Some time back, I described the dismantling and cleaning of this old gun, an early Halifax Darne 12:
My intention was to clean it up a bit, reduce the awful trigger pulls, service it, and send it down the road to a new home. I have a different Darne that I'd like to restock. My work adjusting the triggers required me to bring it to the range, and check it with both barrels loaded, to see if there were any problems with doubling, or, partial hanging of the sears. I did manage to reduce the pulls from double digit numbers (my gauge only goes to ten pounds, and it was more than that) down to about the weight of the gun (as far as I was comfortable going on this example) with an extremely clean break. I shot by myself, since, I was loading two rounds in the gun. I alternated barrels, and really didn't pay that much attention to shooting, just operating. When it was over, I missed the number 2 bird, and ran the next 23 straight. I had hit number 1, for a score of 24.
Now what?
The gun features a perfect right handed safety button, while I am a lefty, a bit of right cast, and is a bit short for me. It is hard to argue with results, and I loath moving guns I shoot really well. A pad would correct the short LOP, the chambers could be lengthened to 2 3/4, or, left alone, and it would make a decent pheasant gun, my actual goal with the R10 restocking project.
I sold this gun to a guy I consider a friend, although I have never met him in person. He used it a few years, along with several others, a V21 and an R15. He has moved across country, and for many reasons doesn’t need the spread of guns he had before. He kindly contacted me first, and offered me first right of refusal.
I didn’t refuse.
This gun was built around the time the Titanic sank. It is a short chamber 12, choked about IC and IM. The barrel walls measure .056 thick at a point 9” from the breech, they are monsters, the guys at the factory loved thick barrels. 27 3/4” in length. Being newly right handed, I was very happy to get it back. I’d guess it has about 3/8ths of an inch of cast, and it comes up as well as anything else I am playing with at the moment, in my fidgety gun mount that needs work. It is so cold at the moment, practicing my mount is about all I can do. Still thinking about a pad, but, that would ruin any cold weather use of the gun, as it would be too long with my wool coat on. Cold weather screams 12 gauge.
I sold this gun to a guy I consider a friend, although I have never met him in person. He used it a few years, along with several others, a V21 and an R15. He has moved across country, and for many reasons doesn’t need the spread of guns he had before. He kindly contacted me first, and offered me first right of refusal.
I didn’t refuse.
This gun was built around the time the Titanic sank. It is a short chamber 12, choked about IC and IM. The barrel walls measure .056 thick at a point 9” from the breech, they are monsters, the guys at the factory loved thick barrels. 27 3/4” in length. Being newly right handed, I was very happy to get it back. I’d guess it has about 3/8ths of an inch of cast, and it comes up as well as anything else I am playing with at the moment, in my fidgety gun mount that needs work. It is so cold at the moment, practicing my mount is about all I can do. Still thinking about a pad, but, that would ruin any cold weather use of the gun, as it would be too long with my wool coat on. Cold weather screams 12 gauge.
Money shot, for Argo:
Best, Ted
Salut Ted,
L'Halifax est apparu pour la première fois en 1914. Il y avait deux modèles : un n°5 et un n°6. Ces deux armes étaient montées avec des bois en une seule partie (type 93). Plus tard, les crosses seront montées en deux parties sans séparative, comme le fusil sur la photo.
La sureté à poussoir sur ton fusil est un brevet Darne de 1921. L'arme est passée au banc d'épreuve avant 1924. Je daterais sa fabrication entre 1918 et 1923.
Salut FAB, Pourrions-nous vous demander comment vous en êtes arrivé à cette conclusion? - "Je daterais sa fabrication entre 1918 et 1923." Nous nous intéressons particulièrement à l'effet de la guerre sur les épreuves. Existe-t-il un moyen de différencier les marques d'épreuve d'avant-guerre et d'après-guerre ?
(Hi Fab, could we ask how you came to this conclusion? - "I dated its fabrication to between 1918 and 1923." We are particularly interested in the effect that the war had on proof-marks. Is there a way to differentiate between pre-war and post-war proof marks?)
FAB and I discussed the conundrum about the cm/mm changeover date. We are trying to do this by analysis when surely there is a record of this somewhere in Saint-Etienne. He wrote to the proof-house and never received a reply. I may have to ask in-laws to go up there and do some research.
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