Company type | Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung |
---|---|
Industry | Shooting sports |
Founded | Rastatt, Germany (1890 ) |
Founders | Jakob Mayer Josef Grammelspacher |
Headquarters | Rastatt, Germany |
Key people | Michael Swoboda (CEO) Martin Zedler (MD) [1] |
Products | Air guns |
Owner | German Sport Guns |
Number of employees | 90 (2008) |
Parent | German Sport Guns |
Website | www |
DIANA Mayer & Grammelspacher is an air gun manufacturer founded and based in Rastatt, Germany. The company, named after Diana, the mythological goddess of the hunt, is best known for producing quality air rifles. [2]
Mayer & Grammelspacher GmbH was founded in Rastatt in 1890 [1] by 24-year old toolmaker Jakob Mayer and financier Josef Grammelspacher, initially focusing on household metal goods. Two years later they introduced their first air gun, a pistol, based [3] on the Haviland & Gunn model of 1872. [4] The first rifle, a break barrel design, followed in 1895. Early products were marked "MGR" (for Mayer, Grammelspacher and Rastatt) before the introduction of the now-famous "Diana" brand name. In 1901 Grammelspacher left the company for reasons unknown, whilst Mayer was awarded his first patent. [3]
A steady stream of improved designs characterized the first decade of the 20th century, culminating in the classic Model 27. [5] This successful model was produced in various forms from 1910 up to 1987. The popularity of shooting as a leisure activity prompted development of a range of children's toy guns (firing arrows tipped with suction cups) under the Eureka brand. [2]
The Second World War stymied Diana's early success, with sanctions imposed on the Nazi government severely limiting export opportunities. By 1940 civilian production was halted and the factory was commandeered to produce parts for Mauser, which led to heavy Allied bombing. After the fall of Germany in 1945, the production of arms was outlawed. The occupying forces decommissioned the factory and sold the company lock, stock and barrel to England's Millard Brothers (Milbro), who moved production to Scotland. The sale included all assets, even the trademark "Diana". [6]
The company formerly known as Diana was allowed to restart production of air guns in 1950, during the reconstruction of Germany. Due to the loss of their trademark, their products were sold under various other names including "Original" in Germany, "Diana Original" in England, Beeman, Hy-Score and Winchester in the USA and "GECADO" in the Common Wealth countries. [7] In 1963 they introduced an innovative recoilless air rifle, the Model 60. [8]
In 1984, after almost 40 years, the company finally regained their trademark when Milbro went bust. At the 1988 Summer Olympics a silver medal was won by Silvia Sperber in the Women's 10 metre air rifle event using a Diana rifle. In 1990 the company celebrated their Centenary. [9]
In 2014 the company was bought by German Sport Guns GmbH. [10]
In firearm designs, the term single-shot refers to guns that can hold only a single round of ammunition inside and thus must be reloaded manually after every shot. Compared to multi-shot repeating firearms ("repeaters"), single-shot designs have no moving parts other than the trigger, hammer/firing pin or frizzen, and therefore do not need a sizable receiver behind the barrel to accommodate a moving action, making them far less complex and more robust than revolvers or magazine/belt-fed firearms, but also with much slower rates of fire.
An air gun or airgun is a gun that uses energy from compressed air or other gases that are mechanically pressurized and then released to propel and accelerate projectiles, similar to the principle of the primitive blowgun. This is in contrast to a firearm, which shoots projectiles using energy generated via exothermic combustion (detonation) of chemical propellants, most often black powder or smokeless powder.
Mauser, originally the Königlich Württembergische Gewehrfabrik, was a German arms manufacturer. Their line of bolt-action rifles and semi-automatic pistols was produced beginning in the 1870s for the German armed forces. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Mauser designs were also exported and licensed to many countries, which adopted them as military and civilian sporting firearms. The Gewehr 98 in particular was widely adopted and copied, becoming one of the most copied firearms designs and it is the foundation of many of today's sporting bolt-action rifles. Around 10 millions Gewehr 98 style rifles were produced.
The International Shooting Sport Federation recognizes several shooting events, some of which have Olympic status. They are divided into four disciplines: rifle, pistol, shotgun and running target.
SIG Sauer is a Swiss brand name of firearms originally manufactured in Neuhausen am Rheinfall. Several sister companies that design and manufacture firearms use the trade name SIG Sauer and it is also registered brand name. The original company, Schweizerische Waggonfabrik (SWF), later Schweizerische Industrie-Gesellschaft (SIG), went through several selloffs, leaving the SIG Sauer brand spread over several companies. The original SIG is now known as SIG Group and no longer has any firearms business.
Webley & Scott is an arms manufacturer founded in Birmingham, England. Webley produced handguns and long guns from 1834 to 1979, when the company ceased to manufacture firearms and instead turned its attention to producing air pistols and air rifles. In 2010 Webley & Scott restarted the production of shotguns for commercial sale.
