doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Early Darne Pinfire

Admittedly this isn't a double barrel but it might be of some interest to those of you enamoured with Darnes. Here is an early pinfire Darne (slide forward):


https://www.the-saleroom.com/en-gb/aucti...a5-a850010b7f01

Jeremy

Couple of things.
1894 is the correct patent date for the sliding breech R model double. To the very best of my knowledgs, the R model Darne was never produced with damascus barrels. 1897 is very, very, late in the ball game for damascus barrels, hammers, pinfire, and single shots in the French gun industry. The French, unlike the English, took to steel barrels and hammerless designs, like a baby duck takes to water. I've seen a few model C lifting breech guns with damascus tubes, but, most are steel.
I didn't see the word "Darne" anywhere on the gun. That design appears in none of the Darne catalogs I own, which, go back to 1900.
I think whoever wrote the blurb for the description has a few facts out of order, or, is outright incorrect. It may be a fine gun, may be a Darne, but, from what I see, there is simply no evidence of that.
It pays to research a bit, before you buy.

Best,
Ted

My thoughts as well when I read the description, that being that there really isn't anything concrete indicating that this is a Darne. May be a nice gun though.

I'm looking at the book "Les Fusils de Chasse de Regis Darne" (Huting Guns of Regis Darne) by Jean-Claude Mournetas,319 dense pages of detailed information of R. Darne's 17 patents. The earliest patent listed is no. 133,575 from November 1879 for a rotary-breech gun with exposed hammers. All the guns described fall into one of three classes: rotary breech (five patents 1879-1908), ascending breech block hinged at the rear (4 patents 1887-1909), and the familiar rearward-sliding breechblock (10 patents 1893-1928). None are pinfires, none have side-mounted hammers, none have forward-sliding barrels, and none have front underlever locking mechanisms. In short the most comprehensive source available on Darne guns doesn't show anything remotely similar to this gun. So no Darne marks and no Darne design features.