Just back from India (Trivandrum in Kerala) where I shot a number of pesky crows with an Indian-made, Diana 35 copy (clone), model DCM-45 in .22 cal. with open sights (no scope rail), that an expat Brit lended to me for the day.

The construction quality and finish of the DCM-45 is poor (compared to the real Dianas), but after sigting it in @ 10m, it shot consistently and ten hapless crows didn't get a second chance.

As it was the first time I shot a bird in a long while, and most hits to the head browght the crow flat to the ground (chest hits did the same but a second shot to the head was needed), I noticed how harder the .22 cal. pellets hit (pointed Indian-made of unknown weight).

Having mostly shot .177 cal. air rifles over the years, I was wondering if it is feasible to convert my three Dianas (25, 27 and 35) to .22 cal., by changing (swapping) the original .177 barrel with a .22 cal. one (or to other exotic calibers like .20 and .25).

The DCM-45's air transfer port is the same size as my 1968-made Diana 35 and I should imagine that a barrel swap may be possible. Is it? Any source for spare .22 bbls for my Dianas?

TIA,
Nikos

Hi Nikos, sounds like you had a great trip.
Yes although not an expert, it sure sounds like putting a .22 barrel aassembly on aa .177 should work fine. You might direct this question to Mike Driskill on the forum, hes a good friend and a big help.
Its a bit nippy here in Cornhusker land (Nebraska) aabout 5 inches of fresh snow this week aand temperaature is a very,very cold 20 below zero Fahrenhite at 10 p.m. Friday. Brrrrr!

Glad you had a good trip. Later my friend.
Doug Law
dlaw1940@yahoo.com
Nebraska Airgun Addict

I am not an expert mechanic, but I suspect the transfer port is the same diameter for .177 and .22 examples of the guns. So simply swapping barrels should work as far as I know.

These guns are less common in .22 overall, although many examples imported to the US under the Peerless, Winchester, or Hy-Score names were in .22 to appeal to American shooters.

I don't know of anyplace selling spare barrels per se, all three models being long out of production of course. RWS in New Jersey might have some, but if so would charge dearly for them. You would probably do just as well, financially speaking, to simply leave your guns as is and seek out .22 examples on the collector market.

Hello
I to am a fan of the .22 caliber, especially for hunting. I have 3 Winchester 427s in that caliber, and love them much better that a Diana 27 in .177 I also have.
While of course they shoot at a slower velocity, and have a "rounder" shall we say, trajectory, they are generally more efficient much more effective if you hunt at all.

.22 cal is widely regarded outside the USA as the superior hunting caliber(and rightly so in my opinion), and it always puzzeled me that Robert Beeman, who did so much to promote "adult" airguns in the USA, never missed a chance to slight it. He complained about its "rainbow" trajectory and then, praised the .25 caliber's wonderful power!!!

I am terribly sorry that I didn't respond to your kind comments but I had a PC break-down. I just got everything back together and this was the first site I checked!

Doug, yes the trip to India went very well and I shall write to you soon all the details.

Air rifles can be found in most every home I visited in India, all in .22 cal., made by local companies that seem to babitually clone Chinese, Yugoslavian, Czech and German original models, either officially or otherwise. Scope rails are a rarity. I visited two gun shops, one in Trivandrum (in Kerala) and another in Chennai (formerly Madras) in the State of Tamil Nadu, which stocked many Model 27 Diana-clones wrapped up in wax paper awaiting for the eager buyer, but only one had been grooved for a scope.

Bird culling, particularly crows, is badly needed as everyone who heard about my airgunning...congratulated me. Honestly, if you feel like shooting crows or simply air rifle hunting, India is a must. Ideal weather conditions, lots of available land and airgun-frienly people. Highly recommended. I have been invited to go back for more fun and I am already laying down plans of visiting Bangalore next, the Indian Silicon Valley...

Please, keep you comments comming as well as any ideas as to how to build an airgun "system", whereby a single receiver/compression chamber could be used with an assortment of bbls! Waaay Cool