter of Zeus and twin of Apollo. So her origin is truly ancient, stretching back thousands of years.
Diana Airguns Corporate History
Our story starts on 1 October 1890 when – according to entry 18,480 in the “Commercial Register” – a young merchant named Jakob Mayer teamed-up with mechanic Josef Grammelspacher to found the company.
Each invested 50 Marks as the founding capital of “Mayer & Grammelspacher, Fabrik für Massenartikel der Eisen & Metallwarenbranche”. With a company name like that, no wonder they needed a snappy trade mark for their products!
The company was based in Rastatt, a small town in the west of the German state of Baden-Württemberg, close to the border with France.
So until 1905, products were marked “MGR” (for Mayer, Grammelspacher and Rastatt). In that year, the famous “DIANA” name was adopted.
The company’s first airgun was a pistol that was introduced in 1892. The first break-barrel rifle followed in 1895.
Sadly Josef Grammelspacher died in 1901 at the young age of 42. But Mayer went on alone, although Grammelspacher’s legacy remains as part of the company name even today.
The company continued to manufacture air rifles: by 1914, the range extended to a dozen different models. Jakob Mayer died in 1933. After that, the company was run by Edwin Mayer and Rudolf Mayer (undoubtedly Jakob’s sons). Numerous product improvements were credited to Ludwig Mayer – engineer – in the 1930s.
DIANA has always taken a “family” approach. Family-owned for many years and with generations of employees from the same families, its marketing also focused on family-friendly shooting. This can be seen from multiple old ads included in this story.
The EUREKA brand was another DIANA initiative in the 1930s to encourage family and youth shooting, with airguns firing wooden “arrows” with rubber suckers at the end.
Sadly many records about the company were lost in the destruction of the Second World War, the Rastatt factory was heavily bombed. So much DIANA history prior to 1945 is no longer known.
After the war, DIANA went through a very difficult period which is too complex to discuss here. But in 1947, when Edwin Mayer was then the owner, the complete dismantling of the factory facilities took place.
The company also was stripped of its’ DIANA brand name. But, after the manufacture of airguns was allowed again on 10 June 1950, reconstruction began in Rastatt, new machinery was installed and production re-started.
Diana airguns were sold world-wide under a number of brand names, including “Original”, “Geco”, “Condor”, “Hy-Score”, “Beeman”, Winchester”, “Gecado” and others.
Although the company had re-purchased its DIANA trademark in 1984, the selling of Diana-manufactured airguns under other brand names continued into the 2020s in the USA, where the “RWS” brand was used for many years.
By 1984, the noted author John Walter noted in his “The Airgun Book” that the re-invigorated Mayer & Grammelspacher company was then the world’s largest manufacturer of full-size, spring-piston airguns, with annual production exceeding 200,000.
A high point for the company in 1988 was that Silvia Sperber won a Gold medal in the Seoul Olympics with a DIANA sporting rimfire rifle in the small bore, Three Position event. DIANA sill offers rimfire rifles – as well as airguns – today including hunting-style models like the R-22.
Peter Mayer, the final linear descendant of the family to be involved with DIANA, continued well into the 1990s. In a brochure produced in 2010 to celebrate the 120th anniversary of the company, it was still described as being family-owned.
But sadly things were going downhill fast. DIANA soon became effectively insolvent. It needed a knight in shining armor to save the company!
A New Start For DIANA Airguns
Fortunately for all of us, that happened. In 2014 DIANA was acquired by German Sport Guns (GSG), based in Ense, North Rhine-Westphalia.
Under the decisive leadership of Michael Swoboda, the brave decision was taken to rebuild the company as DIANA Mayer & Grammelspacher GmbH & Co. KG. But it was clear that the old ways no longer worked and a complete new approach was needed.
So the Rastatt factory was closed and manufacturing transferred 250 Miles North to Ense in the Ruhr area of Germany. It remains there today.
The “old” DIANA had begun to incorporate Chinese-manufactured barrels and other parts into their guns well before 2014 as a means of cost reduction.
Below. The DIANA “Bullseye” recoil-absorbing scope mount was introduced in 2016.
The “new” DIANA preferred to manufacture airgun parts itself in Europe. So significant investments were made at Ense and in a GSG-affiliated plant at Gabrovo in Bulgaria. The resulting German-assembled products are branded as the DIANA “Performance Line”.
Accepting the global realities of ever-higher production costs, combined with consumer resistance to higher prices, in 2018 DIANA also introduced the “Action Line” of products.
Manufactured in China to the company’s quality specifications and with DIANA design input, the “Action Line” concept has proved to be a huge success. It’s brought DIANA ownership to a whole new generation of airgunners around the world.
Below. The Diana 240 is an example of how DIANA continues to introduce newcomers into shooting. It’s an attractively-priced, “Action Line” entry-level breakbarrel air rifle that’s ideal for many fathers and kids to use in the backyard.
Throughout its existence, DIANA has always embraced challenges and accepted change. While the “Action Line” concept is the most recent, earlier examples can be found in the company’s products and technology.
All told, the company estimates that more than 10 Million DIANA airguns have been manufactured over the years. And that number continues to grow!
Diana Airguns Technology
Jakob Mayer was obviously a smart and innovative operator. He had multiple airgun-related patents to his name, the most important of which related to the lockup mechanism for breakbarrel air rifles.
On 7 April 1901, Jakob Mayer was granted a Imperial German Patent – number 135599 – for a “breech mechanism for break-barrel air rifles” This was followed in 1905 by a revolutionary detent-locking system which is still used in millions of airguns today. Thanks Jakob!