Accurizing is the process of improving the accuracy and precision of a gun.
Weihrauch & Weihrauch GmbH & Co. KG is a German manufacturer of target and sporting air rifles, air pistols, cartridge rifles and pistols. In North America, they are often distributed under the Beeman brand name.
Metallic silhouette shooting is a group of target shooting disciplines that involves shooting at steel targets representing game animals at varying distances, seeking to knock the metal target over. Metallic silhouette is shot with large bore rifles fired freehand without support out to 500 meters, and with large bore handguns from the prone position with only body support out to 200 meters. Competitions are also held with airguns and black-powder firearms. A related genre is shot with bow and arrow, the metal targets being replaced with cardboard or foam. The targets used are rams, turkeys, pigs, and chickens, which are cut to different scales and set at certain distances from the shooter depending on the specific discipline.
Feinwerkbau, often abbreviated FWB, is a German manufacturer of firearms and air guns aimed mainly at competitive ISSF shooting events, including some contested at the Olympic Games as governed by the International Shooting Sport Federation (ISSF).
Crosman Corporation is an American designer, manufacturer and supplier of shooting sport products, with a long-standing presence in airgun design and a tradition of producing pellet and BB guns. Crosman is also a producer of many varieties of airgun and airsoft ammunition and CO2 Powerlet cartridges. In addition, Crosman sells branded, licensed products as well as a variety of airsoft guns.
Daisy Outdoor Products is an American airgun manufacturer known particularly for their lines of BB guns. It was formed in 1882 initially as the Plymouth Iron Windmill Company in Plymouth, Michigan, to manufacture steel windmills, and from 1888 started bundling BB-caliber air guns with each windmill purchase as a sales promotion. With the unrivaled popularity of their 1888-model Daisy BB Guns, the company changed the name to Daisy Manufacturing Company in 1895 and switched their business to solely producing air guns for sale. Throughout the 20th century, Daisy has been known as a company that makes and sells BB guns and pellet youth rifles. Their Red Ryder BB Gun is perhaps the best known and longest production item, which has been featured in many TV shows and movies since its introduction in the spring of 1940.
J. P. Sauer und Sohn GmbH is a manufacturer of firearms and machinery and is the oldest firearms manufacturer still active in Germany. The products of this company are frequently referred to as Sauer.
A pellet is a non-spherical projectile designed to be shot from an air gun, and an airgun that shoots such pellets is commonly known as a pellet gun. Air gun pellets differ from bullets and shot used in firearms in terms of the pressures encountered; airguns operate at pressures as low as 50 atmospheres, while firearms operate at thousands of atmospheres. Airguns generally use a slightly undersized projectile that is designed to obturate upon shooting so as to seal the bore, and engage the rifling; firearms have sufficient pressure to force a slightly oversized bullet to fit the bore in order to form a tight seal. Since pellets may be shot through a smoothbore barrel, they are often designed to be inherently stable, much like the Foster slugs used in smoothbore shotguns.
Stoeger Industries is a manufacturer and importer of firearms into the United States.
Airforce Airguns is an American manufacturer of pre-charged pneumatic air rifles. The company was founded in 1994 in Fort Worth, Texas. The rifles were designed to be lightweight, accurate, and inexpensive. The design also allowed easy attachment of accessories, as well be easily adjustable in power.
The IHP Airpistol 0.177 is a single shot .177 calibre break barrel, spring-piston air pistol. It is manufactured by National rifles division of the Indian Hume Pipe Co. Ltd of Ahmedabad, India. This gun has open micro adjustable sights with globe sight on the front. It has an adjustable trigger and a rifled barrel although not designed for high-precision shooting. The Pistol grip is wooden and heavy but not ergonomic. The gun can not be dry-fired without charging.
The Walther LGR air rifle was developed by the German arms manufacturer Carl Walther GmbH Sportwaffen as a high end match rifle for 10 metre air rifle competition shooting. The LGR was the first match air rifle that employed the then futuristic single-stroke pneumatic method as power source. This use of pre compressed air introduced the advantages of recoilless and vibration free shooting in combination with a well-made air rifle into the sport. It took other manufacturers a decade before they also introduced single-stroke pneumatic match air rifles.
Chiappa Firearms, Armi Sport di Chiappa, is an Italian firearms manufacturing company based in Brescia. It was founded in 1958 by Ezechiele Chiappa as Armi Sport. Total unit production is around 60,000 per year. Its U.S. headquarters are in Dayton, Ohio.
The BSA Mercury was a break barrel, spring powered, Air Rifle first produced in 1972 by the Birmingham Small Arms Company and then Gamo (UK) Limited. It was manufactured in .177 (4.5 mm) .22 (5.5 mm) and .25 (6.35 mm), the latter named the "635 Magnum". The Mercury was marketed between the BSA Meteor and AirSporter models and was a light, easy to use rifle, giving a "just under legal limit UK power" of 11.5 ft•lbf of energy.