Diana model 23

Diana model 23 (modified stock, 1938) 

With thanks to Wadcutter on the American Vintage Airguns forum.

He says:

Stock is factory original having a 1.38(Jan. 1938) dated heel stamp, but it's been stylized by addition of checkering, fluting at nose of the comb and some contouring of the pistol grip. The few filled holes you see drilled near the cocking slot and butt were probably where a sling use to be mounted. The changes are simple but sure make a difference in its overall appearance compared to an unmodified stock...

The non factory rear sight is a neatly crafted piece and surprising to see on such a small gun. It's a Lyman 1A Combination Tang Sight. The underside of the sight base is stamped "SL". After doing a google search, it was discovered that the "SL" sight was made for Winchester Models 1905, 1907 & 1910 "Self-Loading" Rifles. A couple cool features are a built in flip down aperture and a locking lever on left side. Flip the smaller aperture down out of the way in dark conditions and the sight picture instantly becomes brighter...

Everything functioned fine during the test fire, but did notice that the velocity seemed a little lower than expected. Decided to take it apart to inspect the internals. Everything looked pretty good other than the spring was slightly warped; so just cleaned the parts, deburred, re-lubed and reassembled. This included rejuvenating the leather piston seal and replacing the breech seal. The cocking action is now smoother and there was a sweet "thunk" when fired. Yet... it was still under powered. Chronograph results showed 7.87gr JSB Exact Express pellets were shooting a modest 326fps at the muzzle...

Swapped out the tired mainspring for a new one from ARH (J. Maccari). The results were remarkable. It now shoots the JSB Exact Express 7.87gr pellets at 485fps. That number was an average of 20 shots. A gain of 159fps just from the spring change...

It's a fun plinking rifle. Peep sight is right on at 15 yards when turned all the way down. Haven't shot paper, but it destroys pop cans out to 30 yards. It's hard to miss with this thing. 

This particular pre-war Diana Model 23 must have been pretty special to a previous owner and will remain that way to its new caretaker.

Diana model 23 restoration 

With thanks to Louis.

He says:

This is my friend's Diana Mod. (for "Modell" in German) 23.
He had it on the wall in his shed for a long time.
When I visited him, I offered to give it some tlc.

Rust removal, with 0000 steel wool and WD40.

Disassembled. I did a cold blue, just to darken the "naked" steel after removing the worst rust.
The metalwork is now mostly brown, which I personally like.
The internals are good, but the cocking lever is bent. I will have it straightened.
I cleaned the stock with alcohol and an old sock, and then applied 3 layers of CCL oil. I don't like stripping stocks. It now looks "honest" and protected/shiny.

The leather breech seal was missing. Luckily a friend had one in his spares box.

There was lots of sideways play on the rear sight. I fixed that with beercan shims on each side of the rear sight base.

The trigger was very creepy. Much better now with one of my patented clothes peg creep remover.

The trigger spring was quite stiff. With a weaker spring, the gun is still safe, but much nicer to shoot.

.... now I want to own this gun!
It is lightweight, very light to cock, lovely to shoot. Great for indoor shooting.