Over the years, DIANA designed and manufactured a vast array of different air rifles – and pistols. Oh, and the model numbers were not used in any particular sequence, while some were re-used over time. It’s complex…
It would take a large book to cover them all completely, but I’ll pick out a few highlights for this short history.
By 1915 the company was selling the Model 58. This was an underlever air rifle with “tap loading” for pellets and bolt action cocking. It was specifically intended to replicate the feel, size and operating characteristics of the Mauser 98 infantry rifle.
However the Model 58 did not completely replicate the full appearance of the military rifle. That was to come in the 1930s with the Model 30, manufactured between 1935 and 1940. This was an under lever-cocking air rifle with a full wood stock, very similar in appearance to the Mauser Kar98k military rifle, with obvious use as a military trainer.
This full stock design was unusual at the time and the Model 58 may have been the original “reproduction firearm” airgun: a concept that is so popular now and repeated in the DIANA Mauser K98 sold today. (Photos below).
The Model 30 was positioned as the top DIANA model of the time, selling at a price of 35 ReichMarks (approximately $350 in 2026) with claims for precision shooting out to 30 Meters (33 Yards). That was heady stuff in the 1930s!
During the 1950s, in spite of multitudinous post-war challenges, DIANA again made multiple big innovations in airgun design.
One was the so-called “ball-sear trigger” which was used on many post-war DIANA air rifles from the early 1950s well into the ‘80s. Not actually a trigger (!), this unique system uses three ball bearings to lock the cocked action. Its operation is somewhat similarly to the “roller locking” system used in some firearms (notably the incredibly-successful MG42).
In addition, designer Kurt Giss was one of the first to address the problem of recoil inherent in spring/piston airguns. His concept included TWO pistons acting against each other when the gun was fired.
The Giss system was patented around 1955 and first used in the DIANA Model 6 air pistol, introduced in April 1960. This recoilless and vibration-free air pistol revolutionized match pistol shooting!
A match rifle using the Giss system – the Model 60 – was introduced in February 1963. The succeeding Model 75 series was sold until the 1980s and is still highly-desired among airgun aficionados today.
However the Giss system was complex and not ideally-suited to the increasingly-powerful air rifles being demanded by shooters.
In 1987, DIANA had introduced the Model 48. This offered high power, combined with side lever cocking.
By 1992, the company had introduced another unique recoil-absorbing system. It was included in a version of the Model 48 known as the Model 52. This “recoilless” or “semi-recoilless” design has the entire action sliding back and forth on a sled within the stock. This isolates the shooter from the recoil’s kick.
Developed further into the Model 54, this “sled” system was successful and is still incorporated in the current DIANA 54 Airking Pro.
DIANA has always put effort into their triggers. The T05 trigger was introduced in 2000. In 2011 it was developed into the T06 model (below) with multiple adjustment capability. Both versions remain in use in current DIANA Airguns.
Diana Airguns In The USA
DIANA airguns have a long history of being sold in the USA.
Prior to the Second World War they were available from the Stoeger Arms Corporation, of 507 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY (can you imagine that location today?).
In a 1939 catalog, Stoeger listed DIANA Model 45 and 58 models (but under their own name) as “precision, super-power air rifles” and “the finest that money can buy”. These were underlever-cocking, tap-loading guns available in a choice of .177 and .22 calibers.
Pricing for the Stoeger models 3106 and 3107 was $70 in 1939. That equates to around $1,600 in 2026!
The relationship resumed after the Second World War. In a 1958 Stoeger catalog, for example, the company offered the company’s “Peerless air rifles made especially for Stoeger Arms Corp by the original Diana Air Gun factory in Germany”.
By the 1970s, Robert Law’s Air Rifle Headquarters was selling Mayer & Grammelspacher-manufactured air rifles that had been imported under both the Hy-Score and Winchester brands.
Below. The 1966 Air Rifle Headquarters catalog (left) showcases the DIANA model 60. The larger 1973 issue shows DIANA-manufactured Winchester 435 and 450 models
For example, the Winchester Model 450 – actually an upgraded DIANA 50 – underlever model was selling for $92.50 in 1973. That’s the equivalent of about $670 today.
As the 1970s progressed, so Beeman pushed Air Rifle Headquarters out of business. For example, in the company’s 1974-5 source book/catalog, the Hy-Score 807 was now marked as the Beeman Model 27, made by Mayer & Grammelspacher.
Of course, Beeman also faded away as a major force in US air gunning. In recent years, DIANA airguns have been distributed in the USA by Blue Line Solutions and are widely available both online and in big box sporting goods stores.
DIANA still lives and surely has a great future ahead of it!
Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Markus Dombrowski, DIANA’s International Sales Manager (below), for his help in producing this history.
Most illustrations are courtesy of DIANA and used with permission.
Online References:
DIANA company website.
Wikepedia
The Vintage Airgun Gallery. A real “gold mine” for information on historic airguns.
Inflation Calculator | Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis
Hard Copy Refrences:
The Collector’s Guide to Air Rifles, Enlarged Third edition. By Dennis E. Hiller, 1986
The Airgun Book 3rd edition. By John Walter, 1984
The Blue Book of Airguns 13th edition. Tom Gaylord et al. 2020.
Multiple Beeman and Air Gun Headquarters catalogs.
The post A Brief History of DIANA Airguns appeared first on Hard Air Magazine.
. I would tell my mates that I had a Diana and they’d tell me it was junk and that I needed a BSA or Webley. When I’d call it an “Original” they had no clue what I was talking about lol. I don’t think anyone admitted to having a Milbro, unless it was a catapult 
.
