Sunday, May 18, 2008

Sunday (Hy-)Score

Just a short break from the Diana 6 saga...
Those of you who know me would not be surprised to learn that I have a surplus of metal lathes. So I hit upon the bright idea of posting two of my spares (sitting neglected in the pump house) on the airgun forum for trade only. This morning a wonderful gentleman named Mike showed up with some airguns to trade.

Top to Bottom: Hy-Score Mod. SM 810 (Diana 65), Hy-Score .22 sidelever, no model number... and Original Mod 45 (Diana 45). Hy-Score was an airgun company that both produced airguns and imported and rebranded European airguns.

Three new airguns...

It's "Original". This was because Diana lost the rights to their name after WW2, only recently gaining back the trademark.

The sidelever Hy-Score is in typical condition for me to fall in love with it. Some rust and bluing gone.

It's a sidelever, with a tap loading system. Something new for me. And it's my first .22 cal. spring piston air rifle.

"Hy-Score Air Rifle" No model number or other identification. The blue book wasn't much help. Mike said he thought it might have been made by Hammerli, but it says "Made in Germany" and Hammerli is a Swiss company. Hmmm...the blue book says that some Hy-Scores were made by "Hammerli of Germany" so that probably all makes sense somehow...
EDIT:
I did a little internet sleuthing and found this picture. It says "Hammerli model 400 Puma .22"
The only difference is in the front sight as far as I can tell. I also found a forum post that says:
"I've got a very early Model 400 (Puma) in .22 in my collection. Very well built with rather an odd loading tap. A round knob (with direction arrow) "
Sounds exactly like the loading tap on mine. So mystery solved for now, although there is little information about the rifle generally...

The Hy Score Mod SM 810 (Diana Model 65) locking lever.

The aperture sight...notice the round protuberance on the side of the tube...yes, it's a Giss system recoiless rifle.

This is the 6" Atlas I traded for the three air rifles. I gave mike quite a bit of tooling and such I had collected over the years for it.

I still have a 10" Atlas, currently disassembled and a bit worn but well tooled and quite functional, available...

7 comments:

Jim Hay said...

How can I get more info on the Hy-Score 810? Mine seems to have lost it's power after sitting for a couple years.

Felice Luftschein said...

The vintage airgun forum has what you need:
http://www.network54.com/Forum/405945/thread/1233584480/Hy-Score+Model+803+Pistol+Disassembly+Instructions

Also search for all the hy-score posts there. Lots of info.

bparisi07@yahoo.com said...

Do have any interest in another Hy-Score Hammerli? It's a sidelever in .177 and is in very nice condition.

Felice Luftschein said...

Shoot me an email to:
cartertools@gmail.com
With price and pics, I might be interested!

Ralph said...

I have just purchased a Hy-Score Side cocking air rifle. Serial Number#14244. It says .22 Caliber and Made in Germany. All though is says .22 Caliber it will not accept a .22 Caliber pellet. A .177 fits fine. It is a beautiful heavy air rifle. It has the original strap. Do you have an idea what model it is? It still has some power. It needs clean up.

Tino said...

Hi, I've got a Diana model 65 air rifle (5.5mm pellets) which someone recently told me was probably worth several hundreds of euros. I have absolutely no knowledge of air rifles whatsoever, could anyone tell me what regular prices are for these things? If it's possible I can post a photo of it. Thanks from the Netherlands! Tino

Felice Luftschein said...

Tino,
Look here:
http://www.egun.de/